Releases

The Look 2015 Remake is out!

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x4h3ea2zw3eduupi8njhSince the news about the collaboration between Roxette and KappAhl was shared, we’ve been looking forward to the 2015 remake of one of Roxette’s most iconic songs, The Look. Many fans are rather hungry for some new Roxette songs instead of hearing a ”hundredth” version of The Look, but the time will come also for the new single and album soon.

 

When the track list of Travelling had been revealed before the album’s release date and we saw It Must Have Been Love as the closing song, I remember many of us were quite skeptical and couldn’t decide if we wanted to hear another version of IMHBL. We had to wait until the album was out and oh the emotions many of us had when first hearing the song (besides all other tracks on the record) I still remember clearly. It sounded like a different song, but still Roxette, still there was the essence of one of the Billboard No. 1 songs and the music and vocals were just perfect.

tl_01The first very short snippet of The Look 2015 remake KappAhl shared some weeks ago already sounded extremely promising and hoped for similar feelings as with Travelling when the complete song sees the light of day. Now the remake is out digitally in 2 versions. (A physical 7-inch vinyl single will be released on 28th August.) LISTEN TO IT ON SPOTIFY HERE! Different emotions than with IMHBL for sure, but again there is this aaaahmazement. Very much 21st-century-like! Even if the original The Look would still be a hit if it was released today as Per also says it in interviews, now the remake has this sound of nowadays. I think Addeboy vs. Cliff added a bit too much of their touch here and there and the instrumental version might not going to be our fave version of The Look, but the vocals in the non-instrumental version are incredibly powerful! If you watch the making of video, you can see how much fun it must have been both for Marie and Per, as well as for Clarence, Pelle and Christoffer to record this remake. THIS VIDEO is an absolute highlight of the project!

Is this remake a kind of prediction how (at least some songs) will sound on the new Roxette album? We’ll see. Hopefully, still this year.

P.S.: Bassflow is hard to beat when it comes to remakes, but The Look remake 2015 comes close after. At least I think so.

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Stills are from the making of video. Directed and edited by Henrik Hanson.

ATTENTION! Do check out KappAhl’s website for much more information. Even the interview with Per has been shared now in its complete! Great site!

Seminar about Marie’s book at Göteborg Book Fair

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It seems that a seminar related to our beloved artists is a must at the Göteborg Book Fair lately. It’s the third year in a row when a Roxette / Per Gessle / Marie Fredriksson book is out and there is a seminar about them. In 2013 it was Sven Lindström’s fabulous Roxette – Den osannolika resan tur och retur, last year besides a cool pop quiz (1; 2; videos) it was Per’s most awesome books, Songs, Sketches & Reflections and Texter, klotter & funderingar and this year it’s Marie’s long-awaited biography, Kärleken till livet.

It would be wonderful to meet Marie at the book fair, but it seems that it will be only Helena von Zweigbergk, the author of the book who will appear there and talk about the book. The seminar is on Saturday, 26th September. It starts at 12:30 and lasts for 20 minutes. See the seminar program at THIS link on page 51. Helena will surely share much information at the book fair.

The book’s actual publishing date is 14th October according to the publishing company Piratförlaget, but it’s still 7th October appearing at Ginza, Bengans etc.

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Helena von Zweigbergk & Marie Fredriksson Photo by Mattias Edwall

 

2 versions of the 2015 The Look remake

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x4h3ea2zw3eduupi8njhAs you already know, Roxette was in the historical X-Level Studios to record a remake of The Look for a collaboration with KappAhl. Now it’s known that the worldwide digital release is on 17th July and Per says there might be a vinyl single as well. Bring it on!

Amazon has already listed the album in mp3 format. It will contain not only 1, but 2 versions of the remake:

1. The Look (2015 Remake) 3:58

2. The Look (2015 Remake – Instrumental) 3:55

The record label is Cosmos.

 

roxette_the_look_b&wAs Expressen informed, there will be more material focusing on “The making of The Look” from the X-Level Studios recordings. They claim it will be available on 14th July. However, now that there is an exact date for the digital release, it could be that the making-of stuff will also be broadcast / shared the same day, 17th July. We’ll see.

 

In case you missed the hi res files (Roxette pictures and videos related to the KappAhl campaign), check them at this link: press.bindefeldab.se (username: kappahl; password: press). Beautiful things!

 

Update on 27th June: According to a recent Billboard magazine interview with Per, a physical 7-inch vinyl single will be released on 26th August.

 

Thanx Marc Albrecht for keeping an eye on Amazon!

Cover of “Kärleken till livet” revealed

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Cover of “Kärleken till livet”

Swedish publisher Piratförlaget revealed the cover of “Kärleken till livet”, Marie’s upcoming biography, on their website and autumn catalogue. You will also find a picture of the co-author Helena von Zweigbergk and Marie on the website.

A few more details about the formats have also been published. We knew that the book will be available on hardcover, e-book as well as audio book (CD-book, mp3 format and digital download). Now we can see that the hardcover will have 330 pages and the audio book version will be narrated by Helena von Zweigbergk.

According to Piratförlaget’s website, the book will be released on October 14, 2015. The books will probably cost around 200-230 SEK.

Roxette Diaries – a movie coming soon!

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You might remember that a bit more than a year ago, April 2014 Per posted updates (1; 2) about a cooperation with Jonas Åkerlund involving old video tapes related to Roxette. This was what he wrote back then:

MONDAY UPDATE w/ EXCITING NEWS: Going through loads of old Hi-8 and DV videotapes (mainly shot by Åsa) from 1988-2001 with Jonas Åkerlund and his gang.
Backstage, in the studio, video shootings, photo shoots – you name it. Have an idea to make a proper film out of it. What do you think? Cool or what? /P.

It seems the project is now very close to take form of a movie. Cool or what?

A trailer has been shared by the movie’s editor, Emma Backman. (Update: the trailer has been set (back?) to private. Probably, it was too early to publish it.) The film is directed by the most awesome Jonas Åkerlund and this fact itself guarantees a most amazing result. But that you’ll see already from the trailer.

The film will include tons of forgotten home videos and real behind the scenes of video clip shootings, photo and studio sessions, interviews, concerts, etc. More than you could ever think about! As Per says, all videos are from the years 1986-1995, so the quality of them is not compatible with the 21st century. But who cares, really? It’s so fantastic to have that many funny and magical moments documented in the past and now we will have access to them. Speechless is the word!

This is what Per says about the project:

Everything (and more) happened to Roxette between 1986 and 1995. This was the era where a videocamera wasn’t something you saw every day. The technical quality you would get was so-so but today I’m really happy we covered hundreds of hours of film from these magic years.

The ambition was to shoot everything. Studio-sessions, back-stage-parties, rehearsals. My wife, Åsa, was the commander-in-chief when it came to capture promo- and TV-shows as well as the extensive touring all over the world.

All in all I gave about 180 Hi-8/VHS-tapes to director Jonas Åkerlund and asked him if he and his team could do something special with it. Maybe create a movie that captured the spirit of Roxette in the early days as well as being honest, silly and fun to watch. Hey, I think they succeeded. Enjoy the Roxette Diaries.

Huge thanks to Åsa for filming so much over the years and that she still hasn’t got tired of it, using the camera for shooting more and more magic! We highly appreciate it!

As you can see, Jonas got appr. 180 tapes, a huge amount of material to go through. I’m sure there would have been many volunteers to help Mr. Åkerlund. The first updates were about tapes from 1988-2001, but now Per says what you’ll see in the movie is from 1986-1995. Does it mean it’s just a first part and later on there will be a vol. 2 with 1996-2001 videos? Then a 3rd part? Who’s in for a neverending movie?

Release date is unknown yet, but the film is coming soon! Whose soon? Hopefully, not Per’s. 😉

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Stills are from the trailer. (Update: the trailer is set to private now, probably, because it was too early to publish it. Business as usual. 😉 )

Thanx to Roxette Diaries for googling “Roxette Diaries” and finding the trailer!

Update: So it’s Per’s soon. 🙂

ROXETTE DIARIES. Yep, it’s done. Waiting for subtitles. Release date? Soon! Cheers, P.