Cardigans

Best of - Mercury 2008

Tracks: 1. Rise & Shine / 2. Sick & Tired / 3. After All / 4. Carnival / 5. Daddy's Car / 6. Lovefool / 7. Been It / 8. Losers / 9. War / 10. My Favourite Game / 11. Erase / Rewind / 12. Hanging Around / 13. Higher / 14. For What It's Worth / 15. You're The Storm / 16. Live and Learn / 17. Communication / 18. I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need To Be Nicer / 19. Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds) / 20. Godspell / 21. Titre bonus / 22. Burning Down The House (Tom Jones) // 1. Pooh Song / 2. After All - Demo 93 / 3. I Figured Out Demo 93 / 4. Laika / 5. Plain Parade / 6. Emmerdale / 7. Carnival Puck Version / 8. Happy Meal I / 9. Nasty Sunny Beam / 10. Blah Blah Blah / 11. Losers' First Try / 12. Country Hell / 13. Lovefool Puck Version / 14. War First Try / 15. Deuce / 16. The Road / 17. Hold Me Mini Version / 18. Hold Me. 19. If There Is A Chance / 20. For The Boys / 21. (If You Were) Less Like Me / 22. Slowdown Town / 23. Give Me Your Eyes / 24. Slow

Comments:

This compilation of the Cardigans is really great and as good as a 2 CD collection can be hoped for. CD one contains the the singles along with a few selected album-tracks. Big fans of the band will already have the majority, if not all, of these songs. If you are not familiar with the Cardigans, this CD is highly recommended, as it covers the whole career of the band from 1994 till 2005.

CD 2 contains rarities and B-sides and this will obviously be the one that big fans of the band will appreciate the most. I’m not aware of any tracks missing that should have been included. Moreover the quality of most these tracks is on par with the material found on their regular albums.

Personally I first really began to appreciate the band after “Long Gone Before Daylight”, when their sound had become more tighter and fuller. The change from the early “thin” ( but charming ) sound of their early albums had in fact already begun with “Gran Turismo”, which contains the great “Erase and Rewind”, and even “Been it” from the previous album sounds just right. “Long Gone Before Daylight” is my clear favourite album, and all songs from that album would have been great picks for a compilation. Furthermore the outtakes and B-sides from this period, and included here, are as good as the best songs on the two recent albums. “The Road”, “Hold Me”, “If There’s a Chance”, “For the Boys”, “Less Like Me” and “Slowdown Town” are all outstanding songs and at least as good as the hits on CD 1. Fine booklet with interesting notes about each song. Highly recommended.

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