They explained in the Hidden Gems commentary - it was one of the first songs recorded for the album and initially it was highly regarded, but then "every song that came after was better". They said it was quite common that songs recorded early on would get boring for everyone and then eventually get discarded. Having said that, personally I didn't miss it from the tracklist. They put it on as b-side of LIAF to "balance out" the single, so you still got some reggae.
I remember Jonas and Malin reportedly arguing on the set of "Cruel Summer". I mean I get why she wouldn't lipsync to songs that she isn't singing in but "C'est la vie" just looks bizarre.
What are the chances of it landing somewhere on the charts due to physical sales? I was really surprised that Gold showed up on them.
How have I missed out on this box set?! I just ordered it and I can’t wait to hear all the rarities. The 8 year old me would have died if he knew he would one day get his hands on this box set.
Well, she does sing the choruses in Cruel Summer (Big Bonus Mix). It's just much less noticeable than in the demo version Jonas shared some years ago where her voice is mixed with a higher volume.
Back in the heyday of my fansite, Perfect World, I somehow got my hands on the e-mail address of Nigel Dick (the director of Cruel Summer). By 1998, he was very well established as THE pop video director, so I suspect Arista / Clive were the ones to secure him. I asked him how he dealt with Linn taking a background role in the A3 era, in spite of being such an integral part of the image of the band. He told me that he switched to a long lens to get close-ups of Linn: "Not very gentlemanlike, to be sure, but it's what the label wanted." There's actually one of these zooms in the video where she casually uses both hands to point away from her, and I've always wondered if it was less a bit of hand choreography and more of a signal to the director to point the camera elsewhere.... haha. I suspect the label in question was Arista...!
My box arrived safely from across the Atlantic today! The SDE Shop packaged it super carefully and it got here in flawless shape. Was on pins and needles while it was in transit, not wanting it to be lost because there aren't any more to go around. Now that it's finally here, I'm starting with my favorite – Happy Nation. Can't wait to hear those remixes for the first time!
What’s interesting is how many brilliant ballads they had and how none of them was a single. The closest would be Don’t Turn Around I guess. I don’t really count Everytime it Rains.
It's not so much the U.S. version.. it's the "correct" version. They repressed it Europe with that version too.
