Gyllene Tider – Moderna Tider 40th anniversary

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“We were constantly trying to keep up with our own success”, says Per Gessle, talking about the times 40 years back, more precisely, 1981. Gyllene Tider broke through with thunder and crash a year earlier and the shy boys from Halmstad didn’t really know how to be in the media, what clothes they should wear or how to behave on big stages… even if they were the biggest.

The difficult second record – the one that so many fail with – was on the doorstep. But it couldn’t be a fail for Gyllene Tider – it became a success beyond all expectations.

Now, 40 years later, Moderna Tider is being hailed with a 3-set vinyl box containing the original vinyl, a vinyl with all the songs that were released around the album but weren’t included on any record, as well as a vinyl with all the songs from the original album in their original format, recorded live in the rehearsal studio in Harplinge.

Release date is 19th November. Besides the LPs, the box will also contain a 36-page booklet with Sven Lindström interviews with the Golden Five in it.

Tracklists

LP #1:

Side A

  1. Vänta på mej!
  2. Tuff tuff tuff (som ett lokomotiv)
  3. På jakt efter liv
  4. När vi två blir en
  5. Det hjärta som brinner
  6. Du spelar svår att nå
  7. Kom intill mej

Side B

  1. (Kom så ska vi) leva livet
  2. Min tjej och jag
  3. Povel Ramel, Paul McCartney och jag
  4. Chrissie, hur mår du?
  5. Kärleken är inte blind (men ganska närsynt)
  6. När alla vännerna gått hem

LP #2:

Side A – 19.32

  1. Gyllene tider för rock’n roll – 2.57
  2. Vill ha ett svar! – 2.15
  3. Och jorden den är rund. – 1.58
  4. Ge mej inte det där – 2.13
  5. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta – 3.49
  6. Teena – 6.04

Side B – 21.00

  1. För dina bruna ögons skull – 3.37
  2. Vem tycker om dej? – 4.29
  3. Leka med elden – 4.50
  4. Beating Heart – 3.04
  5. To Play With Fire – 4.50

LP #3:

Side A – 23.10

  1. Vänta på mej! (Live replokalen 10 feb 1980) – 2.54
  2. Tuff tuff tuff (som ett lokomotiv) (Live replokalen 1 jan 1981) – 3.02
  3. När vi två blir en (Live replokalen 12 aug 1980) – 3.09
  4. Det hjärta som brinner (Live replokalen 12 aug 1980) – 3.05
  5. Du spelar svår att nå (Live replokalen 20 jan 1980) – 2.41
  6. Kom intill mej (Live replokalen 9 jan 1980) – 2.59
  7. Henry, dansa inte disco! (Live replokalen 20 jan 1980) – 5.03

Side B – 20.59

  1. (Kom så ska vi) Leva livet (Live replokalen 20 jan 1980) – 3.22
  2. Povel Ramel, Paul McCartney och jag (Live replokalen 19 jan 1980) – 3.48
  3. Chrissie, hur mår du? (Live replokalen 20 jan 1980) – 3.51
  4. Kärleken är inte blind (men ganska närsynt) (Live replokalen 18 juni 1980) – 3.52
  5. Vill ha ett svar! (Live replokalen 7 jan 1981) – 2.17
  6. S.O.S. (Live replokalen 18 juni 1980) – 3.34

You can pre-order your copies on Bengans, Ginza and CDON. Only 2000 copies will be available!

Check out how cool the box looks HERE!

 

Per Gessle in radio documentary about Jonas Åkerlund

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Swedish Radio P3 did a radio documentary about Jonas Åkerlund’s career. They interviewed Jonas about his collaborations with tons of world famous artists, the music videos he directed, his black metal band, Bathory, his dyslexia he struggled with and also about his movies. Besides his wife, Bea Åkerlund, Jan Gradvall and Per Sinding Larsen, Per Gessle was also interviewed for the docu.

The Roxette-related part starts with Jonas’ collaboration with Marie Fredriksson at 17:21. It’s Marie talking in the Den ständiga resan docu. Jonas tells that during Den ständiga resan project in 1992 Marie and he became good friends which was easy with Marie, because she was so kind and friendly towards everyone, including Jonas who says he was a nobody back then. He is thankful to Marie that he got the job and that led to so many others. It was that half-hour-long documentary and the videos to the album that Per Gessle saw. Then Jonas began to work with Roxette and that was his break-through.

The first collaboration with Roxette was the video for Fingertips ’93. Jonas thinks it’s a good song. Marie was pregnant and she didn’t want it to be visible, so the clothes she was wearing were hiding it. Jonas was working together with Roxette for 25 years. In 2016 they released Roxette Diaries, a documentary made of home videos recorded by Per and Åsa in the 80’s and 90’s during tours and recordings.

Per tells Jonas is an amazingly creative explosion all over. They became very close friends, both are music nerds. Their style is very different, but both of them are workaholic and dedicated to their own job. Mr. G tells every recording occasion with Jonas was an adventure, because anything could happen. Per thinks Jonas is quite organized in a way, but he is also very spontaneous. If a new idea comes up, he is testing it.

According to Per, Jonas’ best videos are like a very good pop song that is interesting in its whole length, no matter if it’s 3 or 4 minutes long. Jonas is very talented in building up a video that you want to watch again. Per feels it’s the same how he works with his pop songs, to make it interesting and catch the attention. That’s what Jonas is doing both when he is filming and cutting.

Per Gessle appears at the end of the docu again (at 1:24:53) telling Jonas will go down in history as one of the greatest music video directors not only because he has been working with many of the greatest artists, but also because his style is so unique and innovative. Mr. G says he is superproud to have been working with Jonas.

During the documentary, you can hear Small Apartments soundtrack several times and of course, part of Marie’s DSR docu and songs, as well as parts of Roxette songs.

Jonas photo by Allis Nettréus/TT/SR, Marie and Per stills are from Fingertips ’93 video

Roxette – “It Must Have Been Love” played 6 million times on US radio

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BMI proudly honoured the top UK and European songwriters, composers and music publishers of the most-performed songs of the previous year at the 2021 BMI London Awards. Among others, honourees for Million-Air Awards were announced as well. As BMI states, they recognize and celebrate these accomplished songwriters whose classic standards have literally been played millions and millions of times in the U.S.

Listen To Your Heart celebrated its 6-Million-Air Award a year ago, now it’s It Must Have Been Love’s turn! American radios played it 6 million times! If it was constantly played, it would mean almost 50 years! Pure awesomeness!

Roxette reached their 3rd No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with IMHBL on 16th June 1990 and stayed on top of the chart for 2 weeks. In 2000 Per received the award from BMI for this song being played over 3 million times on American radio, for 4 million he got the award in 2005 and for 5 million plays in 2014.

And hey, it started out as a Christmas song that found its way to hot-hot Hollywood! At least 6 million thanks to Per Gessle for writing this most amazing ballad and to Marie Fredriksson for adding her wonderful vocals and turning it into Roxette’s signature song! Big congrats! Big! Huge!

Per Gessle on Mix Megapol’s Maracas

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Per was guest on radio Mix Megapol’s new show, Maracas today. It was a pre-recorded appearance. The show contained lots of music and maybe even more ads, but one could hear the program leaders chatting with Mr. G in between.

Anders Bagge (musician and songwriter) and Arantxa Álvarez (TV presenter and singer) are very happy and feel honoured to have Per on their show – not only because PG poured milk into Arantxa’s coffee (as seen in the teaser video). Anders says Per is insanely musical, he has always seen Mr. G as Sweden’s Beatles king in a way, writing nice melodies, using simple chords. He thinks Per is a fantastic songwriter and he feels starstruck having PG on the show.

Anders and Arantxa ask Per to tell about how he spends a weekend. Mr. G says he spends it with his loved ones. When it’s normal times, there is a lot of travelling in his life, e.g. he spends one or two weekends at the F1 racing, which he is very much interested in. Anders asks if he is racing too. Per tells he tried it once, but it’s not for him. Arantxa asks how fast the cars are driving there. PG replies way too fast.

Here they play Här kommer alla känslorna.

The guys call DJ Rob Wåtz who is in Marbella and ask Per which song he should mix during the program. Mr. G wants to hear The Look in a mash-up. He thinks there could be many songs, but this one is a classic and would be fun to hear. Rob says he likes challenges and he will not gonna let Per down.

Then they leave some time for Rob to mix and Arantxa and Per play a little quiz. They have to recognize a weird cover band’s take on 3 songs and tell who the original artist is. The first song is a cover of Billie Jean. Per finds out very quickly that it’s Michael Jackson. The second cover they play is Eye Of The Tiger and Arantxa knows it, but she doesn’t know the artist, so Per has the chance to guess it and he guesses it right of course, Survivor. The third one is Joyride, which Per recognizes immediately, haha, so he is the winner of this game.

Then comes another game. Arantxa says there is a bird with a backpack and brings some info in it. The first is that Per’s whole house is spinning after the sunlight. Mr. G’s reaction is: what?! Arantxa says rumor has it in Halmstad. Mr. G laughs and says there are many rumors in Halmstad, e.g. that they took away all speed bumps for him to be able to drive faster with his cars. His house is located in the South, so there is a lot of morning light on one side and a lot of evening light on the other, the house doesn’t have to spin. Another info from the bird’s backpack is that Per started his career as a street musician playing on streets and squares. PG says it’s not true at all. What he did on streets and squares was walking as a sandwich man when he was 13-14 years old in Simlångsdalen for Lonebergs Keramik. He tells he and a friend of his started as troubadours employed by the city council and played at nursing homes for old people around Halmstad. They performed songs that were for the target group they played for, e.g. Drömmen om Elin, Svarte Rudolf, Så skimrande var aldrig havet. He remembers he also played När alla vännerna gått hem, because it had just been written then and he got tired of those 50 songs they always played 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It must have been in 1978.

Another game is coming, where you have to spin a wheel. There is some kind of wheel in the studio and Arantxa asks Per to tell who he sees on it. Mr. G tells there is e.g. Ricky Martin, Carlos Santana. Arantxa explains that Anders tells a story related to the artist on the wheel Per will spin. Per spins it and it lands on Enrique Iglesias. Anders tells a story of his revenge on Enrique after he gave Anders a near-death experience in his private plane. You can watch this part HERE.

Arantxa reads questions from listeners they asked on Mix Megapol’s social media sites. One of them is which song Per has written he is most proud of. Mr. G says it changes all the time, but he likes The Look because it was born when he was learning how to program his new synth. It felt something special. Another listener says he wants to hear some questions about Per’s wardrobe, because he gets too little credit for it, but he also wants to hear a little about his guitars and of course some juicy anecdotes. Per laughs and says it sounds like he could have an own program to talk about all this. Regarding his wardrobe he says since he is performing a lot and has many photo sessions, there are a lot of clothes involved. Anders says Per has always dressed very nicely. Mr. G thanks for it and says Anders is very kind. Regarding guitars Per says he has way too many, about a hundred. He says collecting them is a sign that he starts getting old. He buys new ones, but never sells the old ones. All guitars are unique and if you want a special sound, you have to have the guitar to have that special sound.

The guys come back to DJ Rob Wåtz in Marbella and he starts playing the mix he prepared in the meantime. He mashed Bomfunk MC’s Freestyler with The Look. HERE you can watch a video of PG enjoying it (nevermind that Mix Megapol wrote Joyride instead of The Look in the video text…). After the mash-up ends, Per says it was very good. He thinks Freestyler was a cool choice, it’s a forgotten tune.

Anders thanks Per for joining the program and tells he is a very nice person. PG tells Anders is so sweet. Arantxa thanks for Per too and Per thanks for them as well and his part is over.

Stills are from Mix Megapol’s videos linked above.

Roxette – Joyride 30th anniversary release

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The Joyride 30th anniversary box with the whole story, demos and previously unreleased material will be released on 26th November.

Already tomorrow, 8th October, the single Small Talk will be released with two previously unreleased versions of Small Talk and Hotblooded.

This year marks 30 years since Roxette released her third album Joyride, which followed up the band’s record global breakthrough with the album Look Sharp! in 1989.

Roxette had in record time turned into a global hit phenomenon thanks to the three US hits The Look, Listen To Your Heart, It Must Have Been Love and other big hits such as Dressed For Success and Dangerous.

Joyride was the album that was supposed to cement the unlikely successes of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. Which indeed it did. The album not only became Roxette’s bestseller, the title track zoomed all the way up to the top of the US charts on 1st May 1991 – giving Roxette their fourth US No.1. Thus, the group set a record that no Scandinavian group or artist has managed to surpass.

Massive box with unique material

The Joyride anniversary is celebrated with a vinyl box consisting of 4 LPs and a 3-CD box, which in addition to the original edition contains lots of unreleased or hard-to-get material that paints a larger picture of a piece of Swedish music history: demos, alternative versions and leftovers.

In addition, a richly illustrated 32-page booklet is included, which in text and with unique images from Roxette’s archive tells the story of how a classic Swedish pop album came to be.

Twelve previously unreleased songs

Twelve of the songs are previously unreleased, including the first recording of Hotblooded, which for a while was intended as the album’s opening song before Joyride pushed it to second place. Interestingly enough, there are also two Gyllene Tider songs here, which in January 1990 were candidates to end up on the upcoming Roxette record.

Per Gessle remembers:

It’s about “Run Run Run” and “Another Place, Another Time”, which Gyllene released on our English album “The Heartland Café” in 1984. And when I was looking for material for the new album in the autumn of 1989, I got hooked on these two. We made new and more “Roxified” demo versions of them – and especially, “Run Run Run” I think could have been a very strong one.

However, the recordings were shelved – in the Rox HQ there was a small but strong taboo against Roxette and Gyllene Tider being mixed together, so therefore they have been collecting dust in the archive. Until now.

Candy for all Roxette fans

Other 1990 demos that can now be heard for the first time are Small Talk, Church Of Your Heart, Physical Fascination, Things Will Never Be The Same, I Remember You and especially the upcoming single B-side The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye – one of the strongest songs that never managed to take a place on the album, later a big favourite among many Roxette fans and recorded by several other artists, including American singer Laura Branigan.

Sweet Thing is also one of many candidates which never managed to elbow its way onto the Joyride album, but which now sees the light of day for the first time.

In addition to the LP box with four vinyl albums, the original album is also released for the first time with a gatefold cover and pressed in marbled or black vinyl.

Joyride 30th Anniversary Edition tracklists

4LP box

LP #1 

A
1 Joyride
2 Hotblooded
3 Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)
4 Knockin’ On Every Door
5 Spending My Time
6 Watercolours In The Rain

B
1 The Big L.
2 (Do You Get) Excited?
3 Small Talk
4 Physical Fascination
5 Things Will Never Be The Same
6 Perfect Day

LP #2 

A
1 Soul Deep
2 I Remember You
3 Church Of Your Heart
4 The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye
5 Fading Like A Flower (US single version, Humberto Gatica mix)*

B
1 Joyride (US single version, Brian Malouf mix)
2 Soul Deep (Tom Lord-Alge mix)
3 Church Of Your Heart (US adult contemporary mix)*
4 Hotblooded (Live Sydney Dec 1991)
5 Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave) (Live Sydney Dec 1991)

LP #3 

A
1 Joyride (T&A Demo – May 23, 1990)
2 Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Jan 23, 1990)*
3 Fading Like A Flower (T&A Demo – Aug 31, 1990)
4 Knockin’ On Every Door (T&A Demo – Aug 15, 1989)
5 Spending My Time (T&A Demo – May 24, 1990)
6 I Remember You (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
7 Watercolours In The Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 24, 1990)

B
1 The Big L. (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
2 (Do You Get) Excited? (T&A Demo – Aug 19, 1989)
3 Small Talk (T&A Demo – aug 30, 1990)*
4 Church Of Your Heart (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 1990) *
5 Physical Fascination (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)*
6 Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Jun 17, 1989)
7 Perfect Day (T&A Demo – Aug 23, 1990)

LP #4 

A
1 Sweet Thing (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 1990)*
2 Seduce Me (T&A Demo – Aug 22, 1990)
3 Run Run Run (T&A Demo – Jan 10, 1990)*
4 Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Sep 17, 1989)*
5 Love Spins (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)
6 Come Back (Before You Leave) (T&A Demo – Apr 8, 1990)
7 The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye (T&A Demo – Mar 16, 1990)*

B
1 Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
2 Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
3 Another Place, Another Time (T&A Demo – Jan 11, 1990)*
4 I Remember You (T&A Demo – Mar 15, 1990)*
5 Queen Of Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 2, 1990
6 The Big L. (T&A Demo – Mar 29, 1990)
7 Joyrider (T&A Demo – May 22, 1990)

*Previously unreleased

CD and Digtial tracklists

CD1

  1. Joyride
  2. Hotblooded
  3. Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)
  4. Knockin’ On Every Door
  5. Spending My Time
  6. I Remember You
  7. Watercolours In The Rain
  8. The Big L.
  9. Soul Deep
  10. (Do You Get) Excited?
  11. Church Of Your Heart
  12. Small Talk
  13. Physical Fascination
  14. Things Will Never Be The Same
  15. Perfect Day
  16. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye
  17. Joyride (US Single version, Brian Malouf mix)
  18. Fading Like A Flower (US Single version, Humberto Gatica mix)*
  19. Soul Deep (Tom Lord-Alge mix)
  20. Church Of Your Heart (US adult contemporary mix)*

CD2

  1. Joyride (T&A Demo – May 23, 1990)
  2. Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Jan 23, 1990)*
  3. Fading Like A Flower (T&A Demo – Aug 31, 1990)
  4. Knockin’ On Every Door (T&A Demo – Aug 15, 1989)
  5. Spending My Time (T&A Demo – May 24, 1990)
  6. I Remember You (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
  7. Watercolours In The Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 24, 1990)
  8. The Big L. (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
  9. (Do You Get) Excited? (T&A Demo – Aug 19, 1989)
  10. Small Talk (T&A Demo – Aug 30, 1990)*
  11. Church Of Your Heart (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 1990) *
  12. Physical Fascination (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)*
  13. Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Jun 17, 1989)
  14. Perfect Day (T&A Demo – Aug 23, 1990)

CD3

  1. Sweet Thing (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 1990)*
  2. Seduce Me (T&A Demo – Aug 22, 1990)
  3. Run Run Run (T&A Demo – Jan 10, 1990)*
  4. Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Sep 17, 1989)*
  5. Love Spins (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)
  6. Come Back (Before You Leave) (T&A Demo – Apr 8, 1990)
  7. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye (T&A Demo – Mar 16, 1990)*
  8. Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
  9. Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
  10. Another Place, Another Time (T&A Demo – Jan 11, 1990)*
  11. I Remember You (T&A Demo – Mar 15, 1990)*
  12. Queen Of Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 2, 1990
  13. The Big L. (T&A Demo – Mar 29, 1990)
  14. Joyrider (T&A Demo – May 22, 1990)
  15. Hotblooded (Live Sydney Dec 1991)
  16. Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave) (Live Sydney Dec 1991)

*Previously unreleased

Listening links to the Small Talk single (released on 8th October): Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube (1; 2), Deezer.

Per says:

The “Small Talk”-demo was made by MP and me at the old Tits&Ass Studio on August 30, 1990. It was written two days earlier. “Hotblooded” was recorded by Marie, MP and me the day after Marie and I wrote it in my tiny penthouse apartment in Halmstad in January 1990.

You can already pre-order all the Joyride 30th anniversary goodies that will be released on 26th November (black vinyl, marbled vinyl, 4LP box, 3CD set) on Bengans, Ginza and other well-known places, as well as in your local record stores / online record shops.

Click for the PRESS RELEASE in Swedish.

Promo video can be found HERE!