The Cardigans - Gran Turismo (1998)

The Cardigans third album revealed a band on a creative downward spiral. When they first appeared they were a breath of fresh air with each new release displaying unique pop sensibilities. While they hadn’t quite hit the dirge of say a band like Texas yet, their sound has become somewhat paralysed. The 2 singles 'Erase and Rewind' and 'My Favourite Game' flatter to deceive. The latter was needlessly played to death on the radio and MTV. Initially it was a sweet burst of melody and energy but like low-grade sugar it can sometimes leave a bad taste in the mouth if overused. That chunky guitar riff is quite addictive but after a time it does begin to grate. Good music needs to be handled with care, use sparingly and over time you'll appreciate it more.

'Erase and Rewind' takes a little while to sink into consciousness and when it does it turns out to be remarkably slight. Ok it could pass for nice background music in your local coffee-house but outside of this it is quite dull, lifeless and has some of the most inane lyrics imaginable. The Cardigans have it in them to conjure lots of pretty little tunes like 'Rise and Shine' but stuff like 'Erase and Rewind' sees them take a step backwards in order to appeal to an ambivalent public. Elsewhere 'Starter' is just short of middle of the road, pity that, as a spot of road kill would have saved us from its limp application. I just can't stand lazy music and this song is the Cardigans letting a somewhat malfunctioning autopilot take the controls. 'Marvel Hill' is deceptively enjoyable but its attractive kooky weirdness is ruined by a risible but overwhelming foghorn sound that runs right through it.

Gran Turismo is not a complete failure however. 'Explode' has a beautiful forlorn quality. Nina Persson's voice is crystal clear and sympathetic and the backing instruments sound gorgeously out of time. 'Hanging Around ' is repackaged Garbage (the band) but at least it has a certain oomph that is lacking elsewhere on the album. Persson's morning skylark vocals are an enjoyable feature on all Cardigans releases but here they don't come close to saving the day because more often than not the guffaw that surrounds them is too safe. 'Higher', for example, is just so twee, the accompanying sounds so risible you'd imagine they were generated by a third party gently using the hand of the sleeping guitarist to strum the strings of his guitar.

What disappoints most about Gran Turismo is that it sounds so sickly produced and packaged. It's a bit too wet behind the ears, like the band were usurped by their marketing department's sales aspirations. The album certainly gave the Cardigans a larger audience but this compromise means that the lively spark that defined their early recordings has been quenched. If you are still into the cassette format and own this album, make a copy of the remnants of quality and then rewind and erase.

Rating: 4/10

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