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Rating: A whistled melody approaching and a slow, intense electronic beat… That's how “Paralyzed”, the first track of “Gran Turismo”, opens, considered by almost all critics as the best work to date from the Swedish band The Cardigans.
In this album, the Cardigans achieve what they never managed in previous or subsequent works: to keep the listener's attention alive from the beginning to the end of the CD without distractions or anonymous tracks. This is possible thanks to the particular atmospheres created on the CD: far from the refined pop of their beginnings (which was a successful refined pop of not insignificant quality, such as the hit “Lovefool”), the Swedes bring to life an album with predominantly very dark atmospheres, with expansive and at the same time captivating songs, to which the voice of a Nina Persson in top form gives a bittersweet flavor. Pieces like the aforementioned “Paralyzed”, “Explode”, “Higher”, “Marvel Hill”, the latter being the darkest track of the entire album.
Of course, there are also forays into pop rock that give the listener a breath of fresh air: such is the case of “My Favourite Game”, a hugely successful single, and perhaps the best track in The Cardigans’ entire career; prominent guitars, electronic beat replaced by a more classic drum, and Persson's voice that gets into your head destined to stay there for a long time. Even the other single, “Erase/Rewind”, stays mainly in this genre, although it and the other single are perfectly inserted in the electro-melancholic mood of the album. Worthy of note is also “Junk Of The Heart”, the only ballad - in the classic sense of the term - on the CD; it's a preview of what The Cardigans will later do with the almost entirely acoustic “Long Gone Before Daylight”.
Unfortunately, the Cardigans, despite their subsequent works being very appreciable, will never be able to repeat the magic of “Gran Turismo”: “Gran Turismo” because it is a journey into the shadows and lights of human feelings, because every heart has a dark side and a light one. The music takes the listener by the hand and guides them along with the seductive and never maudlin voice of Nina Persson on this journey.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Paralyzed (04:57)
This is where your sanity gives in
And love begins
Never lose your grip
Don't trip
Don't fall
You'll lose it all
The sweetest way to die
It lies deep inside
You can not hide
It's the meanest fire
Oh, it's a strange desire
You can not lie
That's a needless fight
This is where your sanity gives in
And love begins
Never lose your grip
Don't trip
Don't fall
You'll lose it all
The sweetest way to die
When your blood runs dry
You're paralyzed
It will eat your mind
Did you hold it back
It comes to you in slow attacks
It's the meanest fire
02 Erase/Rewind (03:38)
Hey, what did you hear me say
You know the difference it makes
What did you hear me say
Yes, I said it's fine before
I don't think so no more
I said it's fine before
I've changed my mind
I take it back
Erase and rewind
'Cause I've been changing my mind
I've changed my mind
So where did you see me go
It's not the right way, you know
Where did you see me go
No, it's not that I don't know
I just don't want it to grow
It's not that I don't know
I've changed my mind
I take it back
03 Explode (04:04)
Ease your trouble
We'll pay them double
Not to look at you for a while
And you rely on
What you get high on
And you last just as long as it serves you
Explode or implode
Explode or implode
We will take care of it
Yes, we will carry you
'Cause you're deserted
What's good, you hurt it
And kills you it keeps you alive
So give it up
In a world of puppets
It's a shame what they do to us all
Can we do anything for you now?
04 Starter (03:53)
This is a start
That I know I'll believe in
So I'm leavin' everything behind
Keeping the parts
That I know I'll be needing
And I breed to be a better kind
And I'm leavin' everyone behind
This is the age
When my past should be gone
But it's just stronger than the aims I have
Turning the pages
I used to hang on to
I was young and I have changed my mind
And I'm leaving everything behind
New beginning again
A bit closer
New beginning again
A little bit closer
New beginning again
A bit closer to the end
This is the time
It's a delicate line
To the beginning of what's yet to come
Lifetimes of changes
A strange generation
Explanations never come in time
So I'm leavin' everything behind
New beginning again
A bit closer
New beginning again
A little bit closer
New beginning again
A bit closer to the end
New beginning again
A bit closer
New beginning again
A little bit closer
New beginning again
A bit closer to the end
05 Hanging Around (03:44)
I wonder what it's like
Seeing through your eyes
You've offered me to have a try
But I was always late
The filters that I use
Give me an excuse
I take away what's real
I feel it and it blows my fuse
I hang around
For another round
I'm hanging around
For another round
I'm hanging on
To the same old song
I hang around
For another round
Until something stops me
I wonder what it's like
Walking by your side
To think before I talk
And to move at the same speed as you walk
I want to have a weight
To keep me in your state
I'm watching from above
I love it but it's not for me
06 Higher (04:32)
(Lyrics by Persson/Svensson)
I'm glad you came around today
I sure need a good companion
I'm losing it but you're the same
without you I move at random
Abusing 'cause you're a friend
and there's no Jesus here to explain
And take me higher
come take me higher
come take me high above our time
Take me higher
oh take me higher
come take me high above our time
We'll make it out of here?oh yeah
You justify, you're not afraid
and I won't feel like this forever
You wait with me, because you know
there's so much more than this before we go
To take us higher
come take us higher
come take us high above our time
Take us higher
oh take us higher
come take us high above our time
We'll make it out of here
come take us out of here
take us anywhere?oh yeah
07 Marvel Hill (04:15)
(Lyrics by Sveningsson/Persson)
Strange to be on Marvel Hill
I've walked some years to find
I know there is a piece to fill
the gap I have in mind
No, nothing's here, I close my eyes
it's on the other side
And what I've worked so hard to gain
I'd gladly give away
'cause I don't need this
I don't need it
I need more
a postcard from where life is athrill
on top of Marvel Hill
but I don't need this
I don't need it
I need more
no, I don' t need this
too good to be true
too good to ignore
I don't need this
I need so much more
It's too much to ask for
08 My Favourite Game (03:40)
Title: My Favourite Game
Artist: The Cardigans
I don't know what you're looking for
you haven't found it baby, that's for sure
You rip me up, you spread me all around
in the dust of the deed of time
And this is not a case of lust, you see
it's not a matter of you versus me
It's fine the way you want me on your own
but in the end it's always me alone
And I'm losing my favourite game
you're losing your mind again
I'm losing my baby
losing my favourite game
I only know what I've been working for
another you so I could love you more
I really thought that I could take you there
but my experiment is not getting us anywhere
I had a vision I could turn you right
a stupid mission and a lethal fight
I should have seen it when my hope was new
my heart is black and my body is blue
And I'm losing my favourite game
you're losing your mind again
I'm losing my favourite game
you're losing your mind again
I'm losing my baby
losing my favourite game
I'm losing my favourite game
you're losing your mind again
I tried, I tried, (but you're still the same) I tried
I'm losing my baby
you're losing a saviour and a saint
09 Do You Believe (03:22)
Do you really think
that love is gonna save the world
Well I don't think so
(Do you believe)
I just don't think so
And do you really think
that love is gonna save your soul
Well I sure hope so
(Do you believe)
Oh, I really, really hope so
But I don't think so
Do you really think
that love is gonna save the world
Well I don't think so
(Do you believe)
I just don't think so
And do you really think
that love is gonna save your soul
Well I sure hope so
(Do you believe)
Oh yes, I really, really hope so
I don't think so
(Do you believe) x3
(Believe,believe)
10 Junk of the Hearts (04:08)
(Lyrics by Sveningsson/Persson)
We never chose to part
in this stupid play
I never felt by heart
that I could behave
the way the roles were made
I know that I've done you wrong
but you're hard to please
When your faith is gone
and when you can't believe
I'm on my hands and knees
The junk of the hearts
I've given all of me
and you crave for more
Weird how this makes us feel
insecure
that's what friends are for
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Other reviews
By Yosif
Gran Turismo is quite the opposite, never before have critics and fans agreed, it was and remains today their best (and perhaps only?) work truly worth noting.
'Paralyzed' presents itself dark, deliciously perverse, musically sick and full of distortions, at times reminiscent of 'Queer' by Garbage.
