Track Listing

1. Carnival - The Cardigans, Tore Johansson, Nina Persson, Peter Svensson, Lars Olof Johansson, Bengt Lagerberg, Magnus Sveningsson, Ã…sa HÃ¥kansson
2. Gordon's Gardenparty
3. Daddy's Car
4. Sick & Tired - The Cardigans, Tore Johansson, Peter Svensson, Anders Nordgren
5. Tomorrow
6. Rise & Shine
7. Beautiful One
8. Travelling With Charley
9. Fine
10. Celia Inside - The Cardigans, Tore Johansson, Peter Svensson
11. Hey! Get Out Of My Way - The Cardigans, Tore Johansson, Nina Persson, Magnus Sveningsson, Peter Svensson, Lars Olof Johansson, Bengt Lagerberg
12. After All... - The Cardigans, Tore Johansson, Peter Svensson, Nina Persson, Lars Olof Johansson, Bengt Lagerberg, Magnus Sveningsson, Ivan Bakran
13. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - The Cardigans, Tore Johansson, Peter Svensson

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40139 in Music
• Released on: 1999-05-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 47 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Statistics are a baffling thing. They tell us that Sweden enjoys Europe's highest standard of living and its highest suicide rate. Statistics also tell us that The Cardigans are the country's most successful musical export since Abba. This actually makes perfect sense, for the quintet's music is an uncannily accurate microcosm of the country that spawned it--deliciously breezy pop melodies lent just enough bite by Nina Persson's fatalistic vocals. It's a recipe they perfected with unnerving confidence on Life, which exhibits an instinctive familiarity with the pantheon of timeless pop. Burt Bacharach's shadow looms unmistakably over the pensive autumnal strains of "Celia Inside" and "Tomorrow", whilst fragrant indie-pop nuggets such as "Rise And Shine" and "Gordon's Gardenparty" suggest that guitarist/songwriter Peter Svensson spent more than the occasional evening learning his craft from old Smiths records. It is, of course, impossible to discuss intuitive 90s female-fronted pop acts without mentioning Saint Etienne. The appreciation, in this case, is mutual; so impressed were the Etienne with the airy pristine sound of Life, that they were inspired to record 1997's Good Humor in the same Malmo studios. --Peter Paphides

From 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

CD Description
As Nina Persson's velour-smooth vocals prove, LIFE is much sweeter and more profound than simply a box of chocolates. Her gorgeous voice is the perfect complement to the rest of the Cardigans' jazz-tinged, retro sound. Straight outta Sweden, the quintet plays a unique hybrid of confectionated pop and space-age bachelor-lounge music. The lush arrangements are festooned with vibes, horns, bassoons, bells, strings and futuristic synthesizers, leaving one with the incorrect but plausible impression that these intensely creative Scandinavians have kidnapped Burt Bacharach and looted his back catalogue. Amazingly, there's not a sample to be found on the entire disc.
The bureaucratic FDA has yet to develop (let alone, approve) an inoculation strong enough to resist the highly infectous pop of "Daddy's Car" or "Rise & Shine" from attacking your pop immune system. The flute refrains on "Over The Water" and "Sick & Tired" (the first single) are pure Ennio Marricone spaghetti-Western kitsch, while the trip-hoppy"Our Space" could be a track on a Portishead album. With nary a lame-o song to be found on the entire 14 tracks, LIFE is worth living over and over again.

Customer Reviews

It's a wonderful life
This is a classic example of intelligent, thoughtful pop music. Each track on this CD is beautifully crafted, the arrangements owing much to Bacharach and David as they do to Blondie. This album captures the Cardigans prior to their current Black Sabbath fixation (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is included in all its' lounge-pop glory), and every tune, even the songs dealing with breaking up, is relentlessly feelgood. I have never been able to listen to this album without grinning like an idiot - it sweeps you up with the catchy choruses. Sick and Tired and Hey! Get Out Of My Way! are the standout tunes, but there is nothing on this album that I would change. I have owned this album for three years, and never tired of it. It's a bargain. Go on, take the gamble.

perfect plinky-plonky pop
Life is a collection of uplifting and upbeat lounge pop classics, all of which will have your fingers tapping at the car steering wheel and which will bring a ray of sunshine into your day, even if the lyrics alone wouldn't. Nina Persson's soothingly sickly voice caresses each lyric in an almost French and fairgroundesque manner. No other album fulfils the requirement of a refreshing, catchy, yet serious piece of music, which is why I recommend that ALL should have it in their collection. Before that stress frizzes you out, get a smile on your face.

Make sure you go for the original Swedish release
The UK version omits 4 tracks and includes tracks from their debut album 'Emmerdale' mixed into the tracklisting, so it's a completely different album really. The proper version of 'Life' is as follows:

1) Carnival
2) Gordon's Gardenparty
3) Daddy's Car
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