Releases

Hallandsposten talked to Per Gessle about the table tennis EC

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As you already know, PG Roxette makes the official song for the Table Tennis EC in Malmö. Jan-Owe Wikström from Hallandsposten talked to Per about the song and table tennis.

PG says:

Fun and flattering to be asked again. I was still going to release the song as a single in a new version in the fall and when the association got in touch, it was killing two birds with one stone, a win-win situation for both.

The Craziest Thing will be released on 18th August.

It will be a cooler version where I have worked with Andreas Broberger. The song is slightly rewritten, but it’s not a completely new text or a new title like “The Craziest Ping Pong” or something.

Table tennis has always had a special place in Per’s heart:

Yes, it has always been around. It’s just like padel – anyone can play it. After all, Halmstad and ping-pong belong together, even if this time the EC is in Malmö.

Per remembers:

I remember when the Swedish Open Championships (SOC) were played in Halmstad and I was there. There I got my first autograph, from Bengt Grive, the TV commentator. Then I got some Chinese autographs too, which I couldn’t decipher.

The funny thing was that many years later, when Roxette had made a breakthrough, we ended up on the same flight. And when Grive found out I had his autograph, he wanted mine. So there it was 1–1. Haha.

Regarding who is the best at ping pong in PG Roxette, Mr. G says:

I was good for a while and I’m so old that I still count to 21. The worst is in any case Christoffer (Lundquist). So I have to say Magnus (Börjeson), the bass player, who is a real expert.

PG photo by Fredrik Etoall.

PG Roxette makes the official song for the Table Tennis EC in Malmö

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10th-17th September 2023, it’s time for the European table tennis elite to take Malmö Arena to settle the medals. On the men’s side, Sweden is one of the gold candidates with players such as World Cup runner-up Truls Möregårdh and double world champions Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson in the squad.

It is now clear that world artist Per Gessle with songs like It Must Have Been Love, Listen To Your Heart, The Look, När vi två blir en and Sommartider in his repertoire, will make the official European Championship song with PG Roxette.

The title is The Craziest Thing and the song will be released on all streaming platforms and as a vinyl single on 18th August.

Peter Johansson, project manager for the European Table Tennis Championship says:

It feels incredibly fun that Per Gessle is once again making a song for a major table tennis championship. It was a success last time in connection with the World Championship in Halmstad. This song is pompous and happy and will do perfectly in Malmö Arena. I’m also convinced that it will work excellently as a boost for our Swedish players in the hunt for the medals at home.

The song, which was originally released on PG Roxette’s latest album Pop-Up Dynamo!, was written by Per Gessle and Eddie Jonsson. In connection with the championship, a new version of the song has been produced.

Per Gessle says:

I feel incredibly honored to once again be responsible for the official table tennis song in the context of the EC and WC. In 2018 it was the WC in jolly Halmstad and then it was “Name You Beautiful”, this time at the European Table Tennis Championship in Malmö my contribution is called “The Craziest Thing”. Filled with twisted energy and as effective and fast as a diagonal forehand smash.

The European Table Tennis Championship will be held in Malmö Arena between 10th and 17th September 2023. The competition begins with a group stage 10th-12th September and then come the finals 14th-17th September. The organizers are the European Table Tennis Association, the Swedish Table Tennis Association and the host city of Malmö.

Press photo by Fredrik Etoall.

Read the Swedish press release HERE!

Gyllene Tider’s new single, “Chans” is out!

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Gyllene Tider’s lead single from their upcoming album is out! Chans is a sunny foretaste of the album Hux Flux and the summer tour.

The single is available on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, YouTube etc.) and it comes out on a 7″ vinyl as well on 7th April. Pre-order Chans HERE!

Tracklist

A    Chans
B    Sanna mina ord

RoxBlog talked to Per the other day and he shared some more info about the songs.

Per Gessle: – Both of these songs are on the album. I don’t have any leftovers this time. This “Sanna mina ord” song was actually written for the PG Roxette album. So I did a version with Christoffer for that album, but it sounded terrible. Haha. [You might remember Per mentioned it already in RoxBlog’s PG Roxette interview.] So we didn’t use it. It was called “Sunday Driver, Yeah” from the “Day Tripper” song.

Patrícia Peres: – So you changed the lyrics. I mean, you translated it.

PG: – Exactly. I just felt it sounded like a Gyllene Tider track instead. So I wrote a Swedish lyric to it and of course it sounded perfect with Gyllene. So I actually sang the English lyric to it as well. That will be the B side of the next single. It’s the first English recording since “The Heartland Café”.

PP: – Very exciting!

PG: – It’s the same backing track, it’s just new vocals.

PP: – It’s very cool! Both songs are really catchy. You have the summery feeling right away. The essence of Gyllene Tider is in there, the five of you.

PG: – Yeah, I think there are like three other songs that I thought we got to release as the first single. I thought “Chans” was good, but it’s got this mellow tone to it. The lyrics are pretty fragile. So I thought it was a little bit too fragile for the first single. There are really uptempo, catchy songs also on the album. But at the end of the day, we left the decision to Warner and since they are like 30 or 35 years younger than me and all of them picked “Chans” as the first single, we said it’s fine. It’s a good song.

PP: – Yeah, it sounds Gyllene Tiderish. Very much!

PG: – It does! There is Göran’s Farfisa organ, it’s cool. And it’s a good album.

PP: – Yeah and I can imagine both of these songs being played live on tour this summer.

PG: – Well, hopefully. “Sanna mina ord” is pretty tough to sing. [He points at his throat.]

PP: – I like how you sound on it! Your kind of screaming voice. Haha.

PG: – Haha. You do that once and then the voice is gone afterwards. So, let’s see what happens.

 

Chans

En gata full av hål
Det har runnit regn och salt i många år
Jag ville därifrån
Men stannade kvar och drunknade i ditt långa hår

Du var mitt allt
Jag snurrade runt din sol
Ju mer det handlade om dig
Ju mindre behövdes av mig

Och nu är det samma samma sak igen
Ja, nu repeteras alla känslorna igen
Jag har aldrig haft någon chans
För nu får jag samma samma blick igen
Och jag transporteras bort till oss för längesen
Jag har aldrig haft någon chans

Ett rum med trång balkong
Ibland tänkte vi samma precis på samma gång
När skuggor på min vägg
Skrämde oss så du blev blek och jag blev rädd

Du satte snören på allt
Runt allt som du tyckte var ditt
Jag fick ett tunt runt min arm
Mitt hjärta fick ett

Och nu är det samma samma sak igen
Ja, nu repeteras alla känslorna igen
Jag har aldrig haft någon chans
För nu får jag samma samma kick igen
Och jag manövreras bort till oss för längesen
Jag har aldrig haft någon chans

Aldrig haft någon riktig chans

 

Sanna mina ord

Tror du verkligen att du har fått kontrollen
Så hon gör som du vill
Tror du verkligen att du är rätt för rollen
Som nån gud i en film
Tänk om och sen
Tänk om igen

Sanna mina ord
Hon kommer tillbaks till mig
Sanna mina ord
När hon åkt några mil
Sanna mina ord
Jag vet att hon saknar mig
Hon behöver bara sin tid

Tror du på att du och hon känner varandra
Hon känner ingenting alls
Tror du på att ni har framtiden tillsammans
Du får ett bett på din hals
Tänk om och sen
Tänk om igen

Sanna mina ord
Hon kommer tillbaks till mig
Sanna mina ord
När hon åkt några mil
Sanna mina ord
Jag vet att hon saknar mig
Hon behöver bara sin tid

Sanna mina ord
Hon kommer tillbaks till mig
Sanna mina ord
När hon åkt några mil
Sanna mina ord
Jag vet att hon vill ha mig
Hon behöver bara mer tid

Words + Music by Per Gessle
Published by Jimmy Fun Music

Produced by Gyllene Tider
Recorded at T&A Studio, Halmstad + Sweetspot Studio, Harplinge between December 2021 and August 2022
Engineers: Mats MP Persson (T&A) + Staffan Karlsson (Sweetspot)
Mixed by Mats MP Persson + Per Gessle at T&A Studio, Halmstad
Mastered by Mats MP Persson at T&A Studio, Halmstad

Played and sung by: Micke Syd Andersson, Göran Fritzon, Per Gessle, Anders Herrlin, Mats MP Persson

Sleeve design: Pär Wickholm, Wickholm Formavd., Stockholm
Photo of GT: Anders Roos

Press release HERE.

Gyllene Tider is back with “Chans” – a new single to welcome summer

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Suddenly, Gyllene Tider is back again. The new single Chans is here as a sunny foretaste of the upcoming album Hux Flux and the summer tour.

Per Gessle, Mats “MP” Persson, Göran Fritzon, Anders Herrlin and Micke Syd Andersson reunited last summer in the Sweetspot Studio in Harplinge and when they were done they came out with eleven new Gyllene favourites.

The reunion started mostly by chance. In the winter of 2021, Gyllene Tider was in the middle of its Sleeping Beauty dream, which began after the farewell tour two years earlier. At the same time, Per was out on a solo acoustic tour, which had to be postponed when new corona restrictions hit. Then he bought a new guitar, played a fuzz chord, got a feeling and wrote some pop songs that screamed for Gyllene Tider.

The first example of that is Chans, which has a classic Gyllene Tider sound with Göran Fritzon’s Farfisa organ as a guide. And as if that wasn’t enough, it is accompanied by another genuine pop track: Sanna mina ord, also taken from Hux Flux.

But how did it happen that a bunch of new and catchy Gyllene Tider songs could pop up in the middle of a calm acoustic solo tour?

Per says:

It’s a bit typical of my temperament. When I’ve played too much acoustic I get the feeling that I just want to play power pop after a while. And a quick check with the rest of the band made it clear that everyone wanted to reevaluate the decision to call it quits.

I think the pandemic changed everything. After it, everyone longed for a little security again and it is easiest to find with friends and family, so starting to think about Gyllene Tider again was not that difficult. We realized we weren’t done yet. And once we decided to do another tour in 2023, I started writing.

Chans will be released on 31st March and is part of the upcoming album Hux Flux which will be released on 30th June. Once again, Gyllene Tider show that they are the band that takes the chance when it comes. Congrats, Sweden – summer 2023 came early this year!

The single will be available on all streaming platforms, as well as on 7″ vinyl. Pre-order Chans HERE!

Tracklist

A    Chans
B    Sanna mina ord

Stills are from the promo video including a little snippet from the new song.

Press release can be read in Swedish HERE.

Press photo of the band by Anders Roos.

Per Gessle releases Wrecking Ball and updates Party Crasher

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Per decided to celebrate this year’s peegeebeeday by sharing a so far unreleased song of his and update the Party Crasher album on streaming services to include all tracks that belong to PC. Wrecking Ball became a killed darling when the album came out in 2008, but in the EPK we could see part of the lyrics of this song (11m 38s into the video). WB was written on 10th October 2007.

We could get used to the fact that no tracks remain in the can forever in PG’s laboratory and actually, this song we already had the chance to enjoy in another form. Thanks to the many branches of Mr. G’s project tree, part of the lyrics had been recycled by Dr. Robot for Mono Mind in Have Another Go, to which new music was written on 7th December 2013 in Halmstad.

The three additional songs in the Party Crasher family are Theme From “Roberta Right” (released on the Sing Along single previously), I’m Glad You Called and Silly Really (Right Into Your Bed Remix) (remix by Dick Mixon). These latter two were released as bonus tracks on the iTunes deluxe edition back in the days.

Listen to the album on Spotify, YouTube or any other streaming service.

Tracklist of the updated Party Crasher streaming

  1. Silly Really
  2. The Party Pleaser
  3. Stuck Here With Me
  4. Sing Along
  5. Gut Feeling
  6. Perfect Excuse
  7. Breathe Life Into Me
  8. Hey, I Died And Went To Heaven
  9. Kissing Is The Key
  10. Thai With A Twist
  11. I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On
  12. Doesn’t Make Sense
  13. Wrecking Ball
  14. Theme From “Roberta Right”
  15. I’m Glad You Called (AGM – May 5-7, 2008)
  16. Silly Really (Right Into Your Bed Remix)

Wrecking Ball

There’s a neverending line of funny people to watch
Here’s another cup of coffee that I put my trust in
Have another go you gotta go it’s time to move on

There’s hardly any reason to get oversentimental
Some days are really kinda overrated anyway yea
Have another go you gotta go you’d better move on

You hit my head like a wrecking ball
You hit the head you’re a wrecking ball
How could anything remain the same
When I can’t even recall my name?

Whatever happened to the ordinary record store?
I know so many songs referring to you anyway yea
If you want it I can pour them on the table and cry

There’s hardly any reason to get oversentimental
Some days are really kinda overrated anyway yea
Have another go you gotta go you’d better supply

You hit my head like a wrecking ball
You hit my bed you’re a wrecking ball
It would be easy to locate my grave
If I only could recall my name

Pretty much like a wrecking ball
Got quite a touch you’re a wrecking ball
I’ll be forgotten with the setting sun
I wish this conversation came undone

You hit my head like a wrecking ball
A bit like lead you’re a wrecking ball
It would be easy to locate my grave
If I only could recall my name

Pretty much like a wrecking ball
Got quite a touch you’re a wrecking ball
I will never ever be the one
I wish this conversation came undone

Words + Music by Per Gessle
© Jimmy Fun Music

This is a mash-up PC cover by PP. Not official, just for fun, of course.