SANTIAGO - Vanilla Ninja, the Estonian power pop trio formed by Lenna Kuurmaa (vocals), Piret Järvis (guitar) and Katrin Siska (keyboards), a rocking girl band that is a well known act in the Central European scene, and now in Latin America, after participating successfully in the biggest summer Festival in Latin America, the Festival of Viña del Mar, this past February.

Before the girls will go on tour next June in the Baltic states, and their second visit to several countries in Latin America in July - August, they want to release a single to warm up the audience. After discussing this issue with Hector Faune, their manager/promoter for Latin America, Hector proposed to get in touch with Per Gessle from Roxette to have a possible song co-operation, as he feels Vanilla Ninja's music has lots of similarities to Roxette's uptempo and power ballad style.

When Per was approached for a co-operation he sent over two demos; "T-t-t-take it!" and "Every Day Outside My Window" but the girls felt these particular songs didn't suit them; "Per kindly sent us two songs, and we picked one to use for the next release" says Lenna, vocalist in Vanilla Ninja. The song, "Crashing Through The Doors," is composed by Per Gessle, with original lyrics from Piret Järvis and Lenna Kuurmaa. Readers of The Daily Roxette will be pleased to know this is an English version of Per Gessle's "Spegelboll" from the highly successful "Mazarin" album released in 2003.

"The girls are in the studio working hard to get a cool version out of it," Hector Faune says to The Daily Roxette.

On the question if this will be the start of a bigger co-operation with Per, Lenna replies: "Probably. I hope so. He himself was also very interested in it, but unfortunately a person who's as famous as him, his calendar is planned for a year or two."

The song will be released on May 9 to radio stations, firstly in Estonia, and a little later in the Central European Countries, as well in Latin America.

SÖDERHAMN - Snippets of some of the new songs are now available on gessle.com. The remastered and extended version of "The World According to Gessle" will be released May 14.

Gessle.com, thru Bengans, is taking orders for the remastered and extended version of "The World According to Gessle." Swedes can pay via invoice - 169 SEK, or credit card - 159 SEK, foreigners via credit card only. Shipping to Sweden is 29 SEK, EU 45 SEK and the rest of the world 55 SEK.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Per Gessle seems to be in a great mood lately, here's another note from The Man:

Another day, another record!

Spent the afternoon, sipping coffee and eating English muffins at Cutting Room meanwhile mastering the demo-CD. What does it sound like, someone asked on the bus? Well, it sounds like… hmmm… like a demo-CD!

We’ve managed to squeeze in three additional tracks so now the entire album can be enjoyed in its early glory! This is the final running order:

The Demos according to Gessle

1. There is my baby (June 27, 1994)
2. I’ll be alright (July 16, 1994)
3. June afternoon (July 17, 1994)
4. Writer (July 17, 1994)
5. T-t-t-take it! (Sep 12, 1994)
6. Elvis in Germany (Nov 2, 1994)
7. Every day outside my window (Dec 28, 1995)
8. Love doesn’t live here (Feb 25, 1996)
9. Detective Jones (Feb 29, 1996)
10. Beautiful things, terrible things (Apr 7, 1996)
11. Elvis in Deutschland (Apr 26, 1996)
12. Makin’ love to you (acoustic version) (June 9, 1996)
13. Lay down your arms (June 23, 1996)
14. Do you wanna be my baby? (Aug 12, 1996)
15. B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B (Oct 24, 1996)
16. Stupid (Oct 28, 1996)
17. Saturday (Nov 2, 1996)
18. Wish you the best (Nov 3, 1996)
19. I want you to know (Dec 28, 1996)
20. Kix (Jan 2, 1997)

Cheers, P.

Update: technical issues (the damn record is too long!!!) we have had to delete the kix (lovely pair remix) from the cd… shit happens. you'll have to do the twist to reporter instead!
p

STOCKHOLM - The Daily Roxette received a message from a guy who spoke of The World around 11 years ago:

Just came home from a swell mastering afternoon at Cutting Room. To my surprise EMI have managed to locate the rejected Battery studios-mixes, made by Michael Ilbert in London in December 1996. Can hardly remember this…. but… I recall that Michael was very ill with a bad stomach throughout the week and I thought the studio was way too far away from my hotel in the posh areas so I didn't pay attention that much….. anyway… as you might know we only used the "There is my baby"-mix on the record. However, listening to the Battery mixes today both Clarence and I found them superior to the Mono Studio-mixes (made in January 1997) that we did use on the album… so…. we decided to change for this re-release. Which means you'll get "new" mixes on three tracks; "Elvis in Germany", "I'll be alright" & "T-t-t-take it!". Surprise.

P.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Per Gessle's 1997 album "The World According to Gessle" will be re-released on EMI/Elevator Entertainment in a "super duper extra turbo deluxe with cheese on it" edition come May! The album is now a double with tons of nice bonuses and a new extended sleeve with an interview added. The videos, you ask? They will not be included on the album, but will be available on various Gessle-sites.

Bonus trax CD 1:

Kix-Cha-Cha "ghost track"
Love Doesn't Live Here outtake from album + B-side Kix
Always Breaking My Heart (30 May 1995) B-side Do You Wanna…
I Wanna Be With You (2 Nov 1994) B-side Do You Wanna…
Blue Umbrella (15 June 1993) B-side I Want You to Know
Jupiter Calling (3 Aug 1995) B-side I Want You to Know
Let’s Party! (14 July 1988) B-side I Want You to Know
Kix (Lovely Pair Mix) B-side Kix

Read more…

STOCKHOLM - Per will sign his new DVD "En händig man på turné," and Per with Sven will sign Sven's new book "Att vara Per Gessle."

Where will they do it? Of course The Daily Roxette has the dates, places and times:

STOCKHOLM Saturday Dec. 8
Hedengrens, 14:00-15:00

MALMÖ Thursday Dec. 13
Åhléns City, 17:00–18:00

HALMSTAD Friday Dec. 14
Halmstad Bokhandel, Brogatan 20, 16:00-17:00

GOTHENBURG Saturday Dec. 15
Wettergrens Bokhandel, Avenyn 21, 13:00-14:00

LJUSDAL - The lead single off Marie's new album has been sent out to radio stations and it's of course "Ordet är farväl." It seems to be a promotional release only (CDPRO4415). The song itself is written by Micke Bolyos and Py Bäckman with Micke on programming, Jokke Pettersson (Marie's nephew) on guitars and Bengan Jansson on the accordion.

(Updated) - Marie Fredriksson's new compilation, "Tid för tystnad - Marie Fredrikssons ballader" ("Time for Silence - Marie Fredriksson's Ballads") will be released Wednesday Nov. 28.

The two "new" tracks are "Ett bord i solen" which is "A Table in the Sun" in Swedish, the other new track is called "Ordet är farväl" "("The Word is Goodbye".) Enjoy the cover.

Update November 8:

Tracklist is as follows:

01. Ordet är farväl
02. Ännu doftar kärlek
03. Den bästa dagen
04. Mot okända hav
05. Aldrig som främlingar
06. Även vargar måste välja
07. Jag brände din bild
08. Tid för tystnad
09. Ett bord i solen
10. Den ständiga resan
11. Medan tiden är inne
12. Min trognaste vän
13. Vinterängel
14. Sparvöga
15. Den sjunde vågen
16. Ett hus vid havet
17. Så skimrande var aldrig havet
18. Berusa mig
19. Tro

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Per Gessle's new DVD, titled like the tour "En händig man på turné," (5153989) will be released as predicted; before Christmas, namely December 5. The DVD will contain the full tracklist of the Stockholm concert (see below), and also the tour diary previously published on YouTube. Other bonuses included are the clarinet version of "När vi två blir en" and the video of "En händig man."

According to the sleeve the concert is fully filmed in Stockholm. The sleeve is designed by Karl-Magnus Boske, the same art director that designed for instance the sleeves to "The World According to Gessle" and "Have a Nice Day" series. The front sleeve photo is taken by TDR's Thomas Evensson.

Technical specs of the DVD: Dolby Digital and dts, anamorphic widescreen in 16:9 format.

Read more…