Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Cardigans always give you something different, December 5, 2005
I've been a Cardigans fan since their 1995 album "Life". Every album this band puts out is quite different from the others; and Super Extra Gravity continues this tradition. It doesn't sound like any other Cardigans record.
If you're already a Cardigans fan I can explain Super Extra Gravity like this...
It rocks harder than Long Gone Before Daylight.
It doesn't rock as hard as Gran Turismo.
It's nowhere near as poppy as Emmerdale, Life, or First Band on the Moon.
If what I just wrote makes no sense to you...
If you're a new Cardigans fan I would recommend you buy their 1995 album "Life" first. If you like it - move onto "First Band on the Moon" and proceed chronologically; going back for 1994's "Emmerdale" last. In my opinion getting the Cardigans CDs in this order lets you truly experience the growth of this band. Very cool.
The Cardigans continue to develop as a band; and with each new record they take their fans in a completely new direction. That's one of their best qualities; and why Super Extra Gravity is an excellent record. In my opinion it's not their best; but it is very good.
Favorite tracks are "I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer" and "Godspell".
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the album I've been waiting for., November 6, 2005
I've never written a review before for a cd, but felt compelled as the latest work from The Cardigans struck me as something great and I feared they would be spoken of badly or misinterpreted by someone, hindering another from experiencing this revolution in music. So in an attempt to rescue the underdog-let me bring this album into the light and assure you that you're making a wise choice in considering this cd.
I've been a Cardigans fan for nearly as long as they've been around, which is close to a decade. Their music seems to move with the general feeling of the musically inclined at that point and time, even so far as initiating the next wave of emotion. When I was younger and needed a different sound from everything so commercial that was being spoon fed to us, I was given Life, their second album. As I grew up, it seemed their music transitioned as well rather than recreating itself and becoming diluted. Life was such an innocently tainted album with a hush of warm anger that you would be long basking in it's light before you felt sly schemes already manifesting themselves in your mind and disrupted your organized view of love and friendship. For the Cardigans, their inspiration was found in hard rock, death metal groups and a desire to go against everything their small lives had led them to up until their converging, so I wasn't as surprised when they began inching toward the darkness with covers of black sabbath and anthems against love.
It had been years since Gran Turismo when I learned they'd released Long Gone Before Daylight. I was skeptical because I didn't find myself relating to them as much when Gran Turismo came out, and sensed that maybe as an artist, they we're more a tool for commercialism rather than the love of music. But trusting them, I bought the cd and soon it took the reigns of my emotions that I'd unsuccessfully controlled, and steered me into a direction that I almost wasn't sure that I was allowed to feel. Giving her failed love a physical manifestation (And then he kissed me) by solemly singing of how this emotion beat her and left her bruised evokes an understanding of how relationships, in their endings, are powerful enough to seemingly affect you in that manner. It was perfectly calm yet deeply upset, the antithesis of what's been playing and produced, and exactly what I needed to hear . It felt like emotions could be expressed by just listening to that album and that I understood what was being expressed.
So, much to my surprise, Super Extra Gravity was right around the corner to being released, because apparently LGBD was not released in the US until a year after it had come out in Europe.
Putting that cd in drew so much anticipation from me and I knew that their opening chords were the start of something great. The first track is a collection of chaos, timing, depth and intelligence that sets you up for the rest of the album. Godspeed, the next track, is one of my favorite songs. I've read that it's about the town they are from, which is engrossed in the christian religion. The song- a declaration of rebellion and opened eyes to their dogma. The following songs are amazing without trying to be and that's what I love about them. Each one breaking the mold of traditional song structure, allowing an obsessive love over a song to develop from something as obscure as the last chords strummed not once throughout the entire song, but used to seal the end of a track. They're not wrapped in the production so much that it begins to lose it's original spark, yet not so fearful of being understood that they short change themselves.
This album is angrier and louder than LGBD, and in a lot of ways, resembles the same process we take in getting over a relationship in that LGBD was a quiet, hurtful rage that spurned Super Extra Gravity into orbit as a way of healing. Super Extra Gravity was the perfect transition from LGBD and my faith in The Cardigans as true musicians has deepened even further. I would love one day to hear them go back to their breezy-afternoon-cocktail-lounge roots as a testimony that they're who they've always been, only showing the human quality of another emotion.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Great Cardigans Album, January 9, 2006
The Cardigans have to be one of the greatest overlooked bands around. The musical arrangments are complex but subtle, giving the album an easy simple feel. However, if you really listen to the layers and depth of the music you will be blown away by how beautiful and rich it can be. Of course the vocals are once again sweet and passionate and complement the music. Nina's voice is wonderful, I can think of no other singer whose voice is as "nice on the ears" as hers. Their previous effort "Long gone before daylight" is also an exellent album. Every release by the Cardigans gives you a taste of something new, and each time it is something unexpected, and unexpectedly good. Support this truely wonderful band, you will love this album. the more I listen to it, the more I want to put it in my CD player. They should have gotten a grammy for "Long gone before daylight", or at least some serious recognition. I am shocked by how many people do not recognize the cardigans when I play them the CD. All they remember is the old "love Fool" song that dominated the airways and the "Romeo and Juliet" production. There is so much more to this band. Every one I have played this ablum for liked it and asked for a copy. I told them to show support for the band and buy it!! I want this group to continue putting albums out. Buy this album, you will not be sorry you did.
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