BOXETTE: 7 things we hope could happen with this release

The 4 DVD collection will be housed in a hardcover book with a 24 page booklet with new interviews including one with Per Gessle. Though we have not received any press release from Roxette management team yet, Per already shared this on Roxette and Per Gessle Facebook profiles, making  it officially. Still it’s unsure if the provided information is full and final nor when this would be released.  And as Sandra Knospe noticed, the cover picture was taken almost exactly 29 years ago on the 12th of July 1989 – obviously without that pink Instagram filter 😉

Is that release a good news, you may ask? Idea-wise and from fans perspective – it’s excellent. I found its name funny in that very peculiar Gesslish style (RoxBox or It must have been lunch are another examples). Are there any risks? Potentially. It depends how much involvement and care Warner and Rox team have given to this project.

Here’s the list of 7 things we hope could happen with this release:

1. Sound

Everyone connected to the Internet at the end of 2001 remembers how exciting it was to wait for the second to last Roxette concert during the Room Service tour in Globen, Stockholm. It was about to be streamed all over the world free of charge to anyone that was willing to watch. Crazy jolly times! And how disappointed many of us were when we noticed (heard, to be more precise) that the whole concert had those awful metal noices in the background. Back in the day both Marie and Per said the quality of Stockholm gig would not be high enough for a DVD or home video. “Recording a concert for a DVD would mean cameramen running around on the stage. It would destroy the night,” said Per, Daily Roxette reported back in 2001. 18 years later it became an option as it seems for the reason one can only speculate. Better late than never, but we hope the sound would be remastered across all releases and if necessary replaced with soundboard recordings that we know exists for most of the concerts. Do I need to say that older concerts would also gain a lot with improved sound? After all, if Roxette studio albums got newly remastered back in 2009, why not Boxette-concerts?

2. Picture

Fans living in the 90s surely fondly remember times where VHS was the only way to watch something on demand – anywhere and anytime, though looking for a certain song was certainly an effort. But every time the concert was played, the quality got a little bit worse and after few years VHS recording looked like an out-dated movie taken from the vaults. Together with sound remastering, one can hope picture remastering was done as well. We obviously understand it takes time and money (and most of all – efforts) to do so, but as we have waited so long for that release, this would be a clear sign for everyone it was done properly with all the deserved respect to Roxette legacy and to 2018 audience needs. And hey, we’re hoping master tapes were found in the EMI/Warner archives as it would be the only way to get it right and in better quality. We’re already fed up watching VHS-rips of ’88 performances or a blurry internet connection version of 2001 Stockholm gig. Fingers crossed for 16:9 ratio as well if possible. And a colour version.

3. Bonus songs

Tracklisting provided by the Slovenian site gives us very little hope there would be something extra on this release, except for the 24-page booklet. No additional footage from the legendary Borgholm castle concert, where Listen to your heart video was shot. Nothing extra from the massive Jo-burg C!B!B! gig nor any omitted songs from the Sydney performance. We understand some songs could have been removed from the official releases due to lack of space on VHS or a certain formatting-demand from TV-channels around the world, but why not to look more deeply for forgotten treasures? Just have a look at the RoxBox case; it turned out that MTV has all the songs recorded beyond the TV broadcast that could’ve been released for the first time. Why not to have the same high expectation from this release? Dear Warner, I’m sure you can do it right.

Let’s have a closer look at the announced tracklist and what could’ve been improved:

• Sweden Live ’88 could be enhanced with “I Call Your Name”, “Chances”, “Goodbye to you”, “It must have been love” (pre-Pretty Woman Christmas version!) or “Sleeping Single”, that were performed during that concert.
• Look Sharp ’89 – it seems like there are just 3 live songs we already know by heart (Dance Away – Cry – Paint) and 3 extra materials that serve as official videos for Dangeroud, Listen to your heart and Silver Blue.
  Sweden Live ’88 part:

1. Dressed for Success
2. The Look
3. Cry
4. Joy of a Toy
5. Surrender
6. Neverending Love
7. Dance Away
8. Dangerous
9. Soul Deep
10. Listen to Your Heart
11. The Look
12. Dressed For Success

    Look Sharp ’89 part:

13. Dance Away – LIVE
14. Dangerous – VIDEO
15. Cry – LIVE
16. Paint – LIVE
17. Silver Blue – VIDEO
18. Listen To Your Heart – VIDEO
19. The Look (remix) – VIDEO

4. Quality

I belive I mentioned several times: we are in 2018. It means few things – political-wise it feels like we have moved quite significantly back in time, but for the most of world – except the flat-earthers out there – technology has proved to be moving forward very fast. DVD became famous in the early 00’s as you could put much more material, increase the quality of video to even 5GB compared to 700-MB CD size. Since then we have seen double-sided DVDs (remember RoxBox?). The only concert Rox & team released on Bluray (size from 25 to even 180GB, faster data transfer, better picture resolution of 1920x1080p, better sound options) was “Travelling the world”. Why not to get the same for these legendary concerts? If not for us fans, then these concerts simple deserve being served to general audience in much better quality. If you are interested in knowing more about the quality of DVD versus Bluray, there is a great Wikipedia article summing things up.

5. Extra material

We all know – the concert is one thing. But after watching Roxette Diairies and hearing about forthcoming Look Sharp! 30th anniversary release, we are sure there is so much more video material existing, recorded by Per and Åsa themselves covering backstages, soundchecks, travels and free time during the Roxette touring hey days. A short documentary special on each concert (or tour) could be provided with this behind-the-camera feeling. It was wonderful to watch the documentary on “Travelling the world” or two other docs “The Making of Joyride” or “Really Roxette” on previous DVDs. These homevideos deserve to be part of Roxette concert history. Will there be a better occassion to share them than this?

6. Streaming

We’re living in interesting times where it’s not about owning the stuff any longer, but about having access to it. So why not to try and pitch one of the global streaming platforms and make these concerts available for some time for those who would watch but are no longer collecting DVDs, Blurays or might even have no device to play it? HBO, Amazon, Netflix are looking for different stuff and maybe they could feel the Roxette niche is worth investing in. It’s worth a try. If not paid platforms, why not previously mentioned ad-supported YouTube?

7. Future releases

And does this Boxette mean no other release will ever officially see the daylight? What about magical Zurich ’91 or South American concerts recorded for TV purposes in both ’92 and ’95? Why not to include MTV Unplugged and all videos every made into that box? If Roxette days are over, group’s history needs to be wrapped up in a very decent form covering all video efforts ever made. And more.