Patrícia Peres

New EP or full-scale album by Roxette

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Roxette_tp_white_bgAs you could hear it with your own ears in the Australian radio interview with Per, he started writing new songs for Roxette a couple of months ago and they will go to studio in August to record new material before they start rehearsing for the tour in September.

Now Per reveals in an interview with The New Zealand Herald that they are planning to do an EP with 4-5 songs. However, being the hit machine he is, there might be a new studio album coming! That’s what he says:

We’re talking about doing an EP, four or five songs. At the same time, knowing me, I write a lot and if everything goes well, it might as well be a full-scale album.

Fingers crossed for a full album!

 

Besides this, he tells what the secret behind one of pop’s most enduring relationships is:

It helps that we never had a romance. We’ve known each other all our lives and it’s like a brother-sister relationship. When Marie got ill in 2002, it was a nightmare for all of us. I’m so pleased that she’s still alive. To be able to do these tours again is just amazing.

We are all so pleased, too! Bring on the new album and the tour!

 

The Per Gessle Archives – Vol. 1 available on Spotify

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Vol1Right at midnight CET, The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff!, Vol. 1 became available on Spotify. That meant no sleep at all! And not only to me. My neighbours will surely kill me one day (if I’m not killed by Per’s voice by then)… Yeah, you could guess it, I’m in love with this stuff!

Started listening to the songs one by one and I got breathless already by the first track. Don’t want to reveal what song it (or part of it) became later, because it’s an amazing thing, listening to such a demo for the first time without knowing any background to it. Awesomeness! Goosebumps all over me!

Always loved how Per can leave a song alone for years, even for more than a decade and then suddenly take the demo out of his drawer, come up with new ideas to it and oh-la-la, a new song is born. He is talking about it in details in the Conversations with Sven Lindström. I could really listen to him talking about songs and songwriting 24/7.

Per says regarding the release:

I’m a big demo fan myself … and I know there are so many people out there – hardcore Roxette fans and Per Gessle fans – who are really interested in my work. I just thought it was a nice thing to release for those guys.

The conversations are just like what we are used to anytime there is an interview / discussion involving Mr G and Sven. Good mood, friends talking to each other with the same enthusiasm about music. Lots of fun, smiles and laughs.

It’s fab to hear that Per is still planning to release an acoustic album in the future. Not the first time he mentions it and I trust he will really come out with such a record. That will be a glorious day.

In the first volume we get many Gessleish lyrics and melodies, as well as tremendous amount of details about where, when, how or even why the demos were recorded. It’s also cool to have this mix of English and Swedish demos.

Per says regarding the project that there is ”no stone unturned”. He is so wrong! There ARE stones unturned, but he is doing it so right. He gives us so much, but there is still something left to be longing for. After this project he could do a ”1st version demos” compilation album. He surely knows that after listening to the 3rd or any other numbered version demos we are just too curious about how they sounded for the very first time. Anyway, we can only be grateful for this wonderful gift from him. Still 10 volumes are waiting for us! Woohoo!

Enjoy listening to the first volume and don’t forget that Vol. 2 is out in a week on Spotify! iTunes will have it from 2nd June.

Happy marriage of the Per Gessle books

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Update by Per on 11th May:

PG BOOKS UPDATE: No, these are not the real covers. These were made for a catalogue that had to be printed early. The proper covers are not done yet. However, the titles are correct./P.

Some days ago we wrote an article about the 2 books of Per Gessle that are going to be published in September. Now the 2 covers are revealed and we can completely understand what the ”happy marriage they will make together” means as Per put it in his update. The covers look pretty cool and by putting the books next to each other on your shelf, you’ll have that mysterious gaze of Mr. G.

PG_book_covers
Per informed that these are NOT the real covers.

You’ll be able to buy the books separately. Bengans has already listed them (English, Swedish) and Bokus, too (English, Swedish). One book is in Swedish and its title is Texter, klotter & funderingar. Den svenska delen. It will contain 153 Swedish lyrics, drawings, sketches, comments on songs by Per, as well as excerpts from Per’s studio diaries and private pics. The book will also contain an interview with Per about songwriting (done by Tomas Andersson Wij). The other book is in English and its title is Songs, Sketches & Reflections. The English part. It will contain 204 English lyrics, drawings, sketches, comments on songs by Per, as well as excerpts from Per’s studio diaries and private pics. The book will also contain a long interview with Per about songwriting (done by Sven Lindström). The 2 books together are appr. 700 pages long. Bokus might have the wrong number of pages, since in the Sydsvenskan article it was the other way round, the English book being longer, not the Swedish one. And it would make sense, taking into consideration that the English book will contain more lyrics.

The books are set to be published by Roos & Tegnér on 25th September, one day after the release of The Per Gessle Archives box-set. Ojojoj… It gets harder and harder to wait until September… What a torture! 😉

 

Thanx a lot for finding the books, Celestte Williams & Evgeny Perekopskiy!

 

Update on 13th May:

Ginza (English, Swedish) and Adlibris (English, Swedish) also listed the books.

 

The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff!, Vol. 2

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We didn’t have to wait long for the tracklist of The Per Gessle Archives – Demos & Other Fun Stuff!, Vol. 2 after Vol. 1 appeared yesterday on iTunes for pre-order. The digital release of Vol. 1 on Spotify is 16th May and Vol. 2 is out on 23rd May. As iTunes announced it, the first 2 volumes of the total of 11 in the complete box-set will be available at them from 2nd June. Box-set is out on 24th September.

Vol. 1 includes 16 tracks (47:13) and 34m 01s conversation between Sven Lindström and Per; Vol. 2 includes 14 tracks (46:22) and 27m 39s talk.

iTunes price of Vol. 2 will surely be corrected just as Vol. 1’s price has been changed to 135 SEK (11.99 EUR). Very good price for a lot of goodies, right?

 

Tracklist:

1 Kvar i min bil (AGM – Apr 28, 2007)  2:37

2 Apple in the Mud (T&A Demo – Jul 4, 1995)  2:45

TPGA_Vol.23 Beautiful Girl (T&A Demo – Apr 19, 1999)  3:51

4 Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play) [T&A Demo – Jul 5, 1995]  4:00

5 When I Close My Eyes (No One Can See Me) [T&A Demo – Jul 20, 1999]  3:23

6 Heaven Is Just a Motion Away (T&A Demo – Jan 28, 2006)  2:42

7 Jo-Anna Says (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 2005)  3:15

8 Mannen med gitarr (T&A Demo – Nov 20, 2002)  3:11

9 Hold on My Heart (T&A Demo – Oct 6, 2012)  2:42

10 Västra sidan (T&A Demo – Nov 18, 1984)  2:57

11 Jag borde förstås vetat bättre (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 2003)  3:20

12 Being with You (T&A Demo – Sep 11, 1997)  4:00

13 Faller ner på knä (T&A Demo – Feb 15, 1996)  3:46

14 Gå & fiska! (T&A Demo – Feb 15, 1996)  3:53

 

1 Intro Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 2 (The Conversations with Sven Lindström)  3:23

2 Kvar i min bil (Agm – Apr 28, 2007 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  1:32

3 Apple in the Mud (T&A Demo – Jul 4, 1995 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  1:58

4 Beautiful Girl (T&A Demo – Apr 19, 1999 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  2:21

5 Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play) [T&A Demo – Jul 5, 1995 – Conversation with Sven Lindström]  2:07

6 When I Close My Eyes (No One Can See Me) [T&A Demo – Jul 20, 1999 – Conversation with Sven Lindström]  0:35

7 Heaven Is Just a Motion Away (T&A Demo – Jan 28, 2006 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  2:33

8 Jo-Anna Says (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 2005 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  1:35

9 Mannen med gitarr (T&A Demo – Nov 20, 2002 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  0:37

10 Hold on My Heart (T&A Demo – Oct 6, 2012 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  2:36

11 Västra sidan (T&A Demo – Nov 18, 1984 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  2:31

12 Jag borde förstås vetat bättre (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 2003 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  1:02

13 Being with You (T&A Demo – Sep 11, 1997 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  1:48

14 Faller ner på knä (T&A Demo – Feb 15, 1996 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  1:27

15 Gå & fiska! (T&A Demo – Feb 15, 1996 – Conversation with Sven Lindström)  1:34

 

I’m so glad to see my personal fave PG demo, Mannen med gitarr on the list! A pity that there is only a very short conversation about it (0:37). It’s not too easy to wait until the digital release of these 2 volumes and hear all the gems, as well as the story of all the songs. I bet it will be even harder to wait for the box-set release after we get to hear these 30 tracks and all the other fun stuff.

 

Where have the official Roxette videos gone?

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Tonight Per posted a non-official video of ”June Afternoon”, because he couldn’t find the official one on YouTube. Weird, because he shared it several times during the past years and we watched it many times for sure, so there is something strange happening here. Now we could find the official JA video only on other sites, e.g. on Dailymotion.

Official videos available on emimusic’s channel (with actual views) are:

  • It Must Have Been Love – 34 074 356 views
  • Listen To Your Heart – 31 078 061 views
  • IMHBL_LTYH_YT_emimusicJoyride – 8 352 248 views
  • The Look – 7 460 461 views
  • Dangerous – 6 347 994 views
  • One Wish – 160 404 views

Roxette VEVO channel has the following clips (with actual views):

  • Wish I Could Fly – 2 907 618 views
  • She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio) – 1 763 301 views
  • Queen of Rain – 1 128 350 views
  • Way Out – 258 114 views
  • It’s Possible – 229 435 views
  • No One Makes It On Her Own – 120 789 views

 

But where are all the others??? Well, it seems that the videos are being moved to another channel or the channel is changing, because many videos got private settings now. (Other bands, Iron Maiden, Blur and Daft Punk among others are facing the same issue it seems. Thanx for letting us know, Tina Engmann.) Hopefully, Warner Music will be able to solve it, because if emimusic channel deletes all the remaining Rox videos – even the 2 most popular ones with more than 30 million views each – it won’t be too funny. No clue if there is any chance to keep the statistics and the view counts. As far as I know, they can only be kept if the video stays where it is and has the same code / link.

By the way, I couldn’t even find e.g. Per Gessle’s ”Silly Really” official video on YouTube anymore. Probably, it’s the same situation.

Marie Fredriksson’s YouTube channel is still working, but there you can only watch ”Sista sommarens vals” and the PR videos for Nu! and the tour. And of course, Per’s home video channel is still there.

Until it gets – hopefully – solved, you can go to the Roxette channel on Dailymotion to watch 42 official videos and to the Per Gessle channel to watch 5 official videos.