LaRM day 67 (Caravan-Cardigans)

So we kick off today with some serious(ly terrible) Canterbury sound prog in the shape of Caravan's For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night (1973). Now this album did the double in that it managed to fit into two record quests that Patrick and I undertook, the first being that we had to hunt down as much quality 70's prog as possible, and secondly that we had to buy every album that we came across that was released in the year that we were born. I've got some terrible records as a result of that mission, but this is I think the first so for on this odyssey. Anyway, Caravan were pretty terrible, and they insisted on having rather juvenile suggestive song and album titles ('Derek's Long Thing', 'He Who Smelt It, Dealt It') which doesn't really give any indication of the absurdly overblown ambition of most of the music. The 10 minute album closer for instance is a dramatic piece, made of reimagined bits of folk tunes strewn throughout with prog synths and a full orchestra. It's ridiculous and although I have to admit to sneakily loving this stuff, it's also total shit. As is the rest of the album which is a mixture of little prog pop songs and stupidly complicated prog blowouts ('Cthlu Thlu' is mind-bendingly daft) but as I say I can't help but dig this abject nonsense.

I really, really loved the Cardigans way back when and listening to Emmerdale again for the first time in ages I'm reminded why. It's a thoroughly charming record which manages to marry a relentlessly bleak outlook with some of the most endearingly cheerful tunes. Every song is an absolute winner and it's that mix of lyrical miserablism with upbeat melody that creates such an unexpectedly wonderufl record. 'Rise & Shine', 'Sick & Tired' and 'After All...' are all fabulous pop songs and indeed even the slower, slightly less bright songs ('Over the Water', 'In the Afternoon') are real stunners (in some ways I prefer the slower songs because they reflect the overall gloom of the record more precisely). A couple of singles were released to promote Emmerdale and it's another sign of the quality of the Cardigans songwriting that their B-sides are always decent. 'Plain Parade' is a great song that is easily good enough to have fitted on the album, and it ends with a classy tribute to their beloved Black Sabbath. Indeed the B-side to the first single from the second album, 'Carnival' is a priceless cover of Sabbath's 'Mr Crowley'.

Second album, Life (1995) was the first offical release outside Sweden and as a result it's a mix of new songs and choice bits from Emmerdale (which like an idiot I spent £25 on in 1995, not realising that it would get an official UK release the following year). The decision seems to have been to sell the band as a kind of retro-kitsch act and therefore all but one of the gloomier songs from Emmerdale make no appearance on Life and the new songs are all super-upbeat and although lyrically Nina Persson is still pretty down, the songs on the surface are pretty light, airy and indeed a touch kitsch. It's sort of a false impression that the album gives of what the band are really like and I think for many people the super-gloomy elements of the next album came as something of a surprise. Anyway, Life is a lovely record and if you're prepared for the more over the top popiness of it ('Gordon's Garden Party'!) then it's another charmer. The B-sides to the 'Rise & Shine' single are a bit silly ('Pikebubbles' is a cutesy song but 'Cocktail Party, Bloody Cocktail Party' is a 16 minute bit of knockabout daftness in which a selection of Cardigans tunes are reinterpreted on lounge piano).

The big smash hit for the band came with the first single from the third album. I've always found 'Lovefool' to be a faintly unsatisfying song outside the context of the album and as a stand-alone song it becomes surprisingly hollow. No wonder it was such a huge success. Anyway, the B-sides are OK, 'Nasty Sunny Beam' is fairly typical Cardigans fare and there's a demo version of another Sabbath cover. 'Lovefool' works much better in the context of the album First Band on the Moon (1996) which is far and away their best record as far as I'm concerned. All of the winkingly twee arrangements have been effectively jettisoned and the overall tone and feel of the album is long, long way away from that of Life. It's a relentlessly grim album tonally and topically and although there's still a little joie de vivre in the sound, for the most part the tunes match the sentiment. It's a very grown-up record and a very unhappy one which absolutely revels in the opportunity to revisit the darker moments of Emmerdale. It's a really fabulous album and certainly one of the best indie pop records of the 90's, it's really, really great. Another single from the album was 'Been It' (a much better song than 'Lovefool' for a single I think) and the B-sides are a jaunty demo of an album track, and great new tune, 'Blah Blah Blah'.
And so from their best album to their worst. Gran Turismo (1998) is more gloom lyrically but it's also gloom musically and the incorporation of some electronic instrumentation and processed drums make something of a mockery of their previous records and do the band no good service as a result. Instead of First Band on the Moon's hugely delicate and hugely successful balancing act, Gran Turismo is simply turgid. It's not a bad album but it's simply not a good one either. It's really just a fairly boring rock record. The only songs to really have any life in them are the two biggest singles ('My Favourite Game' and 'Erase/Rewind') but even these two are disappointing by the Cardigans standards. Taking a bit of a break allowed the band to rethink and 2003's Long Gone Before Daylight is a great return to form. Persson's association with Nathan Larson and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous seems to have inspired the band to incorporate a little bit of laid back Americana into their Nordic indie-pop and the result is a langorous and surprisingly mature record which is a joy to listen to. It's a kind of late night slow-burner and in direct contrast to Gran Turismo's clinical, processed chilliness Long Gone Before Daylight is a smoky, warm record. The songs are bigger, denser but much more interesting. There are some lovely rock songs ('You're the Storm' is great) and the whole thing sounds much more relaxed and confident than anything on Gran Turismo.