Gran Turismo

Cardigans

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 8, 2007)
• Original Release Date: November 3, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B00000DLVA
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (159 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,284 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Until now, the Swedish group the Cardigans were easily identified by their sunny, pop-friendly, melodic releases. Fearing being typecast as an act fluffier than a Nordic lamb, the band decided to head farther north for the winter. With Gran Turismo, their fifth release, you'll need your favorite, um, sweater, because the season has turned, the atmosphere is frosty, and, indeed, the nights are long and dark. Gran Turismo is a trip-hop album following the lead of grim meisters Portishead. The CD is punctuated with distorted, muted, uncomplicated guitar riffs and keyboard effects that often sound like a harpsichord played through a fuzz box. Nina Persson's slightly aching, sleepy little cutesy lead vocals sound as frictionless as rubbing two ice cubes together. Although the skies are grayer here, the one familiar musical element is their simple yet compelling rhythm structures, as evidenced in their jazz-informed drum patterns. If the Cardigans weren't competent musicians, this album would come across as nothing more than a career-sustaining maneuver. But with this solid, dark, and intriguing release, they've clearly demonstrated their ability to compose great songs, no matter what the weather. --Beth Bessmer

Entertainment Weekly

[The Cardigans shed] their tired '60s-isms in favor of blissfully kitschless trip-hop.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cardigans Take a Great Turn Towards Heavier Music, January 20, 2000

By	Derek (USA) - See all my reviews

Gran Turismo is sheer brilliance. Very few bands can completely change their sound within 5 years, and sound great all the way through.

This album is an amalgamation of all the deep, dark undercurrents running through the Cardigan's previous albums, sliding into it's greatest glumness during the morose, depressing "Marvel Hill" in which Nina Persson covertly explains that nothing in life is worth trying for because there will always be something better to achieve.

I won't lie to you; pretty much all of the lyrics on this album are just plain miserable in feel. But that doesn't limit the Cardigans to some of the routine "angry yelling" or "chord mashing" cliches of other alternative rock bands today.

Instead of screaming, they wail, and every melodic chord, every trippy drum-beat conveys a different emotion. The music works best in a dark room, with headphones on your ears, playing the music throughout your skull...I'm telling you, it's an amazing experience.

I was impressed by this definitive work of The Cardigans. It is most certainly worth your time and money.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grow Up With Nina..., August 18, 2004

By	C. D. Waage (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Nina has me feeling as if we were all growing up with her. In the beginning with "Life" we heard her in a youthful teenage phase of infatuation and carefree lifestyle. In "Gran Tourismo" Nina and her band make us feel the angst of the late 20s and early 30s. Her dissolusion with socitey and it's norms come clear. Now with "Long Gone Before Daylight" we feel as if she's now post-cynical in middle age, come to accept the stuff she can't change, with regrets and old memories. We can hear her baggage and lost loves in her voice. If you're like me you'll never forget her voice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my "Desert Island" discs, May 5, 2006

By	Kara Welch "romana" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was quite a shock for a Cardigans fan who starting listening to them when First Band on the Moon came out. After listening to Life and FBOTM over and over again, I was not expecting the Cards to go electronic. But I have to say, I'm glad they did. They more or less abandoned their original 60's sound; the only song on here that sounds like their earlier work is "Junk of the Hearts". The Cardigans have the same uncanny grace that bands like Saint Etienne have, able to switch sounds completely between albums and yet still sound like they've been playing this way forever.

"Paralyzed" is a great opening tune, I love the lyrics. "Explode", "Erase/Rewind", and "Hanging Around" are also oustanding tracks. My favorites would have to be "My Favourite Game" and "Do You Believe".

I haven't heard Long Gone Before Daylight very often and I have yet to hear their new one (who knows when it will be released in the US), but I can safely say that I will listen to whatever music they want to put out. Because chances are, it will be fantastic!