Track Listing

1. Cartoon Heroes
2. Around The World
3. Freaky Friday
4. We Belong In The Sea
5. Apple A Day
6. Halloween
7. Good Guys
8. Back From Mars
9. Aquarius
10. Cuba Libre
11. Bumble Bees
12. Goodbye To The Circus

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95079 in Music
• Released on: 2001-12-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
On Aquarium, Aqua were "Barbie Girls"; now they're "Cartoon Heroes". A slight change in context for their second album, but essentially, it's business as usual--and let's not forget that Aqua do this slapstick kiddie-pop thing with a lot more panache than their shamelessly novelty Euro-goons peers. The relentless zaniness of Aquarius may sometimes become slightly cloying, especially those too-chirpy-by-half chipmunk voices on "Cartoon Heroes", but there's no denying that this is a pop group that really lives this pop lark--shaven-headed frontman Rene really does talk in that comedy growl and frontwoman Lene really doesn't wear more than a stretched scrap of PVC whenever she leaves the house. Which makes Aquarius quite likeable, actually--especially on the slapstick-trance workout of "Around The World", which even manages to squeeze in a brief geography lesson. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
Gliding above the seemingly kitschy Europop of Aqua is the angelic voice of Lene Nystrom, the band's most appealing element. At times, Nystrom seems to capture the sexiness of Madonna and the quirkiness of Bjork.
AQUARIUS opens with theDisneyish and aptly titled "Cartoon Heroes". Poking fun at country music, "Freaky Friday" weighs the realities of life's mishaps against the cliches of the genre. "Halloween" opens with an endearing B-horror movie reference, and the sometimes abrasive vocals of Rene Dif work perfectly as the song'svillain. The mid-tempo groove of "Good Guys" is a refreshing departure from the monotony of 4/4 dance songs. Hidden among the walls of synthesizers, timpani, theremin, and other unexpected instrumentation are some undeniable catchy pop hooks, such as that of "Back From Mars". The Latin-flavoured "Cuba Libre" adds some spice with flamenco guitar and percussion. "Bumble Bees" calls on Aqua's trademark brand of sexy metaphors. The title track is a dramatic ballad with complementary orchestration and well-placed harmonies, showing that Aqua is capable of a great deal more than trendy novelty songs.

Customer Reviews

Great pop.
I loved "Aquarium" because of its ability to be totally light-hearted about relationships, rather than getting bogged down in all the drama. This CD is more of the same light-heartedness without the pull to sing about relationships as much. The songs are all extremely well-crafted and can have you singing along in no time. It's all very endearing. I love Aqua. My favorites are "Freaky Friday" and "Cartoon Heroes" (although the Metro remix of "Cartoon Heroes" on the CD single is absolutely the BEST).

Don't laugh...this is top stuff
Comparing Aqua to modern indie-rock is like comparing Shakespere's Hamlet to the Da Vinci Code. Swallow your pride, and there is some utterly daft but very entertaining stuff here. The average UK punter will always rate it is highly naff, but actually, Aqua will crack you up. I wish there was more of this nonsense to brighten up my quintisentially English view of the world. Wonderfully bananas.

Bigger
Essentially this is 'Aquarium' with a bigger budget - the ballads are lusher, and the dance beats thud louder. And the photo of Lene on the front cover is a lot nicer.

It's the same mix as before - a mix of catchy europop and lush ballads, sung by the unique vocal talents of Lene and Rene (who actually gets to sing properly this time). The amusing gruff/squeaky interplay of the first album has been scaled down, and it's slightly more 'grown-up', if that means anything for an album that has a called 'An Apple a Day'.

'Bumble Bees' is amazingly rude ('I'm in need of pollination' indeed), 'Halloween' has thrash metal guitar-work, and 'We belong to the sea', although an otherwise-unremarkable catchy ballad, has one of the most incongruous names in europop (it sounds as if it should be by the Sugarcubes).

It also has some 'interactive' features, which you will glance at for five minutes once, and never look at ever again.

For what was initially viewed as a novelty act ('Barbie Girl' was ubiquitous) if Aqua can keep this up they seem set to become a modern-day Abba.