THIS IS CARACOLA-ALBUM REVIEW!

Caracola-This Is Caracola

The poptastic trio Caracola from Sweden have gone and released a very special English version of their debut album & its one of the best bubblegum albums of 2008. They first appeared on DSTP two years ago! Yes two years ago! Anybo! Here is the much delayed and long-overdue album review of the Cd they've just released.

Smiling In Love

The brilliant Melodifestivalen hit single. Simple lyrics but backed up by some very impressive vocals and catchy melody. This fast becoming a girlband classic. This celebrates everything that is great about the summer & as such its very similar to the vibe of the sorely missed Passion Fruit girlband. It even has the all important key change. The strongest track on the album. Dontstopthepop rating: 5.0

Mango Nights

The lead single. Written by Marcos Ubeda and lyrics by the wonderful Billy Butt. This is perfect for driving around with the girls in Ibiza with your top-down and lip-gloss drawn on places of the body that shouldn’t be mentioned in public. Mango Nights sets out the form and indeed constitution of what the album, This Is Caracola, is about-going out with the mates and ending the night with your mates in a fit of hysteria. DontStopthePop Rating: 4.2

Life Is a Holiday

Ok, the girls change the vibe and this song takes you to the Caribbean via Ace Of Base. Life Is A Holiday is the teenage version of Life is a Flower and could be a huge smash hit if released next year when the sun comes out. The chorus is “Oh, eoo, life is a holiday” and that gets repeated over and over. Its very addictive despite not being as immediate as the first two songs. Not on the first Caracola album but was a b-side. DontstopthePop Rating: 4.9

Gimmie Magic Tonight

Gimmie Magic Tonight is a rip-roaring dance classic that looks at ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me, fuses it with a dash of Donna Summer and a touch of Kylie’s On A Night Like This. This is a kinda punch ya fist in the air pop song. 4.3

Vamos, Vamos

This a brand new song and demands to be the follow-up to Smiling In Love. Its made for Costa del sol as the Spanish title suggests. Here the sound similar to Lucky Twice who were huge in Spain so this could be massive in the discos that lick the beaches of Ibiza and Mallorca. Also has a key change! Dontstopthepop Rating: 5.0

Summer Night

Summer Night is one of the best bubblegum songs by girlband in 2008. If a song makes you wanna dance right where you are then its done its job. I’d own this album for this track alone. Summer Night has the potential to be a global hit for the girls. Its got that quality to send the dancefloors into a little bit of a frenzy. Dontstopthepop Rating: 5

My Baby Blue

This is the current single and its great. It truly is. I can see this being performed at G-a-y but the only problem is it sounds too much like Deeper Shade Of Blue. The two songs could be twins-they even reference the same colour in the title for heavens sake! You couldn’t make it easier for the lawyers Caracola! Still a great and dramatic pop song! Dontstopthepop Rating: 4.6

Go Paparazzi

Ok this is lyrically the best songs on the album. This so about Paris Hilton! How else can one interpret this: “You have only had one dream and that’s to be famous and be seen. There is nowhere you wouldn’t go for your picture in in Hello/You gotta get your face on TV and every film premiere’s in your CV!”. One of the bitchiest pop songs of 2007 and for this it deserves a round of applause. Dontstopthepop rating: 4.5

Love Alive

Originally called Ända Fram, Love Alive continues with the uplifting night out vibe. This is about a boy with bright eyes who, the girls confess, make them “cry like a child”. She promises that they’ll offer the boy the stars if he gives them his moon. This is a perfect song for Eurovision as it includes a sublime key change at the end! DontStopthePop Rating: 4.5

Love Makes The World Go Round

Anthem alert!!! This is a great pop song and is a distinct Caracola track. Its extremely uplifting and should make you warm inside. Gone is the stress and negativity of the daily business of banks, bills and so forth. Plus it’s the only dance song to my knowledge that makes online chat rooms rather kinky yet oddly innocent. Take the line “Drop me a message where and when-no matter if Skype or MSN” proving that Caracola are a thoroughly modern pop band. Musically this sounds a bit like DJ Sammy’s Heaven and the entire first album by ATC. Dontstopthepop Rating: 5.0

You and I

Caracola approach their poptastic routes once again with this pink pop English version of “Du Och Jag”. Personally I think this is one of the strongest tracks on the album. You think it’s a pretty usual track from the Swedish trio but wait till you get the chorus-it recalls the amazingness of the Vengaboys and their bus. You wanna book that flight to Palma and dip into some pink hotpants and bounce around the sand dunes without a care in the world. Yes the British summer was absolutely awful but You And I ensure that even the coldest of hearts will feel a ray of sunshine. The girls go for the high notes and expose one of the most concise pop songs in their catalogue to date. The writers Niklas Ringstrom and Linda Sonnvik really create something special on this track and in English that is simply taken to another level. A great pop song. Dontstopthepop Rating: 5.0

Put The Blame On Me

Originally called Bara Skyll På Mig, Put the Blame On Me is an odd choice to re-record. Only because there are much better songs on their Swedish album. A great little pop song but after You and I you feel somewhat shortchanged. When stood alone it really shines but it is overshadowed. Dontstopthepop Rating: 3.9

Conclusion: This is Caracola is cute little pop album. If you adored Atomic Kitten back when they were poptastic (aka before Jenny Frost got involved) then you’ll love the CD. Or rather if you still pine for the days when PWL ruled the world, when Ace Of Base topped the charts or simply when Kylie blew bubbles of catchy pop music then this CD is just up your street. Its not too sickly sweet and clearly gives the likes of BootyLuv (UK), Love Shy (UK), LuckyTwice (Sweden) and the Electric Dolls (UK) a run for their krona. Each track is a catchy little story of its own and the girls will do well if they take the CD to the rest of Europe. Its loaded with summer sunshine anthems. If you like your schlager pop shaken and remixed up (and in English), This Is Caracola is perfect for you. My only complaint is the fact that the girls didn’t translate their songs Du (La, LA, La) and Allting Stannar Till which would worked brilliantly on the album…

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