First Band On The Moon
	Produced by Tore Johansson
	Released on September 1996
	SWE CHART POSITION #2 . . . UK CHART POSITION #18 . . . US CHART POSITION #35 . . . PLATINUM RECORD (8/6/97)
	Find it at GEMM
P2-33117 cover [high resolution scan]

Y es it contains “Lovefool.” And a whole lot more. In fact, as I contemplate populating my namorada’s iPod, I’ve concluded that half of this is iPod worthy. Mind you, I hate new technology, so it’s not my iPod. I don’t even like the name iPod. And I won’t be “burning” or “ripping” songs on the iPod, I’ll be sitting on my fat ass and watching the files transfer on a computer screen. Or maybe I’ll finish that short story I started Wednesday on my Olympia typewriter while it’s downloading. Anyway, nobody cares about my curmudgeonly comings and goings, so back to the moon. It’s part retro lounge jazz (what do expect from a band called The Cardigans?), part heavy metal (the Sabbath covers aren’t just a joke) and sweet Swedish pop music rolled into one wonderful confection. Honestly, they don’t sound a thing like Abba or Ace of Base to me. Echobelly mostly comes to mind, and the other power pop bands who fronted stunted female singers in the early ‘90s (Veruca Salt I think, right?). The idea was to package alternative rock in a little-girl voice and challenge the female stereotype, or rock’s stereotypes, or sell records, or some combination of the three. The Cardigans sold records, at least this record. Credit a cute video on MTV, and the fact that “Lovefool” is just freakishly fun, but anyone who signed up for the full Moon encounter couldn’t have been disappointed. In the iPod worthy category fall: “Been It,” “Happy Meal II” (which reminds me most of XTC), “Step On Me,” “Heartbreaker,” “Lovefool” and then I sort of stopped counting. The whole thing is marzipan: complicated candy that you want to eat and admire at the same time. I’ll definitely be buying more Cardigans in the future. And their loungey cover of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” while loopy, is strangely sympathetic; I’ll never look at the metal man the same way again.

P2-33117 picture sleeve	P2-33117 back sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. YOUR NEW CUCKOO    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Nina Persson/Peter Svensson)    3:57
2. BEEN IT    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Nina Persson/Peter Svensson)    4:06
3. HEARTBREAKER    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Nina Persson)    3:42
4. HAPPY MEAL II    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Nina Persson/Magnus Sveningsson/Lynette Koyana)    2:37
5. NEVER RECOVER    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Magnus Sveningsson)    3:21
6. STEP ON ME    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Peter Svensson/Magnus Sveningsson)    3:48
7. LOVEFOOL    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Nina Persson/Peter Svensson)    3:21
8. LOSERS    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Nina Persson/Peter Svensson)    3:06
9. IRON MAN    (Ozzy Osbourne/Bill Ward/Tony Iommi/Geezer Butler)    4:20
10. GREAT DIVIDE    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Magnus Sveningsson)    3:17
11. CHOKE    (music: Peter Svensson, lyrics: Magnus Sveningsson)    3:26
    
    JPN CD bonus tracks
    
12. COUNTRY HELL
13. BLAH BLAH BLAH

CREDITS

LARS-OLOF JOHANSSON --
BENGT LAGERBURG --
NINA PERSSON --
MAGNUS SVENINGSSON --
PETER SVENSSON --
Sven Andersson -- saxophone (11)
Ivan Bakran -- cello and double bass (10)
Patrik Bartosch -- clavinet (3)
Anna Bergstrom -- violin (10)
Gabriele Freese -- violin (10)
Asa Hakansson -- violin (1,10)
Annette Helmers -- cello (8)
Maria Holm -- violin (1,10)
Lynette Koyana -- female background vocals (1)
Petter Lindgard -- trumpet (3,11)
Mattias Svensson -- violin (1)
Ulf Thuresson -- male background vocals (3)
Ronnie Weber -- violin (10)
David Wilcewski -- flute
Inga Zeppezauer -- violin (1)
Tore Johansson -- engineer
Martin Renck -- sleeve design
Peter Gehrke -- photo

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