https://www.roxette.nl/atom.xml <![CDATA[Roxette Central]]> Small Talk 2026-06-20T08:30:00+00:00 <![CDATA[Room Service shield wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2026/06/21/room-service-shield-wallpapers.html The Room Service shield logo is one of my favourite logos, in the top three alongside the Joyride and Run to You logos. Featured here is a collection of wallpapers inspired by the promo and wallpaper releases from the time.

]]> 2026-06-20T08:30:00+00:00 <![CDATA[Dick Latka’s Late Night Show wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2026/05/04/dick-latkas-late-night-show-wallpapers.html Who can forget Roxette’s epic 2001 appearance on Dick Latka’s Late Night Show? Especially since it was live with band members Ray, Mandy, and Joey — and not just another playback performance. 😉

]]> 2026-05-04T18:30:00+00:00 <![CDATA[Japanese Golden Times wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2026/02/27/japanese-golden-times-wallpapers.html Back in late 1983, Gyllene Tider released what they hoped would be their English-language breakthrough – Teaser Japanese. While that didn’t come to pass, what it gave us is the lovely hiragana “golden times” lettering. Enjoy three wallpaper variants, inspired by the single cover and vinyl label respectively.

]]> 2026-02-27T13:00:00+00:00 <![CDATA[Today Sweden, Tomorrow the World wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2026/02/04/today-sweden-tomorrow-the-world-wallpapers.html While none of us may ever get to wear one of those “Today Sweden, Tomorrow the World” T-shirts that Per had made during the recording sessions of Pearls of Passion, we can at least adorn our computer and phone screens with an approximation of it.

]]> 2026-02-04T08:00:00+00:00 <![CDATA[Fingertips ’93 wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2026/01/26/fingertips-93-wallpapers.html What better way to celebrate the thirty-third anniversary of Fingertips ’93 than with some wallpapers for your phone and computer?

]]> 2026-01-26T18:07:11+00:00 <![CDATA[The Big Love wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2025/08/26/the-big-love-wallpapers.html Getting these out just before the clock strikes midnight. It wasn’t called The Big L. for no reason. Some big love-inspired wallpapers for your desktop and mobile screens.

]]> 2026-02-03T07:00:00+00:00 <![CDATA[June Afternoon wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2025/08/05/june-afternoon-wallpapers.html A little late for June, but here are some June Afternoon-inspired wallpapers for your desktop and mobile screens.

]]> 2026-02-02T08:00:00+00:00 <![CDATA[Joyride wallpapers ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2025/03/08/joyride-wallpaper.html A small, but large, treat in the days between celebrating the Joyride single and album releases this year.

]]> 2026-02-01T14:13:12+00:00 <![CDATA[Crash! Boom! Bang! 30th Anniversary Edition ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/12/07/crash-boom-bang-30th-anniversary-edition.html I think we were spoiled by the Look Sharp! and Joyride 30th anniverysary editions. That doesn’t sound like a very positive start for the review of the Crash! Boom! Bang! 30th anniversary edition release, but only because those earlier releases set a high bar.

It may sound harsh, but those two releases lavished upon us quite comprehensive booklets, a multitude of demos and alternate versions, and exquisite packaging. The Look Sharp! digital release even kept being fleshed out substantially after its initial release.

This isn’t a review of those releases, however, so let’s jump in.

The good

As a package for the general public, it’s fantastic.

The LP, first CD and digital media (supposedly1) contain all tracks recorded for the album. Yay! The second CD with demos is also very nicely fleshed out.

For the most part, the design also adheres a lot closer to the original release compared to the earlier 30th anniversary editions where fonts and photos didn’t always match the original releases. I was not that impressed by the red background on the CD’s back cover when I saw photos online, but it looks much better in real life.

Quality-wise, these are also very nice. I may be wrong, but it looks like the (cover) artwork was (re)created from scratch (like Joyride 30) instead of scanning the old material (like Look Sharp! 30) – for the CD at least.

The bad

As a package for the more hardcore fans, this is a bit lacklustre. It reminds me a bit of The Rox Box in that it seems very expansive on the surface, but really only includes minimal new material. I know, we’re very hard to please.

Speaking of the track list, the mix of “Crazy About You” is the one from the You Don’t Understand Me single and not the original mix for this album as released on the Salvation single. A small oversight, for sure, but avoidable.

There’s also a few issues with the demos where details are incomplete or inconsistent. The “Crazy About You” demo is listed as 18 June on the digital release only and 20 June on the CD. It’s 20 June everywhere else up to now, so is this a typo or is 18 June actually the correct date? (I’m having visions of the various recording dates for the “I’m Sorry” demo. Urgh.) “Sleeping in My Car” has no date listed except 1993, but we know Per wrote it in the evening after the record execs said they “didn’t hear a single” on 9 December 1993 and it was recorded the next day. 10 December. Just add it. The same thing goes for “Almost Unreal” listing only February 1993 when we know Per is meticulous about documenting stuff. I mean, you’ve seen the images of his original lyrics and the demo tapes covered in dates.

You may have noticed that I said the “second CD” is nicely fleshed out, but whereas CDs have a physical limit on how much you can cram in there, digital media doesn’t suffer from the same limitation. So, why stick with the same track list for the digital/streaming release when there are so many more demos which could have been added? Can we be hopeful that we’ll have a repeat of Look Sharp! 30 where the digital release was expanded again and again until it contained everything Per could find. I mean, we know there’s some additional tracks – “Pocketful of Rain” was in the Bag of Trix and other demos are in The Per Gessle Archives.

Let’s not forget the “Fireworks” remix which is also M.I.A. For a track which was originally going to be the album’s title, it’s not had an easy time.

And then, of course, we get to the quotes about “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” from the Don’t Bore Us – Get to the Chorus! liner notes. Marie said: “This was actually written a couple of years back and recorded for the Crash!-album, but that version sounded really tired.” Per added: “A new version was recorded…”, referring to the version on Don’t Bore Us – Get to the Chorus!. This doesn’t sound like only “a demo was recorded for the Crash!-album” to me, so why not include it?1

I did say we were spoiled by the earlier 30th anniversary releases, and I’m willing to overlook a lot of things but the one thing I would have LOVED to have seen included would have been a similar agenda to the one that was included in the Joyride booklet that showed an almost day-by-day overview of the recordings and other important events in 1990.

The cover artwork for the LP shows signs of haloing around the lettering, and the colour doesn’t match the artwork from the CD (much too dark), so this seems to be a scan. Not a terrible scan, but noticeable nonetheless.

The ugly

While the general design felt a lot more like the original release, my complaint here is why they didn’t just add drop shadows to the coloured texts to match the original and not mar the photographs with odd color overlays and effects. I know that from Charm School onwards the Roxette albums’ designs became a lot more organic and handmade and that was part of their design, but that isn’t true for these older releases. Why mess with something that worked?

Which brings me to the digital release’s artwork. Eek. When scaled down on your mobile phone or in the sidebar of your music player it looks great. When you look at it zoomed to 100% is when the flaws show. This is quite clearly a scan that wasn’t properly descreened. Since the (scanned) artwork for the LP is much better and the artwork is basically pristine for the CD release, why would you not use one of those instead as a starting point?

I realise there’s a lot of nit-picking and the bad and the ugly are way longer than the good, but in all I’m actually very happy that we got this. I would always love more material and for things to be more correct, whether factually or design-wise, but this plugs at least a few more holes of demos we hadn’t heard before. There’s even a tiny bit more information on the recordings in 1993. And we can always create playlists for ourselves which contain every (correct) track. A nice addition to the collection, to be sure.

  1. We know 18 tracks were recorded for the album, but one of the 18 tracks included in the first disc and on the LP is “Almost Unreal” – which was recorded first for “Hocus Pocus” and eventually repurposed for the “Super Mario Bros.” movie. In my eyes, that leaves the original recording of “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” as unreleased. Wouldn’t you agree? ↩ ↩

]]> 2024-12-07T23:57:14+00:00 <![CDATA[“Knockin’ on Every Door” — the fifth single from Joyride? ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/09/11/knockin-on-every-door-the-fifth-single-from-joyride.html There are some things I have theories about—some grounded in reality and some just crazy. This one falls somewhere in the middle. Was “Knockin’ on Every Door” originally intended as the fifth single from Joyride? Let’s dive in.

“Knockin’ on Every Door“ cover mockup

The above is what I imagine the cover could have looked like. But, wait, I hear you say. That looks an awful lot like the cover for How Do You Do! Very observant. Part of my theory is that this happened very late in the planning stages, and “Knockin’ on Every Door” as a single was shelved after most of the production had been completed.

“How Do You Do!“ T-shirt

One of the T-shirts sold during “The Summer Joyride” tour included the above design. Yes, once again it’s for How Do You Do!, but the type treatment was still very much Joyride and not so much Tourism1 (and also not very Church of Your Heart—the latest single at that time). More on this later.*

The next piece of this puzzle? In issue 13 of the Official International Roxette Fan Club’s fanzine from late 1991, it was printed that either “Knockin’ on Every Door” or “Soul Deep” could be the next single from Joyride. (Talk about burying the lede, right.) Seeing as “Soul Deep” had already been a single in 1987, that was probably unlikely, leaving “Knockin’ on Every Door” as the next potential single. It was also noted that Church of Your Heart was rumoured to be a single further down the line. Instead it turned out that Church of Your Heart was the next single and “Knockin’ on Every Door” the rumour.

Type treatments

*Getting back to the design of the T-shirt. Isn’t it odd that it has the same type treatment as the first four singles from Joyride while Church of Your Heart had a completely different design? Church of Your Heart is also the only Lars Nordin design during this time (the next being Queen of Rain), with the rest designed by Kjell Andersson and/or Monica Eskedahl. That makes me think that Church of Your Heart was brought forward (and hastily needed a design which neither Kjell nor Monica could do for some reason) with “Knockin’ on Every Door” moved next in line, but then finally replaced by How Do You Do! outright as there wasn’t enough time left for another Joyride single before its release. And then the design was mostly recycled for How Do You Do!—not such a crazy idea when you look at all the recycled designs amongst the Pearls of Passion and Look Sharp! singles.

The last part of my theory relies on the fact that no other Roxette album track2 has had remixes created for them. “Crush on You”? That was kind of announced as a single and subsequently cancelled. And what about Dance Passion? That was a remix album with the remixes created specifically for it. Also doesn’t count. I realize that BomKrash also did the remixes of “How Do You Do!” but those could have been done at a later stage. Ultimately the “Knockin’ on Every Door” 12-inch remix was relegated to a bonus track on the How Do You Do! CD single and the 7-inch remix on the How Do You Do! 12-inch.

So, these are all the facts (and fiction) I have. What’s your opinion?

  1. If the above isn’t true and “Knockin’ on Every Door” was never intended to be a single, does that mean that the How Do You Do! T-shirt shows the original design and Tourism’s design was originally going to look more like a continuation of the Joyride design? New crazy theory unlocked. ↩

  2. I don’t consider “From a Distance (SingSing version)” to be a remix, just a different mix which didn’t make it to the album. ↩

]]> 2024-09-11T15:45:30+00:00 <![CDATA[ROX RMX Reissues Repercussions ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/09/09/rox-rmx-reissues-repercussions.html With the ROX RMX physical release and digital reissues done, let’s look at what we gained and lost. It feels a bit like “Winners and losers / We’re all in the same show / Running and running again / Any way the wind will blow”, to be honest.

ROX RMX

Digital reissue

The digital reissue is a net win, with five new tracks, and some minor reshuffling.

Volume 1 loses “Fading Like a Flower” by Galantis, but gains “Fading Like A Rose (Everytime remix)”, “The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye (Bassflow remake)”, and “Fading Like A Rose (Original +2 bpm)” for a new total of 16 tracks.

“Fading Like a Flower” by Galantis is the new opener for Volume 2, with “Fading Like a Flower” by the Dancing DJs moving later in the track list and “The Look (Head‐Drum‐mix)” being replaced with “The Look (Head-Drum airwave mix)” for a new total of 16 tracks.

Volume 3 now starts off with “Listen to Your Heart (Alle Farben remix)” with “The Look (Head‐Drum‐mix)” slotting in as the second-to-last track to take the total number of tracks to 17.

Physical release

This one’s a mixed bag, and a few tracks get lost in the shuffle.

Volume 1 has no casualties, opening with “Listen to Your Heart (Alle Farben remix)” and joined by the normal version of “Fading Like A Rose” for a total of 16 tracks.

Volume 2 replaces “The Look (Head‐Drum‐mix)” with “The Look (Head-Drum airwave mix)”. Hey, at least it’s a new track!

“The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye (Bassflow remake - radio edit)” is a welcome addition to Volume 3, but we do lose “Dangerous (Waste of Vinyl 12″ mix)” and “Chances (Dancehall version)” in the process.

In conclusion, the digital reissue gets some nice additions with the number of tracks increasing from 44 to 49. While the physical release track count does increase by one from 44 to 45, it comes at the expense of losing three existing tracks to make space for four new tracks.

For the completionists: get both, for everyone else who just want all the remixes: buy a lossless version from Qobuz.

]]> 2024-09-09T08:10:12+00:00 <![CDATA[The Roxette Site is dead. Long live Roxette Central! ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/08/23/the-roxette-site-is-dead-long-live-roxette-central.html When I launched this site a few months ago, I simply reused the name of my previous fansite. A few weeks ago I was thinking where I wanted this site to go and my mind immediately went back to Roxette Central. That’s kind of where I want this site to end up (again). So, let’s do this properly and give the site back its name.

When I launched Roxette Central 25 and a bit years ago, it was a fun place to get some awesome wallpapers and fonts that were used on the various Roxette and related releases.

Time brings knowledge and, in hindsight, I was pirating fonts back in 1999. Oops. So, that won’t be back. I’ll add information about the fonts this time.

Some of the old wallpapers will probably return in formats for today’s devices. And there will be new ones as well. How many? Who knows.

I’ll still be making random posts as well. It’s been fun to imagine the what ifs so far and I want to continue doing that.

]]> 2024-08-23T11:02:36+00:00 <![CDATA[Xtra Trax XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/05/15/xtra-trax-xl.html I did say: “maybe another one or two,” when I kicked off this series of posts, and this is one of those. With so many hits compilations released over the years, there are quite a few non-studio album tracks.

Xtra Trax: XL Edition

I’m honestly not sure what to do for a cover since this is a compilation of compilation albums. They have different designs, but there are some shared themes. Smoosh them together somehow and hope for the best?

Album

These ten tracks would make a pretty good album, don’t you agree?

  1. June Afternoon (4:13)
  2. You Don’t Understand Me (4:28)
  3. She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (4:05)
  4. I Don’t Want to Get Hurt (4:19)
  5. A Thing About You (3:51)
  6. Breathe (4:34)
  7. Opportunity Nox (2:59)
  8. Little Miss Sorrow (3:54)
  9. One Wish (3:03)
  10. Reveal (3:43)

Demos

Of all the tracks included here, we’re only still to hear the demo for “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” And what’s not included here is the other track Per composed with Desmond Child. I wonder if there’s a demo we’ll ever get to hear?

  1. She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (demo, December 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  2. It Hurts (demo, 7 March 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:57)
  3. June Afternoon (demo, 17 July 1994: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:14)
  4. I Don’t Want to Get Hurt (demo, 23 June 1995: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:53)
  5. You Don’t Understand Me (demo, 30 July 1995: Tits & Ass) (4:16)
  6. It Hurts (demo, 3 August 1995: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  7. Makin’ Love To You (demo, 9 June 1996: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:30)
  8. Stupid (demo, 28 October 1996: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:37)
  9. Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla (You Broke My Heart) (demo, 27 July 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:36)
  10. Little Miss Sorrow (demo, 14 October 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:41)
  11. The Weight of the World (demo, 18 October 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  12. Every Day (demo, March 2000: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (3:22)
  13. A Thing About You (demo, 26 December 2001: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:56)
  14. Breathe (demo, 10 January 2002: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:35)
  15. Opportunity Nox (demo, 4 March 2002: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:50)
  16. Reveal (demo, 9 April 2006: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:29)
  17. One Wish (demo, 20 May 2006: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:33)

Outtakes and B-sides

Ignore the Abbey Road versions, stick the remaining eight tracks on a second disc with the ten album tracks above, and you get a pretty good double album.

  1. Crazy About You (alternative mix)1 (3:57)
  2. The Look (acoustic version, 15 November 1995: Abbey Road Studios, London, UK) (3:46)
  3. Listen to Your Heart (acoustic version, 15 November 1995: Abbey Road Studios, London, UK) (3:38)
  4. You Don’t Understand Me (acoustic version, 15 November 1995: Abbey Road Studios, London, UK) (3:43)
  5. Help! (acoustic version, 15 November 1995: Abbey Road Studios, London, UK) (2:54)
  6. The Weight of the World (2:52)
  7. It Hurts (3:54)
  8. See Me (3:48)
  9. Every Day (3:24)
  10. Stupid (3:25)
  11. Makin’ Love to You (3:52)
  12. Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla (You Broke My Heart) (3:24)

Mixes and edits

The Chaps remixes are among my all-time favourites, and the two “Reveal” remixes are just chef’s kiss. I would also advocate for the Rapino 7-inch remix of “The Look” to be the version always played on the radio.

  1. The Look (Chaps 1995 remix) (5:08) Remixed by Ian Curnow and Phil Harding
  2. The Look (Chaps Donna Bass mix) (6:53) Remixed by Ian Curnow and Phil Harding
  3. The Look (Rapino club mix) (5:22) Remixed by The Rapino Brothers
  4. The Look (Rapino dub mix) (5:14) Remixed by The Rapino Brothers
  5. The Look (Rapino 7-inch remix) (4:10) Remixed by The Rapino Brothers
  6. Opportunity Nox (Hard Act 2 Follow vs. Sharpshooter remix)2 Remixed by Johan Åberg, Mitch Petersson and Sharpshooter
  7. Opportunity Nox (Hard Act 2 Follow vs. Sharpshooter extended remix) (5:28) Remixed by Johan Åberg, Mitch Petersson and Sharpshooter
  8. The Rox Medley (4:40)
  9. Reveal (The Attic remix) (3:29) Remixed by Michael Feiner and Eric Amarillo
  10. Reveal (Kleerup remix) (3:34) Remixed by Andreas Kleerup

Considering the time between the first and last recordings and the changing styles over the years, this is actually a pretty decent compilation of tracks. Ending one track shy of fifty is more comprehensive than I’d imagined.

  1. This is the alternative mix released as a B-side to “You Don’t Understand Me,” not the original recording for Crash! Boom! Bang! ↩

  2. Seeing as there’s an extended remix, it goes to reason there’s a regular remix as well. ↩

]]> 2024-05-15T07:06:58+00:00 <![CDATA[Good Karma XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/05/09/good-karma-xl.html Wrapping up the studio albums, Good Karma gave us much more than expected. Fourteen demos, two outtakes, and nine remixes add up to give us 36 tracks in total. I’m just happy we got this final album and have almost no complaints about it.

Good Karma: XL Edition

The album cover is a big letdown to me. Sure, there was a shared theme to the album and singles’ art, but I’m certain some good shots could’ve been taken during the video shoot for “It Just Happens” to give us a final album with Marie and Per on the cover. I mean, there were some excellent T-shirt designs that accompanied the album’s release. Whatever. Since I’m not here to redesign the cover, I just added “XL Edition” and called it a day.

Album

When my only complaint about an album is some weird backing vocals on a single track, it has to be half-decent. Which this is. We only got eleven tracks, but those tracks were a return to form for the band.

  1. Why Dontcha? (2:46)
  2. It Just Happens (3:46)
  3. Good Karma (3:19)
  4. This One (3:12)
  5. You Make It Sound So Simple (3:42)
  6. From a Distance (3:31)
  7. Some Other Summer (3:09)
  8. Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers? (3:32)
  9. You Can’t Do This to Me Anymore (3:50)
  10. 20 BPM (3:48)
  11. April Clouds (3:30)

Demos

We have demos for each of the album tracks, as well as for the two outtakes from the recording sessions and an early version of “This One” titled “Everybody’s Jumping.”

  1. It Just Happens (demo, 5 May 2014: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:38)
  2. Some Other Summer (demo, 1 July 2014: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  3. April Clouds (demo, 3 August 2014: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:50)
  4. Everybody’s Jumping (demo, 12 September 2014: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  5. This One (demo, 21 September 2014: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:48)
  6. Why Dontcha? (demo, 27 September 2014: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:36)
  7. From a Distance (demo, 22 October 2014: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:53)
  8. You Can’t Do This to Me Anymore (demo, 8 January 2015: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:57)
  9. Piece of Cake (demo, 15 January 2015: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:08)
  10. You Make It Sound So Simple (demo, 18 January 2015: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:33)
  11. Good Karma (demo, 3 April 2015: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:50)
  12. Let Your Heart Dance With Me (demo, 19 April 2015: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:02)
  13. 20 BPM (demo, 10 September 2015: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:25)
  14. Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers? (demo, 15 December 2015: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:29)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

Various issues kept these two tracks off the final album, but luckily, they were salvaged, and we got them as part of the Bag of Trix box set.

  1. Piece of Cake (3:15)
  2. Let Your Heart Dance With Me (3:07)

Mixes and edits

When you get nine remixes from an eleven-track album that only had two real singles, you don’t complain. The remixes for “Some Other Summer” rubbed some fans the wrong way, but no one could complain about the mixes from the “Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers?” single.

  1. Some Other Summer (Sebastien Drums remix) (3:12) Remixed by Sebastien Drums
  2. Some Other Summer (Bottai remix) (5:27) Remixed by Sebastien Drums and Giovanni Bottai
  3. Some Other Summer (Alexander Brown remix) (5:07) Remixed by Alexander Brown
  4. Some Other Summer (Patrick Jordan remix) (3:01) Remixed by Patrick Jordan
  5. Some Other Summer (Didrick remix) (2:55) Remixed by David Didrik Franzén
  6. Some Other Summer (TRXD) (3:23) Remixed by Truls Dyrstad and David Atarodiyan
  7. Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers? (Addeboy vs. Cliff remix) (3:49) Remixed by Andreas Broberger and Hannes Lindgren
  8. Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers? (Patrick Jordan remix) (3:18) Remixed by Patrick Jordan
  9. From a Distance (SingSing version) (3:36)

It’s certainly not the worst of all the deluxe editions I’ve imagined so far, but I hope some other demos were presented for the album or some other mixes we’ve yet to hear.

]]> 2024-05-09T08:34:13+00:00 <![CDATA[Travelling XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/05/03/travelling-xl.html After pulling everything together for Travelling, I realised I may have been overly harsh by judging Charm School for only having 39 tracks. I managed to scrounge together 25 tracks for this edition, and that was only possible since I generously included two demos previously included on other albums.

Travelling: XL Edition

I understand why the album got the “Songs from Studios, Stages, Hotel Rooms and Other Strange Places” subtitle as a reference to being a sequel to Tourism, but I can’t think of a single strange place among the recording locations. Anyway, it seems just enough space was intentionally left to add “XL Edition.” I’m not going to complain.

Album

Although presented as a spiritual successor to Tourism, Travelling barely qualifies. Yes, it includes some live tracks, but the majority of the other tracks were recorded in Sweden—including the new mixes of “The Weight of the World” and “See Me.” Oh, well. My personal highlight is the soundcheck version of “Stars.” It’s so, so good.

  1. Me & You & Terry & Julie (3:45)
  2. Lover, Lover, Lover (3:59)
  3. Turn of the Tide (4:10)
  4. Touched By the Hand of God (3:48)
  5. Easy Way Out (3:38)
  6. It’s Possible (version one) (2:38)
  7. Perfect Excuse (3:40)
  8. Excuse Me, Sir, Do You Want Me to Check on Your Wife? (4:15)
  9. Angel Passing (2:46)
  10. Stars (soundcheck, 20 May 2011: World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE) (3:35)
  11. The Weight of the World (vocal up mix) (2:52)
  12. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (live, 16 April 2011: Citibank Hall, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) (4:41)
  13. See Me (new version) (3:48)
  14. It’s Possible (version two) (2:44)
  15. It Must Have Been Love (live, November 2009: Night of the Proms, Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands) (4:17)

Demos

If I exclude the demos for the live tracks, we see that the remaining tracks were written specifically for this album, with the exception of “Turn of the Tide,” which was originally intended for Have a Nice Day and subsequently Room Service.

  1. Turn of the Tide (demo, 30 September 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:19)
  2. Stars (demo, 9 July 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:57)
  3. The Weight of the World (demo, 18 October 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  4. Charm School (demo, 10 September 2009: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:07)
  5. Excuse Me, Sir, Do You Want Me to Check on Your Wife? (demo, 13 October 2009: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:52)
  6. Me & You & Terry & Julie (demo, 9 June 2011: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:46)
  7. It’s Possible (demo, 26 July 2011: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:32)
  8. Lover Lover Lover (demo, 10 August 2011: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:41)

Mixes and edits

The Bassflow remake of “The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye” was supposed to be included in the album, but unfortunately, Peter Böstrom couldn’t complete it in time. That’s lucky for me since it pads out this tracklisting a bit.

  1. The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye (Bassflow remake) (4:48) Remixed by Peter Böstrom
  2. The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye (Bassflow remake – radio edit) (3:47) Remixed by Peter Böstrom

I did say that we should prepare for fewer bonus tracks with the last few releases, but 25 tracks is a shockingly low number. I was tempted to label this one as an “L Edition” instead of an “XL Edition,” to be honest.

]]> 2024-05-03T12:18:03+00:00 <![CDATA[Charm School XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/04/27/charm-school-xl.html Slim pickings is one word I can use to describe the contents of this imagined album. At 39 tracks, it sounds impressive, but I feel slightly let down by the content. Of everything I could find, only two tracks would be entirely new for most fans. Hopefully, there are some more demos left in the drawers. There are also some unknown tracks since we know they recorded fifteen or sixteen tracks for the album and only used twelve.

Charm School: XL Edition

This album is where the design started being heavily influenced by the handmade/scrapbooking type design that is a signature of Per’s later Swedish albums. While I don’t mind the trend, it felt like everything was converging, and Roxette was losing a part of their identity. I think it works much better as a poster than an album cover.

Album

It’s not the strongest or weakest Roxette album, but it felt slightly more cohesive than their previous outing — which is probably down to Per penning it all again.

  1. Way Out (2:44)
  2. No One Makes It on Her Own (3:42)
  3. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (3:34)
  4. Speak to Me (3:42)
  5. I’m Glad You Called (2:48)
  6. Only When I Dream (3:50)
  7. Dream On (3:09)
  8. Big Black Cadillac (3:05)
  9. In My Own Way (3:30)
  10. After All (3:15)
  11. Happy on the Outside (3:37)
  12. Sitting on Top of the World (3:55)

Demos

Most songs were written for the album, so the demos are all similar in sound. I wish we get to hear the “Only When I Dream” demo from the Have a Nice Day recordings at some point, though. I also find it very interesting that “Drowning in You” was dusted off as a potential option for this album.

  1. In My Own Way (demo, 15 September 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:15)
  2. Only When I Dream (demo, 1998) — Per Gessle
  3. Happy on the Outside (demo, 17 August 2005: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:57)
  4. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (demo, 7 August 2009: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:30)
  5. Only When I Dream (demo, 7 August 2009: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:33)
  6. In My Own Way (demo, 7 August 2009: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:52)
  7. Charm School (demo, 10 September 2009: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:52)
  8. Drowning in You (demo, 13 October 2009: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:18)
  9. I’m Glad You Called (demo, 19 November 2009: The Westin Hotel, Rotterdam, Netherlands) (2:40)
  10. Way Out (demo, 25 January 2010: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:22)
  11. Dream On (demo, 25 January 2010: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:53)
  12. Big Black Cadillac (demo, 2 July 2010: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:02)
  13. Speak to Me (demo, 13 July 2010: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:33)
  14. Sitting on Top of the World (demo, 13 July 2010: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:45)
  15. No One Makes It on Her Own (demo, 26 July 2010: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:18)
  16. After All (demo, 27 July 2010: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:22)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

There’s one known outtake and three B-side live tracks. That’s it. I know, I’m disappointed as well. What the other outtakes were is anyone’s guess. I didn’t include the live tracks from the Deluxe Edition since those were released separately as a live album afterward.

  1. Touched By the Hand of God
  2. Wish I Could Fly (live, 12 September 2010: Ice Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia) (4:51)
  3. Stars (live, 24 October 2001: Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain) (4:07)
  4. Crash! Boom! Bang! / Anyone (live, 22 October 2001: Forest National, Brussels, Belgium) (6:21)

Mixes and edits

Things are slightly better on the remix front, with seven remixes. Most fans didn’t take to them, but everyday folks would enjoy at least three of them.

  1. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (Adrian Lux remix) (5:34) Remixed by Adrian Lux
  2. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (Adrian Lux remix – radio edit) (2:41) Remixed by Adrian Lux
  3. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (Adam Rickfors remix – radio edit) (3:36) Remixed by Adam Rickfors
  4. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (Adam Rickfors dub edit) (7:23) Remixed by Adam Rickfors
  5. She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio) (Adam Rickfors power edit) (3:29) Remixed by Adam Rickfors
  6. Speak to Me (Bassflow remake) (3:35) Remixed by Peter Böstrom
  7. Speak to Me (Bassflow remake – instrumental) (3:35) Remixed by Peter Böstrom

The critics weren’t fond of this album, but it’s got a few good tracks. This one and Travelling were much more organic, which also came through in the much less produced demos. The remixes weren’t stellar, but they were of their time, with the “Speak to Me” Bassflow remake being the strongest. Sadly, we’ll need to get used to the lack of extras with the last few albums.

]]> 2024-04-27T11:56:23+00:00 <![CDATA[Room Service XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/04/21/room-service-xl.html Knowing that this album still has twelve unreleased demos makes this the most exciting exploration yet. Based on the album’s final tracklist, I may have unattainable expectations for those demos, though. Not to be discouraged, I’m serving up a deluxe tracklist to you on a tray.

Room Service: XL Edition

Jonas Åkerlund shot the photos for the album during the video shoot for The Centre of the Heart at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California. They’re great, but I have mixed feelings about the album cover. It’s not terrible, but it’s also not terribly exciting. After Have a Nice Day, it feels a bit sedate. It does, however, make it easy to squeeze in the “XL Edition” wording.

Album

This tracklist isn’t the most spectacular, with more than half being filler. In my opinion, of course. Room Service is probably the Roxette album that’s aged the worst, and that’s an opinion held by not just me. I would easily have swapped out most of tracks 5–10 with the outtakes, but we got what we got.

  1. Real Sugar (3:17)
  2. The Centre of the Heart (3:22)
  3. Milk and Toast and Honey (4:04)
  4. Jefferson (3:51)
  5. Little Girl (3:36)
  6. Looking for Jane (3:19)
  7. Bringing Me Down to My Knees (3:48)
  8. Make My Head Go Pop (3:22)
  9. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) (3:13)
  10. Fool (3:52)
  11. It Takes You No Time to Get Here (3:35)
  12. My World, My Love, My Life (4:02)

Demos

Per demoed 29 new songs, excluding songs originally presented for earlier albums. Of the tracks that ended up on the album, only “Make My Head Go Pop” and “It Takes You No Time to Get Here” haven’t seen their demos released yet. The others are a mystery, as I can only go according to what I find in other releases or photos. Hopefully, the twelve tracks still missing from this list will be released someday.

  1. Every Day Outside My Window (demo, 28 December 1995: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:00)
  2. The Centre of the Heart (Is a Suburb to the Brain) (demo, 2 October 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:37)
  3. Hold On My Heart (demo) — Per Gessle
  4. Turn of the Tide (demo, 5 January 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:16)
  5. Beautiful Girl (demo, 19 April 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:51)
  6. Heaven Is Just a Motion Away (demo, 16 May 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:14)
  7. When I Close My Eyes (No One Can See Me) (demo, 20 July 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:24)
  8. When I Close My Eyes (No One Can See Me) (demo, 21 July 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:42)
  9. Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla (You Broke My Heart) (demo, 27 July 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:36)
  10. Milk and Toast and Honey (demo, 3 August 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:18)
  11. Jefferson (demo, 11+16 August 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:51)
  12. The Weight of the World (demo, 18 October 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  13. Walk On, Lonely Eyes (Demo, 16 December 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:17)
  14. Fool (demo, 27 December 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:44)
  15. My World, My Love, My Life (demo, 28 December 1999: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:06)
  16. Hold on My Heart (demo, 30 January 2000: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:48)
  17. Looking for Jane (demo, 15 February 2000: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:20)
  18. Bringing Me Down to My Knees (demo, 6 March 2000: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:57)
  19. Beautiful Boy (demo, March 2000: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (3:29)
  20. Every Day (demo, March 2000: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (3:22)
  21. Little Girl (demo, March 2000: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (4:24)
  22. Fish in a Bowl (demo, 30 April 2000: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:40)
  23. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) (demo, 27 July 2000: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:21)
  24. Real Sugar (demo, 15 August 2000: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:16)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

The tracks in this list are solid outtakes and would probably have been better on the album. We’re lucky to have gotten them after the fact.

  1. It Takes You No Time to Get Here (long version) (3:52)
  2. Entering Your Heart1 (4:00)
  3. Entering Your Heart (extended version)1 (4:34)
  4. Every Day (3:26)
  5. The Weight of the World (2:52)
  6. Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla (You Broke My Heart) (4:37)

Mixes and edits

Ten remixes are more than enough, with only three singles released from the album. The Shooting Star treatments were a nice respite, with the rest skewing heavily to club use.

  1. The Centre of the Heart (StoneBridge club mix) (7:49) Remixed by StoneBridge
  2. The Centre of the Heart (StoneBridge club mix edit) (3:37) Remixed by StoneBridge
  3. The Centre of the Heart (StoneBridge Peak Hour dub) (6:36) Remixed by StoneBridge
  4. The Centre of the Heart (StoneBridge More Vox dub) (6:36) Remixed by StoneBridge
  5. The Centre of the Heart (Yoga remix) (3:29) Remixed by Yoga
  6. Real Sugar (Shooting Star treatment) (4:22) Remixed by Shooting Star
  7. Milk and Toast and Honey (Shooting Star treatment) (4:18) Remixed by Shooting Star
  8. Milk and Toast and Honey (Active Dance remix) (3:49) Remixed by Linus Norden and Patrick Johansson
  9. Milk and Toast and Honey (Active Dance remix, version 2) (3:48) Remixed by Linus Norden and Patrick Johansson
  10. Milk and Toast and Honey (Active Dance remix, extended) (6:11) Remixed by Linus Norden and Patrick Johansson

With a potential twelve extra demo tracks still unreleased, a deluxe edition of Room Service could be a pretty nice package. The singles and their related videos were great, the outtakes pretty solid, the remixes not too bad, and the amount of demos quite impressive. If only the rest of the album wasn’t so lacklustre.

  1. I would prefer to name the short version (edit) and the longer version not named (extended version), but let’s stick to the original naming to keep things clear. I mean, it’s not like they went and recorded an extra verse — they removed a verse to make it shorter. The same applies to “It Takes You No Time to Get Here.” ↩ ↩

]]> 2024-04-21T17:30:13+00:00 <![CDATA[Have a Nice Day XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/04/15/have-a-nice-day-xl.html This album was quite a departure five years after Roxette’s previous studio album. It was still Roxette, but the large gap between albums meant this was a radical change instead of a gradual one. It gave us many demos, outtakes, and remixes, meaning this one came together much more quickly than anticipated.

Have a Nice Day: XL Edition

Let’s not forget the visual assault of the album’s packaging. More than the change in the sound, the change in the look of Marie and Per and the album itself came out of left field. Fans didn’t expect edgy clothing and makeup, vibrant colours, and wild typography, even though it was in keeping with the times. (I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but go with it.) Even though it’s busy, the design is straightforward, which meant it was easy to add the “XL Edition” text and not look tacked on.

In a sense, this was Roxette 2.0. It’s easy to forget that some countries censored the artwork, and some TV stations relegated some videos to late-night slots due to their controversial themes and imagery. But not because of the trashy ducks, since they were marvellous.

Album

Sadly, Have a Nice Day is the last studio album with more than 12 tracks. Luckily, it’s a great selection, but it could’ve been more cohesive. It was much more electronic, even though typical Roxette ballads and guitars weren’t wholly missing.

  1. Crush on You (3:35)
  2. Wish I Could Fly (4:40)
  3. You Can’t Put Your Arms Around What’s Already Gone (3:30)
  4. Waiting for the Rain (3:37)
  5. Anyone (4:31)
  6. It Will Take a Long Long Time (4:03)
  7. 7Twenty7 (3:53)
  8. I Was So Lucky (4:17)
  9. Stars (3:56)
  10. Salvation (4:38)
  11. Pay the Price (3:48)
  12. Cooper (4:17)
  13. Staring at the Ground (2:58)
  14. Beautiful Things (3:48)

Demos

Marie contributed demos to an album for the first time, with them originally surfacing on the Duets, Demos and Odd Live Tracks bootleg album from 2002. The rest were all by Per except for “Happy Together”, which features both Marie and Per. We already have demos for all the album tracks, but you never know if Per has some other versions or other tracks presented for the album, gathering dust somewhere.

  1. It Hurts (demo, 3 August 1995: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  2. Beautiful Things, Terrible Things (demo, 7 April 1996: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:12)
  3. New World (demo, 1996: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (3:37)
  4. Waiting for the Rain (demo, 1997: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (3:33)
  5. All I Ever Wanted (demo, April 1997: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (4:16)
  6. Staring at the Ground (demo, 29 August 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:47)
  7. Being With You (Demo, 11 September 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:01)
  8. Pay the Price (demo, 16 September 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:43)
  9. Turn of the Tide (demo, 30 September 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:19)
  10. The Centre of the Heart (Is a Suburb to the Brain) (demo, 2 October 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:37)
  11. Little Miss Sorrow (demo, 14 October 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:41)
  12. Ghost In The House #1 (Demo, 19 October 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:50)
  13. Better Off on Her Own (demo, October 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:48)
  14. Ghost In The House #2 (Demo, 14 November 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:18)
  15. Wish I Could Fly (demo, 18 November 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:11)
  16. 7Twenty7 (demo, 20 November 1997: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:25)
  17. Beautiful Things (demo, 1998: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (4:15)
  18. Only When I Dream (demo, 1998) — Per Gessle
  19. Cooper (demo, 10 February 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:14)
  20. You Can’t Put Your Arms Around What’s Already Gone (demo, 17 February 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:22)
  21. It Will Take a Long Long Time (demo, 18 February 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:43)
  22. Salvation (demo, 24 March 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:44)
  23. Always the Last to Know (demo, 3 June 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:38)
  24. I Was so Lucky (demo, 4 June 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:12)
  25. Always the Last to Know (demo, 1998: Studio Vinden) — Marie Fredriksson (4:42)
  26. Happy Together (demo, 1–2 July 1998: Tits & Ass) (3:55)
  27. Stars (demo, 9 July 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:57)
  28. Holiday (demo, 16 July 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:40)
  29. Anyone/I Love How You Love Me (demo, 26 July 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:10)
  30. Anyone (demo, 29 July 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:13)
  31. Crush on You (demo, 30 July 1998: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:26)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

With five outtakes, three alternate mixes, and three Spanish versions, this is probably the album with the most bonus tracks. I often wonder how many alternate mixes exist that we have never heard.

  1. It Will Take a Long Long Time (modern rock version) (3:59)
  2. I Was So Lucky (The Golden Blow) (4:21)
  3. Cooper (Closer to God) (4:20)
  4. The Centre of the Heart (Is a Suburb to the Brain) (3:38)
  5. It Hurts (3:52)
  6. Little Miss Sorrow (3:54)
  7. Makin’ Love to You (3:52)
  8. Better Off on Her Own (2:50)
  9. Quisiera volar (4:41)
  10. Alguien (4:29)
  11. Lo siento (4:44)

Mixes and edits

While no other Roxette album will beat Look Sharp! for the amount of remixes, Have a Nice Day holds its own quite well. When EMI cancelled the “Crush on You” single due to Marie and Per heading to the studio to start recording Room Service, we never thought we’d hear the rumoured remixes. Luckily, they became public in 2013, were later featured on the ROX RMX compilation, and rightly belong to this list.

  1. Wish I Could Fly (radio edit) (3:59)
  2. Wish I Could Fly (Tee’s radio mix) (4:02)
    Remixed by Todd Terry
  3. Wish I Could Fly (Tee’s In-House remix) (7:57)
    Remixed by Todd Terry
  4. Wish I Could Fly (StoneBridge R&B remix) (4:32)
    Remixed by StoneBridge
  5. Wish I Could Fly (StoneBridge club remix) (6:34)
    Remixed by StoneBridge
  6. Wish I Could Fly (Stoney’s dub trax) (6:10)
    Remixed by StoneBridge
  7. Anyone (radio edit) (3:59)
  8. Stars (Almighty 7-inch radio edit) (3:46)
    Remixed by Almighty
  9. Stars (Almighty 7-inch mix) (3:48)
    Remixed by Almighty
  10. Stars (Almighty 12-inch definitive mix) (8:00)
    Remixed by Almighty
  11. Stars (Almighty dub) (6:43)
    Remixed by Almighty
  12. Stars (Almighty alternate 12-inch mix) (7:02)
    Remixed by Almighty
  13. Stars (X-Treme extended mix) (6:13)
    Remixed by X-Treme
  14. Crush on You (Almighty 7-inch radio mix) (3:04)
    Remixed by Almighty
  15. Crush on You (Almighty club mix) (6:25)
    Remixed by Almighty

At 71 tracks, this turned out much more substantial than I’d imagined possible. Have a Nice Day could probably be considered the start of the second part of Roxette’s career, which continued until 2006’s Hits and The Rox Box. It was unexpected, but it’s held up incredibly well after 25 years. Let’s hope that Per kept a few surprises locked away for a special occasion and that they’ll rear their heads at some point.

]]> 2024-04-15T12:20:31+00:00 <![CDATA[Crash! Boom! Bang! XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/04/09/crash-boom-bang-xl.html We’ve reached the halfway mark — for the studio albums — and this one’s very relevant today since Crash! Boom! Bang! is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary on this very day! According to rumours, the thirtieth-anniversary edition of the album won’t be out until later this year, so maybe this can serve as a bit of inspiration.

Crash! Boom! Bang!: XL Edition

I won’t call this artwork lazy, but having seen other photos taken during the session in the intervening years, some other options could have fared better. Seeing where the typography ended up by the last single, the type on the album cover seems a bit busy in comparison. The layout also isn’t amenable to changes or additions, so I’ve done my best. Inspired by the cassette (and the Crash! Boom! Bang! single), I condensed the album title and added “XL Edition” to the end. It’s not the prettiest, but it gets the job done.

Album

For the first time since Pearls of Passion, there’s no specific track listing to choose or adjust since there is a single track listing shared between all mediums1.

  1. Harleys and Indians (Riders in the Sky) (3:45)
  2. Crash! Boom! Bang! (5:02)
  3. Fireworks (3:58)
  4. Run to You (3:39)
  5. Sleeping in My Car (3:46)
  6. Vulnerable (5:01)
  7. The First Girl on the Moon (3:00)
  8. Place Your Love (3:10)
  9. I Love the Sound of Crashing Guitars (4:48)
  10. What’s She Like? (4:14)
  11. Do You Wanna Go the Whole Way? (4:09)
  12. Lies (3:34)
  13. I’m Sorry (3:14)
  14. Love Is All (Shine Your Light on Me) (6:45)
  15. Go to Sleep (3:59)

Demos

Most of the demos for the album have been released, with the sole holdouts being: “The First Girl on the Moon,” “I Love the Sound of Crashing Guitars,” and “Lies.” Whether Per presented any other demos is unknown, but you never know. I sometimes wonder how “What’s She Like?” and “Vulnerable” would have sounded had they been recorded during the Joyride sessions and not ended up on this album.

  1. See (demo, 18 June 1989: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  2. Vulnerable (demo, 28 December 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:44)
  3. What’s She Like? (demo, 29 January 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:26)
  4. Before You Go to Sleep (demo, 23 October 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  5. Place Your Love (demo, 10 November 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:00)
  6. Before You Go to Sleep (demo, 23 November 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:06)
  7. Run to You (demo, 12 December 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:45)
  8. She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (demo, 16 December 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:58)
  9. Sweet Thing (demo, 16 December 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:46)
  10. Love Is All (demo, 17 December 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:16)
  11. The First Girl on the Moon (demo, 20 December 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:47)
  12. Always Breaking My Heart (demo, 27 December 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:53)
  13. Fireworks (demo, 30 January 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:28)
  14. Pocketful of Rain (demo, February 1993: Skinnarviksringen) — Marie Fredriksson (4:11)
  15. Go to Sleep (demo, February 1993: Skinnarviksringen) — Marie Fredriksson (5:03)
  16. Almost Unreal2 (demo, February 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:25)
  17. Gone Gone Gone (demo, 25 February 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:59)
  18. Sweet Emotions2 (demo, 26 February 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:29)
  19. It Hurts (demo, 7 March 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:57)
  20. I’m Sorry (demo, 18 March 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:21)
  21. Do You Wanna Go the Whole Way? (demo, 21 March 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:21)
  22. Crash! Boom! Bang! (demo, 6 May 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:14)
  23. Lies (demo, 14 May 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:39)
  24. Blue Umbrella (demo, 15 June 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:19)
  25. Crazy About You (demo, 20 June 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:46)
  26. I Love the Sound of Crashing Guitars (demo, 27 June 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:29)
  27. Harleys and Indians (demo, 10 August 1993: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:26)
  28. Sleeping in My Car (demo, 10 December 1993: EMI Studio 2, Stockholm) (3:13)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

There are only two outtakes here, complemented by three tracks from the MTV Unplugged concert. It would be great to include the complete MTV Unplugged set list, but that deserves to be released in full by itself.

  1. Almost Unreal2 (3:58)
  2. She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
  3. Crazy About You3 (4:04)
  4. See Me (3:46)
  5. She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
  6. The Look (live, 9 January 1993: MTV Unplugged, Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden) (5:11)
  7. Joyride (live, 9 January 1993: MTV Unplugged, Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden) (5:37)
  8. Dangerous (live, 9 January 1993: MTV Unplugged, Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden) (3:13)

Mixes and edits

Only “Fireworks” was remixed, with the remainder being single edits for radio. While I love the demos and unplugged tracks that filled the singles, they could have done with a few more remixes. If “Spending My Time” could be remixed, so could the ballads from this album.

  1. Almost Unreal (US adult contemporary mix) (3:56)
  2. Almost Unreal (end credits long version)4 (3:56)
  3. Almost Unreal (end credits short version)4 (3:45)
  4. Sleeping in My Car (single edit) (3:33)
  5. Crash! Boom! Bang! (single edit) (4:28)
  6. Fireworks (single edit) (3:40)
  7. Fireworks (Jesus Jones remix) (4:11) Remixed by Mike Edwards
  8. Vulnerable (single edit) (4:30)

The recording of this album took almost as long as Joyride, but it unfortunately didn’t have quite the same impact or breadth of bonus material. We’ll find out later this year how many hidden gems remain, but judging from the tracks already released on The Per Gessle Archives and Bag of Trix, I don’t think we’ll see much extra.

  1. I admit, the Japanese release included a track named “It’s Almost Unreal” (sic). Japan is known for having bonus tracks, so I’m ignoring this track listing, and “Almost Unreal” is featured elsewhere here. ↩

  2. “Almost Unreal” and “Sweet Emotions” are included since Almost Unreal was recorded after Tourism’s promotion process had finished and work had already started on Crash! Boom! Bang! That makes it a bit more at home here. Also, see the previous point. ↩ ↩ ↩

  3. This is the original mix, not the version released as a B-side to “You Don’t Understand Me”. ↩

  4. These versions feature a different intro than the one released on the soundtrack and single. The long version has a roughly 20-second guitar intro with keyboards about halfway through, whereas the short version trims about half of that, including the keyboards. ↩ ↩

]]> 2024-04-28T00:33:15+00:00 <![CDATA[Tourism XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/04/03/tourism-xl.html Tourism: the album whose thirtieth-anniversary edition sparked this series of posts for me. The preceding two albums received substantial tracklists and physical releases, while Per sadly neglected this one. Since I can imagine a grand tracklist as I want, let’s see where it ends up.

Tourism: XL Edition

The cover art for this album is probably the most interesting of all of Roxette’s albums for me, very cleverly using mementoes and photos from the Join the Joyride tour in a 3D collage. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind a print of the original image on my wall. As with all their releases, each medium had art adjusted to fit its size. While the LP is the best way to appreciate this one, it can still work at a smaller size than the CD.

Since the subtitle becomes tiny and barely readable in one line when displayed in most music players, splitting it over two lines significantly improves it, especially with “XL Edition” added to the end.

Album

There was only one tracklisting, whichever medium you bought, so this part is easy. Well, it’s relatively easy.

If I had one wish, what would it be? Wrong album, sorry. I wish a future release could make these tracks available without the crossfades so many are marred by. It worked well enough on older physical media (LPs and MCs) since you usually listened to the tracks in order. New media, such as CDs, DCCs, MDs, and later downloads and streaming, allowed us to easily skip tracks and randomise the playing order, making the crossfaded parts abruptly start and end. Let’s give each track back its individuality. Please.

The effect of the crossfading is especially apparent in “It Must Have Been Love”. On the latest digital release, the split into the respective live and studio parts removed the first 13 seconds of the LA version, now only starting once the harmonica kicks in. Hence the longer running time listed here.

Okay, rant over.

  1. How Do You Do! (3:10)
  2. Fingertips (3:34)
  3. The Look (live, 13 December 1991: The Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia) (5:33)
  4. The Heart Shaped Sea (4:32)
  5. The Rain (4:49)
  6. Keep Me Waiting (3:10)
  7. It Must Have Been Love (live, 25 April 1991: Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo, Santiago, Chile) (2:15)
  8. It Must Have Been Love (LA version) (4:58)
  9. Cinnamon Street (5:01)
  10. Never Is a Long Time (3:46)
  11. Silver Blue (4:07)
  12. Here Comes the Weekend (4:11)
  13. So Far Away (4:03)
  14. Come Back (Before You Leave) (4:41)
  15. Things Will Never Be the Same (live, 13 November 1991: Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland) (3:12)
  16. Joyride (live, 13 December 1991: The Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia) (4:48)
  17. Queen of Rain (4:51)

Demos

With Tourism, I’m in two minds about whether to include demos for songs originally demoed for earlier albums but not recorded. For completeness, I’ve included them along with the seven new ones explicitly recorded for this album.

  1. Silver Blue (demo, 21 May 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:58)
  2. Never Is a Long Time (demo, 26–30 May 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (3:50)
  3. Never Is a Long Time (demo, 24 September 1987: Torsgatan) — Per Gessle (4:12)
  4. Never Is a Long Time (demo, 11 November 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:48)
  5. Here Comes the Weekend (demo, 30 March 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:12)
  6. Queen of Rain (demo, 2 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:27)
  7. Come Back (Before You Leave) (demo, 8 April 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:47)
  8. Keep Me Waiting (demo, 18 August 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:14)
  9. The Heart Shaped Sea (demo, 25 April 1991: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:19)
  10. The Heart Shaped Sea (demo, May 1991: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:08)
  11. The Rain (demo, 29 December 1991: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:43)
  12. Cinnamon Street (demo, 2 January 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:45)
  13. Never Is a Long Time (reggae demo, January 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:38)
  14. Fingertips (demo, 28 January 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:26)
  15. How Do You Do! (demo, 4 April 1992: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:16)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

There’s not much in this category apart from some additional live recordings from the Sydney concert as featured on Live-ism.

  1. Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave) (live, 13 December 1991: The Entertainment Centre Sydney Australia) (4:11)
  2. Dressed for Success (live, 13 December 1991: The Entertainment Centre Sydney Australia) (4:49)
  3. Hotblooded (live, 13 December 1991: The Entertainment Centre Sydney Australia) (3:56)
  4. It Must Have Been Love (live, 13 December 1991: The Entertainment Centre Sydney Australia) (5:29)
  5. Paint (live, 13 December 1991: The Entertainment Centre Sydney Australia) (3:36)
  6. Pearls of Passion (3:35)
  7. 2 Cinnamon Street (5:06)

Mixes and edits

A fair amount of mixes were included on the singles for an album skewed heavily toward more acoustic and live recordings. Even though I already included the BomKrash remixes of “Knockin’ on Every Door” in the Joyride XL tracklist, I included them again since they were B-sides on singles from this album.

  1. How Do You Do! (BomKrash 12-inch remix) (5:43) Remixed by BomKrash
  2. How Do You Do! (BomKrash US edit) (3:13) Remixed by BomKrash
  3. How Do You Do! (US adult contemporary mix) (3:17) Remixed by Michael H. Brauer
  4. Knockin’ on Every Door (BomKrash 7-inch remix) (3:51) Remixed by BomKrash
  5. Knockin’ on Every Door (BomKrash 12-inch remix) (6:05) Remixed by BomKrash
  6. Queen of Rain1 (single version) (4:56)
  7. Queen of Rain (radio edit) (4:30)
  8. Fingertips ’93 (3:40)
  9. The Heart Shaped Sea (single version) (4:10)

There’s always a chance they recorded extra songs in the studio in Rio, the nightclub in São Paolo, or the hotel room in Buenos Aires. Still, apart from that kind of wishful thinking, I don’t expect any other tracks to appear suddenly. Even so, considering the idea behind the album, this is a nice collection of tracks.

  1. The single version of “Queen of Rain” is included here for completeness, but it would be an album track were they released without the cross-fading. ↩

]]> 2024-04-03T15:29:47+00:00 <![CDATA[Joyride XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/03/28/joyride-xl.html So far, Joyride has had the most comprehensive tracklist and packaging of the deluxe editions released. Despite the era-inappropriate photos and non-matching fonts used in that packaging, I can at least try to assemble an even more comprehensive tracklist.

Joyride: XL Edition

While most people won’t see the difference, I’ve chosen the LP artwork as the starting point since it has a larger margin than the CD version. This artwork is nearly perfect, so my big issue was finding the best position and treatment for adding the “XL edition” wording.

Album

I’ve used the international CD for the album since it has the most complete tracklisting. I know Per considers the LP the definitive version of the album, but that makes it hard to explain Church of Your Heart as the final single from the album.

  1. Joyride (4:23)
  2. Hotblooded (3:18)
  3. Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave) (3:51)
  4. Knockin’ on Every Door (3:56)
  5. Spending My Time (4:36)
  6. I Remember You (3:52)
  7. Watercolours in the Rain (3:38)
  8. The Big L. (4:26)
  9. Soul Deep (3:33)
  10. (Do You Get) Excited? (4:16)
  11. Church of Your Heart (3:16)
  12. Small Talk (3:53)
  13. Physical Fascination (3:27)
  14. Things Will Never Be the Same (4:26)
  15. Perfect Day (4:05)

Demos

The demos are already very well represented by the Joyride thirtieth-anniversary edition, so the main change here is to get the tracks in chronological order. Interestingly, most songs were written specifically for the album1 except for the lone holdover from Look Sharp!: “Physical Fascination”. Per also tried to upcycle “Run Run Run” and “Another Place, Another Time” from Gyllene Tider’s The Heartland Café album.

  1. Sheik (demo, 6 March 1984) — Per Gessle
  2. Fascination (demo, 3 April 1984) — Per Gessle
  3. Physical Fascination (demo, 17 April 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:37)
  4. Rocket From Her Heart (demo, 16 June 1989: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:40)
  5. Things Will Never Be the Same (demo, 17 June 1989: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:41)
  6. See (demo, 18 June 1989: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  7. Knockin’ on Every Door (demo, 15 August 1989: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:47)
  8. (Do You Get) Excited? (demo, 19 August 1989: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:13)
  9. Things Will Never Be the Same (demo, 17 September 1989: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (5:02)
  10. Queen of Rain (demo, 2 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:28)
  11. Physical Fascination (demo, 3 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:12)
  12. Love Spins (demo, 3 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:29)
  13. Church of Your Heart (demo, 8 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:13)
  14. Run Run Run (demo, 10 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:01)
  15. Another Place, Another Time (demo, 11 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:41)
  16. Every Beat of the Heart (demo, 21 January 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  17. Hotblooded (demo, 23 January 1990: Tits & Ass) (3:15)
  18. Watercolours in the Rain (demo, 24 January 1990: Tits & Ass) (4:02)
  19. I Remember You (demo, 15 March 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:48)
  20. The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye (demo, 16 March 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:37)
  21. The Big L. (demo, 29 March 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:10)
  22. I Remember You (demo, 1 April 1990: Tits & Ass) (3:33)
  23. The Big L. (demo, 1 April 1990: Tits & Ass) (3:52)
  24. Come Back (Before You Leave) (demo, 8 April 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:01)
  25. Joyrider (demo, 22 May 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:40)
  26. Joyride (demo, 23 May 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:17)
  27. Spending My Time (demo, 24 May 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (5:17)
  28. Spending My Time (demo, 24 May 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:14)
  29. Keep Me Waiting (demo, 18 August 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:14)
  30. Seduce Me (demo, 22 August 1990: Tits & Ass) (3:55)
  31. Perfect Day (demo, 23 August 1990: Tits & Ass) (3:45)
  32. Small Talk (demo, 30 August 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:33)
  33. Fading Like a Flower (demo, 31 August 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:26)
  34. Sweet Thing (demo, 28 October 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:57)
  35. Hotblooded (demo, 13 December 1990: Tits & Ass) (3:24)
  36. Things Will Never Be the Same (demo, 13 December 1990: Tits & Ass) (3:11)
  37. Vulnerable (demo, 28 December 1990: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:44)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

Considering how many bonus tracks the singles contained, ending up with only a few tracks here seems odd, but the many demos and remixes partly explain it. I’ve deliberately not included the live versions of “Hotblooded” and “Fading Like a Flower” featured in the thirtieth-anniversary box set as they were B-sides on Tourism singles.

  1. Come Back (Before You Leave)2 (4:34)
  2. Physical Fascination (guitar solo version) (4:04)
  3. The Sweet Hello, the Sad Goodbye (4:47)
  4. Queen of Rain3 (4:56)

Mixes and edits

While the thirtieth-anniversary edition included a few remixes, they mainly focused on the US adult contemporary mixes on DJ promos and ignored most of the remixes on the singles. I’ve included all of those remixes here, and I’ve also taken the controversial decision of including the BomKrash remixes of “Knockin’ on Every Door” even though they were included in a Tourism single4, contradicting my decision about not including some other tracks.

  1. Joyride (7-inch version / single edit) (3:58)
  2. Joyride (Magicfriendmix 12-inch version / extended mix) (6:08) Remixed by Brian Malouf
  3. Joyride (US remix / US adult contemporary mix) (4:04) Remixed by Brian Malouf
  4. Joyride (US adult contemporary mix - without whistling) (4:04) Remixed by Brian Malouf
  5. Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave) (Gatica remix) (3:56) Remixed by Humberto Gatica
  6. Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave) (US adult contemporary mix) (3:57) Remixed by Humberto Gatica
  7. Spending My Time (Electric dance remix) (5:27) Remixed by MC King Carli (Clarence Öfwerman) and Dr Renault (Anders Herrlin)
  8. Spending My Time (Electric dance remix / instrumental) (5:27) Remixed by MC King Carli (Clarence Öfwerman) and Dr Renault (Anders Herrlin)
  9. Spending My Time (US adult contemporary mix) (4:41) Remixed by Humberto Gatica
  10. The Big L. (radio edit) (3:50)
  11. The Big L. (The Bigger, the Better mix) (6:17) Remixed by Brian Malouf
  12. The Big L. (US mix) (4:35) Remixed by Brian Malouf
  13. Church of Your Heart (US adult contemporary mix) (3:09)
  14. Soul Deep (Tom Lord-Alge mix) (3:38) Remixed by Tom Lord-Alge
  15. Roxette Megamix (9:05) Remixed by Buzzie Bee for DMC
  16. Knockin’ on Every Door (BomKrash 7-inch remix) (3:51) Remixed by BomKrash
  17. Knockin’ on Every Door (BomKrash 12-inch remix) (6:05) Remixed by BomKrash

I don’t know if there are more demos, but after the thirtieth-anniversary edition, I would think not. The same goes for outtakes and remixes, but we can always be surprised with an unknown nugget Per has conveniently forgotten to include elsewhere.

  1. Some songs may have older demos that place them much earlier, but without sufficient evidence, it’s all speculation. ↩

  2. “Come Back (Before You Leave)” is included as it was the B-side to Joyride, even though it later appeared on Tourism. ↩

  3. “Queen of Rain” is deliberately included since it was an outtake from this album, even though it rightly belongs on Tourism. ↩

  4. I have a wild theory about this, which I will delve into in a separate post. ↩

]]> 2024-04-28T11:17:38+00:00 <![CDATA[Look Sharp! XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/03/22/look-sharp-xl.html A lot of my work has already been done for this since Look Sharp! got a thirtieth-anniversary edition on CD, LP+CD and a monstrous digital release that was amended quite a few times. The big oversight was not including any remixes, and the demo running order could use some tweaking.

Look Sharp!: XL Edition

The artwork luckily doesn’t need much adjusting. I’ve chosen the CD artwork as a starting point since it was already designed for a smaller medium, unlike the LP artwork where the details get fuzzy when reduced. Some changes I would make are to fix the release date, add the “XL Edition” wording, adjust the number of tracks, and increase the size of the text at the bottom of the photo.

Album

For the album tracks, I’m sticking to the CD tracklist since excluding “(I Could Never) Give You Up” is a criminal offence in my book.

  1. The Look (3:57)
  2. Dressed for Success (4:09)
  3. Sleeping Single (4:37)
  4. Paint (3:30)
  5. Dance Away (3:25)
  6. Cry (5:18)
  7. Chances (4:57)
  8. Dangerous (3:48)
  9. Half a Woman, Half a Shadow (3:35)
  10. View from a Hill (3:39)
  11. (I Could Never) Give You Up (3:58)
  12. Shadow of a Doubt (4:14)
  13. Listen to Your Heart (5:29)

Demos

The digital release included almost all known demos, but there are a few more to add still. In addition, I would adjust the running order to be chronological so we can hear the development as the recording sessions progressed.

  1. Önskar (demo, 8 July 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:35) The original Swedish version of “Sleeping Single”
  2. A Little Bit Dangerous (demo, 11 February 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:22)
  3. Dangerous (demo - acoustic, 25 February 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:05)
  4. The Voice (demo, 24 March 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:44)
  5. Rocket (demo, 9 April 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:08)
  6. Night Wire (demo, 9 April 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:48)
  7. Dressed for Success (demo, 20 May 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:20)
  8. Silver Blue (demo, 21 May 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:58)
  9. Sleeping Single (demo, 22 May 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:52)
  10. Pocketful of Rain (demo, 12 June 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:01)
  11. Dressed for Success (demo - acoustic, 12 June 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  12. One Is Such a Lonely Number (demo, 26 August 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:21)
  13. The Thrill of It All (demo, 26 August 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:42)
  14. Love Spins (demo, 15 September 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:05)
  15. Boom Boom (And Boom Boom Again) (demo, 15 September 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56)
  16. In My Own Way (demo, 15 September 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:15)
  17. Sleeping Single (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (3:45)
  18. Silver Blue (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (4:15)
  19. Dangerous (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (3:27)
  20. Dressed for Success (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (3:51)
  21. Never Is a Long Time (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (3:50)
  22. The Voice (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm)
  23. From Head to Toe (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (3:17)
  24. One Is Such a Lonely Number (demo, 26–30 September 1987: EMI Studios, Stockholm) (3:31)
  25. Never Is a Long Time (demo, 29 September 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  26. Never Is a Long Time (demo, 11 November 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:48)
  27. View From a Hill (demo, 17 November 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:14)
  28. Love Spins (demo, 18 November 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:22)
  29. Chances (demo, 24 November 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:16)
  30. Satellite (demo, 1 December 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  31. Boom Boom (demo, 9 December 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  32. (I Could Never) Give You Up (demo, 18 December 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:42)
  33. Don’t Believe in Accidents (demo, 18 December 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  34. From Head to Toe (demo, 18 December 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle
  35. Shadow of a Doubt (demo, 9 February 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:10)
  36. Dance Away (demo, 9 February 1988: Tits & Ass) (3:34)
  37. Cry (demo, 9 February 1988: Tits & Ass) (5:07)
  38. Start! (demo, 19 February 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:04)
  39. Don’t Believe in Accidents (demo, spring 1988) (3:41)
  40. Don’t Believe in Accidents (demo - instrumental, spring 1988) (3:26)
  41. The Look (demo, 30 March 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:27)
  42. Here Comes the Weekend (demo, 30 March 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:12)
  43. Drowning In You (demo, 17 April 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:50)
  44. Physical Fascination (demo, 17 April 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:37)
  45. Paint (demo, 22 April 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:34)
  46. Listen to Your Heart (demo, 9 May 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:23)
  47. Let’s Party! (demo, 14 July 1988: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:59)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

The singles also included some great live tracks as B-sides, of which most have never been released elsewhere.

  1. The Voice (4:14)
  2. Silver Blue1 (4:12)
  3. Surrender (live, 16 December 1988: Himmelstalundshallen, Norrköping, Sweden) (3:10)
  4. Neverending Love (live, 16 December 1988: Himmelstalundshallen, Norrköping, Sweden) (3:27)
  5. Joy of a Toy (live, 16 December 1988: Himmelstalundshallen, Norrköping, Sweden) (4:10)
  6. Sleeping Single (live, 16 December 1988: Himmelstalundshallen, Norrköping, Sweden) (4:15)
  7. Cry (live, 16 December 1988: Himmelstalundshallen, Norrköping, Sweden) (5:43)
  8. It Must Have Been Love2 (4:20)

Mixes and edits

Now we need to address the elephant in the room, or should I say the lack of an elephant in the room? Look Sharp! was released when remixes were an essential part of the promotion process, and yet, we got to hear none of them in the thirtieth-anniversary edition. Aside from the remixes included on maxi singles, there were also quite a few remixes that were only available on DJ promos. ROX RMX included seven of these remixes, but there are almost another twenty that could still be added.

  1. Dressed for Success (the Look Sharp mix) (7:50) Remixed by Anders Herrlin & Magnus Frykberg
  2. Dressed for Success (instrumental) (4:13)
  3. Listen to Your Heart (Swedish single version) (5:10)
  4. Listen To Your Heart (orchestral version) (3:43)
  5. Chances (7-inch version) (4:07)
  6. Chances (Dancehall version) (8:25) Remixed by Adam Moseley
  7. The Look (Head-drum-mix) (7:16) Remixed by Emil Hellman
  8. The Look (Visible mix) (6:03) Remixed by Rusty Garner
  9. The Look (power radio mix) (4:09) Remixed by Rusty Garner
  10. The Look (Big Red mix) (7:33) Remixed by Rusty Garner
  11. The Look (Invisible dub) (5:11) Remixed by Rusty Garner
  12. The Look (Swemix) (7:06) Remixed by Emil Hellman
  13. Dangerous (Swedish single version) (3:46)
  14. Dangerous (Waste of Vinyl 12-inch mix) (6:26) Remixed by Alar Suurna
  15. Dressed for Success (Look Sharp! mix) (4:52) Remixed by Chris Lord-Alge
  16. Dressed for Success (new radio mix) (3:56) Remixed by Daniel Abraham
  17. Dressed for Success (Success mix) (6:43) Remixed by Daniel Abraham
  18. Dressed for Success (The remix) (6:30) Remixed by Mark McGuire
  19. Listen to Your Heart (edited version) (4:34)
  20. Listen to Your Heart (remix / US adult contemporary version) (4:31) Remixed by John Luongo
  21. Listen to Your Heart (remix) (4:53) Remixed by John Luongo
  22. Listen to Your Heart (remix - short version) (4:30) Remixed by John Luongo
  23. Dangerous (power mix - short version) (3:40) Remixed by Daniel Abraham
  24. Dangerous (power mix - long version) (7:08) Remixed by Daniel Abraham
  25. Dangerous (US adult contemporary version) (3:51) Remixed by Daniel Abraham
  26. Dangerous (dub) (7:15) Remixed by Daniel Abraham
  27. It Must Have Been Love (single version) (3:51)

I’m sure there are some tracks we don’t know about that could still be added, but I think Per has almost reached the bottom of the barrel insofar as demos for this album are concerned. There was a remix of “Paint” credited to Chris Lord-Alge that floated around the internet at some point back in the day which would be a nice addition, but I have no idea whether it was indeed remixed by him. Excellent remix, nonetheless. Unless something else pops up somewhere in the future, I think this is as complete as it’s going to get.

  1. While the version of “The Voice” on Dressed for Success was not listed as a demo and the version of “Silver Blue” on The Look was, both were roughly at the same point of production. The final version released on Tourism differs with a slightly different mix and some additional overdubs. At most, this should be considered an unfinished studio version, if that. Consider also that both tracks are on the proposed tracklisting for the album in mid-May 1988. Seems to me they were considered pretty much done and ready for the album. For this reason, I’m adding the version of “Silver Blue” on The Look to this list and not as a demo. In my book either both are demos or neither are. ↩

  2. “It Must Have Been Love” is included since it was released in between the singles from the album, if you take the final UK single releases into account. ↩

]]> 2024-03-22T07:50:14+00:00 <![CDATA[Pearls of Passion XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/03/17/pearls-of-passion-xl.html I don’t know why Pearls of Passion wasn’t given the thirtieth-anniversary edition treatment that Look Sharp!, Joyride and Tourism got, but I’m going to make a wild guess that it was because Roxette had just wrapped up the Neverending Tour and Per needed to take a bit of a breather.

Even though it got overlooked, over the years, most of the known tracks related to the album have been released in some form so this is mostly putting everything together.

Pearls of Passion: XL Edition

The first part of this puzzle is the artwork. Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely, but it was designed long before digital music was a mainstream thing. With album artwork now being displayed at roughly half the size of a CD cover, it makes it a bit hard to read the title. My suggestion is to enlarge the existing art just slightly and add an “XL Edition” subtitle.

Album

  1. Soul Deep (3:41)
  2. Secrets That She Keeps (3:48)
  3. Goodbye to You (4:03)
  4. I Call Your Name (3:39)
  5. Surrender (4:23)
  6. Voices (4:46)
  7. Neverending Love (3:30)
  8. Call of the Wild (4:32)
  9. Joy of a Toy (3:09)
  10. From One Heart to Another (4:11)
  11. Like Lovers Do (3:25)
  12. So Far Away (5:17)

Demos

The majority of songs eventually recorded for the album were originally meant for Per’s third solo album, which is why a few of the demos are in Swedish. The demos appeared on releases sporadically through the years. The first was “Voices” on the Neverending Love maxi. Per’s På väg, 1982–86 box set from 1990 included the original demo of “So Far Away” — “Som i en dröm”. In 1997 we got “Neverending Love”, “Secrets That She Keeps” and “I Call Your Name” on the Pearls of Passion: The First Album re-release. 2014’s expansive The Per Gessle Archives box set filled some more holes with the inclusion of another eight Tits & Ass demos, and 2020’s Bag of Trix featured seven demos from the Montezuma Studio sessions on 25 and 26 July 1986.

  1. Like Lovers Do (demo, 3 February 1984) — Per Gessle
  2. From One Heart to Another (demo, 13 February 1984) — Per Gessle
  3. Like Lovers Do (demo, 24 February 1984) — Per Gessle
  4. I Call Your Name (demo, 11 April 1984) — Per Gessle
  5. Svarta glas (demo, 13 October 1985: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:02) The original Swedish version of “Neverending Love”
  6. Neverending Love (demo, 16 October 1985: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:15)
  7. Som i en dröm (demo, January 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (5:07) The original Swedish version of “So Far Away”
  8. Hjärta av glas (demo, 6 January 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:00) Presented for the album, but not used
  9. Fly Like the Wind (demo, 18 February 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:00)
  10. Dansar nerför ditt stup i rekordfart (demo, 7 May 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:56) The original Swedish version of “Soul Deep”
  11. En känsla av en kvinna (demo, Spring 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:56) The original Swedish version of “Call of the Wild”
  12. Jag älskar (jag tror inte hon förstår) (demo, Spring 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (3:42) The original Swedish version of “Surrender”
  13. Neverending Love (demo, Spring 1986: Tits & Ass) (2:45)
  14. Goodbye to You (demo, Spring 1986: Tits & Ass) (3:10)
  15. Joy of a Toy (demo, 14 July 1986: Tits & Ass) (2:51)
  16. Like Lovers Do (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (2:02)
  17. From One Heart to Another (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (3:06)
  18. Goodbye to You (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (2:29)
  19. Pearls and Passion (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (2:40)
  20. Joy of a Toy (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (2:25)
  21. Jag älskar (jag tror inte hon förstår) (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (3:20) The original Swedish version of “Surrender”
  22. Som i en dröm (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (4:15) The original Swedish version of “So Far Away”
  23. Voices (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (4:05)
  24. I Call Your Name (demo, 25–26 July 1986: Montezuma Studio) (3:04)
  25. Secrets That She Keeps (demo, 15 August 1986: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (2:54)
  26. It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted) (demo, 14 April 1987: Tits & Ass) — Per Gessle (4:20)

Outtakes, B-sides and non-album tracks

Thrown in for good measure are the two non-album singles I Want You and It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted) from 1987 as well as their B-sides.

  1. Pearls of Passion (3:35)
  2. I Want You — Eva Dahlgren, Ratata & Roxette (4:37)
  3. I Want You (digital lägerelds mix) — Eva Dahlgren, Ratata & Roxette (3:30)
  4. It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted) (4:49)
  5. Turn to Me (2:58)

Mixes and edits

Aside from the remixes released on singles in 1986–1988, an alternate mix of “Goodbye to You” by René Hedemyr—originally having appeared on a 12-inch vinyl of the single which was never released—was released on the 1994 bootleg Sweet as a Nut.

  1. Neverending Love (Love mix) (3:59)
  2. Neverending Love (extended club mix / Euro mix) (4:30) Remixed by René Hedemyr, also on Dance Passion
  3. Goodbye to You (mix) (6:43) Remixed by René Hedemyr
  4. Soul Deep (remix) (3:52)
  5. Soul Deep (extended mix) (5:16) Remixed by Kaj Erixon, also on Dance Passion
  6. Neverending Love (7-inch mix) (3:19) Remixed by Frank Mono
  7. Neverending Love (12-inch mix) (5:14) Remixed by Frank Mono
  8. I Call Your Name (7-inch mix) (3:21) Remixed by Frank Mono
  9. I Call Your Name (12-inch mix) (5:52) Remixed by Frank Mono

There are probably more tracks gathering dust in Per’s (digital) drawers, but this is as good a start as any. Live tracks from the Rock runt riket tour would be a nice addition, but that’s probably wishful thinking.

]]> 2024-03-22T08:26:08+00:00 <![CDATA[Roxette XL ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/03/16/roxette-xl.html 1986–2026. Forty years. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not long, but as an anniversary it’s a big one. With that in mind, how should Roxette’s fortieth anniversary be celebrated?1 I’ve been giving it some thought over the past few weeks and I have some ideas.

After the deluxe physical and digital thirtieth-anniversary editions of Look Sharp! and Joyride, we saw Tourism getting sidelined with a digital-only thirtieth-anniversary edition which didn’t even include all of the tracks from the singles. And it was only released in 2023, which technically made it a thirty-first-anniversary edition, but that’s being pedantic.

2026 is the perfect time for a deluxe fortieth-anniversary edition of Pearls of Passion, but why stop there? My suggestion: release an XL edition (we’ll get to that in a minute) of every studio album for Roxette’s fortieth-anniversary in 2026. And, maybe, another one or two.

Why XL? Most obviously, XL means extra large in modern English, but to make it even better, XL is forty in Latin. It’s the perfect term to describe these releases in one way or another.

Why release all of them in 2026? It prevents potential issues like the delay of Tourism’s thirtieth-anniversary edition. It (hopefully) satisfies the constant calls from the fan community for these releases. Most importantly, it will keep Roxette in focus for the entire year of the band’s fortieth anniversary. Win–win–win.

Over the upcoming weeks, I’m going to publish a post per album to see just how spectacular and jam-packed these releases could be. I don’t have any expectation that this will become a reality, but one can dream. Right?

So, Per, if you’re reading this: can you give it some consideration?

  1. Why start talking about this now? I realise we’re in 2024, but getting these things ready doesn’t happen overnight, and we know just how busy Per’s agenda tends to be. ↩

]]> 2024-03-16T18:31:46+00:00 <![CDATA[It all begins again when it ends ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/02/11/it-all-begins-again-when-it-ends.html Welcome, Roxers! Yes, I have a new Roxette-related website again. Why? Why now? Why at all? All of your questions could be answered in this introductory post, but probably won’t be.

It’s been almost a week since I got this domain and I still don’t know exactly where it will go. I only got it up and running properly yesterday after struggling with some DNS issues which took longer to sort out than I’d expected. However, it is running now, so let me walk you through how I got here…

Once upon a time in April 1996, there was a site named Tider’s Place, because I didn’t know Swedish. So, yes, “Times’ Place”. I know. SMH as well. I don’t remember exactly what it contained about Roxette, but it started on my ISP’s server and later moved to GeoCities.

As I learned more about HTML and CSS, it was succeeded by Roxette Central hosted at roxette.org in April 1999. The first incarnation tried to be a bit of everything, but by the time roxette.org closed down in November 2002, it was simply a place to get some wallpapers and fonts.

Quite a few years had passed before I launched Oeuvrox in April 2009. Once again it was going to be a site that contained a bit of everything related to Roxette, Marie, Per, GT and every other project they were involved in. The name didn’t stick as it turned into Roxette & Co. in July 2013 and, finally, The Roxette Site in March 2019 but the content kept growing. At one point there was even a Twitter bot, named Roxbot, which posted information about things that had happened on that day—for example releases, concerts, and the like.

I kept adding more types of content while never finishing with the content for the categories that came before. It finally became like a mountain before me and it was all just too much. After not touching the site for a few months, I finally pulled the plug in January 2022. (It may come back one day in another form. Who knows. I’m a sucker for punishment.)

Having since taken a year or two to reevaluate my priorities, I want to embark on a new journey. On this blog I’ll be writing about things from the past, current events, and ideas for the future. However, knowing myself, the site will probably end up containing a bit of everything at the end of the day.

Watch this space.

]]> 2024-02-11T18:36:29+00:00 <![CDATA[It all begins where it ends ]]> https://www.roxette.nl/2024/02/10/it-all-begins-where-it-ends.html So, I picked up this fancy old domain. Now what?

]]> 2024-02-10T12:00:00+00:00