THE SIGN  -  ACE OF BASE

YEAR:  1993
LABEL:  Arista
TRACK LISTING:  All That She Wants,  Don't Turn Around,  Young and Proud,  The Sign,  Living In Danger,  Dancer In A Daydream,  Wheel of Fortune,  Waiting For Magic (Total Remix 7"),  Happy Nation,  Voulez-Vous Danser,  My Mind (Mindless Mix),  All That She Wants (Banghra Version)
IMPRESSIONS:  There's a slightly embarrassing story to this one.  More embarrassing than the music, I hear you wonder?  Yes indeed.  And in fact, I'm not even going to tell you about it.  So there.  Let us just say that this album (particularly the tracks "Living In Danger", "Dancer In A Daydream", "Wheel of Fortune" and "Waiting For Magic") immediately bring back to mind a certain ex-girlfriend and a certain time in my life.  Suffice it to say that Ace of Base was ABBA for the 90's . . . but with a reggae beat. . .and released in Denmark.  The first song I heard from the band was "All That She Wants" and I loved it; this was followed by the smash hit "The Sign" which I quite liked and "Don't Turn Around" which I didn't.  It wasn't really the singles that I liked as much as the aforementioned album tracks and those are the ones I play nowadays whenever I dip into this album.  Those songs played in a row are my ultimate nostalgic dance song sequence and after playing them I usually put the album away.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  All That She Wants,  Living In Danger,  Dancer In A Daydream,  Wheel of Fortune,  Waiting For Magic
FACT SHEET:  THE SIGN is Ace of Base's first album.  Actually it isn't.  The album originally released in Denmark by Mega Records was titled "HAPPY NATION" and had a different selection of tracks and in different order as well.  "THE SIGN" was the album version released in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Mexico and some Latin American countries and is listed by RIAA as one of the 100 best selling albums of all-time selling more than 23 million copies and reaching number one in over 14 countries.  Not bad for a group whose main creative songwriters are named Joker and Buddha!