Music Review | Ace of Base
Written by: Kage Alan


     Album Rating: A-

I've been wondering what the heck ever happened to Ace Of Base.  After a
hugely successful first album, their sophomore effort delivered 15 songs
that, despite having some successful singles, were largely hit or miss,
mostly miss.  Much of that is probably due to pressure from the record
company to deliver another album exactly like "The Sign".  The North American release of "Cruel Summer", known as "Flowers" everywhere else, was pretty dismal.  The US publicity machine relied too heavily on the remake of "Cruel Summer" to sell the album and Ace Of Base's style had evolved past what many found appealing from the first album.  They wanted to stretch and rightly so, but the album failed to win me over as a whole and yes, I consider myself a fan.

Now we have their forth album, "Da Capo", released only in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Hungary. That's a pretty small market for a band that has had so much success over the years and usually represents a warning flag that the new album isn't going to be up to par with previous efforts.  I'm pleased to say that it isn't the case here at all.  "Da Capo" is a return to material that first
caught our ears and made us long for more.

The album starts off with a hugely appealing and fun little dance number
titled "Unspeakable" that serves as a pretty decent indicator of what we're
in for all the way through.  "Beautiful Morning" follows and is the first
single from the album.  While a decent song, it's not nearly as upbeat as
many of the others and, in my opinion, a very poor choice to release as the
lead single.  Believe me, there are much better songs than this one.  There's
something funky, lyrical and melodic about "Remember The Words" that has me
hitting the back button on my remote to listen to it over and over again. 
It's one of my favorites, but the next track takes the cake.

Track 4, "Da Capo", is just an incredible dance song and it seemed to grow on
me the fastest of any of them.  This has strong potential as a single and is
bound to be an audience pleaser.  Things slow down a bit with "World Down
Under", but it's not an inferior track by any means.  Ace Of Base's strength
with this album comes from creating music that sounds extremely appealing
whether it's a dance track or slower groove.  The same can be said for the
ballad-like "Ordinary Day" and the poppy remake of "Wonderful Life". 
Speaking of poppy, "Show Me Love" and "What's The Name Of The Game" add to the mix of the disc and while they aren't the strongest tracks on the album, they aren't entirely bad either.

Things get funky again with "Change With The Light" before moving on to the
peppy and rockier edged "Hey Darling".  The album comes to a quiet and more introspective finale with "The Juvenile".  Clocking in at nearly 42 minutes
with 12 tracks, "Da Capo" doesn't overstay its welcome and will have you
playing it over and over again until you're singing along with it.  Am I the
only one who does that?  I can't be.

Ace Of Base has had four years to rest, relax and recharge and "Da Capo" is
the perfect announcement that they're back in fine form.  According to the
group's website (www.AceOfBase.com), much of the material has been finished for a while, only some of the mixes needed to be updated and things had to settle down at the record label.  It's a real shame that many of us may never actually hear it because it will be available on import only, but hopefully
the record labels around the world will get off their asses, recognize the
potential of the album and release it.

Cheers to Ace Of Base!  It's great to see you on top again.

COMMENTS
Date/Time of Posting:  Dec 12 2002 / 00:34:27
IP Address:  193.6.211.164
name = Ferenc Sipos
Email = markoh@freemail.hu
comments = Hello!
Good to see that there are some people who recognize how great is AOB's Da Capo!
It is a shame that the promotion of this new material seems to turn into the same way like Flowers/Cruel Summer did: too many singles in too many places, instead of choose 3 or 4 and release them woldwide (or at least Europe-wide).
Choosing Beautiful Morning was a bad dicision, maybe its groove mix would have done better on the charts.
Good to see that Unspeakable has been released as a single, and it will have a video, too. The Juvenile is also a possible hit, maybe it will have  agood video, too.
My personal favs are Wonderful Life, Da Capo, World Down Under, but as you mentioned, I can't help singing-along the whole album from the start to the end. Great CD!
Ciao!  Feri

Date/Time of Posting:  Dec 11 2002 / 10:02:45
IP Address:  193.198.37.40
name = RADE
Email = radesnow@yahoo.com
comments = Da Capo is also released in Croatia and it's a greaaaaaaaaaaaat album!
Bravo Jonas!

Date/Time of Posting:  Dec 11 2002 / 13:08:42
IP Address:  64.231.206.13
name = AcerAdam
Email = carboncocoa@mac.com
comments = I think that Show Me Love has "The Sign" energy
and "What's the name of the Game" is reminiscent of "Don't Turn Around".
I can't understand why people think these are week songs - especially SML!

Date/Time of Posting:  Dec 11 2002 / 13:52:56
IP Address:  130.166.57.115
name = Karnig Dukmajian
Email = karlarrec1@aol.com
comments = Great Review! I agree - it's too bad most Americans probably won't get to hear this CD!
It seems like you got the German version of the album. There is a Scandinavian version with one differnce: a different version of "Hey Darling." Most of the fans like the Scandinavian version much better. It is slightly more pop, but includes the rock edge of the German version. Word is that the German label (Polydor) mistakenly included the demo version instead of the finished, Scandinavian version. Big oops! haha I hope you'll get to hear the Scandinavian version - it is, in my opinion, the superior version.
Again, thanks for a wonderful review. You might want to get in touch with Fred Bronson at Billboard Magazine -- another Ace of Base fan. :)

On behalf of us at AceOfBase.info (a small fan site of the Swedish group) we wanted to thank you for conveying your positive thoughts about the AOB album so well.