Monday, November 5, 2012

#193: The Cardigans - First Band on the Moon (1996)



Emily: You know that song that goes “Love me love me, say that you love me....fool me fool me, go on and fool me…la la la la la la la la la…”? Even if I just sang the la-la part instead of actual words, if you know any ‘90s music I’m sure you’d figure it out right away. But if I asked who sang that song, I would be met with a long awkward pause followed by, perhaps, “Spice Girls? S Club 7? Or was it B*Witched? No idea...but it’s so catchy!” It’s actually by The Cardigans, a Swedish pop band, from their breakthrough album First Band on the Moon, and the song is called Lovefool. You probably had no idea about any of that, which is what’s happened to most one-hit wonders throughout the decades. If you can’t stop happily humming Lovefool once you hear it, though, I definitely encourage you to check out the whole album. It’s filled with upbeat pop songs with a very mid-‘90s flair – even a pop-slow-jam version of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man. And now I’m singing Lovefool again...those Swedes sure know how to make some catchy music.
Favorite Tracks: Lovefool; Never Recover; Iron Man

Zack: Storytime: I was having a terrible day. When I got home, I put this album on and it really took the edge off. I mean, it’s so ridiculously infectious that you really can’t help bobbing your head back and forth. The secret is that the songs are all designed behind the lollipop-sweet vocals. Her voice is so sweet, I may have gotten a cavity. Terrible jokes aside, it really is just that upbeat. All of that said, I’m still not completely in love with this album. I’m in love with the lead singer, but the album raised mixed emotions overall. This feeling is epitomized in their super poppy rendition of Black Sabbath’s classic Iron Man. That really is a song meant to be kind of dark and brooding. But there they go, poppifying the hell out of it. They just really missed the spirit of the song overall, but it still sounded very catchy. I couldn’t say that I disliked it, but it just felt kind of unnatural. A lot of times, the Cardigans nail the right balance of sweet indie pop and sincerity (Lovefool, Been It), but there are still those one or two instances where it just doesn’t really feel right that prevent this album from being the sort of classic, montage-ready albums that it should be destined to be.
Favorite Tracks: Lovefool; Choke; Been It

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