Sugarcubes "Here today tomorrow next week!"

Let me put it like this: "Sugarcubes were never meant as anything more than a joke". Big parts of "Here today, tomorrow next week!" (the title is actually a frequent sentence from bass-player Bragi Olafsson's favorite TV-show) were probably never meant as anything more than a joke but I can't help admiring it for it's crazy vocal-arrangements, surplus of energy and incredible sense of humor. Sugarcubes were a band with a great sense of humor, that's something no-one can take away from them. "Here today, tomorrow next week!" has got lyrics that makes it seem more like a comedy-record than a pop-record. A good comedy-record, though. Sugarcubes is probably the only band in the world that has made me laugh on purpose (I laughed at Queen's "Bicycle race" too but I don't know if Queen wanted people to laugh at that song when they wrote it).

The album's highlights are the psychotic "Regina", the amazing "Pump" and the beautiful "Planet but also "Dream TV", "Nail" and "Dear plastic" are fantastic songs with crazy vocal-arrangements, an inexhaustible stock of energy and really funny lyrics. "The bee" is a sweet, highly melodic pop-song and also probably the only song that would have made it better without Einar. The genuine combination of commercial pop, punk and jazz from "Life's too good" is gone and that is a bit of a pity. What you get instead is some really strange kind of space-pop with echoes from the Icelandic punk-scene as well as influences from ABBA and The B 52's and I prefer that to the commercial pop you get when you buy "Stick around for joy".

Of course One Little Indian couldn't resist to put out three bonus-tracks on the CD and the cassette-version. Two songs called "Hey" and "Dark disco 1" that sounds frighteningly much like The B 52's and a ridiculous country 'n' western-version of "Coldsweat" called "Hot meat". The two first ones are nothing but unnecessary but "Hot meat" gave me a good laugh and I think that's got a worth. Anyway, I've already told you I like this album more than "Stick around for joy", though songs such as "Hit" and "Walkabout". Sugarcubes is not only a joke after all. At the end of the 80ths they created a vision of the Icelandic pop/punk-scene and the Icelandic humor to give the rest of the world and that is something you should admire them for, even if you don't like their music.