Ace Of Base

Cruel Summer

A Solid Album

Review Score:

(10/10)
It's unfortunate that Arista changed the name of this album from Every Time it Rains to Cruel Summer. Although Ace of Base has only done a couple covers, people still accuse them of being unoriginal. I'm also tired of the implication that anything "European" is bad. It's sad that people rarely give world music a chance if it doesn't conform with American conventions. The results is talented groups such as Ace of Base having to release several versions of the same album in order to appease egocentric sensibilities. Although not my favorite album, Cruel Summer shows amazing diversity. I also have the euro version, Flowers, which includes several songs not found on the US ablum as well as different versions of songs that are found on the US album. It's a shame that Americans will only get such a small taste of Ace of Base's talent. Everytime it Rains is a wonderful yet simple balled, and Don't Go Away is equally distinctive. He Decides is an interesting experiment but the reggae version found on the European album would probably have greater appeal in the US. Cruel Summer, for the most part, sounds nothing like previous albums but it's still recognizably Ace of Base.

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