Album

Per Gessle and Mats MP Persson on Kulturnytt – Swedish Radio P4

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There was a 3-minute-long interview with Per Gessle and Mats MP Persson on Kulturnytt on Swedish Radio P4 today. The guys were talking about Gyllene Tider’s latest single and the recording of their last album.

Per says Jag drömde jag mötte Fluortanten is about an absurd dream which is about a past time and romance. With the new album, one of their most important aims was to show that they are a mature pop band and this is how the guys sound at the age of 58-60. They recorded the album in France and decided that they would play as much live as possible in the studio, to have the eye contact with each other and the fusion of 5 guys who work together in real time, not to create the sounds on computer. The songs, the arrangements and the lyrics have perspective. Per says it would be impossible for him to write Flickorna på TV2, När vi två blir en or Sommartider today, but he can write another type of pop music. Mr. G didn’t try to write classic single hits or very commercial songs, but wanted to show how GT sounds in 2019.

MP says in France they could take a little different turn in the arrangement and the whole recording session was much fun and very creative.

Per adds the biggest difference these days is that he mostly works acoustically. In the ’90s MP and PG made very advanced demos. When you work in a band, it’s good to leave the arrangement quite wide open. When Per plays a song on the acoustic guitar and sings, the melody and lyrics give an impression of what the song is about, so then it’s up to Göran on keyboards and Anders on bass and Micke on drums and of course MP too to interpret it. It’s a five-piece puzzle where everyone is important. It becomes a totally different song once Gyllene Tider plays it.

The album, Samma skrot och korn is out on June 14th, but you can already pre-order it (CD-hardbook, standard black gatefold 2LP, limited edition gatefold coloured 2LP) at the usual sites: Bengans, Ginza, CDON.

 

Gyllene Tider’s last album to be released in June

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The waiting is almost over! Gyllene Tider have announced today the release date of their farewell album and the first single from it.

As the press release says, in March 2019, Per Gessle, Mats “MP” Persson, Anders Herrlin, Göran Fritzon and Micke Syd Andersson – also known as Gyllene Tider – gathered to record their farewell album in the recording studio La Fabrique in Saint-Rémy de Provence in southern France. On Friday, 14th June, the result will see the light of day as Gyllene Tider’s 7th and last studio album, Samma skrot och korn (”Birds of a feather”). But already on 10th May it’s time for a taster in the form of the single Jag drömde jag mötte Fluortanten (”I dreamed I met the dental hygienist”).

Per Gessle had spent most of 2018 writing new golden gems such as Skrot och korn (”Birds of a feather”), Henry har en plan på gång (”Henry has a plan in progress”) and Det kändes inte som maj (”It didn’t feel like May”). A total of 15 songs were recorded, of which 14 made it to the album – by accident, exactly as many as The Beatles used to have on their LPs.

And for the first time since the intro track on Gyllene Tider’s debut album, a cover has been added. That time it was ”Skicka ett vykort älskling”, Gyllene Tider’s powerpop version of Shocking Blue’s hit, ”Send Me A Postcard”. Now it’s Sven-Ingvar’s 1965 single Någon att hålla i hand (”Someone to hold a hand”) (of which Brad Newman made the original version, ”Somebody to Love”) that gets a Gyllene tackle.

Per Gessle says:

In the past you often played some covers to show where you came from and pay tribute to your role models. That’s why we did ”Skicka ett vykort”, ”Tylö Sun”, ”Marie i växeln”, ”Vill ha ett svar” etc. You manage a music heritage and then you try to do something of your own of what you love.

And what do they say about the album in general?

Micke Syd Andersson says:

The last album was one of the most fun ever to record. We have a special contact where you just start playing a song and hardly need to look at each other.

Per Gessle adds:

It has become exactly as I hoped: you can hear that it’s a band that has maintained its sound, but still that it has actually been 40 years since they started out.

After four decades, an already legendary Swedish pop band says goodbye with an album that miraculously indicates continued top shape, even though the band has not even existed for long periods. And with a farewell tour that currently sells out more and more places, yet another Swedish music summer will be dominated by Halmstad’s pearls. 40 years of Gyllene Tider reaches its climax here and now.

Tracklist:

  1. Skrot och korn
  2. Det kändes inte som maj
  3. Jag drömde jag mötte Fluortanten
  4. Någon att hålla i hand
  5. Vid hennes sida
  6. Aftonstjärna
  7. Vanliga saker
  8. Bjud till!
  9. Låt denna trumslagarpojke sjunga!
  10. Mannen med gitarr
  11. Bara i en dröm
  12. Henry har en plan på gång
  13. Allt det andra
  14. Final

You can already pre-order the album (CD-hardbook, standard black gatefold 2LP, limited edition gatefold coloured 2LP) at the usual sites: Bengans, Ginza, CDON.


Photo by Anders Roos

Busy April 12th for Roxette and Per Gessle fans

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12th April brings for us fans one surprise after another. First it was announced that Roxette’s 6th studio album, Have a Nice Day will be released as a limited edition 180g yellow double LP gatefold sleeve. It was released only on cassette and CD in 1999, but never on vinyl. Nice way to celebrate the album’s 20th anniversary, isn’t it?

Per Gessle looks back at the record as a definite highlight in the band’s career:

Song-wise I think ”Have A Nice Day” could be our best album ever, maybe the only one that turned out like I hoped it would. That’s probably because the five-year break allowed enough time for lots of songs to grow — I wrote some of my strongest stuff and Marie’s ”Waiting For The Rain” and ”Beautiful Things” are among the best things she ever made for Roxette. And then we also added some crucial new members to our core team.

We were testing a lot of different things on ”Have A Nice Day”, mixing guitar pop ditties with drum machine driven dance beats, also adding more strings than on any previous album. And we’re talking real string sections here. You can tell that it’s recorded by a band with a big budget — maybe too big.

It has many songs and quite a long running time, a fact which in hindsight might have hurt it a bit — the “too much of a good thing” syndrome. Maybe ”Have A Nice Day” always was a double album that somewhat reluctantly was squeezed into a single CD. That’s why I love the double vinyl album format in this re-release. “Have A Nice Day” has come home again.

Tracklisting:

Side A

  1. Crush On You
  2. Wish I Could Fly
  3. You Can´t Put Your Arms Around What´s Already Gone

Side B

  1. Waiting For The Rain
  2. Anyone
  3. It Will Take A Long Long Time
  4. 7 Twenty 7

Side C

  1. I Was So Lucky
  2. Stars
  3. Salvation

Side D

  1. Pay The Price
  2. Cooper
  3. Staring At The Ground
  4. Beautiful Things

PRE-ORDER the album HERE!

 

Then there is another limited release by Per Gessle, tribute to The Ramones, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend on 12″ vinyl in 2 colours. Clear red limited edition (500 copies) and clear limited edition (500 copies). It will also be available as a bundle with both colours.

Per about the release:

Ramones was a huge inspiration when we started our first band “Grape Rock” in 1977. The unbelievable energy, the amazing guitar sound, the cool lyrics and the added touch of surf music floored us totally. Impossible not to fall in love with.

In 2002 White Jazz Records was about to make a Ramones tribute album and I was invited to participate. My choice of song was the brilliant “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. I couldn’t stop there so I decided to do two more killer tracks outside the album at the same time. Just for fun. Hey Ho!

Tracklisting:

Side A

  1. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
  2. Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
  3. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

Side B

B side is with engraving “Per Gessle” sign.

PRE-ORDER the album HERE!

 

Gyllene Tider release 2 new compilation albums

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Before they start recording their last album, Gyllene Tider released 2 compilation albums on Spotify today. Both contain bonus songs and also alternative versions of some gems. Tidiga Tider: Bonuslåtar och alternativa versioner 79-81 and Andra Tider: Bonuslåtar och alternativa versioner 82-84. Click on the album titles here and you can reach them on Spotify, even in countries where you can’t find them under “Gyllene Tider” or when you browse and try to search for the albums. However, 4 songs you will still not reach in every country. Hopefully, the albums are released on other digital platforms too.

TRACKLISTS

Tidiga Tider: Bonuslåtar och alternativa versioner 79-81

  1. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta – 7” single 3:51
  2. Gyllene Tider för rock’n’roll – Swing & Sweet EP 2:59
  3. Teena – B-side ’Ljudet av ett annat hjärta’ 6:07
  4. Marie i Växeln – Parlophone pop! – Instant hits, singlar & out-takes… vol 1 3:43
  5. Vill ha ett svar – Swing & Sweet EP 2:14
  6. Leka med elden – B-side ’Kom så ska vi, Leva livet’ 4:50
  7. För dina bruna ögons skull – Fan-club single 3:38
  8. 24:e december – Out-take ’Gyllene Tider’ album 4:30
  9. Beating Heart – ’Modern Times’ promo single (not /yet?/ available in all countries) 3:04
  10. Tylö Sun – Early version (not /yet?/ available in all countries) 3:17
  11. Och jorden är rund… – Swing & Sweet EP 1:57
  12. Vem tycker om dig? – Fan-club single 4:31
  13. Åh Ziggy Stardust, var blev du av? – Parlophone pop! – Instant hits, singlar & out-takes… vol 1 3:21
  14. Ge mig inte det där – Swing & Sweet EP 2:22
  15. To Play With Fire – ’Modern Times’ promo single (not /yet?/ available in all countries) 4:56

Andra Tider: Bonuslåtar och alternativa versioner 82-84

  1. Hej! – Out-take ’Puls’ 1:51
  2. Bara vara nära – Out-take ’Puls’ 2:44
  3. Tylö Sun – B-side ’Sommartider’ single 2:41
  4. Vart tog alla vänner vägen? – B-side ’Sommartider’ single 2:51
  5. Marie, Marie – Radio Parlophone – Andra sändningen! (Rockfile) 2:16
  6. Offside! – ’Rockriff’ cassette compilation / Out-take ’Puls’ 2:39
  7. Hi Fidelity – ’Hi Fidelity’ compilation 2:05
  8. I Go To Pieces – B-side ’Flickan i en Cole Porter sång’ 2:37
  9. Skäl att tvivla – Out-take ’Puls’ 3:31
  10. Threnody – Radio Parlophone – Andra sändningen! 4:45
  11. Ingenting av vad du behöver – Covermount magazine ’Schlager’ 4:19
  12. Kiss From A Stranger – Out-take ’The Heartland Cafe’ 3:30
  13. Anytime – ’Hi Fidelity’ compilation 3:26
  14. Young Girl – B-side ’Teaser Japanese’ single 3:36
  15. Mr. Twilight – Out-take ’The Heartland Cafe’ 3:19
  16. Teaser Japanese – Oriental Version – 12” remix (not /yet?/ available in all countries) 5:46
  17. Rock On – Out-take ’The Heartland Cafe’ 4:05

The YouTube links probably work only in Sweden: Tidiga Tider; Andra Tider.

 

Per Gessle – Small Town Talk album release

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Per Gessle will release his next English solo album on 7th September 2018. The title is ”Small Town Talk” and the album can already be pre-ordered in 3 formats at Bengans: standard CD, standard 2 LP gatefold and an exclusive, numbered limited edition white 2 LP gatefold (500 copies available – only at Bengans).

CD tracklist:

  1. There’s a Place
  2. The Finest Prize (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  3. Small Town Talk (feat. Nick Lowe)
  4. Simple Sound
  5. Far Too Close (feat. Savannah Church)
  6. Hold on My Heart (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  7. No One Makes It on Her Own (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  8. Being with You
  9. It Came Too Fast
  10. Name You Beautiful (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  11. For the First Time (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  12. One of These Days
  13. Rudy & Me (feat. Jessica S)

2 LP tracklist:

Disc 1 – Side A

  1. There’s a Place
  2. The Finest Prize (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  3. Small Town Talk (feat. Nick Lowe)
  4. Simple Sound

Disc 1 – Side B

  1. Far Too Close (feat. Savannah Church)
  2. Hold on My Heart (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  3. No One Makes It on Her Own (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  4. Being with You

Disc 2 – Side A

  1. It Came Too Fast
  2. Name You Beautiful (feat. Helena Josefsson)
  3. For the First Time (feat. Helena Josefsson)

Disc 2 – Side B

  1. One of These Days
  2. Rudy & Me (feat. Jessica S)
  3. Far Too Close (feat. Savannah Church) [Alex Shield Remix]

The album cover is a hot Nashville pic of Per taken by Anton Corbijn. Curious what other pictures we will find in the booklet. Exciting to see the tracklist! Looks like a great mix of Per’s Swedish Nashville songs translated into English, 2 gems that we could only hear as demos so far, 1 song that is probably a re-arranged version of Roxette’s NOMIOHO and at last, we will get to hear the duet with Jessica Sweetman, which Mr. G skipped to release on ”En vacker dag”. Probably, because he already knew he would release his Nashville project in English later. Very cool that ”Name You Beautiful” got a spot on the album and that Mr. G is doing the title track as a duet with one of his greatest idols, Nick Lowe. I personally wish ”Tittar på dej när du dansar” would be hiding behind one of the English titles, but somehow I doubt it’s any of them. Never mind! Mahi Nana! 😉 Many other fab songs to be enjoyed anyway. The first single is one of the fan favourites, the English version of ”Första pris”. ”The Finest Prize” is planned to be released digitally on 13th July.