Releases

All Over Your Body – new single by Mono Mind

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We’ve been expecting some news around Mono Mind since a couple of months ago we could see that a new song premiered on BPM / Sirius XM where they are still playing it twice a day. Now All Over Your Body sees a worldwide release on streaming sites. Listen to it on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer or YouTube! In case you feel like singing along:

All Over Your Body

Some days you take it slow and spend time with me
Some days I find you watching what I can’t see
Some days I realize you reach out for me
Some days I don’t get at all

Some days you’re stuck with demons inside your head
Some days you get the urge to see if they’ve bled
Some days you go too far and wish all was dead
Some days I don’t get at all

Reading what’s on your mind – I got the time
Trying to stay behind – I got the time
True love is hard to find – I got the time I got the time I got the time

Do you wanna dance like I wanna dance
Do you wanna go like I wanna go
All over your body All over your body All over your body

Sometimes you’re burning and I look for the glow
Sometimes you’re cold and you remind me of snow
Sometimes you come and go but it doesn’t show
Some days I don’t get at all

Reading what’s on your mind – I got the time
Trying to stay behind – I got the time
True love is hard to find – I got the time I got the time I got the time

Do you wanna dance like I wanna dance
Do you wanna go like I wanna go
All over your body All over your body All over your body

Words + music by Per Gessle + Alex Shield
© Jimmy Fun Music

Update on 13th April:

PG about Mono Mind upon this release:

After basically living in a recording studio for almost forty years I tried to find new ways of creating pop music. I wanted to do something I’d never done before. A new challenge. Still pop, of course (that’s in my DNA!) but created and presented in a new manner.
I started fooling around with different gadgets working with my own voice, recording in different octaves and different keys just to see what might pop up. In the end of the day it’s all about the voices. We all focus on the voices when we listen to pop music. With Mono Mind I can explore new musical paths with different collaborators and different vocalists.
As this is more than an “artist project” I don’t want to front it myself so I created cartoon characters to illustrate Mono Mind. How gorgeous! I had so much fun. Still do.

You can watch the video to the song HERE!

Joyride turns 30! Roxette celebrates classic Swedish album!

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Now on Sunday, 28th March, it’s 30 years since Roxette released their third album “Joyride”, the follow-up to the band’s spectacular global breakthrough with the album “Look Sharp!” 1989.

The three US No.1’s “The Look”, “Listen To Your Heart” and “It Must Have Been Love” and other big hits such as “Dressed For Success” and “Dangerous” had transformed a local Swedish act into an international musical phenomenon in the 90’s.

“Joyride” was the album that was supposed to cement the unlikely success of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. Many artists would have probably failed under the pressure of all expectations, but Roxette delivered. Or as Per Gessle remembers:

Björn Ulveaus once said that ABBA felt right on target when they did ‘Mamma Mia’. They had had many hits, everyone was waiting for a new album – but despite the pressure, they could easily deliver. And that’s exactly how I felt about Joyride. I came home one day and saw a note from my wife Åsa, which said: ‘Hej, din tok – jag älskar dig’. I took the guitar, changed it to ‘Hello, you fool, I love you’ and wrote the song. I knew right away that it was going to be a hit. All the parts matched. With the song ‘Joyride’, the whole record was in the can.

The world, however, was hardly on a joyride when the album was released. On the contrary. At the same time as the United States launched Operation “Desert Storm” in Kuwait, releasing an album called “Joyride” and flying around the world on promotional trips didn’t feel like an optimal timing.

But in the spring of 1991, most things went Roxette’s way. The title track soon rushed up the charts and became the band’s fourth US No.1 – an almost impregnable record for a Swedish artist even today –  while single hits such as “Fading Like A Flower”, “Spending My Time” and “Church Of Your Heart” were waiting for their turn. Soon the album sold eleven million copies in total.

Per says:

One of the main reasons why Roxette – and not least our biggest album ‘Joyride’ – became such a colossal success is of course that Marie’s singing was second to none. She was able to make great works of my songs and the album contains several of her tops. In addition to the big hits, there are, for example, ‘Perfect Day’, ‘Hotblooded’, ‘(Do You Get) Excited?’ and not least ‘Watercolours In The Rain’, a song that Marie had written wonderful music to the lyric I already had lying around and it turned out to fit perfectly.

The “Joyride” anniversary is celebrated this autumn with a 4-LP vinyl box, as well as a 3-CD set, which in addition to the original album will contain lots of unreleased or hard to find materials that paints a larger picture of a piece of Swedish music history.

Read the original Swedish press release HERE.

Extended version of “Son of a Plumber” by Per Gessle

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As Per informed a couple of days ago, he decided to release the complete SOAP project today, 26th February. The album now includes an extra disc besides the original 2 discs. It’s a digital release, an Extended Version next to the original SOAP double album on all streaming platforms. Listen HERE!

Son of a Plumber came out on 23rd November 2005 and the announcement contained this information:

Under his new artist name “Son of a Plumber”, Per Gessle will reveal his next move in November 2005; a double album packed with deeply personal and highly inventive music of a kind that explains why he for more than 25 years has been the uncrowned king of Swedish pop and an international superstar with more than 45 million album and 25 million singles sold. A rolling stone gathers no moss…

SOAP was a huge success already upon its release. It spent 28 weeks on the Swedish album charts and for the first two weeks it was No. 1. What else? It became a platinum album already on release day, selling 60,000 copies.

In 2005 Per said:

I do think it’s the most personal and also the most beautiful record I’ve been involved in, there are several tunes I think are my best ever… for what it’s worth…
It’s a very special record that needs some time to “get used to”. And that’s the whole idea, I wanted it to have a certain “temperature” and a unique vibe, not just 2 or 3 songs that you can singalong to while drinking lukewarm beer. Hallelujah!

The SOAP band consisted of Per Gessle, Helena Josefsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist and Jens Jansson.

HERE you can watch the making of SOAP!

This is what Mr. G has to tell regarding the extended version release:

I always considered it [SOAP] to be a milestone in my work. Why? Well, several reasons.

First of all it was a warm-hearted homage to the music I always loved and grew up with (late 60’s-early 70’s stuff). I also managed to change my way of making records (with a lot of help from Christoffer + Clarence). It was the first (and only) album where I didn’t do any demos. I just had “sketches” with me to the Aerosol Grey Machine-studio and let the inspiration and creativity flow free. And then, of course, Helena helped us out with lots of mindblowing improvisation.

SO WHAT’S NEW? On Friday Feb 26 the complete SOAP project will be released on all streaming services including remixes, bonus-tracks, single b-sides + all the “sketches”. I like my drawers to be tidy hahaha (you know me…) so this feels good. Badabam from P.

Tracklist of Disc 3

1. A Girl Like You – 2:58
2. Keep The Radio On (This Is The Perfect Song) – 2:56
3. Shopping With Mother – 2:41
4. Plonk – 1:07
5. Hey Mr DJ (Won’t You Play Another Love Song) (Love-For-Sale Remix) – 3:55
6. I Never Quite Got Over The Fact That The Beatles Broke Up (Jimmy Monell Short Treatment) – 4:10
7. Shopping With Mother (Voz Vibrante Remix) – 3:54
8. Hey Mr DJ (Won’t You Play Another Love Song) (Jimmy Monell Treatment) – 3:43
9. I Never Quite Got Over The Fact That The Beatles Broke Up (Jimmy Monell Long Treatment) – 5:41
10. Shopping With Mother (Mother’s Dub by Voz Vibrante) – 3:54
11. Plumber In Progress #1 – 0:45
12. Plumber In Progress #2 – 0:45
13. Plumber In Progress #3 – 0:45
14. Plumber In Progress #4 – 0:45
15. Plumber In Progress #5 – 0:45
16. Plumber In Progress #6 – 0:45
17. Plumber In Progress #7 – 0:39
18. Plumber In Progress #8 – 0:44
19. Plumber In Progress #9 – 0:45
20. Plumber In Progress #10 – 0:45
21. Plumber In Progress #11 – 0:34
22. Plumber In Progress #12 – 0:31
23. Plumber In Progress #13 – 0:45
24. Plumber In Progress #14 – 0:40
25. Plumber In Progress #15 – 0:31

Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle on the album related to Kjell Andersson’s book

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Kjell Andersson, former Head of A&R and producer at EMI Sweden publishes his autobiography, Ingen går hel ur det här – Mitt liv i den svenska musiken on 8th February. Over 40 years in the music industry, Kjell worked together with many of Sweden’s greatest artists. To name a few: Per Gessle, Gyllene Tider, Marie Fredriksson, Roxette, Mauro Scocco, Eva Dahlgren, Wilmer X, Björn Skifs, Ulf Lundell etc.

Besides the book, an album is also released where Kjell’s artists offer interpretations of mainly each other’s songs. What a cool idea to create an album like this! Title is Ingen går hel ur det här – Sånger från Kjell Andersson’s liv i den svenska musiken. You can listen to it HERE (after midnight your local time)! It’s very probable that this is a digital release only.

Tracklist (songs related to Marie or Per are in bold)

  1. Plura & Mauro Scocco – Nånting måste gå sönder
  2. Magnus Lindberg – Jag saknar oss
  3. Mauro Scocco – Ljusterö
  4. Andreas Mattsson & Tomas Andersson Wij – Landsvägspirater
  5. Johan & Jessica – Vägar
  6. Peter Lemarc – Sara-Li
  7. Per Gessle & Helena Josefsson – Sniglar oh krut – original: Ulf Lundell (1975)
  8. Basse Wickman – Spelmannen
  9. Marie Fredriksson – Här och nu – original: Basse Wickman (1988)
  10. Nisse Hellberg – Efter stormen – original: Marie Fredriksson (1987)
  11. Toni Holgersson – Om du kunde se mig
  12. Dan Hylander – Ännu doftar kärlek – original: Marie Fredriksson (1984)
  13. Niklas Strömstedt – På väg – original: Per Gessle (1983)
  14. Staffan Hellstrand – Rialto
  15. Lisa Ekdahl – Med kroppen mot jorden
  16. Björn Holm – Hemma till slut
  17. Triad – Den sjunde vågen – original: Marie Fredriksson (1986)
  18. Pernilla Andersson – Dina röda skor

While the recording of Per’s Lundell cover sounds recent, Marie’s recording of Här och nu is most probably from the end of the ’80s, judging by her vocals. Great to hear something so far unreleased by her! Per and Helena sound very authentic on the Lundell cover. This song would well fit the En vacker… sessions in their interpretation.

Covering a Marie song is always a challenge, I would say, and it’s very interesting that all 3 songs of hers are covered by male artists on this album. Triad (Niklas Strömstedt, Lasse Lindbom, Janne Bark) did a great job by interpreting Den sjunde vågen and Niklas Strömstedt’s cover of På väg is also very nice (he wrote the music to it anyway). Niklas already released this song as a duet with Per on his En gång i livet album.

Kjell’s book will for sure be an interesting reading as well!

Update on 9th February 2021: Unfortunately, both Marie’s and Per’s cover disappeared from the streaming sites. Per says: “There was a misunderstanding concerning the master rights to the songs. I’m sure “Sniglar och krut” (and Marie’s song) will pop up somewhere else down the road.“

Per Gessle to release Late Night Concert

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This year’s surprise of Per Gessle on his birthday is that he releases his unplugged Late Night Concert recorded at Cirkus in Stockholm on 19th November 2020 without an audience, broadcast on TV4 on 16th December 2020. Besides being available digitally from 15th January on YouTube and all streaming sites, it will get a physical release too. Available on CD from 29th January and on vinyl from 12th March.

Tracklist

  1. På promenad genom stan
  2. Tycker om när du tar på mig
  3. Listen To Your Heart
  4. Småstadsprat
  5. Honung och guld
  6. I din hand
  7. Segla på ett moln
  8. It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted)
  9. Ömhet

So it includes all 9 songs played, but the order of them is different to the order in which we could see the beautiful performance on TV4.

Listen to the album on digital platforms from Friday and pre-order your physical copies HERE!

Fab news! It’s really worth a release to be able to enjoy this concert anytime we want to!

A very happy birthday to Per!