We hope you haven't missed our new YouTube channel where we showcase old, great and hard to find Roxette and related videos and interviews subtitled! Whenever possible we have remastered the audio and even the video. Today's video is from 1986, the very first performance Roxette ever did: Jacobs stege 1986.
Any requests?
You can win your own copy of the new Gyllene Tider book "Alla tiders Gyllene Tider" by mailing us what's regarded as Gyllene Tider's all time biggest summer hit. Mail us at contest@dailyroxette.com and tell us the title. Not your own choice, mind you.
The contest ends December 13. We have no less than three books you can win, with huge thanks to Roos & Tegnér which has donated them.
The winners will be selected randomly. Staff of TDR cannot participate.
The brand new book about "the band that doesn't exist" is very nice, even from an non-fan point of view. The photos in it are nothing less than spectacular! And while the book is full of photos, there are still approximately 19,850 left in Anders' camera... Food for thought.
The original title of the book was "Gyllene Tider - bandet som inte finns" (the band that doesn't exist...) but the publisher said that you can't publish a book with a negative word in the title. Just like the recording business, where you apparently can't have titles with numbers in them (2Rism anyone?), so Jan-Owe Wikström and Anders Roos changed it as Per did with Travelling. The original title was much better, period.
How is the book? Is there anything new? Well, for starters the book is too full of typos for a high profile release like this. Song titles are misspelled, there were only 2,000 people attending the Halmstad premiere gig instead of 20,000, annoying little things like that. Apart from that, the book is nicely written by Jan-Owe. He has borrowed parts from his older Gyllene Tider book, and added on more recent info as well as embroidered the facts (and fiction?) from his old book. And on page 130 a whole train of thought just ends and as far as I can tell, never comes back.
You get basically the whole story from the infamous Xmas concerts in 1978 up till the last concert in Eskilstuna 2013 with interesting factoids here and there. There's the drug incidents for instance. One where MP wants to smoke window putty (kitt in Swedish, pronounced sh*t) "kitt som shit" he says, and also the one in Jamaica where beds apparently flew and Micke got the munchies after a spliff and killed a loaf of bread. There's also the money sharing problems from 1996 and 2004. All the members of the band get their own chapter and even Mr. BoJo (Bosse Johansson) gets his chapter! Even I, who know most things about this little band, had a few revelations. Something that I really enjoyed is that the book is full of QR codes that actually work! For once there is a good use of QR codes. Unfortunately they only lead to Spotify, and not deep links to more background info, say on gyllenetider.com... And there is a full discography at the end, the sleeves are very small however.
For any Gyllene fan I highly recommend this book, especially for the photos. It's heavy though, 1,400 grams (3 lbs) so shipping will once again be hefty. TDR was planning on selling the book, but the shipping cost makes it near impossible. Join the contest to get one!
The video to Marie Fredriksson's single "Sista sommarens vals" premiered today on Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.
Head over to their site and enjoy:
Well, it has not been officially confirmed yet but both Marie and Per are publicly talking about a possible new Roxette tour "later" in 2014. Dates, places, prices, setlists, meet&greets? Too early to tell. We are quite sure though that should there really be a tour, we can expect another Roxette album somewhen next spring or early summer. Remember that Marie will be busy doing her solo tour in Sweden until the end of April 2014.
It may be tough to beat Bob Dylan who at the moment has done 2,561 concerts on his own "Neverending tour" but with a little support from the Roxette fanbase, this goal seems feasible, don't you think?
The Daily Roxette has a habit of reviewing albums round table-style, so let's get to it! Colin was supposed to be in on it, but is busy with his newborn daughter Fenja, so he's excused.
Thomas: Marie Fredriksson is back. Nu! is her first solo album in Swedish with newly written material in 17 years. She has written one track on the album, “Sista sommarens vals” (“Last Summer’s Waltz”) and she has gotten a track from Per (Gessle) - “Känn dig som hemma” (“Make Yourself at Home”.) The rest of the album has been written by husband Micke Bolyos and text writers for hire. Nu! is produced by Micke together with Christoffer Lundquist.
So how is it? Marie’s voice is great, better than ever in fact. However I feel the songs are so-so and there’s no discernible red line. I would best describe this as the follow-up to 1987’s ...efter stormen, but without Marie’s lyrics or the nice Lindbom/Fredriksson melodies. What do you say guys?
Paul: The fans have waited all these years for an album from Marie with brand new Swedish material. Will they be disappointed with Nu!? Let’s find out…
Thomas: I think Marie’s fans will love this.
Kai: I have to admit that I could not really deal with her two most recent albums (Min bäste vän and The Change), so for me Marie’s latest album I can refer to is I en tid som vår. I liked its vibe and the fact that it was different from what she’s doing with Roxette. Den ständiga resan was actually her first solo album I that I bought and made me dig deeper into her solo efforts. From what I have heard of Nu!, Marie went back to her old style. Which is good.
1 - Kom vila hos mig (Come Rest With Me)
Paul: So, the first single. This doesn’t really set the tone for the whole album. An uptempo lead single from a ballad-heavy album. The song itself is pleasing enough, but the production sounds a bit flat to me. I agree with Thomas though, Marie does sound fantastic on this song, and the album as a whole.
Thomas: I think this is a decent pop-rock track but with a verse and a chorus that don’t go together as well as they should. Early '90s production.
Kai: Listening to the song for the first time, long before I got this album in my hands, I feared that Nu! was going in the wrong direction again. Strong start but a weak chorus. But it does make sense to me in relation with the whole album. You need to take the actual listening easy, then this songs opens the door to the unique universe of this album.
2 - Det bästa som nånsin kan hända (The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened)
Thomas: Lyrics written by Uno Svenningsson from pop group Freda. A country influenced ditty with a pedal steel all over it.
Paul: I knew there was a certain vibe to it, but couldn’t put my finger on it - country! Is that a first for Marie?
Thomas: I can’t recall ever hearing Marie doing country.
Kai: Boys, this is not staged: My cat has for the first time in her life claimed my headphones and wants to listen to this song. Did the check with a GT song, that killed her interest. Well, now that I have the headphones all for myself again, I think there is a certain trace of SOAP in it. Was it Christoffer? Who knows. Worth going and finding it out.
Thomas: Call Chris now!
3 - Det är nu! (It Is Now!)
Paul: The chorus sounds like a song that could’ve been on The Change, whilst the verse sounds like a Roxette B-side to me. Although, I can’t think of the last Gessle song that had a big key change like this one has! I think this may be a single at some point.
Thomas: I imagine this is what Per would describe as “...not Roxette enough.” Judging from the comments online this is however a really big song among Marie’s fans.
Kai: Hmmm, yes. The production is close to Roxette’s. Apart from this, “Det är nu!” could as well have been written for ...efter stormen or Den ständiga resan. As I said, I prefer her older albums over the more recent ones, thus I tend to like it. Oh yes, it’s radio friendly, the strongest one so far. Catchy, positive, energetic.
Thomas: I too prefer her older albums.
Considering that Roxette is one of Scandinavia's most successful bands, it is really about time that there is a documentary about the band.
And given that the group during its sensational comeback tour 2011-2012 played before 1.5 million ecstatic people in 46 countries, it is as much high time for a concert film that shows where the group is right now.
All this and much more fits into the Blu-ray/DVD/CD package "Roxette Live: Travelling The World" which comes out on December 6 and thus should be regarded as the year's most obvious gift for the world's Roxette fans.
In fact, Roxette hasn't released a concert film since the group's first heydays, when they recorded the Crash!Boom!Bang! concert in Johannesburg before an audience of 52,000 people January 14, 1995. Infinitely more drama and darkness lies between this distant golden age and the unbacked resurgence in 2011-2012. Everything is captured here.
We get for instance a complete concert with 90 minutes of an inspired and energetic Roxette live from Curitiba, Brazil, Cordoba in Argentina and Santiago in Chile. The band had by this time been trimmed into an incorruptible and totally buffed rock machine that night after night pumped out 20 of their world hits with an energy that seemed inexhaustible. The film really captures the ecstatic mood of a typical concert in South America in the spring 2012, from the introduction of "Dressed for Success" to the sing-along party in the final encore "Church of Your Heart."
In addition to the concert film is also the poignant and insightful documentary "It All Begins Where It Ends," recorded on the road while Roxette for eighteen months did their unique return to the world stage. Join us behind the scenes, in the bus, at the airport, meet fans around the world and hear the stories of the events that shaped one of Sweden's most fascinating musical destinies.
Also included is a live CD with 16 tracks, recorded at the Teatro Caupolicán in the Chilean capital Santiago May 12, 2012 and the band members themselves classified as one of the tour's absolute highlights. It also contains lots of exciting extras in the form of Per Gessle's backstage films during the tour, the recording of the album Travelling and insights into life on stage just off the headlights.
At the same time a digital/streaming version of the live recording from the Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago will be released with two bonus tracks: "Silver Blue" concert favorite that Roxette fans voted the most desired live song on Facebook, as well as the acoustic encore "Church of Your Heart."
In short, it's like Christmas for everyone with a heart for the band that got up at nine, and took back the championship title when it was the least expected.
;
BERLIN - Blowing the dust off... (and for you guys who don't hang on Facebook)
Well, as you know there is this Christmas season approaching again as usual and so you're gonna need some gifts. Let's see...
"Roxette Live Travelling The World"
release date: December 6, 2013
format: BD & CD and DVD & CD
subtitles: English, German, Spanish
video tracks:(source)
Documentary: It All Begins Where It Ends - The Incredible Story of Roxette
extras (BD only):
audio tracks (CD):
audio tracks (iTunes and Spotify only):
Amazingly enough it's been 25 years since Roxette's breakthrough album Look Sharp! was released... Whatever happened? Although the sleeve, and Wikipedia, state the release date as October 19, it was really released the 21st, a Friday. Expressen's reviewer wrote that the album sucked because it contained too many hits. Go figure.
From Wikipedia (modified):
Look Sharp!
Studio album by Roxette
Released October 19, 1988
Look Sharp! is the second studio album by the Swedish pop duo Roxette. It was recorded at EMI Studios in Stockholm and at Trident II Studios in London between March and June 1988. The album was released on October 19, 1988, two years after their debut Pearls of Passion. The album became an international hit, reaching #23 on the Billboard 200 and spawning the major hit singles "The Look" (U.S. #1), "Listen to Your Heart" (U.S. #1), "Dressed for Success" (U.S. #14), and "Dangerous" (U.S. #2). Because of the worldwide success of the album and its singles, Look Sharp! is considered as Roxette's breakthrough.
The album has sold over 9 million copies worldwide.
As expected Marie goes out on a Swedish solo tour come 2014:
19.2 Helsingborg, Helsingborgs Konserthus
21.2 Örebro, Conventum
22.2 Norrköping, Louis de Geerhallen
28.2 Visby, Wisbystrand
2.3 Kalmar, Kalmarsalen
7.3 Malmö, Malmö Konserthus
8.3 Växjö, Växjö Konserthus
14.3 Jönköping, Jönköpings Konserthus
15.3 Göteborg, Göteborgs Konserthus
19.3 Uppsala, Uppsala Konsert och Kongress
21.3 Halmstad, Halmstad Arena
22.3 Karlstad, Karlstad CCC
4.4 Borås, Åhaga
5.4 Linköping, Linköping Konsert & Kongress
8.4 Stockholm, Cirkus
11.4 Gävle, Gävle Konserthus
12.4 Västerås, Västerås Konserthus
18.4 Luleå, Kulturens Hus
19.4 Umeå, Folkets Hus
The venues appear to be all seated. Tickets are to be released on Monday.