The Bridge (Ace of Base album)
| The Bridge | ||||
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| Studio album by Ace of Base | ||||
| Released | November 7, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1994–95 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 59:30 | |||
| Label | Mega | |||
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| Ace of Base chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Bridge | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Entertainment Weekly | B |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| Q | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  |
| Spin | (7/10) |
The Bridge is the second album by Swedish pop music group Ace of Base. It was composed during 1994 and 1995, and released in October 1995. It is the only Ace of Base album to feature sizable contributions of writing, production, vocals, and harmonies by all four band members, each having an important part in its creation.
The album was preceded by the singles "Beautiful Life" and "Lucky Love", which had varied levels of success. While both songs reached the top of the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and "Beautiful Life" peaked at number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100, "Lucky Love" failed to reach the top twenty. Following the release of the album, "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry" was released as the third and final single from the album but failed to gain recognition due to a lack of promotion.
"I wanted some old friends who are producers on a very low level... I wanted to give them a chance to be on this record. But things didn’t turn out at all the way I wanted to and there was no time to redo it. It thought me a lot about how you’re supposed to act when you are in the position of commanding the ones you’re working with. That you have to command as well."
On January 1, 1994, The Sign album and single hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Inspired by the band's success, Jonas penned the first song of what would become The Bridge while returning from vacation in the Canary Islands. The song was "Beautiful Life". Jonas hoped to incorporate gospel elements into the song, which was composed retaining the band's original club-friendly beat.
Because the band was still promoting their previous album, work on The Bridge was infrequent during much of 1994. In April 1994, an obsessed German fan broke into the Berggren family home and threatened both Jenny and her parents at knifepoint. Jenny would later use this experience as a source of inspiration in writing and composing the track "Ravine" for The Bridge.
For the album, Jonas and Ulf each separately composed a half-dozen songs. Instead of working together, as they had done on their previous album, Jonas and Ulf produced separately with different producers. Jonas' songs were recorded mainly at Cheiron Studios in , while Ulf's tracks were created at Tuff Studios in Gothenburg. Ulf continued to work with John Ballard and StoneStream (Björn Stenstrom). In Stockholm, Jonas worked with producer Max Martin and vocalist Jeanette Söderholm. He also worked with Denniz Pop who had previously collaborated with the band on the hits "All That She Wants" and The Sign".
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