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Life

In February 1997 I was handed an envelope containing 3,200,000 in cash. It would have been better had the currency not been Italian lire, but I was delighted, even so: it amounted to more than a thousand pounds. This was pursuant to my having been commended as part of a management recognition scheme. The whole cash-in-hand aspect of it was frankly, rather odd, but it was the sort of working environment where the peculiar was commonplace, so I never dwelt for long on any new piece of weirdness. With that money I bought my first ever CD player, and my first few dozen CDs, of which one was Life, by The Cardigans.

I'd heard and enjoyed 'Sick and Tired' and 'Tomorrow' on the radio some time beforehand, but their music hadn't exactly been on my mind - it was just that when I saw the disc in the Rinascita music store on Via delle Botteghe Oscure, the cover image and design appealed to me so much I thought I'd pick it up and take a chance on it. The case still has its SIAE sticker on the back (an acronym for Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori - the Italian copyright collecting agency) which one always saw on imported recordings. It states "NOLEGGIO VIETATO CD IMPORT FONO" (rental prohibited, etc.).

Fortunately, appearances weren't deceptive in this instance, and the music more than lived up to its packaging. The songs are great (though there are a few tracks I'll often skip); the band sound excellent; Nina Persson's voice is delightful; and Tore Johansson's production brings everything together beautifully - I love the way these songs were recorded. I've never tired of this disc, which feels as fresh as on the day I bought it.

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