Gyllene Tider needs help for their next music video

Gyllene Tider announced in a post that they need help for the lyric video of their upcoming summer single. They are looking for filmed clips of you dancing or partying or singing along to their magical songs. It’s time to root your phone or computer! Maybe you already have some great clips that the world can’t live without? Or record a new one!

The favourites will be used in the official music video for the new summer single. The lucky chosen ones will also enter a raffle where the guys will pick 10 winners who will get a signed vinyl single.

Don’t hesitate, submit your clips to: Gyllene2023@outlook.com until 21st May!

Good luck!

ATTENTION! When you submit material, you agree to Gyllene Tider using your video material as part of the lyric video / music video without limitation in time or manner. The winners of the vinyl singles will be contacted via email.

The songs fans ask Per Gessle to play on tour

Per Gessle asked his fans the other day on his social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) to suggest songs they didn’t play at the summer sessions at Hotel Tylösand in July and August.

Of course, fans were happy to share their favourites and asked Per to include those in the setlist. If Mr. G wants to play all of them, he will have to extend the hours of playing a bit. And we wouldn’t mind! Haha.

One must love those comments that he could play any track from the Mazarin album. So true! Altogether there were 256 different songs asked for, counting only those that really weren’t played in summer. I’ve tried to eliminate duplications, i.e. if the same person asked for the same songs on more than one channel. So, here is the Top20 list of those hits.

Graph is based on the analysis of comments related to the topic. Pic of PG is taken by Patrícia Peres at the PG Unplugged sessions at Hotel Tylösand, 2021.

I find it interesting that there are some more mid- or uptempo songs missing in the Top20. In the sense that it’s going to be an unplugged tour, it’s understandable in a way, but if I think back to last summer, Juni, juli, augusti was such a fab surprise, how it sounded in an acoustic arrangement that it would be great to hear some more mid- or uptempo songs in a similar version.

In the Top5 we can find 2 Gyllene Tider songs (Chrissie, hur mår du?, Billy), 2 PG solos (Blå december, Viskar) and 1 Roxette ballad (Vulnerable) we’ve always been longing to hear live one day. Will we get lucky and hear it live this autumn? Let’s see what happens!

Among those songs that were played in summer, the most favourites – judging by the comments – seem to be Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång, Tycker om när du tar på mej, På promenad genom stan, Kung av sand and När alla vännerna gått hem. HERE you can check the setlist of each summer gig AND buy your ticket(s) for the autumn tour!

Roxette – Joyride 30 Q&A with Per Gessle & restored 4K Joyride video premiere

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Joyride reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 11th May 1991, Warner Music Sweden organized a video Q&A with Per Gessle. Fans could send their questions in video format in advance and Per answered them today at 3 pm CET. It was a 15-minute-long session, but we wouldn’t have been bored even after an hour of listening to Mr. G’s great answers to fan Qs.

Right after the Q&A, the anniversary version of the Joyride video premiered in 4K! What a wonderful remake it is! So sharp and there are new details in them! No monkey though. Haha.

As the press release says, the beginning of the 90’s was the peak of the MTV era and a powerful – and expensive – video was of course a must for anyone aiming for the top of the charts.

The Joyride video became a really playful and spectacular video, where Marie and Per, among other things, sat on a Ferrari while a driver laying down, being invisible to the camera took care of the gas and brake.

Those 30 years undoubtedly had left its mark on the original video and it was time for restoring it. As part of the celebration, therefore, here comes a 30-year-old version of the Joyride video with sparkling colours and maximum sharpness in 4K resolution.

Per Gessle smiles and says:

The MTV era was a fun period, because everything was so big and you bought all the crazy ideas that came up. There were very few barriers – not even to make a video where you sit in headwind half the time.

Director Doug Freel had done a solid job. In total, he had recorded 186 minutes of raw material for a song that is just under four minutes. After the recordings, 18 rolls of 35 mm film were shipped from Los Angeles to Swedish EMI, where they spent their time on a shelf in the darkness of the basement until the 30th anniversary began to approach.

But the original master of the approximately 4-minute-long Joyride video was not among the materials. So to update the video, there was only one thing to do: start from the beginning and go through all the materials to recreate the video from scratch.

Said and done, box after box of 18 rolls of film was sent to mastering and restoration expert Thomas Ahlén at Filmtech in Stockholm. He immediately noticed that the materials were in unexpectedly good condition and started the work of removing dirt and sharpening colours and details.

Thomas Ahlén tells:

Since the film reels haven’t been used in all these years, they were very well preserved. It’s been a time-consuming job, but at the same time much fun to be able to present a 30-year-old video in the best possible way. The fact that all the raw materials were silent films and then they had to be matched to the single version was just one of the challenges.

In this project of Joyride – the 30th anniversary version, a piece of Swedish pop history meets the enormous technological development that has taken place in moving media since 1991. The result is a version that follows the original video to 75%.

Per tells:

Some so-called “green screen” scenes have been removed, because they were very difficult to recreate. Instead, we’ve found other goodies in the raw material. In the long run, however, we plan to restore the video completely – and perhaps also other Roxette videos – in 4K resolution.

Joyride’s 30th anniversary is celebrated this autumn with a vinyl box that will consist of 4 LP’s and a 3-CD set, which in addition to the original edition will contain lots of unreleased or hard-to-find materials that paints a larger picture of a piece of Swedish music history.

The 4K video is available on YouTube, as well as the Q&A with Per. Stills are from these videos.

Per Gessle invites you to a Joyride 30 video Q&A

This whole year is dedicated to the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Joyride. The album was released on 28th March 30 years ago and its lead single, the title song, Joyride reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 11th May 30 years ago. To celebrate it, a video Q&A is planned with Per Gessle. It will be broadcast at 3 pm CET on 11th May. The good thing is that anyone can participate in the Q&A, you just have to send in your questions in a video until tomorrow, 6th May!

More than that, an amazing restored video of the Joyride clip will also premiere the same day on YouTube!

Watch Per’s invitation video HERE!

Warner Music Sweden’s conditions of participating in the video Q&A can be read HERE and these are the criteria your video must meet:

  • Try to keep your question to around 30 seconds in duration.
  • The question should be asked in English.
  • Be aware of background noise – something like a buzzing fridge or busy road can make your audio unusable.
  • Your video should be submitted in Vertical Mode.
  • Have someone film you or put your camera on a shelf or desk to keep it steady.
  • Remember that the audience can see what’s in the background of your shot.
  • Film from your shoulders up and leave space above your head.
  • Where possible, try not to read your question.
  • Look directly into the camera.
  • An upbeat delivery is usually best, and try not to speak too slowly.
  • Please leave a pause at the end of your question before you stop recording.

When ready, submit your question by sending it to joyride@warnermusic.com!

Still is from the invitation video.

The Bag of Trix is a bag of kix!

Blog post written by Kirsten Ohlwein

Volume 1.

There it is: Bag of Trix, Volume 1. The music from the Roxette vaults. And while in the past, this was hardly music from the vaults, because I knew 95% of the songs already – this time I got surprised, like, really surprised.

Before I share some loose thoughts about the songs we got, I just want to add that my heart is torn regarding this release. On the one hand, it is a lovely „hi, we still think of you“ towards Marie. I fully get that Per doesn’t want to sit on these songs for the rest of his life – and our lives, too. And I am pretty sure Marie would have loved to share her music with us as well.

It’s a present, a gift, it’s an homage to Marie, a huge one. On the other hand, it certainly leaves a bad taste in my mouth to release this albums almost exactly on the date of her death. But, of course, that’s again just me. In general, and overall, I welcome this release, certainly.

When I saw the tracklist some weeks ago, I already was positively surprised. Volume 1 offers 12 tracks of which I only knew five. That’s not even 50% and so different from earlier „rare stuff“ releases. Yes, I know, I am a hardcore fan and certainly shouldn’t be compared to nostalgic Roxette fans who didn’t follow every release up and down every road. But collections like this one also should provide something to the hardcores.

So, of course, I remembered both Abbey Road Session songs, „Help!“ and „Listen to your heart“ that are the opener of Volume 1 pretty well.

No. 3, „Let your heart dance with me“, came as brand new, as it was the first single off the album. The „Waiting for the rain demo“ has been leaked on some shady bootleg that turned up on a record fair in October or November 2002. I will never forget that day, because the songs on that CD are so special, so good, so Marie. This demo is very special to me, but not as good as the final version, even if the demo is much rockier. I prefer the full orchestral sound of the album version and I am still happy it got this treatment and has been made faster as well.

And, don’t hit me, but I don’t listen to any version of „Joyride“ anymore. This is probably a mix I have never heard before, but I won’t be able to tell you, because I just can’t listen to that song anymore. And, I am sure, as I have listened to perhaps a trillion versions of Joyride, there is nothing there that I haven’t heard before.

And wow, how good is the „Like Lovers Do“ demo?? Recorded on July 25th/26th 1986, and Marie sounds incredibly strong here. After listening to this one, I wonder why they didn’t stick to the original idea to have Marie sing the verses. The song suddenly grows after 30 years. That’s a nice new touch and I would love to hear a version with both voices together maybe?

„Pocketful of Rain“ is a different thing, though. Honestly, if I hadn’t known the lyrics of „Reaching high“, I would have never suspected that this is just a jazzy, very „den ständiga resan“ like version. I had to listen to it three times to finally recognize the song. It is so different, it is so good, it is sooo Marie, it’s not pop music. Yeah, get your priorities straight. While listening to it, it hits me the first time that I am sooo going to miss all these „first times“. The first time listening to a new song by Marie, the first time listening to new lyrics, to new nuances of her voice, to experience this first time feeling of music at all. It breaks my heart, to be honest, to be fully aware of the fact, that the Roxette vaults are not neverending, but they are empty – soon. There will never be new music sung by Marie again – ever. And yes, it sounds super selfish, it IS super selfish to say that, but I am not sure how to deal with that yet. And while she sings to me, it feels like a voice from the beyond is reaching out, like a ghost, like an epiphany of sorts.

The live version of „Wish I could fly“ sounds ultra raw, the same goes for the demo of „You don’t understand me“, which is even more raw than the live track. It’s a nice live track, because they didn’t really perform that song back then, as there wasn’t a HAND tour. I especially compared it to their live version during „Night of the proms“, which I still prefer, because Marie’s voice after her illness was more of my taste when it comes to songs like „Wish I could fly“; and the way she improvised during the Proms. So, her „Fly, oh, baby“ will never cease to exist in my heart.

Track No. 9,the demo of „Happy Together“ which is actually a b-side? I love the song, but it’s not new, right?

Which brings me to the next track, No. 10, „Beautiful Boy“. I assume this one was written for „Room Service“, as it says „Studio Vinden Demo, March 2000“. Ehrm, don’t get me wrong, but why didn’t THIS ONE make the album, but „Little Girl“ did? I am honest here as honest as I always am, and as much as I love Marie’s music, but „Little Girl“ never got me, it never never never got me, not even on the „Room Service“ album, and it’s probably the most boring track she ever wrote, because she tried so hard to make it „pop music“. She shouldn’t have tried, maybe it would have been a better Blues track, who knows. „ Beautiful Boy“ is such a beautiful ballad, and even the demo tells me a lot about how the final version could have sounded. Oh! My heart breaks a bit for never knowing how this one could have GOTTEN me. I love this track and it could have also easily made every Roxette album since „Room Service“.

The „You don’t understand me“ demo from July 1995 is, as stated before, surprisingly raw. I like that Marie doesn’t sing it perfect and gives herself and her voice room to explore the song for the final album recordings. She probably understood what to change and how and why after this demo. The way she varies her voice – I could listen to that all day and just sit and compare to the final version and find out or rather guess why she or they changed it. There are not many sequences in the demo that are different compared to the album version, but there are some parts, and they are gold!

No. 12, „Hotblooded“, the demo, I mean, it’s THE demo, right? Holy crap, where did you hide this one all those years, Per?? It blew off my shoes when I listened to it the first, the second and the third time. And it still does, after twelve rounds of listening. One of my first reactions to a friend was: „You know what? They could have recorded the whole album in that style and it wouldn’t have sold any worse.“ Okay, that’s probably a bit exaggerated, but how good is this demo? I think it’s extraordinary good for several reasons. 1.) You can already hear how good the song is, even without any production treatment, 2.) Marie’s and Per’s voice blending in the verses. Really, play it again, loud, listen how Per is singing the backing vocals to Marie’s leading vocals and understand how perfectly well they fit each other. This was so unique, and if I had a time machine I would go back to 1990 and tell them to record the album exactly that way, 3.) The fun they had together. Yes, it’s the little things. It’s the funny noise he makes at the end that makes her smile. That’s so real, so honest, so pure. Stuff like that belongs on final version, yes, it does, if you ask me. This demo is a real gem and I am happy we finally got it. Thank you, Per, for opening the vaults!

And as happy as I am about volume 1, a part of me can’t shake off the sadness that comes with it. One of the best female singers of the world with one of the purest, softest voices in the world is no longer among us, and it still feels fucking unfair.