the bridge

ace of base

arista, 1995

Mood—Euro!

Sample: "Strange Ways"

Thoughts— Ace of Base would be considered a guilty pleasure if I felt at all guilty about liking them. There are plenty of flash-in-the-pan, Top 40 acts that are a total waste of time, but re-listening to The Bridge shows that there's good, solid music here.

"Beautiful Life" was the breakout single on this album, and it was everywhere for a while, used in plenty of commercials and given quite a bit of radio play. It's a good track, but hardly indicative of the album's total sound. I've noticed this a lot actually; the single almost never gives you a feel for the whole album. It's as if they intentionally pick the track that sounds the most unlike the rest of them. In this case, "Beautiful Life" is more dance-oriented than anything else on The Bridge.

Instead, the album seems almost equally split between ballads and mid-tempo numbers, both filled with plenty of saccharine lyrics about love and relationships. This is to be expected. I'm not much of a lyrics person, though; I tend to enjoy music that has good melodies, inventive instrumentation, and plenty of harmonies. Ace of Base fulfills two out of the three (there's not much harmonizing going on here).

Standout tracks include "Just 'n' Image", "Strange Ways", and "Experience Pearls", which are all pretty interesting, all things said. I could do without "Angel Eyes", as it is a bit too sappy for me, and "Whispers In Blindness" feels unfinished compared to the rest.

You might get laughed at for picking this up at the used record store (especially due to the cover art), but you'll get over it.

Recommended? Yes.

Link—aceofbase.com/

Tracklist
1. Beautiful Life
2. Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry
3. Lucky Love
4. Edge Of Heaven
5. Strange Ways
6. Ravine
7. Perfect World
8. Angel Eyes
9. My Deja Vu
10. Wave Wet Sand
11. Que Sera
12. Just 'n' Image
13. Experience Pearls
14. Whispers In Blindness
15. Blooming 18