News

The Cardigans / Remastered vinyl

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

41

All six of Swedish pop band The Cardigans‘ studio albums have been remastered and will be reissued early next year on 180g black vinyl.

The band released the six albums in just over ten years. They are: Emmerdale (1994), Life (1995), First Band on the Moon (1996), Gran Turismo (1998), Long Gone Before Daylight (2003) and Super Extra Gravity (2005).

They peaked commercially with Gran Turismo (although First Band On The Moon was very successful in the US, thanks to ‘Lovefool’) while Long Gone Before Daylight is by some measure their best album, even if it didn’t appear to be appreciated much outside their native Sweden.

Carnival, from Life

All the albums have been remastered at Sterling Sound and are presented in gatefold sleeves for these new vinyl reissues. As you would expect, the Life vinyl adheres to the original track listing as first issued in Sweden and Japan in 1995 and ignores the variations issued in Europe, the US and other territories, where in a pre-internet age, Life was presented as the band’s first album and ‘improved’ by pinching some of the better tracks from Emmerdale. Unless you were the type to wander into the import section of Tower Records or HMV (guilty as charged!) you’d be none the wiser.

My Favourite Game, from Gran Turismo

Remarkably, neither of the albums that top and tail The Cardigans career studio output (Emmerdale and Super Extra Gravity) have been pressed on vinyl, so this campaign is their debut on the format. Long Gone Before Daylight is also a double album now, unlike the original small European run in 2003 and Universal’s own recent 2015 ‘Black Friday’ reissue in the US, which saw the 11 tracks pressed onto one vinyl record.

The band are an ongoing concern only inasmuch as they tour very occasionally, and even then not with original guitarist Peter Svensson. There has been no new music for 13 years and that situation doesn’t look likely to change any time soon. But having seen The Cardigans recently in London (for the first time in 23 years!) I’m very much up for this campaign, so much so that I’m stocking all six vinyl records in the SDE shop and have gathered them all together for a specially priced bundle.

Communication, from Long Gone Before Daylight

These have been rumoured for years, but thankfully now they’ve been announced there’s no messing around, and they will be issued simultaneously on 1 February 2019. Pre-order on the SDE shop via this link or by using the buttons below.

Emmerdale (1994) vinyl LP

Side A

  1. Sick & Tired
  2. Black Letter Day
  3. In The Afternoon
  4. Over The Water
  5. After All…
  6. Cloudy Sky
  7. Our Space

Side B

  1. Rise & Shine
  2. Celia Inside
  3. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
  4. Seems Hard
  5. Last Song

Life (1995) vinyl LP

Side A

  1. Carnival
  2. Gordon’s Gardenparty
  3. Daddy’s Car
  4. Pikebubbles
  5. Tomorrow
  6. Beautiful One

Side B

  1. Travelling with Charley
  2. Fine
  3. Sunday Circus Song
  4. Hey! Get Out of My Way
  5. Closing Time

The First Band On The Moon (1996) LP

Side A

  1. Your New Cuckoo
  2. Been It
  3. Heartbreaker
  4. Happy Meal II
  5. Never Recover

Side B

  1. Step On Me
  2. Lovefool
  3. Losers
  4. Iron Man
  5. Great Divide
  6. Choke

Gran Turismo (1998) vinyl LP

Side A

  1. Paralyzed
  2. Erase/Rewind
  3. Explode
  4. Starter
  5. Hanging Around

Side B

  1. Higher
  2. Marvel Hill
  3. My Favourite Game
  4. Do You Believe
  5. Junk Of The Hearts
  6. Nil

Long Gone Before Daylight (2003) 2LP

Side A

  1. Communication
  2. You’re The Storm
  3. A Good Horse

Side B

  1. And Then You Kissed Me
  2. Couldn’t Care Less

Side C

  1. Please Sister
  2. For What It’s Worth
  3. Lead Me Into The Night

Side D

  1. Live and Learn
  2. Feathers And Down
  3. 03.45: No Sleep

Super Extra Gravity (2005) vinyl LP

Side A

  1. Losing A Friend
  2. Godspell
  3. Drip Drop Teardrop
  4. Overload
  5. I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer
  6. Don’t Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)

Side B

  1. Little Black Cloud
  2. In The Round
  3. Holy Love
  4. Good Morning Joan
  5. And Then You Kissed Me II

SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

Related Content

41 Comments

41 thoughts on “The Cardigans / Remastered vinyl”

  1. Listening to Long Gone Before Daylight now… sounds great. Already had CD and SACD copies, pleased to have it on vinyl too. It’s a fantastic album. I always liked the cover too, nice to finally see some more detail in the picture now that it’s so much bigger!

  2. I very excited but a little distraught that coming from the USA. The shipping isn’t free and is OUTRAGEOUS. And the limitations so far how these reissues are seems to have a limitation with where to purchase these……. which for many is a miracle been waiting decades to see these records at affordable price but the shipping on each or the box 53 EUROS really puzzles me. Is this a EU release. And yet is was mastered in NYC at Sterling Sound. Yup makes a lot of sense. Make something happen here for the UNITED STATES PLEASE. Or hell put it on Pay Pal Credit pay it off in 10 years.

    1. Why would shipping 4kg of vinyl records across the Atlantic be free?! If you think $53 for the 7LP vinyl bundle is outrageous then please feel free to get a quote to sent 4kg of vinyl records – tracked and insured – sent from America to the UK. Include in that price the cost of packaging materials so they don’t get damaged and then tell me how much change you have left from $53.

  3. I would have bought a couple of these albums if reissued on CD with bonus tracks but I have NO interest in having them on vinyl. I stopped buying albums on vinyl in 1987 when I purchased my first CD player.

  4. Really pleased for the vinyl enthusiasts out there but disappointed for those, like me, who would love to have these remasters on CD too. I was equally disappointed when Teenage Fanclub did the same. I keep reading the “dying format” phrase (recently used by the god-like David Sylvian) but didn’t this apply to vinyl and now it’s back with a vengeance (and rightly so) some years ago? It is frustrating but I’m not sure if this downer on CDs is market/fan driven or just the labels looking to make some money out of the vinyl revival with it’s high-end prices.

    1. I thought downloads, such as from itunes, were going to be the next big thing but I read not long ago that sales in them had fallen and that vinyl and CD formats had risen (hopefully so).

  5. Hiya, I’m one of the Yanks interested in the generous SDE bundle. Only real question is whether download codes will be included with the vinyl reissues. Thank you, Paul!

  7. I’m ordering a cheap secondhand cd copy of Long Gone from eBay. I haven’t seen them live since 1995 and kind of got off the bus after Love fool which I was never fond of. But had a quick listen to Long Gone on eBay and read some of the negative reviews around its release and then the love it’s getting on SDE. I need to give this album a try.

  8. Any word on CD rereleases (or a box set)? Would love to purchase the entire catalogue with bonus material on the CD format. Thanks for all the updates!

      1. I got the SACD of LGBD – soon after release, I ended up with 3 copies of the album – including US import with bonus DVD and the SACD. The best thing to compliment these new remasters would be hybrid releases of ALL the albums. Just got bought some v expensive, quality 600 ohm headphones for Christmas, they sound stunning and I’ll be working my way through 20 years worth of High Resolution discs from The 25th onwards…
        What would it take to part with my LGBD SACD? Either my own death or the price of a five storey house in London overlooking Russell Square. Seriously, if they were going for £1000 I wouldn’t sell it. The 5.1 mix is very subtle, not much separation but, the stereo mix is deeply smooth, rich in dynamics with exquisite detail. I didn’t even know they had been touring this year, that makes me very sad. ☹️

  9. I will hold out and hope they release the box they mentioned 2 or 3 years ago which was to include a few LPs of non-album tracks in addition the individual albums.

    1. “First Band on the Moon”. I am fairly certain I’ve listened to this album several hundred times, while working long nights back at Columbia Uni back in 1999 and chatting to my future wife over the internet.

      Most definitely buying this one!!

  10. It’s probably a bit too much to ask, but I almost wish they had included Persson’s A Camp albums with this. The first one shares more sonically with LGBD than about any other album I’ve heard from that general time period. “I Can Buy You” and “Song for the Losers” are impeccable in particular and another link to the legacy of Sparklehorse and Mark Linkous. The second album was a real grower too and I liked that much more than the last official Cardigans album.

  13. Great news! Waiting for this since years! And I think you announced this also more than 1 year ago :-). Just a little bit sad there is no box. But maybe the Japanese will do that in a mini-lp format. that would be cool too. Thanks for the news Paul.

  15. Agree with all this. Saw them in Birmingham last week and was delighted that they played so many songs from “Long Gone Before Daylight” which remains one of my favourite albums so far this century. I’ve already pre-ordered these from my local store, but I’d have gone for this bundle otherwise. Good work Paul.

  16. Hey Paul,
    Love getting all you updated. I recently ordered SFA rings lp from SDE and have a snafu with the order. Attempted to contact them twice and no one responds. Can you help?
    Thanks,
    Sean

    1. This release is now delayed until ‘early next year’. I emailed everyone who had ordered it via the SDE shop. Disappointing, but clearly some ‘issues’ behind the scenes.

  17. +1 for Long Gone Before Daylight as their masterpiece…and frankly, a masterpiece by any standards.
    Saw them on their recent tour, excellent though it was, can’t help thinking it would have been better if they played LGBD in it’s entirety, with selections from Gran Turismo.

    1. I thought exactly the same, although I think the Gran Turismo thing was probably promoter-driven and the gigs probably wouldn’t have happened if they tried to do LGBD in full. They obviously regard it highly because they played four or five from it, didn’t they? A real highlight for me, hearing that material.

    2. Both LGBD and SEG are underrated. Last time I saw them was the SEG tour and they were excellent. Still disappointed I couldn’t make that Barrowlands gig this month. Bloody Tuesday night gigs!

  21. LGBD was actually released as a promo double vinyl back in 2003.

    Glad to see a re-release of their best album, and also to have the opportunity to grab the other albums for a decent price tag.

  22. Great news. I had been waiting this happening for over ten years. Also the early 00’s reissues, for like the fantastic Gran Turismo have been costing easily whoppingly, well over 100 to over 250 pounds as second hand copies.

    Fortunately had already their masterpiece double LP acquired, but remastering it is somewhat interesting. Only downside is there are no bonuses in any of these reissues for the most shining crown jewel as pop export from Sweden after Abba!

  23. They definitely reached their peak with Long Gone Before Daylight and it’s a shame they split up after their next album which wasn’t up too much really. As someone who has no interest in vinyl whatsoever i’m just glad that all their back catalogue is available on CD and needs no remastering at all.

  24. ‘Long Gone Before Daylight’ is undoubtedly their masterpiece. What a fantastic album, particularly the tracks ‘Communication’ and ‘Feathers and Down’. I recommend listening on Midsummer’s Eve with a glass of red. Bliss.

Leave a Reply