Aquarius reviewed

Do you remember when I reviewed the Danish dance-pop group debut album, Aquarium?  You don't!  Well, here's some memories for you.  It was a good album despite a weak middle section.  But obviously with a song like "Barbie Girl" you really couldn't expect a second hit but Aqua tried their very best with this album.  Then they failed and broke up for years before reuniting but I digress.  So with that said, let's get on with the continuing adventures of Chick, Bald Guy, The Ugly One and The Zoidberg with Aquarius!

1.  Cartoon Heroes (***1/2/****) - Right off the bat, you realize that Aqua's sound has expanded than danceable synths and playful lyrics.  There's this huge choral group of background singers and some strings in there.  It all comes together in a grandiose manner as it tries to be a love-letter to cartoons and heroes.  They don't quite figure it out though but they're Danish so what are you going to do?  Anyways, this is a great, big dancy song that's a great start to the album.

2.  Around the World (***1/2/****) -This continues the big sounds of "Cartoon Heroes" but this time it plays as a counterpoint to that song.  Where "Cartoon Heroes" was all about the fantastic, this is about the mundane...granted it's about traveling but with cartoons almost everything else is mundane.   And it works, with great music and the Bald Guy's best vocal performance..ever.  Consider this song the yin to "Cartoon Heroes" yang.

3.  Freaky Friday (**/2/****) -At first, you hear some country guitarist with the Bald Guy setting up some story and you think of "Aqua doing country with dance!"  Then you hear that infernal record scratch and it becomes typical Aqua with some shout-outs to westerns...I guess.  As a typical Aqua song, it's alright but it's nothing memorable and then they some self-sabotage with Bald Guy shouting "En garde!", "Ten-Four" and "Yeehaw!".  None of those terms are related to each in any way!  Sigh, it has its charms just not enough of them.

4.  We Belong to the Sea (***/****) -This may be the prettiest and subdued song that Aqua has done.  It's this album's "Turn Back Time" but without any of gratuitous instrumentation that "Time" had.  And yet, it doesn't quite reach the same heights.  I think "Time" was Aqua's best song and I actually liked all that gratuitous instrumentation.  This song, despite how subdued it is, feels even more busy than "Time" with ocean sound effects and a choral group.  It's a good song and everything, with a great melody and Bald Guy's attempts at singing is decent but it's just not great.

5.  An Apple a Day (**/****) -This song has the requite pep and energy of Aqua...it just has no soul.  It's pure album filler where I struggle to remember anything, even the mood I had when listening to this.  It's there, it's peppy....skip it.

6.  Halloween (***1/2/****) -The first 30 seconds is a tribute to Scream or, more specifically, one of the sequels and it immediately earns lots of good will.  And it's good in a haunted house sense where things go boo in the night and scaring Chick.  The music is great and it does fit in with other Halloween music and it is extremely fun to listen to.  Even when Bald Guy tries to be evil and scary which should sink it, it's still pretty entertaining.

7.  Good Guys (***/****) -It's like "An Apple a Day" where you will struggle to remember most of the song.  However, what makes it better is that you do remember one thing and that's how the music is put together.  It runs the gamut from soft to dance to latin and it's certainly a well-made song.  It may not be memorable but it does its job.

8.  Back from Mars (***1/2/****) -This is a strange one, for the first time that I know of Bald Guy seems to be in this song more than Chick, not saying that she isn't in this, she is.  But it is a great and poppy song with even more grandiose instrumentation and awesome dynamics between Chick and Bald Guy.

9.  Aquarius (****/****) -Remember when I said that "We Belong to the Sea" was this album's turn back time?  I was very wrong, this song is.  And I'm going to say this, it's better.  It truly is one of the most organic songs that the band ever did and at times it seems like a prelude to a solo career by Chick.  It's extremely subdued in that there's only piano and some strings in this to actually create something majestic and beautiful.  This is the biggest surprise on the album.

10. Cuba Libre (**1/2/****) -This song is pure latino done Aqua-style.  It has a great latino piano melody and some decent singing but this is another case of competent but boring album filler.

11. Bumble Bees (***/****) -This song is the closet they gone to the songs they made with Aquarium.  It's fun, it's danceable and Bald Guy raps on it.  But after the big sounds on the other songs, this is a bit basic and Bald Guy's "Wham bam, thank you ma'am" is really grating.  However, it is quite a bit of fun and it is quite harmless.

12. Goodbye to the Circus (***1/2/****) -Since this is the last song for almost ten years, even though they were planning on making a third album, it's a great goodbye.  It's a nice ballad with great music and nice vocal harmonies even though it plays on the circus music a bit too much.  As an unintentional goodbye song, it's a very good note to go out on.

This is better than Aquarium in every way.  The music is much more grand and cinematic.  The filler isn't as bad as Aquarium's filler and it provides some moments of great beauty with the title track.  Granted, it does falter a bit here and there but it's a very good album.