Bad Hair Day - a success
Written by tevensso on January 14, 2006 to Per Gessle.
STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Per’s new “project” Bad Hair Day released an album last Thursday. The album is called “Mazarin demos” and consists of 12 songs. Those 12 songs were downloaded no less than 42,041 times in total the first 24 hours. That amounts to roughly 96.44 GB data transfered…
“Mazarin demos” is reviewed as an actual album by Anders Nunstedt in Expressen, where it gets four stingers out of five. Nunstedt says that Per writes on sonofaplumber.com [and on TDR] that “I guess it’s basically for the hardcore fan,” but that it certainly isn’t. He continues the review by mentioning that this album is like a “Mazarin unplugged” minus the audience background sounds and applause. The production is splendid and in the naked arrangements songs like “Sakta mina steg” and “Varmt igen” grow several sizes (while the monster hit “Här kommer alla känslorna” actually gets weaker).
Nunstedt comments that this album, had it been released “for real,” would almost certainly have been able to top the charts.
Update Jan. 16: Per has found yet another demo; he comments on it himself:
”Oooops!”, look what I found in the drawer!! I totally forgot about this one! Looking back, I remember I didn’t feel very comfortable with the lyrics and I definitely thought I could write a better and more interesting melody line.
But I did like the guitar riff and the overall Blondie-feel to it. All in all though, it’s quite terrible!!!”
The Plum, Jan 16, 2006
The song he’s talking about is “Jimmy’s gitarr” which was further developed and recorded as “Spegelboll.” It is now available for download as a bonus track to “Mazarin demos” at sonofaplumber.com.
Other articles with the same topic
- New Per Gessle single "Silly Really" (October 6, 2008)
- More than 100 million SEK to Swedish songwriters (June 16, 2008)
- Per enters Swedish album chart (May 25, 2008)
- The word according to Gessle (May 14, 2008)
- Movie with Gessle song wins top award at New York film festival (May 6, 2008)
43 comments
rox-kuryliw said on January 14, 2006 11:19:
load i didnt think the demo album was not to different to the actual album ! some are sweet songs. i wouldnt rave about it though at all lol. the album is better.
wonderful_balloon said on January 14, 2006 11:47:
i especially like the acoustic version “gungar” and “tycker om..” - sounds fantastic. should have been on the mazarin album in that version.
Superbullie said on January 14, 2006 11:48:
GREAAAAAAAAAAT!
But it’s no surprise for me that this project is that succesfull. From the first day on I have been curious about the amount of downloads.
:-)
Rich-UK said on January 14, 2006 11:50:
“songs like “Sakta mina steg” and “Varmt igen” grow several sizes (while the monster hit “Här kommer alla känslorna” actually gets weaker).”
But of course you have to remember that these demos were recorded first. So what Nunstedt means is that the final recordings didn’t bring out the best of tracks like “Sakta mina steg” and “Varmt igen” (which happen to be my two least favourite tracks!), yet the awesome production of “Här kommer alla känslorna” converted the song from what could have been one of many slow-to-mid tempo album tracks into an immensely successful lead single.
All the best, Rich ;-)
tevensso (moderator) said on January 14, 2006 13:12:
If you divide 42,000 by 12 you get 3,500. So this album sold 3,500 the first 24 hrs. And it’s free. So does Per REALLY have millions of fans abroad, like some people claim? ;)
johan1 said on January 14, 2006 13:22:
The news about the album came up on TDR quite late, the same day, so, maybe all the fans dosn’t discovered the realise in time to download it the first day!
Baby-C said on January 14, 2006 13:36:
Actually the news was on TDR the day before. On the 11:th. But since we were able to download the songs from 00:00 she same night, you could be fooled to think the news came out the same day as the release, but it wasn’t. Anyway, I understand what you mean... many fans might not have access to internet every day, or maybe not even every week. So ofcourse there are many more fans than this 3.500 that has already downloaded the songs. And.. this was the first day aswell. Would be interesting to know how many it is now.
CRIZ said on January 14, 2006 13:46:
...and not all fans around the globe have “bredband” already......so..other fans are so nice and making copys for those who need them :D
By the way: I prefer the finished Mazarin album too..and don’t understand the big exitement of Expressen at all...ROFL. But I’m impressed by the good quality from the demos. Maybe it really was funny for a change not to record any demos for SOAP.
tevensso (moderator) said on January 14, 2006 13:49:
It was of course meant to be a secret. :)
Yes, I’m sure this number will continue to rise steadily, especially now that both Aftonbladet and Expressen have mentioned it. But some people always claim that there are SO MANY fans out there, especially internationally, and I just suggest it might not be so? I’ve heard people shouting for a German Gyllene Tider tour... Hmmm?
Grasi said on January 14, 2006 14:11:
Yeah there are many Per-fans around the world, as well as Marie-fans... mainly because they´re all Roxette fans - and want to know everything related to Per or Marie.
I loved those demos... in my opinion, this “hardcore fan album” is million times better than “Son of a plumber”.
Baby-C said on January 14, 2006 15:17:
Well.. can “Vikingarna” be popular in Germany, why can’t Gyllene Tider? ;-) Ofcourse, they’d have to translate the songs to german... but nah, don’t think that is a good idea at all.
And no, I don’t think that there are nearly as many fans out there that some people claim it is.
ktoto said on January 14, 2006 17:27:
Is the review on the internet or is the expressen webpage so bad (or I so stupid) that I cannot find it?
CRIZ said on January 14, 2006 17:50:
..a german Gyllene Tider tour!! Hahaha..who did ask for that?? “Die Ärzte” or “Die Toten Hosen” ever toured in Sweden? LOL
roxtexanet said on January 14, 2006 18:34:
I’m not usually a big fan of demos, but I agree - some of these are really something special (no wonder the album turned out so well with demos like these). “Vilket Hall Du An Gar” in particular is beautiful as a demo. “For Bra For Att Vara Sant” was also much better before (not a big fan of the finished version), but the best has to be “Mazarin”... just gorgeous!
I don’t think this would have topped the charts at all, though, if it had been released for profit... people would think of it as a really lazy cash grab, especially with the real “Mazarin” being one of the best selling Swedish-language albums of all time (to think that Per has two in this category - “Halmstads Parlor” of coruse!).
roxtexanet said on January 14, 2006 18:35:
Does anybody else think of Melissa Etheridge’s “Come To My Window” when they hear the first part of “Vilket Hall Du An Gar”??!
Judith (moderator) said on January 14, 2006 19:10:
Tycker om is amazing :O I already liked the song but I think I’ve never heard Per sing with so much feeling as in this demo @_@ - it makes me cry/goose bumps!
roxtex: yes! I was wondering it reminded me of something but what?? now you gave me the answer!
gyllene_tjej said on January 14, 2006 23:11:
after listening to the demos like dozens of times I must admit the demos are almost BETTER than the real thing... Sorry to say but Helena IS annoying at times at the final CD, and since she’s not to be found too often on BH project, it makes the songs more attractive.
And then, PGs voice is somehow more exposed, really nice acoustic try! And hey, Gungar and Jag tror du bär på en stor hemlighet are better than final songs too.
You go Gessle! Thanks again :)
rox-kuryliw said on January 15, 2006 03:43:
no what would be interesting if they did that with an roxette track no one heard before, then we would be talking download numbers. :-D
imazombieinthem... said on January 15, 2006 05:37:
The reviewer has thought the exact same way I did, a Mazarin unplugged. But I would give it ***** :) HKAK does sound especially weak. How they turned that weak demo around into the song it is on the album shows the talent Per, Clarance & Christoffer have.
And of course the talent of Mr G shines through with how similar most of the demos are to the final produced songs.
Being a Mazarin release, most of the swedish people who bought the album probably dont visit here or the SOAP site. Those download numbers are mostly hardcore Roxette fans. It will be interesting to see the number of downloads now that he papers have promoted it.
per_mson said on January 15, 2006 11:14:
I actually think it is nice to “get rid of” the “Bonanza” rhytm in HKAK... so I think this version is almost better! :)
llanrox said on January 15, 2006 17:16:
r just great! love ‘m :) ( Thnx god Helena is not on any of ‘m ... I guess )
Rich-UK said on January 15, 2006 17:54:
Who’s singing backing vocals in Om Du Bara Vill? Thanks, Rich
tevensso (moderator) said on January 16, 2006 10:22:
This is just a guess, but it could be Milla Andersson.
Rich-UK said on January 16, 2006 14:27:
It sounds like the backing singer who sung on one of the tracks on the CD that accompanied Robert Thorselius’ book. Is this Milla Andersson Tev? Cheers, Rich ;-)
Edit: I don’t think that it’s Helena. At one point I thought it was Per doing a very bad falsetto (!) but now I think that it is a woman :-)
johan1 said on January 14, 2006 11:07:
What can I say? Almost everything Per does is great and so is also this album!
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