The Cardigans "Super Extra Gravity" (2005)

Super Extra Gravity
release date: Oct. 14, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Tore Johansson
label: Stockholm Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Losing a Friend" - 2. "Godspell" - 5. "I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nicer"

6th and final studio album by The Cardigans. They haven't officially disbanded but haven't released new material for more than eight years. The band has kept to the same producer, the same record label, and the same songwriters over all their years playing together, but again their style has changed. They have moved away from the apparent American bonds on Long Gone Before Daylight (2003) to just play pop / rock or alt. rock with some resemblance to the style of PJ Harvey. I like this better, and frankly think that it's their best release since First Band on the Moon (1996).
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

The Cardigans "Long Gone Before Daylight" (2003)

Long Gone Before Daylight
release date: Mar. 24, 2003
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,98]
producer: Per Sunding and The Cardigans

label: Stockholm Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 2. "You're the Storm" (3 / 5) - 7. "For What It's Worth" (3 / 5) - 9. "Live and Learn" (3 / 5)

5th studio album by The Cardigans. It took the band 5 years to put this album together and rumours had it that the band was history and no new material would be released. Vocalist Nina Persson was involved in her side-project A Camp and the bassist Magnus Sveningsson in his own project Righteous Boy, however, the band continues in the style from the predecessor, Gran Turismo with a slower more traditional pop / rock but also a new folk rock or country rock style that seem bound to an American musical tradition. In my opinion, this is their least interesting effort.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

The Cardigans "Gran Turismo" (1998)

Gran Turismo
release date: Oct. 19, 1998
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,16]
producer: Tore Johansson
label: Stockholm Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Paralyzed" - 2. "Erase / Rewind" - 3. "Explode" - 6. "Higher" - 8. "My Favourite Game"

4th studio album by The Cardigans is a stylistic change. Completely gone is the loose and 'blue-eyed' lounge and jazz pop and instead the band is transformed into a Blur sound-a-like clone with a sudden strong love for britpop. The producer (Tore Johansson), record label (Stockholm Records), as well as primary songwriters, Nina Persson and Peter Svensson, all remain unchanged, so the band has simply grown, wanting to explore new grounds. The result, however, is to me less interesting, but record buyers didn't care as the album became the best-selling The Cardigans album so far and the first to reach number #1 on the national albums chart list (peaking as number #8 in the UK). The music video for My favourite game, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, was received as highly controversial in many countries as it shows Nina Persson acting a staged GTA suicidal game of crashing her car into other cars on an American straight highway driving in the wrong lane.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Paus "Paus" (1998)

Paus [debut]
release date: May 1, 1998
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Peter Svensson
label: RCA Victor - nationality: Sweden

Tracklist: 1. "Ett undantag för vem som helst" - 2. "Smeknamn" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Mitt samvete din hämnd" (3,5 / 5) - 4. "Amerikana" - 5. "Snöängel" (4 / 5) - 6. "Fotografi" - 7. "Sårbar (jag önskar jag var)" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Leia" (3,5 / 5) (live) - 9. "En lögn" (3,5 / 5) - 10. "Chock" (4 / 5)

A collaboration debut album by the Swedish duo-project Paus consisting of the two prominent songwriters, Peter Svensson, guitarist (and songwriter) of The Cardigans and Joakim Berg, vocalist (and songwriter) of Kent. Paus is Swedish for 'pause', reflecting the hiatus they both were experiencing in their respective bands. Actually, the drummer of The Cardigans, Bengt Lagerberg is one of the studio musicians and he plays on all tracks. This is not the style they're normally associated with in their "own" bands but it's more of a chamber pop and ambient art pop with fine delicate harmonies and beautiful pieces of sound. A precious little album that deserves much more attention.

[ Here's another fine track: "Kärlekens tunga" from this duo (with Joakim on vocals) on the Eldkvarn, or Plura Jönsson, tribute album Plura 50 - En hyllningsplatta (2001) ]

The Cardigans "First Band on the Moon" (1996)

First Band on the Moon
release date: Sep. 17, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Tore Johansson
label: Stockholm Records . nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Your New Cuckoo" - 2. "Been It" (4 / 5) - 5. "Never Recover" - 6. "Step On Me" - 7. "Lovefool" (4,5 / 5) (live on 'late night') - 8. "Losers" - 11. "Choke"

3rd studio album by The Cardigans. With strong catchy songs like "Been It", "Never Recover", and "Lovefool", this is just as great as the debut, although the jazz pop style has almost vanished. To me this is their last great album. Just like the debut album, this contains a Black Sabbath cover song, "Iron Man".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

The Cardigans "Life" (1995)

Life
release date: Mar. 1, 1995
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]
producer: Tore Johansson
label: Stockholm Records - nationality: Sweden

Tracklist: 1. "Carnival" (4 / 5) (live) - 2. "Gordon's Gardenparty" - 3. "Daddy's Car" (live) - 4. "Pikebubbles" - 5. "Tomorrow" - 6. "Beautiful One" - 7. "Travelling With Charley" - 8. "Fine" - 9. "Sunday Circus Song" - 10. "Hey! Get Out of My Way" - 11. "Closing Time"

2nd studio album by The Cardigans. This release annoyed me a bit for many years because it included several tracks from the debut album. But the thing is, it comes in at least three versions with the same cover and released almost at the same time. Only recently, I managed to get hold of the original Swedish album edition, which is without any tracks from the debut, which makes sense. The international (UK, French, Canadian) release on the other hand has five tracks from Emmerdale, and that was unfortunately the most common release very soon outside Sweden. Another version was released in the US with a different track list but also featuring five tracks from the debut. Anyway, the best tracks on the original Swedish release are "Carnival", "Daddy's Car", "Pikebubbles" (omitted on the international editions), and "Tomorrow".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

1995 Favourite releases: 1. Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill - 2. The Cardigans Life - 3. The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Cardigans "Emmerdale" (1994)

Emmerdale [debut]
release date: Feb. 18, 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]
producer: Tore Johansson
label: Stockholm Records - nationality: Sweden

Tracklist: 1. "Sick & Tired" (4 / 5) (live on MTV) - 2. "Black Letter Day" - 3. "In the Afternoon" - 4. "Over the Water" - 5. "After All..." - 6. "Cloudy Sky" - 7. "Our Space" - 8. "Rise & Shine" (5 / 5) - 9. "Celia Inside" - 10. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" - 11. "Seems Hard" - 12. "Last Song"

Studio album debut by The Cardigans originally released in Sweden on Trampolene Records - the first in a long series of albums produced by Tore Johansson - is a new introduction to great modern, classic pop music with bonds to baroque pop of the late '60s.
Aside from great original songs like "Sick & Tired", "In the Afternoon", "Over the Water", "After All...", "Cloudy Sky", and the best track "Rise & Shine", it also contains a very original and fine cover version of the Black Sabbath classic "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath".
I may not have entirely loved the album from day one. I remember, listening to it thinking it was quite all right, a bit too innocently naïve, I mean, my favourites at the time was music in the alt. rock genre like Sugar, Bob Mould, Psyched Up Janis, R.E.M. and Brittish rave electronica phenonomen, The Prodigy, so yes, this was somewhat slower and... not really rock or electrified enough BUT I still liked it. A few years later, I realised that loved it. This is one of their absolute best alongside the two following albums. It's also their defining moment when they played lounge pop, by some referred to as 'blue-eyed' pop or twee-pop, but with a certain jazz feel to it. Later on it became too britpop and pop / rock-inspired loosing the band's unique style and sound, imho.
But this is pure gold.

The Cardigans

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The Cardigans: is a Swedish band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, 1992. Members: Peter Svensson (aka Anders Peter Svensson, guitar), Magnus Sveningsson (aka Magnus Johan Sveningsson, bass), Bengt Lagerberg (drums), Lars-Olof Johansson (keyboard), and Nina Persson (aka Nina Elisabet Persson, lead vocalist). The band has existed unchanged since its formation in '92. Peter and Magnus were influenced by heavy rock and heavy metal before joining with the other band members. The initial sound, which may be heard on their first three albums, starting off with the debut, Emmerdale (1994), the band played a style with vocal jazz elements and a style close to easy listening with a strong influence from baroque pop of the 1960s, and to what some would refer to as indie pop or twee-pop. Hence, the band progressed into more traditional pop / rock, at first with some britpop inspiration and later shaped with a more country rock, folk rock style, and ultimately on their latest and so far final album, Super Extra Gravity (2005), the sound is pop / rock close to alt. rock / indie pop. The majority of their songs have lyrics written by Nina Persson and music composed by guitarist Peter Svensson. After the band's commercial success with Gran Turismo (1998) they all went on a hiatus. Nina Persson got married, and she formed the project band A Camp together with Niclas Frisk (from Atomic Swing) and her husband Nathan Larson (from Shudder to Think). Bassist Magnus Sveningsson released a solo album under the name of Righteous Boy, and guitarist Peter Svensson formed a collaboration project with Kent vocalist Joakim Berg named Paus (Swedish for Pause or Break, as both Kent and Cardigans were bands contemporary on hold). Most recently, the band played live concerts at various festivals in 2012 and 2013 but no material has officially been under its way.

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