Ace of Base - Da Capo

(the Japanese version!)

Released: September 2003

Purchased: Six or seven years ago on eBay.

Playthrough:

Unspeakable - I loved this and played the crap out of it when I bought it on iTunes as I was going through my Ace of Base phase in ninth or tenth grade. (I got the album in tenth or eleventh.) I remember specifically loving the "it's all so clear ... tooo ... meeeeee! ALLLLLLL!" bit and the key change. Now I don't really care for it, which is sad because I want to go back to being able to hear it as one of the greatest songs ever.

Beautiful Morning - Kind of obviously the "fuck, we need a viable single" track, but still extremely good. I've always loved the video too - beautifully filmed.

Remember the Words - It's appropriate my last review was of Hilary, because this is a very 2003 Disney-type track. The lyrics are meant well but sort of hopelessly basic ("remember the words, you are never on your own, out here alone"), and it mimics that The Matrix / Alain Bertoni production style perfectly. Would have fit in on Christy Carlson Romano's "album" or any early-'00s Disney soundtrack without anyone batting an eye.

Da Capo - Among their most dancey songs. It's a very good, catchy song - sort of like Kesha with less auto-tune - but the lyrics have always bothered me. It's like they took two different songs, one about being in love with someone who can't tell ("I'm telling you I am your friend / But you can't hear me in your dreams") and one about a relationship based purely on sex ("I'm your everlasting property"), and combined them without a further thought.

World Down Under - Another Matrix-type song. It's not as good as Morning or Da Capo, but it's more than serviceable, and among the more Ace of Base-ish songs on the album. The lyric "I believe in there's a world down under" has always bothered me though, because "I believe there's a world down under" or "I believe in a world down under" would have made perfect sense, but combining them doesn't.

Ordinary Day - This is my big discovery from replaying the album. I've never paid much attention to it before, but I'm loving it right now. Unless I'm very much mistaken, it's the only song Linn sings lead on. Though I love Jenny, I think Linn is marginally the better vocalist, and this is a pretty good showcase of her vocal abilities. It's a little bland, but it works for me. It's basically Don't Go Away 2.0 (and that's another one that only clicked with me fairly recently).

Wonderful Life - Of all the versions of this song I know (Kim Wilde, Tina Cousins, Lara Fabian), this is probably my favorite. It's far more upbeat and bright and shiny than the original or the other covers. It's also pretty much the only thing on the album that sounds like it could have been on Happy Nation, despite the group's explanation of the album title as meaning that they'd gone back to that sound. Then again, Happy Nation is by far my least favorite of their albums (not counting the dot group's album), so whatever.

Show Me Love - This was my favorite for a long time, and may still be. It takes the smooth sound of Flowers and runs with it. It's identifiably Ace of Base, but it could easily have been played on AC radio. Pity it wasn't a single.

What's the Name of the Game - Filler. They obviously try harkening back to the Living in Danger-type synth lines under the chorus, but it doesn't really work. It's not a BAD song, but it's obviously not as good as anything else on the album, or on Flowers for that matter.

Change with the Light - I was obsessed with this one too. It sounds exactly nothing like Ace of Base, but it's great, and they deliver it better than I can imagine anyone else doing. Jenny's and Ulf's voices are a perfect fit for the song, and it's exquisitely played and produced.

Hey Darling - I think this is one of the fan favorites. It's perfectly nice, but a little boring compared to most of the album.

The Juvenile - This would have been great as a Bond theme, shame that rat bastard Clive Davis yanked them from the project. That being said, outside of the Bond context it was a laughable choice as a single (especially a lead single, for God's sake...). I really love it - it actually has kind of a Tori sound to it, but darker - and I think it has great lyrics, but I absolutely cannot imagine hearing it on the radio.

Don't Stop - Basic bop done right. Sounds like it came off The Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack, which isn't a bad thing. It doesn't shine as well as most of the main album, though.

Summer Days - All I can think is that it sounds like a demo. An almost-finished demo to be fair, but still, a demo. I've struggled to understand the lyrics for years, but I think I've finally got it, and it's about realizing you're in love with an old friend you're out of contact with. It sounds appropriately beachy, and for the most part the lyrics are fine; I just wish they'd polished it up a bit.

Beautiful Morning (Groove Radio Edit) - Nice idea but poorly done. Should've been replaced with the Junk&Function/M12 mix of Unspeakable, which is about 1000 times better.

Final verdict: If you've noticed all the references to Disney above, well, that's deliberate. I kept thinking as I played the album that it really, really sounds like AOB trying to ape the Disney sound perfected on albums like Myra's debut and the Princess Diaries soundtrack, often at the expense of their own sound. Luckily for them, I happen to love that sound. The songs themselves are at about their usual level, maybe a little lower than Flowers. This is probably my favorite of their albums, though I understand why the Happy Nation crowd didn't like it. 9/10.

Highlight: Show Me Love