Life in Cartoon Motion |  | Artist: Mika
Label: Island
Category: Music
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £2.50
as of 22/11/2009 06:59 GMT details
You Save: £7.49 (75%)
New (43) Used (24) Collectible (2) from £1.98
Seller: enigmadirect
Rating:  108 reviews
Sales Rank: 354
Format: Enhanced, Extra tracks
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Running Time: 47 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.7 x 0.4
UPC: 602517173354
EAN: 0602517173354
ASIN: B000M2E2QY
Release Date: February 5, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Grace Kelly - Greg Wells, MIKA, Joe Chiccarelli, Lyle Workman | | • | Lollipop - Greg Wells, MIKA, Joe Zook, Lee Thornburg, The Spoons Orchestra of Chiswick | | • | My Interpretation - MIKA, Joe Chiccarelli, Greg Wells, Matt Chamberlain | | • | Love Today - MIKA, Joe Chiccarelli, Greg Wells, Jodi Marr, Derek Citron | | • | Relax, Take It Easy - Greg Wells, MIKA, Joe Chiccarelli, Tim Pierce | | • | Any Other World - Greg Wells, MIKA, Joe Chiccarelli, Chris Nicoladies, Paul Buckmaster | | • | Billy Brown - Greg Wells, MIKA, Joe Chiccarelli, Matt Chamberlain, Dan Rothchild, Jerry Hey | | • | Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) - Joe Chiccarelli, MIKA, Greg Wells, Matt Chamberlain, Dan Rothchild | | • | Stuck In The Middle - Joe Chiccarelli, MIKA, Greg Wells, Dan Rothchild, Lyle Workman | | • | Happy Ending/Over My Shoulder - MIKA | | • | Ring Ring - Greg Wells, MIKA, Joe Chiccarelli, Matt Chamberlain | | • | Splash Page Live Link - MIKA |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
The pop world might be all cooing 'n' cross-eyed over this flamboyant elfin with extended tail-feathers, as if it were shaken suddenly from a slumber, but the arrival of such a character was in fact always inevitable. He's an unlikely but traceable amalgamation of random pop culture explosions from the past few years--two parts Paulo Nutini, one part Kemal from Big Brother, a dash of Daphne Celeste, a barrel measure of Scissor Sisters, and another pinch of post-ironic dancing to Elton John at the Students' Union gone midnight. It's no secret that the UK has a weakness for pretty-boy singer songwriters either--he fits in there too, in that he's about to stick its index finger in the socket and pour it a drink. p Give it 12 months and you might be taking out a restraining order--Mika will split opinion--but his quasi-soul falsetto is unbelievable, that much is immediately obvious. There are moments nearing syrupy Feeling-esque normalcy (take "My Interpretation"), but those aside it's high camp insatiability all the way. There's a hint of Freddie Mercury's theatricality in the voice, and in "Big Girl" he's even written a modern day "Fat Bottomed Girls". "Lollipop" is Jake Shears leading the Jackson 5, "Love Today" is the missing link between the Bee Gees and Village People and "Relax, Take It Easy" is a chilled Pet Shop Boys in gold lamé. Too cheesy to be a classic, perhaps, but this is just the brand of subversive eccentricity Robbie has failed miserably to achieve over his past few albums. --iJames Berry/i
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 108
 Not one duff track on the whole CD February 7, 2007
Sue from France (France)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
How rare is that! Every track is individual, in both lyrics and style and the instrumental arrangements are brilliant. Mika's voice is very gymnastic, very Freddie Mercury. I first heard Grace Kelly on Radio 2 (me being 40 and all....) and had to get my teenage son to download it, since then all of my kids have put in on their MP3s, Mika rules across the age range. The album is no different - refreshingly original, nothing else like it out there folks. Looks like Mika is here to stay.
How to put it in words.....? March 15, 2007
Lulu (Lulu)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
This is a total cliche, and its been said many times before, but this album changed my life. Corny, I know, but its true. I was a very depressed, down in the dumps individual who listened to mostly downbeat, pro-death, heavy metal music. I then heard the single, "Grace Kelly" on the radio in the car. I couldn't get it out of my head and looking back, it seems to be a good thing that the song totured me for hours as I searched the web to find out who wrote it. Once I tracked down Mika, I immediately downloaded the track. After many plays on my iPod, I bought the album, "Life in Cartoon Motion". Mika's humorous approach to homosexuality in "Billy Brown" and happy-go-lucky verses in "Love Today" really brought me into the light to see the beauty of life and individuality. I don't think that Mika uses other's music to make carbon-copies of the same-old, same-old; I think that he brings us back to a time when it wasn't a necessity to starve yourself for beauty as he says in "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" and when it was okay to be happy all the time. He brings us to a time when sexuality wasn't the only thing that sold an album. Times have changed, yes, but Mika brings us back to our innocence with his debut album. Good for you Mika, much appreciated. I can't wait for a second helping of happiness.
Much more than just Grace...... February 5, 2007
Yashkoo (manchester in the sunshine)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
At first i disliked Grace Kelly but slowly, ever so slowly, it sank into my brain and i found it growing on me. hey there was so much fun and invention in that song. Was Mika going to be a one hit wonder? what would happen when he had to fill an album with material? The CD came out today in the UK. Sadly on one of the worst days of my life and a day when I had no intrest in music. Instead of rushing out to get it I didn't. I waited until I popped to the local supermarket and bought it there. I am so glad I did as it took me to another happier place. It's a lovely cd. what more can i say. thanks Mika.
br /Whatcha doing next?
This is what I've been waiting for! February 6, 2007
Victoria Griffiths
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
My album arrived in yesterday's post and I haven't been so excited about an album since Rufus Wainwright's "Want Two"! I am a complete Rufus disciple, and Mika comes from a similar stable I think, although Mika has an infectious childishness and glee that the more mature Rufus doesn't have. Their irreverance is very similar, and the fact that they make music that doesn't need to fit into any genre.
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br / Every track on this album is 'single' material, yet each one is different from the last. Within a few plays I was singing along with every track! "Relax, take it easy" has a pinch of "I just died in your arms tonight" by The Cutting Crew, but don't let you put that off!
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br /Mika is a genius in the making (Rufus is one already!!!)
The MUST BUY album of the year February 12, 2007
Misha (Suffolk, UK)
62 out of 68 found this review helpful
If you only buy one album this year, this has got to be the one. Destined to be the next "Queen - Greatest Hits" that everyone has a copy of, this is one album which does not disappoint. Amazingly, this is Mika's debut album, and if the quality and variety of offerings on here are anything to go by, he will be around for a long time yet.
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br /Track Review:
br /1. Grace Kelly - If you haven't heard this song yet, where have you been? Straight in at number 1 in the charts on downloads alone before the single had even been released on CD, this bouncy number delivers on a number of levels. There is the obvious Scissor-Sisters strain which everyone has been picking up on, and yet, tucked away (and referenced within the song itself) in the background there is not just a hint of Freddie Mercury-style piano punching. A great opener to the album.
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br /2. Lollipop - A simple refrain from the beginning finds its way easily into your head, and before the song has even finished its first play, you are singing along to the chorus asking yourself how you know the lyrics! If "Love's gonna get you down" then you'll really get down to this song!
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br /3. My Interpretation - A soft starting ballad with some wonderful chord changes which keep the song fresh time after time. Mika shows how he doesn't always have to sing in his upper registers to sound great. In sections could even be a Robbie Williams hit.
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br /4. Love Today - "You've got to love, love me".. A techno-pop-funk hit with strains of Scissor Sisters (although I hate comparing him against SS, on times it cannot be helped) which is sure to make this a hit. One of the most likely songs on the album to be released as a single.
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br /5. Relax, Take it Easy - Slowing the mood down a little after the high speed Love Today, "RTIE" is a simple-sounding song which has so many different layers to it you will have to listen to it a few times to notice everything that is going on in the backing track from China-town to 80's pop. There have been many comments of "it reminds me of something else", and the opening bars could easily be the start of Cutting Crew's 80's hit - "I just died (in your arms tonight)"
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br /6. Any Other World - When the world is being terrorised by suicide bombers, power-crazed politicians and general madness, how can you put it into a song? Somehow Mika manages to do it in a way that is inoffensive, yet extremely thought provoking. Is this is answer to Queen's "The World We Created"?
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br /7. Billy Brown - A funny little song about a married man who falls in love with another man. Read what you want into sexual preferences, commitment, love relationships, whether this is about Mika personally or not is irrelevant. It just goes to show how people have to live with their decisions. Trumpets and trombones add to a pseudo big-band sound that gives yet another style to Mika's repertoire.
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br /8. Big Girl - If you've got it, flaunt it. The more the merrier. A 70's style disco hit, this is a definite crowd singalong.
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br /9. Stuck in the Middle - a mainly piano-vocal song, this one is not one of the strongest songs on the album, yet gives an insight into the many facets of Mika's talent.
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br /10. Happy Ending/Over My Shoulder - an RB style song about relationships and how they don't always work out how you want. The second "hidden" track is a seriously haunting falsetto and piano song which would not be out of place in a Wolrd Cinema soundtrack (think French black and white films).
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br /11. Ring Ring - a "bonus track" on the album, this is yet another example of how big Mika is going to be. A Grace Kelly rival in the making, this is another track which is bound to get airtime if released as a single.
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br /The album also has hidden extras. Put the CD in your PC and you will be presented with a registration page for "exclusive" mailings etc. Not only that, one you have verified your disc, you will be given access to videos of Mika performing Billy Brown and Grace Kelly on piano, as well as acoustic versions of Love Today and My Interpretation as found on the "Dodgy Holiday EP" album. The acoustic sets are played on Freddie Mercury's grand piano, and may even be the same one as in the videos.
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br /Overall, an amazing first offering from a new talent who is sure to make it big in the months and years to come. It will be interesting to see if he is around 20-30 years later like Freddie, Queen and Elton. Time will tell, but this is a great start.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 108
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