Per Gessle

Start of the PG Roxette era

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An era is over. Another one is born.

With the birth of PG Roxette, Per Gessle will continue the adventure he and Marie Fredriksson began, just over 35 years ago. Together with members from the classic Roxette band and a sound echoing somewhere between “Look Sharp!” and “Joyride” Gessle returns to the musical peak of his life – with a new album and plans for a tour.

Per Gessle says:

Since the 80’s, my whole life has been spinning around Roxette and to this day it’s still what excites me the most. There are millions of people out there who still love the band so of course I want to keep our music alive.

Years have passed and Per Gessle has been torn between different visions. The Roxette we once knew no longer exists, but Per strongly felt he wasn’t ready to bury Roxette for good. He still has so much to give, so many more songs to write. Most of all, Roxette brings him nothing but pure joy and energy.

After all there are only two options with Roxette: Either to put the lid on or to continue in some shape or form. At first, I wasn’t sure which way to go but as time passed by it became clear that I want to continue this fantastic joyride. I want to keep the legacy of Roxette alive. I’ve written almost every song Roxette has recorded over the years and they mean the world to me. Hence, I feel this is the right decision. I’m so proud of this body of work and I love working with these people.

Because even if PG Roxette surely marks the beginning of a new era, there’s also a lot for the fans to recognize; both in the new music and in the people who’ve created it. For the recording of the upcoming album, Gessle gathered the classic Roxette band – Jonas Isacsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Magnus Börjeson and Christoffer Lundquist with the aim to make a classic Roxette record.

When I started to write, my ambition was to try to create a sibling to ”Look Sharp!” and “Joyride” – and that’s actually exactly how it sounds. I’ve wanted to create a modern production, but with the typical Roxette trademarks.

In 2016 Roxette did their very last concert. Three years later Marie Fredriksson passed away, after her battle with cancer for 17 years.

A Roxette without Marie sheds light on a burning question: Who can fill the shoes left by one of the greatest pop singers of our time?

Simple answer: No one can.

Instead, Per is joined by two other singers very well known to most of the Roxette fans; Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg. Both have been in the inner circle of Roxette for years.

It’s impossible to replace Marie and that was never my intention. Our Roxette era was an unbelievable fantasy that we got to share together. I’m excited to be able to continue this journey, but in a different way. Needless to say that if Marie was still here, we’d be doing this together.

Next up is the release of the PG Roxette album and eventually a tour with both new music and old Roxette material in the setlist.

I’m super proud of all the amazing recordings Roxette did and the new material really feels incredible. It’s not always that easy to re-invent yourself when you’ve been doing this for as long as I have with a huge body of work as a result. Sometimes you feel you repeat yourself, but then suddenly you tread on unfamiliar ground and you get curious in a wonderful way. That’s when I feel this is my life, this is what I do best, this is where I belong.

The PG Roxette album is set to release mid September, with a first single out end of May.

Per is working with PG Roxette alongside his upcoming unplugged tour in Sweden, which starts April 21.

Pics by Fredrik Etoall

To be among the first ones who can listen to PG Roxette’s upcoming single in May, don’t forget to follow PG Roxette on Spotify!

Per Gessle to release new album under PG Roxette

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As Göteborgs-Posten informs, Per Gessle has decided – there will be a continuation for Roxette, under the name PG Roxette and with Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg on vocals.

Since singer Marie Fredriksson passed away on December 9, 2019, Roxette partner Per Gessle has not really known what to do with the band that made the two friends world stars in the 80’s and 90’s.

Now he has come to a decision. Roxette continues under the name PG Roxette. A new single is coming already in May, an album in September and after that a big tour. Per Gessle will sing together with Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg, both longtime members of Per’s expanded musical family both solo and with Gyllene Tider and Roxette.

PG says in a press release:

It’s not possible to replace Marie and that is not something I want either. It was an era and a fantastic dream we got to share together. But it feels exciting to be able to continue this journey – albeit in a different way. If Marie had still been alive, we would of course have done this together.

The new album is already done, in the studio there were good old Roxette musicians: Jonas Isacsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Magnus Börjeson and Christoffer Lundquist. Of course, drummer Pelle Alsing, who passed away in 2020, was missing.

Per adds:

The new material feels really fantastic. It’s not always easy to renew yourself when you’ve been around for as long as I have. Sometimes you feel that you repeat yourself, but sometimes you end up on untrodden ground and become so wonderfully curious and then I feel that this is my life, that this is what I can do.

Per Gessle is currently preparing for a twelve-concert spring tour with an acoustic setting where he plays songs from his entire career.

Photos by Patrícia Peres from 2014 (PG + Dea) and 2018 (PG + Helena).

Per Gessle at the fundraising concert for Ukraine

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A fundraising concert in solidarity with Ukraine is organized in Avicii Arena, Stockholm on Saturday 2nd April at 20:00 CET. The evening will be filled with unique performances of some of Sweden’s foremost artists who show up for free and the ticket proceeds go to six different organizations in their work to curb the humanitarian crisis and promote human rights and democracy. Ticket revenues go in full to International Red Cross, Proliska, UN Women Sweden, Fight for Right, Civil Rights Defenders and The Media Initiative for Human Rights.

Per Gessle is one of the participating artists, but also Eva Dahlgren, Peter Jöback, Wilmer X will be there, just to mention a few big names.

From the press release:

The country’s booking company gathers to arrange a fundraising concert with Sweden’s artist elite. This time in solidarity with Ukraine and with three major thematic themes in focus; humanitarian crisis, human rights and democracy.

Humanitarian Crisis:

More than one million people are on the run and many of them are children. At the same time, even more people are stuck in cities and towns in Ukraine and are affected or risk being affected by the war, either directly by military force or indirectly by famine and disease. We must help people in need.

Human Rights:

There are few things more incompatible with human value and life as war. We receive a lot of information about serious violations of human rights and violations of international law in the ongoing conflict, from indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas to denial of basic needs such as food, sleep and healthcare. We must fight for human rights.

Democracy:

Democracy in Ukraine is under direct attack, while we are seeing increased repression in Russia and Belarus. The small space left for free independent media and civil society in Russia has been brutally shut down. Since the outbreak of war, we have seen the great popular opposition to the war and how the brave voices that stand up to the Putin regime and call for peace are being systematically silenced. We must stand up for democracy and freedom in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Per Gessle says in today’s press release:

What is happening in Ukraine is undemocratic, indefensible and inconceivable. Difficult, if not impossible, to understand. You would think that no one in our modern times would have to experience such situation. I played a lot both in Russia and in Ukraine and the people of both countries are absolutely amazing. I have unforgettable memories from there that I saved deep in my heart. How could this happen?

Tickets for the event are available HERE.

Thank you, Per, for supporting Ukraine!

The almost 3-hour-long concert can be watched worldwide live online HERE and it will be available at the link for a month.

Per Gessle demo cassettes TEAC At Home No. 1-2-3

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Yet another 3 cassettes are out „from the Drawer Of Dreams”, as Per says. He had a TEAC four-channel tape recorder which he used all the time for a couple of years. Tricky but it worked, he says. PG adds:

Amazing to think I actually did this on my own. I’ve always been lousy with technology. But there you go. Don’t give up!

“Studio Tor” on cassette No. 3 refers to Mr. G’s apartment that was situated on Torsgatan in Halmstad.

Those magic drawers surely contain some more cassettes and that TPGA box vol. 2 is shouting for a release. Only on these three cassettes there are so many tracks we haven’t heard so far!

TEAC AT HOME #1

A

1. Krig (Instr.) (6th September 1983)

2. Krig (7th September 1983)
Released on The Per Gessle Archives – På väg – Demos 1982-86. Monica Törnell released the song in 1984.

3. The Sound Of My Falling Tears (2 vers.) (10th/12th September 1983)
The September 12th version is released on The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 3.

Info from PG: „I bought this 4-track Tascam machine and I did all these things on my own, which is quite scary, being me. So I recorded this at home with just a small synthesizer and a Roland drum machine. Very distinctive 80’s sound. I probably wrote it for „The Heartland Café” album, Gyllene Tider’s English album. That was in the can at the time. It’s sometimes good to work on your own, because you have to solve all your problems yourself. You have to be the engineer, you have to play the instruments, you have to do everything on your own. Which means that you learn a lot. So I did that for a couple of minutes in my life, before I decided to get some collaborators on board. I like to work very rapidly, so if things grew up like technical stuff grew up, I’m lost in the shuffle. It’s just terrible. I had really big studios in my homes over the years, but I always gave it up in the end of the day, because I need an engineer, I need someone to make things work for me. If I have a musical idea, I want to play it now, I want to record it now and if I’m gonna do it on my own it’s gonna be made in like two hours, because I have to find all the wires and connections, hit the right buttons. And when I’ve done that finally, I forgot about all the idea that I had in the first place. That’s why I use my iPhone, my smartphone to do very simple demos on.”

4. Rosa vind (4th November 1983)
Info from PG: „It’s an early version of “Om jag en dag”, the final cut on the “Scener”-album.”

5. Liksom fåglar (26th November 1983)
Probably the Fåglar demo released on The Per Gessle Archives – På väg – Demos 1982-86.

Info from PG: „It’s an early version av “Fåglar”.”

6. Fri som en fågel (26th November 1983)
Info from PG: „It’s a waltz I wrote on the piano for “Scener”. Never made it. Stupid lyrics.”

7. From One Heart To Another (8th December 1983)
Info from PG: „I wrote this even prior to the last Gyllene Tider album, which was in English of course, so it could have been written for that album. I don’t know, I can’t remember. It was a little bit more guitar-driven in 1983 than in 1984 when I did another demo, which was a bit more sequencer and synthesizers. Then in 1985 it was a reggae. The reggae version was what I played for Marie and then we went into the Montezuma studio in 1986 to do an acoustic demo of it, which eventually lead to its inclusion on the first Roxette album. It was never a favourite song for me. Especially in the Roxette version. I had it in so many versions. When it was written, it was supposed to be a guitar-driven song and that’s the way it should have stayed. It’s got a big chorus and you can actually pump it up with guitars. The Roxette version is a little bit more easy-listening, more smooth. When a song lies around for so many years it travels. This song was sent into the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 or so in Swedish with a lyric by Ingela “Pling” Forsman, called „Skepp utan roder”. That didn’t go anywhere, of course.

8. En man av väntan (11th December 1983)
Info from PG: „It’s a very boring piano ballad. Next please.”

9. Dreaming (14th December 1983)
Demo of Dreaming by Gyllene Tider.

10. Light Of Love (29th December 1983)
Info from PG: „Frida in ABBA was doing a solo-album in 1982 (produced by Phil Collins) and asked me to write a song for her. And she gave me a book of Dorothy Parker’s poems. I wrote music to two of them, “Threnody” and “Light of love”.”

11. Don’t Want To Live Alone (4th January 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s an early version av “30 skäl”.”

12. Rickie Lee (2 vers.) (19th January 1984)
Demos to the song Rickie Lee that was released on Per Gessle’s second solo album, Scener. It was composed for Marie Fredriksson’s Het vind album, but she released the song only when the album was reissued in 2003.

B

1. Stand By Me (24th January 1984)
Is that a Ben E. King cover?

Info from PG: „It’s not the Ben E. King standard. It’s an original song I probably wrote for “The Heartland Café”. This demo from January is made by me on my own. There is another one from later in the year, in July, with Gyllene Tider playing. It’s a pretty cool one. And a nice song. Might release it one day.”

2. Ros (26th January 1984)
Released on The Per Gessle Archives – På väg – Demos 1982-86.

3. Like Lovers Do (3rd February 1984)
Info from PG: „Most of the songs on „Pearls Of Passion” are songs written in Swedish, including „Like Lovers Do”. I can’t remember what the title was, but it was written in Swedish.”

4. From One Heart … (13th February 1984)
See what’s written at side A track 7.

5. Ingen kan som du (17th February 1984)
Released on The Per Gessle Archives – På väg – Demos 1982-86.

6. Skyldig (20th February 1984)
Skyldig is a song written by Per Gessle, released as a bonus song on Basse Wickman’s 2001 compilation album, Da Capo.

7. Sommardans (20th February 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s another piano ballad. I wrote a lot of those! It’s… hmmmm… OK. Next life, maybe?”

8. Like Lovers Do (Marie) (24th February 1984)
See what’s written at side B track 3.

9. 12 23 05 (28th February 1984)
Per wrote this song and The Pinks [Swedish boyband of kids aged 8-14] released it in 1984 in Swedish. It made headlines in the newspapers, because the number in the title was an existing phone number of a 83-year-old lady in Örebro who got a tremendous amount of calls. According to The Pinks, Per said the song was originally written in English.

10. Never Say Goodbye (29th February 1984)
Later, in 1990 the track was released as a song written by Per Gessle and Clarence Öfwerman under this same title by Passagerarna [band members: Clarence Öfwerman, Mats Persson (not MP!), Micke Jahn, Pelle Alsing, Tommy Cassemar].

Info from PG: „It’s an original song by me. There is actually another demo from July 1984 which is much better. Uptempo pop ditty. Catchy chorus. I gave the lyrics to Clarence many years later and he wrote new music to it for his band “Passagerarna”. They recorded it (with Clarence music) and it was sung by Mats “Myrdal” Persson who played percussion with Roxette on the CBB tour. Small world.”

11. Sheik (6th March 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s an early version of “Physical Fascination”.”

12. Ingen annan (9th March 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s a pretty cool song in 6/8-beat. Forgot about this one. Thanks for bringing it up. I might use it some day.”

13. ”Sköna juveler” / Tema #? (26th March 1984)
There was a 1984 Swedish movie with this title. Can it have any relation to this demo? Hm.

Info from PG: „Yes, I got a request to write some music to this movie. But the people in charge didn’t really like my home made electronic stuff. Who can blame them?”

TEAC AT HOME #2

A

1. Innan du går, kom tillbaka (4th March 1984 – 27th March 1984)
As Marie mentions in her biography, she and Per wanted to play and sing together and they started writing songs together. One of them was Innan du går, kom tillbaka. Per wrote the lyrics and they wrote the music together. The song was released on Hi Fidelity (Various Artists) with Marie singing, Gyllene Tider playing.

2. Fascination (3rd April 1984)
Anything physical?

Info from PG: „It’s yet another early version of Physical Fascination. How many does the world need?”

3. I Call Your Name (11th April 1984)
The Montezuma demo is only from 1986.

Info from PG: „It’s my first demo of what became a Roxette song.”

4. Mandolindagar (16th April 1984)
The song was released on the Inte tillsammans, inte isär EP in 1986 and as a bonus track on the 1994 re-release of Scener.

5. See (16th April 1984)
Regarding the 1989 demo version of See on demo cassette No. 7 Per said: „It’s still unreleased, but there was a Swedish translation and recording made by Sylvia Vrethammar in 1990 with the title „Öppna dina ögon”. My music, Sylvia’s lyrics. Produced by Clarence. How about that? Also… “See” + “See Me” has got the same lyrics. But different music. “See” = music by me. “See Me” = music by sweet Marie.”

6. Innan du går (M. GIT) [if I can read it correctly]
Probably another demo version of Innan du går, kom tillbaka.

Info from PG: „It’s the same demo as the one from March but “M GIT” which means “med gitarr/with guitar”. Duet with Marie. It’s always a joy to hear her sing. I have to release this one. Thank you.”

7. Önskar att du (27th April 1984)
Might be an earlier version of the 1986 Önskar demo, which later became Sleeping Single.

Info from PG: „It’s not the same song as “Önskar” (which became “Sleeping Single”). This one is also uptempo, not terrible, not amazing, pretty dull actually if you play it twice.”

8. Lidelsens vita flagg (2nd May 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s not a bad song. Uptempo, great chorus. Chords sound pretty classic, a little bit like Dressed For Success. It actually sounds like Marie is singing backing vocals on this one. Major problem is that the lyrics stink. That’s probably why it was left in the ditch.”

9. Den tunna linjen (1st May 1984)
Den tunna linjen was released on Scener.

10. Flickor älskar att dansa (5th May 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s an early version of ”Dreams Of Love And Devotion”. Sounds a bit like the Cars. Pretty good.”

11. (I Feel) Fire (8th May 1984)
Info from PG: „It was my favourite for a month or so. This version is sung by Marie. And it sounds “SO MUCH MARIE” from those days. High pitch. Brilliant and strong emotions. Could have been fab on the first Rox album but it never happened. Am I making you curious, hahaha?”

12. Om jag en dag (9th May 1984)
Om jag en dag was released on Scener.

B

1. Anytime (14th May 1984)
Anytime was released on Hi Fidelity (Various Artists) and as a bonus track on the 1990 CD release of The Heartland Café. There is a demo on YouTube. Can it be this one from the cassette?

2. Run To Me (21st May 1984)
It’s the English version of Regn, the song released on Per’s first solo album. There is a demo of Run To Me on YouTube. Can it be this one from the cassette?

Run To Me by the way was released by Christopher Barker in 1994 on his All In Love album.

3. Lycklig en stund (22nd May 1984)
Lycklig en stund was released on Scener in 1985 and another version later in 2020 on Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig.

4. Hi Fidelity (22nd May 1984)
Hi Fidelity was released on the compilation album, Hi Fidelity.

5. Girl On The Phone (25th May 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s an uptempo song. A smaller and younger brother to, let’s say, “The Big L”. Efva Attling wrote a Swedish lyric to it and released on her first solo album in 1985. It was called “Leka på pojkars vis”. Badabam bam bam.”

6. Den bästa tiden (27th May 1984)
Released on The Per Gessle Archives – På väg – Demos 1982-86.

7. Fly Like The Wind Thru … (28th May 1984)
The first version of the 1986 Fly Like The Wind demo.

Info from PG: „Fly Like The Wind Through My Hair was the original title.”

8. Dreams Of Love & Devotion (29th May 1984)
Info from PG: „Part of the lyrics is the same [as LaLaLove by Mono Mind]. Not the music, though. Have to recycle. Good for Planet Earth!”

9. Dancing On The Night Wire (7th June 1984)
Info from PG: „This song was written in the spring of 1984. At that time I was preparing for my second Swedish solo album, „Scener”, so I don’t really know why I wrote this one. It was a very complicated time for me, so I wrote so many things going different directions.”

10. Jag hoppas att du finner (7th June 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s another song written for the “Scener”-album. I’ve always liked this one. Unfinished lyrics. That’s probably why it was left out in the cold.”

11. Victoria (10th June 1984)
Info from PG: „VICTORIA / SISTA CHANSEN VÄSTERUT / HJÄRTA OCH SJÄL. Same song, different lyrics. All terrible.”

12. Sista chansen västerut (11th June 1984)
Info from PG: „VICTORIA / SISTA CHANSEN VÄSTERUT / HJÄRTA OCH SJÄL. Same song, different lyrics. All terrible.”

13. Hjärta och själ (11th June 1984)
In the Att vara Per Gessle book on side 97 this song is listed as a side A track on PG’s planned – but never recorded – third Swedish solo album.

Info from PG: „VICTORIA / SISTA CHANSEN VÄSTERUT / HJÄRTA OCH SJÄL. Same song, different lyrics. All terrible.”

TEAC AT HOME #3 (Studio Tor – 6.84. – . )

A

1. Body & Soul (13th June 1984)
In the Att vara Per Gessle book it’s written on side 85 that Per got into contact with Dale Tedesco Music in Los Angeles and sent this song to them, but nothing really happened. However, the fact that Dale – an American who had a record label – liked Per’s songs made PG more self-confident.

2. Cherry Gardens (16th June 1984)
Info from PG: „Extremely bad English version of Gyllene Tider’s “Cilla 16, söt som socker”.”

3. Blå December (17th June 1984)
Blå December was released on Scener.

4. Jag är en liten pojk (21st June 1984)
Pugh Rogefeldt has a song with the same title, released in 1972.

Info from PG: „It’s a bad cover of the Pugh Rogefeldt-song.”

5. Juli-natt (24th June 1984)
Info from PG: „No. No. No. Not very good. Take me out of here!”

6. Lycklig en stund (25th June 1984)
Lycklig en stund was released on Scener in 1985 and another version later in 2020 on Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig.

7. Afrikas <3 (27th June 1984)
In the Att vara Per Gessle book on side 97 a song titled simply Afrika is listed as a side B track on PG’s planned – but never recorded – third Swedish solo album

8. Magic Spell (3rd July 1984)
There is a track on YouTube from the Myths. Can it be this demo?

Info from PG: „Magic Spell was written and demoed twice in the summer of 1984. It will pop up one day!”

9. Vitt Café (5th July 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s another leftover that was written for the “Scener”-album.”

10. Love Darts (7th July 1984)
Info from PG: „It’s the English version of Gyllene Tider’s “Bara vara nära”.”

11. Ge allt du kan o vill (10th July 1984)
Ge allt du kan was demoed again in 2016 and released on En vacker dag in 2017. Sven-Ingvars released the song in 1996.

12. Kyss från en främling (13th July 1984)
It was recorded in English with Gyllene Tider for The Heartland Café album, but it became a leftover because of the little too much country flair to it, says Per. It was later released on Andra Tider – Bonuslåtar och alternativa versioner 82-84. A later demo from 1999 was released on The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 1. Blue Light released the song in 1985.

13. Springer i cirklar
Info from PG: „It’s a demo by Gyllene Tider. Pretty good backing track, terrible vocals by me. Wrong key. Lousy lyrics on top of it all.”

B

1. La Luna (13th August 1984)
The first Spanish roots?

Info from PG: „Instrumental saxophone (!) version of “Scen” from the “Scener” album. Interesting is a word I could use. But I don’t.”

2. Jupiter kallar (17th August 1984)
The 1995 English demo, Jupiter Calling was released on the extended version of The World According To Gessle.

3. Speedo (23rd August 1984)
Speedo was released on Scener.

4. FOX (27th August 1984)
Info from PG: „I wrote this one for Anne-Lie Rydé. She never recorded it. I can understand why.”

Västervik fest (8th July 1985)

1. Vandrar …
2. En känsla …
3. Ännu doftar …
4. Love The One …

Info from PG: „It was the mighty “Exciting Cheeses” that performed at Västervik. Same set as we played at the ANC-gig at Scandinavium in Gothenburg in november 85. Just yesterday.”

Info from Marie’s biography: „In the summer of 1985, we went on a minor tour with acoustic guitars and sang vocals. In addition to Per and I, Mats MP Persson and Lasse Lindbom were present. We called ourselves Exciting Cheeses. The name came about because Lasse was asked what we should call ourselves while he was in a grocery store and saw the sign “Spännande ostar”.”

The songs above are: Vandrar i ett sommarregn, En känsla av regn, Ännu doftar kärlek and Love The One You’re With.

Here you can watch the TV broadcast of the 1985 ANC gala. Exciting Cheeses perform Love The One You’re With from 1:08:41.

Per Gessle demo cassettes No. 5 and No. 6

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Per shared another two demo cassette covers the other day, No. 5 and No. 6, so why not have a closer look at those tracklists, too. Again, you’ll find only those PG comments added here that are related to the exact demos (date and version) on the list. Links in the article are listening links.

Keep posting those cover scans, Mr. G!

Demo cassette No. 5

A

1. Önskar (8th July 1986)
Released on The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 4.

Info from PG: „We [Roxette] were scheduled to do some demo recordings in late summer. I was still working on my third Swedish solo album. Some people who hear this recognize it as a Roxette song called „Sleeping Single”, which eventually came out on the „Look Sharp!” album. We never used this on the first Roxette album at all. I think the main reason is that we didn’t have any English lyric for it. It was never a contender for the first Roxette album. My third Swedish solo album became the first Roxette album basically. Most of the Swedish songs were translated into English and became the „Pearls Of Passion” album by Roxette. In 1987 I had a different approach to the song and also a great title, „Sleeping Single”, a great lyric and as soon as Marie started to sing it, it was just heaven. It sounded perfect. But this is the very first Swedish version. Diamond in the rough.”

2. Young (11th July 1986)
The song was released in Swedish by Ofwerman (Staffan Öfwerman) in 1987 as his debut single released on Jimmy Fun Music. It’s not strange if it sounds familiar. Listen to Per Gessle’s Detective Jones demo from 1996 or Detektiv by Gyllene Tider!

3. Joy Of A Toy (14th July 1986)
Released on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 1.

Info from PG: „This is one of the few songs that was written straight for Roxette’s debut album, „Pearls Of Passion”. This is a song I wrote together with Mats Persson and we recorded the demo in July 1986, just ten days or two weeks prior to the Montezume demos, which was the first time Clarence, Marie and myself worked together to do demos for the „Pearls Of Passion” album. So this is the summer sound of Halmstad in 1986. I’m sorry for singing out of tune a little bit, but we didn’t have the digital equipment in those days to correct the voices.”

4. Ingen är en ö (12th August 1986)
There is a song with this title by Ingemar Olsson from 1970. Can it be a cover of that one?

Info from PG: „It’s an original song by me. It sounds like Gyllene Tider being hit by a monster truck. And not in a positive way…”

5. Lazer Age (12th August 1986)
Info from PG: „It’s not my song. It’s a demo made by Thomas Hafström and was supposed to be the follow up to his “Tillbaka till sommaren”-single which I produced in 1985 or 1986. It never happened.”

6. Secrets That She Keeps (15th August 1986)
Released on the extended version of Pearls Of Passion.

7. Jag tror att jag älskar (17th October 1986)
This is what later became Surrender by Roxette. There is another T&A demo called Jag älskar (jag tror inte hon förstår) (Surrender) from spring 1986, released on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 4. and the Montezuma demo from 25th-26th July 1986, Jag älskar (Surrender) was released on Bag Of Trix – Music From The Roxette Vaults Vol. 4.

The song (Jag tror att jag älskar) was released in Swedish by Anna (Anna-Carin Borgström) in 1988.

8. I din hand (11th November 1986)
There is another, later demo released as B-side of the Ömhet single recorded on 14th June 1993 at T&A. There is a big question mark here, because Per once said regarding the 1993 demo: “Svante Thuresson + Anne-Lie Rydé made a beautiful version of I din hand. A song I wrote together with the missus Åsa back in 1993 while preparing for the Crash! Boom! Bang!-sessions. Recorded hours after it was written. And hey, MP is playing the accordion! Always a treat.”
In the PG talks with Sven Lindström on Per’s Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig release he also talks about 1993 when the song was written.

So what about this 1986 demo?

Info from PG: „Oh no not that song again! This particular demo from November 1986 is sung by Milla (from Millas Mirakel), who helped me out with some vocals once in a while for many years. This is actually the second demo of “I din hand”. However the music is totally different compared to the 90’s versions. The lyrics are similar.”

9. Sänder 1 S.O.S. (16th November 1986)
Info from PG: „”Sänder ett SOS” is a terrible song. MP and me did lots of tracks trying to figure out how to program our new sequensers and synths. This is one of them.”

10. Varje gång (4th December 1986)
The song was released in Swedish by Anna (Anna-Carin Borgström) in 1987 and by Wizex also in 1987.

11. A Little Bit Dangerous (11th February 1987)
The Dangerous demo released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 5.

Info from PG: „It [Dangerous] was No. 1 on Cashbox and No. 2 on Billboard, so those days we preferred Cashbox. Maybe we even played it on the first Roxette tour [Rock runt riket]. In the summer of ’87. This song we definitely rehearsed. Nowadays Marie always says it’s one of her favourite Roxette songs, but in those days she didn’t really approve it that much. Maybe it was written to become a single, but we never recorded it at all until the „Look Sharp!” session. This is actually the first demo and just a couple of weeks later I did another demo, which is just me and an acoustic guitar. Then we did a third demo with Clarence and Marie and Jonas in Stockholm. Either this version or the acoustic one was posted to Don Johnson. It’s a good question, which one, but I hope it was some other version. He got it in a padded envelope with a printed message „If you don’t like it, you’re wrong.” I have this letter that came back to me from his management saying he didn’t like the song. Of course it’s hard to hear what it was gonna be like when it was fully produced a couple of years later. That’s the nature of the game when it comes to demos. The whole intention with demos is that you try things out. Maybe it’s the first time ever you sing the song and you go back, you change some chords, change some lyrics here and there and you just restructure the song differently. That’s why you make demos in the first place. The key here is too low for me, but that’s the way it goes.”

12. För långt ifrån (ak. vers) (25th February 1987)
Translating the title into English, it could be So Far Away, but So Far Away started out as Som i en dröm…

Info from PG: „It isn’t that bad….. It’s an original song written for… can’t remember. Will probably pop up in an Archives-box one of these years…”

13. Dangerous (ak. vers) (25th February 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

B

1. Kom ut till stranden (25th February 1987)
There is another demo on The Per Gessle Archives – På väg – Demos 1982-86 from May 1986.

2. The Voice (24th March 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 3.

Info from PG: „It was recorded for the „Look Sharp!” album, but we never included it on the album. We recorded it, but we used it as a B side on a single. I think it was „Dressed For Success”. It got a Pino Palladino treatment here. He had his heydays in the 80’s on those Paul Young records. MP is playing this bass on the synthesizer and using all this fretless feel to it, which is really interesting. I thought it was Paul McCartney style of playing bass guitar. This song I guess didn’t make the album, because in those days of course you had the LP format, so you had to keep around 20 minutes on each side to make it sound proper.”

3. Rocket (9th April 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 1.

Info from PG: „I thought this was one of the coolest songs that I wrote for „Look Sharp!”, but Clarence Öfwerman who produced us, he didn’t like this at all. He thought it was too much bubblegum. So we scrapped it and I actually kept it, rewrote it, changed the beat into some sort of shuffle and it became „Knockin’ On Every Door” instead. So it’s the same song, same chords in a different beat. That became one of the main tracks on the „Joyride” album instead in 1991. It was pretty disguised since it was a totally different beat to it and I think Clarence felt that beat fit the song better. I like this demo, because I like this acoustic guitar with a small, little drum machine. It’s got a really cosy feel to it. So I thought it was a really nice demo. Sometimes you keep songs, time goes by, so many things happen and then you just pick them out again and dress them up a bit and they find a new home.”

4. Night Wire (9th April 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 4.

Info from PG: „This song was written in the spring of 1984. At that time I was preparing for my second Swedish solo album, „Scener”, so I don’t really know why I wrote this one. It was a very complicated time for me, so I wrote so many things going different directions. However, this version must have been demoed for the „Look Sharp!” album. Of course it didn’t make it. There is something about it that I like, but it’s all history now.”

5. Xmas For The Broken-?? (14th April 1987)
It’s the It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted) demo released on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 2.

Info from PG: „When this demo was made, we were trying to do our best to get interest from the record companies outside of Sweden. Then EMI Germany, they say „why don’t you write a Christmas song?”, because it’s easier to get on the radio, to get airplay for the Christmas season if you have a Christmas song, if it’s good. So off I went and I wrote this one. „It Must Have Been Love” with the Christmas reference in there in the lyrics. We recorded it and they didn’t want it, because they didn’t really like it that much. It eventually became a big Christmas song for us here in Sweden. So it was high on the charts and became a gold record in the end of ’87. We didn’t put it on any album, because of the Christmas reference and we just had this like an off single. A couple of years later, after we had our international breakthrough, we got this request or offer to be part of this Hollywood movie, eventually called „Pretty Woman”. They asked for a ballad. „Pretty Woman” at the time wasn’t a big budget movie, Richard Gere was on his way sliding down, Julia Roberts was a debutant. The original title of the movie was „3000”. It was very vague. They asked us if we wanted to be involved and we said we don’t have any time to make new recordings, because we were travelling all over the world doing promotion with the „Look Sharp!” album. But I remembered we had this ballad, this Christmas song. And I said „we have a great ballad, you could have that one. We can change the lyrics.” We changed Christmas day to winter’s day and stuff like that. Refreshed it up a bit with a new guitar intro and stuff like that and then we didn’t hear anything. Suddenly, while we were recording something else, I got a phone call from Garry Marshall, who was directing the movie and he said „I just wanna tell you that I love this song so much and I have re-edited the movie and made a great spot for the song. There’s no dialogue over the song, the lyrics speak for itself. It’s a very strong scene in the movie. It’s just fantastic. I just wanna thank you for this, bla bla bla”. And I said „yes, OK, nice, bye-bye”. Time went by and eventually this „Pretty Woman” movie became a super smash. I think it grossed 800 million dollars or something. One of the biggest movies ever. Out of the blue we just had this super hit all over the world. Together with „Listen To Your Heart”, „It Must Have Been Love” became our biggest song ever. I think it’s fascinating that the difference between having a big hit record and having a flop record is so small. I mean it’s the same song and if that film wouldn’t have happened, nobody would have heard of this song anymore. It would have been hidden under the Christmas tree forever. That’s the way it goes. Sometimes when you work with pop music that I’ve been writing all my life, the difference between the song that makes it as the first single or the song that doesn’t even make the album is so tiny. There are points in the lifespan of songs when they are equal. One makes it and one won’t make it.”

6. Dressed For Success (20th May 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 2.

Info from PG: „It’s like a month after we recorded the demo of „It Must Have Been Love”. It’s a good spring for sure. My aim at the time was to write material that I knew Marie could deliver and wanted to sing and loved. „Dressed For Success” was very much written for Marie and it had that little thing in the bridge where I’m asking „Whatcha gonna tell your mother?” and she’s answering, but it’s Marie’s song. She just makes it unbelievably good. Immediately, when we recorded it we felt like we had the first single. It’s a stand-out track, especially Marie’s vocals. This is how the demo sounded in May 1987 and yeah… it’s cool.”

7. För spänningens skull (20th or 21st (?) May 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s an uptempo, quite catchy pop ditty that had many titles. One was “Varje hjärtas detektiv”. Has that one been released?” [Varje hjärtas detektiv was released by Fredrik in 1985.]

8. Silver Blue (21st May 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

9. Sleeping Single (22nd May 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 2.

Info from PG: „This was of course made for the „Look Sharp!” album. I had the Swedish lyric, but I didn’t have the English lyric, so I wrote „Sleeping Single”. It was customized for Marie. It just made sense. It’s a great little track. I wanted to make a little bit more danceable songs at the time, so the whole idea of having Mats playing some sort of funk guitar and these guitar licks, we tried to make it a little bit more groovy. Mats had to play those licks all through the song, 3 minutes and 45 seconds, poor him. He did a great job, as always. It’s a good song. I like it a lot. When Marie sang it in the studio together with Clarence’s production – very sparse production, but it just sounded terrific. For me „Sleeping Single” and „Paint” are just as important on „Look Sharp!” as „The Look”, „Dressed For Success”, „Dangerous” and „Listen To Your Heart”. It’s got a very special sound to it.”

10. Pocketful Of Rain (12th June 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 4.

Info from PG: „It was between the first Roxette album and „Look Sharp!”. I bought this new synthesizer, the Ensoniq SQ1 and I tried to learn how to program it. I actually did a couple of songs on that synthesizer. „The Look”, „Don’t Believe In Accidents”, „Come Back (Before You Leave)” and „Pocketful Of Rain” as well. So it was basically done at home in my apartment, but then I took it to the Tits & Ass studio and did sum overdubs and vocals. The finished version was created in June 1987 for the „Look Sharp!” album, but we never recorded it at all. Anne-Lie Rydé made a single out of this in Swedish. I can’t remember who wrote that one, but I don’t think it was me.” [Anne-Lie Rydé – Ta mig hem; lyrics by Jane Larson]

11. Dressed For Success (ak. vers.) (12th June 1987)

Demo cassette No. 6

A

1. One Is Such A Lonely … (26th August 1987)
The One Is Such a Lonely Number demo released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

2. Thrill Of It All (26th August 1987)
It’s The Thrill Of It All demo released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

3. Den perfekta lögnen (27th August 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s nice. I’ve kept that one in the shade and will probably use it one day. At least the music. Me like. Still.”

4. Som i en dröm (reggae) (28th August 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s terrible.”

5. From Head 2 Toe (15th September 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s an acoustic version sung by me. For some reason.”

6. Love Spins (15th September 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

7. Boom Boom … (15th September 1987)
The Boom Boom (And Boom Boom Again) demo released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

8. In My Own Way (15th September 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

9. Never Is A Long Time (24th September 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s a live piano version I made on my own in my apartment on Torsgatan 9 in Halmstad.”

10. Never Is A Long Time (11th November 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

11. Från topp till tå (Lene) (12th November 1987)
The song by Lene (Johansson). She says it was recorded in November 1987 in EMI studios in Stockholm. Words and music by Per Gessle who was also the producer. Technician was Anders Herrlin. It was their contribution to Melodifestivalen 1988. It didn’t get through.

12. View From A Hill (17th November 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 3.

Info from PG: „This was recorded for the „Look Sharp!” album and I loved that track when I did it. I felt it sounded perfect. It sounds so 80’s and you can hear all those Pet Shop Boys influences in that British synthesizer techno sort of sound in there. It turned out to be one of those three songs that Clarence Öfwerman didn’t produce on „Look Sharp!”. We went to England with an English producer called Adam Moseley and he produced three tracks for us. He did „Cry”, „Chances” and „View From A Hill”. But I always preferred my demo to the Roxette version. Because my demo, the demo we did here in the Tits & Ass studio is much more pop music. Adam’s production was a little bit more funky. Something different. Also, of course since we didn’t have any Roxette players playing on those three songs, it was English session players, it sounded not that much Roxette. Anyway, I love this demo. It was a very creative period of time for us. It also just shows the direction I felt Roxette should go into, more modern sounds than the first album.”

13. Love Spins (18th November 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition.

B

1. Chances (24th November 1987)
Released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 1.

Info from PG: „It was of course written for the „Look Sharp!” album. If I remember things right, the whole idea with this was to show what kind of direction I want Roxette to go. I wanted it to sound like modern pop. As you can hear from the demo it sounds almost like a Pet Shop Boys track. It’s got lots of Pet Shop Boys influences. Of course I didn’t want us to sound like Pet Shop Boys, but I wanted us to get rid of that sort of organic band feel that we had on the „Pearls Of Passion” album. I was really in favour of going into the technology side. This was never a big song with Marie or with Clarence Öfwerman, our producer. It wasn’t produced by Clarence, it was produced by an English guy, Adam Moseley, who did three songs on the „Look Sharp!” album and this was one of them. ”

2. Satellite (1st December 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s an early version of I Could Never Give You Up!”

3. Boom Boom (9th December 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s made by MP and me. A clumpsy version with a big guitar riff and heavy drums. Hmmm……”

4. I Could Never Give … (18th December 1987)
The (I Could Never) Give You Up demo released on Look Sharp! 30th Anniversary Edition and on The Per Gessle Archives – The Roxette Demos! Vol. 5.

Info from PG: „This demo was made just before Christmas in 1987 and was intended of course for the „Look Sharp!” album. It didn’t really make the LP, but managed to squeeze in as a bonus track on the CD. How about that? In those days the LP was still the standard format. Even „Joyride” had like three extra tracks on the CD, which weren’t intended to be on the album at all in the first place. The real version is the LP. I don’t think this song is up the same quality as other songs on the album. That’s why it was left out in the first place. This is like an OK song. There was really tough competition on that album and this is a left-over. MP was trying his best to do Nile Rodgers-ish guitars, which was brilliant, but songwise it’s not really up there for me. It’s a lucky song, because it got on the B side of „Listen To Your Heart”, so it sold well. That’s typical, isn’t it? You put the bonus tracks, the left-overs on B sides. That’s how it used to be, so you get an additional value when you buy a single. Or maybe to sneak you in to the record store one more time to get the B side that you don’t have in your collection. Maybe that’s the case. I know all the tricks.”

Release The Tiger: Orig. Bootleg 88 (insp. v. 1 1988, mix 8th January 1988)

1. Om hon visste vad hon ville
2. Ny pojkvän
3. Småstad
4. Oh Yea Oh Yea (Oh Oh)
5. Vandrande man
6. Jo-Anna farväl

These songs were released on Gyllene Tider’s Instant Hits! – Samtliga hits 1979-1989 under the Pers Garage project [Pers Garage = GT without Anders Herrlin]. You can listen to them on GT’s Konstpaus on streaming services.

Småstad (högre sång)

From Head To Toe (18th December 1987)
Info from PG: „It’s the EMI demo but only with my voice on it, no Marie in sight.”