Travelling two and half hours into Manchester on three busses is dull but this morning it was brightened up by the fact my nice blue shiny iPod had been filled up last night with the new Roxette Remasters, thus ‘Look Sharp’, ‘Joyride’, ‘Crash! Boom! Bang!’, ‘Pearls of Passion’ and ‘Room Service’.

Where I hear you all scream was ‘Tourism’ and ‘Have a Nice Day’ sadly they didn’t appear yesterday on the UK iTunes store and they are still not there today but I know of no reason as to why they are not up there yet, technical hitch perhaps? (Answers on a postcard please…)

I told myself having ordered the hard copies from CDON yesterday I was not going to download the digital releases but at 32 years old now I’m three weeks into being a full time student I’ve got my head stuck in books and assignments coming out of my ears on subjects of all kinds the last thing I need to do is rip CD’s to put tracks on my iPod so downloading on iTunes and paying twice was the way to go, it’s only money after all said and done!

It was so much quicker and more convenient and Mr Gessle get’s more money out of me, so he’s very grateful. Please Mr G throw me in a plectrum in Köln and make me very happy!

Okay down to the nitty gritty (that’s British slang for business, in case you’re wondering!)

The first album I dived into listening as I graced the dark rainy street at 6.30am this morning was Joyride, my first ever album that I acquired back in 1991, my mother bought it for me (god bless her) because I drove
her crazy by playing ‘The Big L’ over and over again. I taped it onto a 90 minute cassette off the radio and played it for weeks on end, in the end she gave in and bought the Joyride album. To this day Joyride always remains my favourite album!

The new remastered version didn’t disappoint in the slightest. It’s sharper and louder. You don’t need to play it at full volume to get the benefit of the music, like you did with older CD’s, it has a crisp clear sound. It sounds great through iPod earphones so I can’t imagine what it sounds like through a proper hi-fi stereo system and good quality headphones!

The bonus tracks are just fantastic. The ‘Come Back (Before You Leave) (Demo) is really good, it should be released and Per’s voice sounds really magical.

Next I tuned into ‘Look Sharp’ again it doesn’t disappoint. It’s an album I’ve not played for ages but as soon as you start listening you forget how good it is and you ask yourself ‘Why don’t I play this more often?’

I love the ‘Surrender – Live’ bonus track. I remember this from years ago, getting it on a tape from a penpal somewhere in the world and I think it was possibly the first time I ever heard Per speak in Swedish. I remember thinking how incredibly sexy he sounded and today I couldn’t help myself but kept playing this track over and over again. I know several people who are waiting to hear this specific track and I wonder if it’s for the same reason as I remember it for! Give me credit I was about 14 when I first heard it and raging with hormones and you have to admit he does sound rather cute on this track!

The ‘One Is Such A Lonely Number (Demo)’ sounds also a lot sharper and louder than the version that original appeared on the UK single release of ‘The Big L’, again this was a track I skipped to listen to because it was also one of my favourite demos and also a song I think would have been a good release, okay maybe not but I liked it and you can hear a improvement.

Finally I am going to nose dive into ‘Crash! Boom! Bang!’ And I am going to start with what most people say they don’t like ‘Fireworks’ why? I love this song, I love the video and I love the track! It’s snappy and sharp and sounds even better and I’ll be playing it on November 5th just like every year!

‘Harleys and Indians’, the intro makes you want to turn around and look to see if Per’s actually stood behind strumming his guitar in the living room! It’s such a realistic sound. I really don’t know how they improved the sound so much from the original release.

I can’t mention ‘Go To Sleep’ because I’ll cry, like I did on the bus going to college, Marie’s stunning voice in this song always moves me to tears and it seems more powerful in this remastered version, certainly comes over more louder. It doesn’t dissatisfy.

I can’t review ‘Room Service’ and ‘Pearls of Passion’ for you now because whilst I’ve listened to some of the songs I’ve not listened enough to really go into detail. Overall what I’ve heard from the iTunes downloads for the Roxette Remasters they don’t disappoint and they are very much worth the purchase if you have an iPod. Certainly cheers up my long winded bus journey to college! Roll on tomorrow morning!

Written by: Alison Lowther (aka Roxerally)

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