Life

Cardigans

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 20, 1996)
• Original Release Date: February 20, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Minty Fresh
• ASIN: B000003KX0
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,202 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #15 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Twee Pop
  #21 in	Music > Indie Music > Pop > Pop Rock
  #23 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Ambient Pop

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
These days it's getting harder to tell the real pop twerps from the hip parodists--both of whom make music sweeter and more dizzying than cherry wine. Take Sweden's Cardigans, for example: On one hand, they work the same delicious Bacharach lounge jazz and gooey '60s girl swoons as Pizzicato Five, a group whose retrokitsch is delivered with a big, fake-eyelashed wink. On the other hand, the Cardigans come from a land that gave us Abba and Ace of Base, sincere pop legends if ever there were. The Cardigans, it seems, could go either way, and their subtle blend of pop-for-pop's-sake with pop-for-joke's-sake makes their first American release, Life, all the more a modernist gem.

There's no use digging below the surface of Life's amazingly catchy opening quartet of tunes. All the joy to be extracted lies right on the surface: "Carnival"'s loopy organ and punchy beat is all cotton candy and merry-go-rounds; "Daddy's Car" is a fun-fun-fun ride to the up-up-and-away; "Fine" soars heavenward while "Rise & Shine" is mile-a-minute perk-me-up. From there, though, "Our Space" ventures deeper, into darker and moodier atmospherics and a trip-hoppy electronic shuffle. Singer Nina Persson's crystalline lullaby voice keeps it all sounding innocent as hell, but when she sinks her candy-coated teeth into a Black Sabbath cover ("Sabbath Bloody Sabbath") she exposes a few sinister cavities. By the time she closes the album, exulting "No one can be happier than me!" the effect is eerie enough for David Lynch. With Life, the Cardigans give us pop till it hurts. --Roni Sarig

Product Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing includes five bonus tracks over the original Swedish version, 'Sick & Tired', 'Rise & Shine', 'Celia Inside', 'After All', & 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'. Universal. 2008. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Pop Gem That's Sure to Please, January 20, 2000

By	Derek (USA) - See all my reviews

If I could give an album more than five stars, Life would be the first candidate to receive it.

This CD is just brimming with an innocent joy that is as infectious as it is melodically brilliant. Just try to resist tapping your toes to "Carnival" or "Tomorrow", and it's hard to quell the urge to sing along with the delightful chorus of "Daddy's Car".

This is one of very few great pop albums. The atmosphere of the album is great, but don't take this to mean that the musicians aren't talented: one only needs to hear "Sick & Tired" for some great guitar work. A listen to "Tomorrow" will garner you with some of the best drum work of a band today. And on "Carnival", lead singer Nina's Persson's voice is taken to a whole new level of feeling, apart from her normal whisper.

This album is sheer genius. Credit also goes to the Cardigans for "Our Space" a trippy, and thoughtful song that revels in Nina's minimalist voice. The kitsch of "Gordon's Gardenparty" is wonderfully shameless.

DEFINITELY worth your time and money.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars other lives, October 19, 2005

A Kid's Review

i can't understand the different song line ups. the first "life" i bought a very long time ago was a cassette that had 11 songs. the flow of the album is so perfect i loved it so much i overplayed it and had my cassette player eat it. so i bought the cd and there's another different song line up (gasp!) and later would i find out that it's the UK Version of "life" which had additional songs from the earlier album "emmerdale" including a different take on Rise & Shine (which is nice) and ommitted Pikebubbles, Sunday Circus Song and Closing Time. and now this - the minty fresh release of "life". it ommitted Traveling with Charley, replaced the new version of Rise & Shine with the old version and added more songs from "emmerdale" (i really don't think that Our Space fits right in "life" kinda wrecks the happy-go-lucky mood) the first version of "life" IMHO is still superior and i'm aware, as well as the band do, that the minty fresh version acts as some kind of a compilation between the cardigans' first two albums, if you really want to experience the real "life" please do check out the one that starts with carnival and ends with closing time, me thinks it's some kind of a concept album, a very happy one. the songs from "emmerdale" wrecked the happy mood, as we all know "emmerdale's" not that happy at all.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure pop perfection, March 24, 2002

By	giovanni (Greece) - See all my reviews

Pop divas seem to be suffocating in their own image these days . Britney Spears has repeatedly asked us not to look at her like she's " a little girl " while on the other side of the Atlantic Victoria Beckham has recently declared too that she's not " such an innocent " female either . Back in 1995 , Nina Persson wouldn't care what you think about her . Innocence was not a bad thing for her and her band , The Cardigans . Their debut album " Life " is full of a 60's kind of style interpid sweetness .

The Swedes chose to divert the bad side of life and prefer to sing mostly about the small little details that make life as great as it is : a ride with friends , a lover's kiss , a walk at a beach nearby . Even a heartbrake ( " After All " ) is delivered here with such a tender sadness which is impossible to characterise as let's say ,depressing . From the genuin melancholy of " Sick and Tired " to the daydreaming of " Carnival " , everything here flows naturally and stands out for it's well-crafted pop complexion .

Having covered the distance between carefree pop to electronica in less than four years , The Cardigans are now exploring different paths of today's music reality . For someone who's not familiar with their early work , " Life " might come as a pleasant shock . Discover the early Cardigans and embrace this album's virtues .