I messed up the cassette listing - it doesn't list "Hanging Around" as the 'Radio Version'. Also, "My Favourite Game" is the 'Acoustic Radio Version' also on the 8-track Polydor CD-R promo (I erroneously listed it as 'Acoustic version') - this is from KZON-FM in Phoenix (just Nina on vocal with Peter on acoustic guitar) and is not available anywhere other than the cassette or CD-R promo as far as I know. There's another acoustic version which is on YouTube which I'm guessing is from this 2003 Universal compilation: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quiet-Storm-Electric-Acoustic/dp/B00009FM2B The only one I can see that might have been is "Lovefool (Radio Edit)" but the fade on the 'Radio Edit' on the CD single goes beyond the album edit point (only just) whereas on the iTunes collection it stops at the album edit point.
Two more... Digital Single Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) / A Good Horse (Live at Bayview) CD Single Carnival / Mr. Crowley / Emmerdale "Carnival" here is an unlisted single edit (loses the edit piece on the front of the album version):
I guess I didn't look closely enough at the iTunes album. Anyway, great work here. This would be perfect material for a box set. If only!
Another one is "Rise & Shine" In 1994, the original version was released as their first single along with the original version of "After All...". These are both found on Best Of. In 1995 a remake of "Rise & Shine" was released as a single. Later that year an edited version of this remake was used for the European edition of Life - a more energetic section of the song was used in place of the original intro (similar to what was done with "Hey! Get Out Of My Way"). Then in 1996 this edited version of the remake was also issued as a single. So, that makes the 1995 single (issued on CD and 7") the only place to get the unedited remake of "Rise & Shine":
Well, I was wrong - it's the KZON-FM acoustic version of "My Favourite Game" on The Quiet Storm set (handy, since it's easy to find and very cheap, and it should play for years to come, unlike the CD-R promo). So, that leaves me flummoxed as to the origin of this acoustic version: Anyone know where it's from?
Strange, I've been watching the first series of Arvingarne lately and didn't realise Nina had a song on there. Will have to listen out for it. Maybe it's the second series?
Just spotted this nice and exciting thread! Long overdue, but it seems like a release date is still way out of sight (oh, the patience!) ... Reading all the different comments on LGBD i guess it's down to how much you worship their earlier stuff. Being a fan of Emmerdale, Life and FBOTM i wasn't that enchanted by GT already. Enter LGBD and it felt like a real let-down, even though it's probably a decent album. I get the impression that afficionados of this and SEG don't care much for Emmerdale either ...
I'm in the same "earlier is better" camp - I think my issue with 'Grand Turismo' and what followed was this tendency in some bands based in pop that feel the need to turn towards darker, edgier material and downplay their "pop" side (Air comes to mind as having gone down that path). Their brand of retro-pop was actually relatively unique and with GT it felt like they just blended in with any number of darker electronic bands like Garbage or something like that. It's tough though, because artists shouldn't just be restricted to what they're good at - they just made a turn that didn't resonate with me personally, so can't really write the later stuff off, beyond just not listening to it.
I love GT but my favorite is the US configuration of Life, simply because that was their first album I knew about and I played it to death in the 90's. I still like to revisit it. It is one of those albums that sounds really great with tubes. Sweet, syrupy EL-34's, especially!
Garbage is a good comparison to some of GT. I thought that listening to their Best of recently. Also, while listening to the Best Of I've started to shift from my love of Long Gone back to GT (which I basically never listened to for about 16 years) after thinking Long Gone was perhaps their peak. I think the best thing about this band is that it's possible to enter at any stage of their career and like any individual album for what's it worth or what you feel like listening to on the day.
a cardigans thread! how nice i must say i like every incarnation of this band, even if the turn of the millennium marks a pretty big shift in songwriting and sound. love the a camp and nina solo stuff too. looks like peter svensson's writing Proper Hits for the weeknd and ariana grande now, which doesn't surprise me one bit--a sharper pen in pop is hard to find. if you've worn out your cardigans discs and ever find yourself itching for some bends-era radiohead in swedish i can recommend his side project paus from the late '90s. strictly for the anorak, perhaps, but it's a nice little red house painter-ish relic. a different time, a simpler time anyway. yeah, amazing group. perfect catalog, six solid albums and a rarities comp. what more do you need? i never did mind the LGBD direction; it's an amazing record and the band have always seemed very happy with it. it's that rare thing; a 'stripped-down', laid-back album that also roars with power but most importantly doesn't feel the need to invoke twangy americana at every turn. if anything, it builds on the utterly scandinavian atmosphere on gran turismo. ymmv, of course emmerdale--their weakest by far, but a remarkably assured debut for a bunch of kids. life is a classic (original sequence, of course), tied with daylight for the #1 spot. FBOTM is one of the great weird crossover records of the nineties, i can't imagine what people made of basically every track outside of the singles. life's demented cousin, and--pure speculation, here--a used-bin regular in middle america alongside last splash, eight arms to hold you and come on feel the lemonheads sometimes i wish for just one more album, but anything half-baked would dilute an otherwise impeccable discography. i sincerely hope they're waiting for the right moment to converge again
With how backed up the decent plants are as of late, I wouldn't expect them until fall at the very earliest.
This is an excellent thread for a fine band. I have happy memories of watching The Cardigans in Manchester in around 2006 when a group of East Asian fans called repeatedly for 'Lovefool' to be played. They were to be left disappointed but it was a fine gig.
Found a good album for fans of the Cardigans' vibe: AK-MOMO, Return to NY. They are a male/female duo from Sweden who play only Optigan, Orchestron, and Mellotron. Plus, (and I'm not sure it's a good thing), the Optigan and Orchestron sound like their discs had a lot of scratches and surface noise, and the Mellotron sounds like its tapes have lost oxide. So, you get very kitschy sounding lo-fi sampled instrumentation.
I love how they totally changed from album to album. Their greatest hits collection had to be the same as most the Beatles’ ones (in chronological order) cuz it would sound too weird jumping around with all of the different styles.
Really? I have one or two of the A Camp LPs and maybe a solo LP? I liked the first A Camp, but the second one not as much. Can you comment on the music? Is it folk, rock, punk, speedmetal? Thanks!
I discovered The Cardigans when I saw the Carnival video on MTV Europe while living in The Netherlands in 1995. I went out that day and bought Life and it's been one of my favorites ever since!! It was such a breath of fresh air during the time of the Blur v. Oasis wars. I especially like their version of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
