The Sign

by

Ace of Base

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Ace of Base's debut effort, The Sign, is probably the best of the nineties. Aside from selling 21 million copies around the globe, and from being the #1 album of 1994, it is truly creative. From the opening track "All That She Wants" that includes the feel of Jamaican beaches and features their signature reggae-pop beats, it is a non-stop tour of Euro-dance and reggae-pop! "Don't Turn Around" is a powerful lost-love song that echoes with Linn's dramatic vocals and Jenny's heartbreaking back-ups. "Wheel of Fortune", "Living In Danger", "Dancer in a Daydream", "Happy Nation"- these are the album's best tracks. The Bangrha version of "ATSW" could have done better off of the CD, maybe replaced with one of their European tracks, like "Hear Me Calling", and the 7" Remix of "Waiting for Magic" totally kills the original version of the song that is on the European album (The original version of "WFM" is very good). The standout song is the title track, "The Sign", which is a fun, poppy song that, aside from being their biggest hit, is a meaningful track that brings life to to the whole record. This is the best album of the decade, so GET IT!

This CD, their debut, spawned 3 Top 40 hits with "All that She Wants", "Don't Turn Around" and the title track all charting in the U.S. The Swedish pop act had some at the time questioning if it would be a 90s ABBA (owing to its tight harmony based around the 2 female lead singers and a knack for a catchy hook) although history has shown us otherwise.

Most of the songs sound relatively similar to the hits, although "Young and Proud" flirts at time with a more techno sound, adding some extra keyboard blips here and there. It suffers from a smell of plagairism, though, greatly resembling Black Box's "I Don't Know Anybody Else" in its piano track.

"Living in Danger" is probably the 'lost hit' that might have done something for them but didn't. The hook to it is relatively solid. Nothing else here really stands out as particularly interesting.

2 1/2 stars