Track Listing

1. Happy Boys & Girls
2. My Oh My
3. Barbie Girl
4. Good Morning Sunshine
5. Doctor Jones
6. Heat Of The Night - Aqua, Claus Norreen, Hartmann, Jan Langhoff, Peter Hartmann, Søren Rasted
7. Be A Man - Aqua, Per Adebratt, Tommy Ekman
8. Lollipop (Candyman)
9. Roses Are Red - Aqua, Hartmann, Jan Langhoff, Peter Hartmann
10. Turn Back Time
11. Calling You - Aqua, Claus Norreen, Hartmann, Jan Langhoff, Peter Hartmann, R. Dif, Søren Rasted

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20252 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 41 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Danish group Aqua arrived on the international pop scene in 1997 with their multi-million selling smash "Barbie Girl". Developing a formula pioneered by their successful Swedish rivals Ace of Base and Whigfield, this album demonstrated that the band were more than just one hit wonders. Skilfully crafted for instant, easily digestible consumption, Aqua is equally entertaining at the club or at home. It is jammed full of bubble-gum pop classics, ranging from the Euro-disco opening track "Happy Girls And Happy Boys", to the Madonna-esque ballad "Turn Back Time". It is a treat for all pop lovers: an album which will both entertain and surprise. - -John Galilee

CD Description
AQUARIUM isn't the place to turn if you're looking for introspective, soul-searching meditiations on the meaning of life and the universe. But if you like techno bubble gum this might just be a little slice of heaven. They love it in Denmark, where the album went quintuple platinum, and they love it in the clubs, because the mechanical, boppy, sing-songiness makes for the perfect dance music. "Happy Boys and Girls",the disc's opening track, is a perfect representation of the Aqua sound: "Be happy" squeal the little-girl backup singers. The drum machine kicks in, mechanical high-hat hissing away, and you can just see those European dance floors filling up with happy Danish boys and girls. This disc has a tongue-in-cheek feel to it, as if Aqua is almost satirising the techno-dance genre, but it's basically harmless, good-naturedfun.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic
A fantastically trashy collection of cartoonish Europop, often so cheerful and upbeat that it's almost depressing ('Happy Boys and Girls' for example). The haunting vocal interplay of squeaky Lene and gruff Rene is something that you don't forget in a hurry, and the artfully-mangled English (almost the first line on the album is 'I've got a feeling you could use a little smile') adds to the goofy charm. It's actually quite hard to not like them - they don't seem to have any pretentions to being 'art' (unlike, say, 'Ace of Base').

The stand-out tracks here are the singles 'Barbie Girl', 'My Oh My', 'Dr Jones', and 'Turn Back Time' (which sounds extraordinarily Madonna-esque), with 'Happy Boys and Girls' and 'Calling Me' acting as solid reserves. Most of the other songs are fairly anonymous - 'In the Heat of the Night' is fun, but you'll probably skip the rest.

Given the band's inventive visual style, it would have been nice if the album had included the amusing videos, but you can't have everything.

Cheesy brilliance!
Aqua - you either love 'em or hate 'em. I find their tunes irritatingly catchy, once they're in your head, they won't go away! Barbie Girl has to be my favourite track on this album, it rocks!

great euro pop
Not a fan of Euro Pop, as the music is not terribly accessible where I live, but this is one of a kind- it's humoreous, camp, and oddly reminds me of Channel 4's Euro Trash. The singles are worth getting too- specially My Oh My, has great techno remixes by sash, etc. Best tracks are Doctor Jones and Barbie Girl. Anyone who doesn't like this album and likes dance obviously does not have a sense of humour. Whenever I listen to it I always wonder how much money hey made for them to retire.