Release

The Per Gessle Archives – limited edition single is out!

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KIMB_LC_Per_GessleI’m not sure how many of you could get hold of Per’s limited edition vinyl (500 copies) yesterday, on Record Store Day in Sweden. There was some info from here and there that the single has never reached some record stores. Most probably, it was not sent to all of them in Sweden, so online ordering seems to be the most secure way to get your copy. CDON and Ginza had it for some days online, but I think they sold the number of copies they had very fast, so they took the item off their websites already. Bengans announced it will be available at them (the remaining copies after Record Store Day) at 3 pm CET on 28th April. Be fast with your order on Monday, because it will work like first come, first served.

Now getting down to the songs. Kvar i min bil (AGM, 28th April 2007), an outtake from En händig man album (as Anders Nunstedt mentions), ending up in Tomas Alfredson’s film, “Låt den rätte komma in” (= “Let the Right One In”) we could already hear earlier in the movie, as well as e.g. on YouTube and the lyrics to it were already available. I love the fact that now this great 60’s party song is released.

Loud Clothes, which was written for Have A Nice Day in 1998 is the B side of the single. To me it’s no surprise it was left off the album. Somehow it really doesn’t fit the HAND tunes. One falls in love with this song (T&A Demo, 30th August, 2002) in a second. How fabulous Gessleish lyrics again! I’m always amazed at Mr G’s songwriting skills. How can one come up with such words and lines? Ringa-linga rama-lama joy. Haha. My favourite! Sounds too cool! The whole song might remind you of Substitute (For the Real Deal). At least this melody came to our minds when listening to it. Instead of faded and fading clothes we get loud clothes. Here you have the lyrics to the demo:

 

Loud Clothes
Words & music by Per Gessle

She puts on loud clothes
She looks like a ringa-linga rama-lama joy
She puts on loud clothes
She talks when she walks blowing kisses through the noise
She puts on loud clothes
She looks like you wanna put your fingers on her skin
You can’t stop lookin’
She moves through the common people pulling every string

She really knocks you out
She really blocks your mind
It feels like you knew her
From somewhere back in time

She brings silence
Her lips never mention what you really wanna hear
She brings silence
You can’t find the words when you’re dying to get near her

She really knocks you out
She really blows your mind
It feels like you knew her
From somewhere back in time

To be here makes sense to be
To be here makes sense to me
She’s got loud clothes

 

After listening to these 2 songs, you are just longing for hearing more. As it was announced, the first 2 volumes of the total of 11 vol. of The Per Gessle Archives will be available on Spotify in May, but to hear all the almost 200 songs (172 to be more precise) we have to wait until 24th September 2014, when the complete box-set is released in form of CD and vinyl. Bring on September!

 

Another surprise for Record Store Day

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As Per posted about it on Roxette Official some weeks ago, a surprise was coming for Record Store Day. When it was announced some days ago that a limited edition ”The Look” vinyl will be released on Record Store Day in Sweden, we thought that it’s a great surprise for us Roxers. But now it turns out that besides the beautiful, limited edition, 25th anniversary ”The Look” red vinyl (1000 copies) there is another surprise for this year’s RSD. We are spoiled and we love it! Per Gessle also releases a limited edition 7” vinyl called “The Per Gessle Archives”. So limited that only 500 copies will be available!

Finnish Record Shop X states that the limited edition PG vinyl is in their stores from 19th April (Record Store Day everywhere except Sweden…, where it is 26th April), but on CDON you can see it’s available from 26th April. Ginza states no date, Bengans hasn’t listed it yet.

KIMB_LC_Per_GessleThe vinyl is featuring 2 songs from a forthcoming box set:

Side A – Kvar i min bil
Per wrote this song for Tomas Alfredson’s film, “Låt den rätte komma in”(= “Let the Right One In”). It has never been released, but is loved by all Mr. G fans. Listen to the song here.

Side B – Loud Clothes
For a Roxette album Per writes about 25 songs and then selects those that fit. “Loud Clothes” was written for “Have A Nice Day” in 1998. An interesting thing is that in May 2010 a fan asked Per on Facebook what’s up with some of the never released songs listed under his name in the BMI repertoire and “Loud Clothes” was among them. Per replied LC is a pretty decent one. “I/We might use them some day.” Now he is using it. Yay!

So, who knows what else shows up on the box set! According to Ginza, the title of the box set is “The Per Gessle Archives” and will be released on 24th September 2014, but both pieces of information haven’t been confirmed yet. It’s not yet known whether it’s going to be a vinyl box set or it will be available in CD version, too. Fingers crossed for all fans who want to get hold of these limited edition goodies.

 Update by Judith: as one can see on the Finnish website, the single will be released by Cosmos Music Group, you may remember Per became co-owner and board member of the company about a year ago.

Here’s the list of Roxette concerts we think should be released

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We all got very excited when Per Gessle posted these two posts on the Roxette official Facebook page on the 17th and 25th of January.

FRIDAY UPDATE: Having discussions with EMI (Warner) about re-releasing all VHS/DVD Rox live + documentaries from the past. How about that? Maybe a huge box set? Rox channel on YouTube? Guess the hardest part is to find the stuff in the vaults…. /P. [Post by Roxette Official.]

SATURDAY UPDATE: For your info: Hope to get most of the live VHS & DVD releases from the past out in the open (in top quality) for your insatiable eyes and ears to enjoy. It’s a little messy in the archives at the moment due to the huge EMI/Warner-merger but I’ve got new batteries in my flashlight!. We’re on the case, promise. /P. [Post by Roxette Official.]

At this point all comes down to a simple question: what to release. Or to be even more precise: what Roxette have rights to release and is in a decent audio/picture quality. Per admitted hismelf the hardest part is to find the stuff in the vaults. We have decided to compile a simple to-do, to-find, to-release list, in case Warner forgets how many great concerts Roxette recorded in the past! Let’s do the proper research together – in case we missed something, please drop us a line or two here in the comment section or on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RoxetteBlog), so we might save a pearl or two from being forgotten 😉

With numbers (1, 2, 3…) we marked official VHS/laser disc/DVD releases, with letters (A, B, C…) – TV performances/internet broadcasts that could be counted as full scale gigs. For obvious reasons we have excluded all unprofessional, private and bootleg recordings as well as other single TV performances (playbacks or live). We didn’t count in one or two first songs from concert reports on TV as it’s a usual thing that journalists have access to those from each concert (as long as there are cameras in the arena). We are here for live experiences – ONLY!

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Roxette LIVE – Travelling The World

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I never thought I would buy something what is able to play a Blu-ray because of Roxette and not because of my fave actors. I also never thought I would buy it earlier than an LP player… But it just happened. And it was all worth it. Actually, the long long long long long waiting for the DVD / Blu-ray / CD was worth it, too.

As per the Blu-ray, I like how it looks like. I mean not the front cover, but how it is structured, the way the CD and the Blu-ray disc are placed in the case. Well, too bad that all the DVDs and Blu-rays seem to be produced in Germany (or at least most of them), since now we are all having this unnecessary and not too sexy stamp on the front cover. When I first saw it, I hoped it was a sticker which I could easily remove, but unfortunately, it’s printed as part of the design…

blu-ray_00_  blu-ray_01_

I started with watching the Gessle cam stuff & the guitar tech’s secret life from the Blu-ray as I thought most of the other 2 parts I already saw on TV last year.

The Gessle cam videos are still fun. What I like the most is that on the Blu-ray they, of course, have much higher quality than what we can see on Facebook. Even if you already saw most of them (yes, there ARE new ones), you can smile and laugh at what the guys & ladies are doing in the studio or backstage. Per was wrong when he corrected us that the ”So, Christoffer?” part is not 3 minutes, but 30. It’s really ”only” 3 minutes, but it’s a hilarious mix! 🙂

Then comes 12 minutes of ”Studio Work” from the recordings of ”Travelling”, the album. Scenes are from AGM and Atlantis studios with Clarence, Christoffer, Magnus, Pelle, Marie and Helena. Oh, and of course, Per. But you can mainly hear his voice and see him not too often. We got used to this during all these years.

The 3rd Gessle cam video, ”Travelling” is the longest, almost 30 minutes. It’s from several countries: backstage, soundcheck, food, some ”Jesus loves you!” and some more ”So, Christoffer?”, Clarence & Pelle & Magnus ice skating, band, Marie & Per, crew, etc.

The 4th extra is a 5-minute-long video of ”Mikael Nogueira-Svensson – The secret life of a guitar tech”. Micke N-S took care of the gear of Per, Pelle and Magnus during the tour. He’s talking about his job and shows interesting things backstage, like the Blue Swede Sex Machine is having problems all the time. He says he’s like a nanny for the musicians. 🙂 While talking, he is restringing a guitar.

Roxette_It_All_Begins_Where_It_Ends

 

 

After these videos I watched the documentary, ”It All Begins Where It Ends – The Incredible Story Of Roxette”. Most of it we could already see last year, but finally, Helena and Dea got their well-deserved part in the docu. Actually, this is the only difference I could notice. And it’s great as it is. No changes were needed besides the backing vocalists’ part. Oh, yes! Another important change is the subtitles. The English subtitles work well.

 

 

 

Roxette_COYH

 

”Roxette LIVE – Travelling The World” I saved for last. Chris did an awesome job with the live mix, but we already said that when we saw it on TV. At the same time, I still get dizzy from the constant cuts and I thought a year should have been enough to change them, but Favela kept them as we saw it in the TV cut of the live stuff. No clue why. Whatever. Crowd scenes are still mixed, but at least those confusing titles with mentioning cities and countries are gone. There are now more relevant scenes between the songs than what we saw on TV: backstage moments, fans running to the front row, the drum kit getting dressed for success, etc. Besides these, now it’s more like a real complete show. Awesome to see those 9 songs too, which were not in the TV cut, but made it to the DVD. This way we can enjoy e.g. Marie’s touching performance of ”Perfect Day”, some more of Per’s left leg dance in ”How Do You Do!” and their lovely moments in ”Things Will Never Be The Same”. Richard Gere and Julia Roberts are cut out from the final ”It Must Have Been Love” part, however, Marie and Per are still cut in from the video clip twice. But that’s fine. Getting this front row feeling and reliving the moments of the tour, one starts / continues longing for a new tour.

 

Last but not least, I love having the songs on a live CD, too. Some fans hear Marie from far away or have other problems with the sound on the CD, but my ears are not too sharp for that I assume, since I’m fine with the sound itself. One funny thing is that the preview pic of the live CD is not the final cover, but another sleeve we saw when we were guessing which the final design could be. If I have to choose between the physical release and the digital one, I go for the digital because of having ”Silver Blue” and ”Church Of Your Heart” as bonus tracks there.

All in all, if you ask me what took a year to release this material after we could see most of it already in December 2012, I’m not sure I could tell you. Maybe choosing what to include in the extras from the tremendous amount of Gessle cam videos was a bit time-consuming or doing the subtitles. No clue. But it doesn’t really matter now that it’s in my hands and I could watch it and listen to it. I could do it 24/7. More than that, I want a Roxette tour! NOW!

 

The world got roxed – Roxette Official got flashmobbed

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It wasn’t the first flashmob on Roxette Official and most probably, it wasn’t the last one. BUT: this is definitely the first one PERceived by Mr G. Or at least this is the first one which he commented on. 🙂

OH YEAH UPDATE: Love those “Roxette travelling” pictures you have posted!!!! It’s a big Rox world out there, right??? Thanx for all your work and keep ’em coming!
Have a wonderful Friday night! /P.

Halle_Germany_THE_FIRST_POSTERThis time it all started with one poster (see on the left) found in a public place in Halle, Germany, posted on Facebook and found there by Manuel Terron Browa. Then Sandra Knospe had an idea why not doing it all around the world. Everyone went like ”yeah, why not?”. So we decided for a flashmob for the DVD’s release date, 6th December, 2013. We waited so long for this release, we had to celebrate it properly all around the universe. 😉

By the help of the organizers (Sandra Knospe, Christina Dercks, Alexandra Neitzel) an event was created on Facebook for this poster flashmob. Roxers were joining and joining, let their other Roxer friends know about it and started checking their drawers for doubles of their old posters or whether they should buy some on ebay or print one. We also had to think hard where to glue our posters. To public areas, OK, but where exactly. Shop windows? Monuments? Boards? Where?

 

ROXETTE_Travelling_The_World_6th_Dec_2013_rs

 

As you can see, everyone found a great place finally. Roxers glued their posters all around the globe. Those 70 pics posted on Roxette Official on 6th December are from 43 cities of 18 countries: Argentina, Australia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, Uruguay, USA, Wales. Oh and one poster was ”placed” even over the Moon. 😉 /Click to download the hi res collage you can see on the left./

While we were doing our ”job”, all of us were thrilled. Policemen, guards, tourists, people on the streets – they all were watching us. Hopefully no one got arrested. 🙂 Heart was beating faster than usual, hands were shaking as if we were doing something bad. But we just wanted everyone to pay more attention to our beloved power pop duo. And it felt and still feels awesome!

Some posters we even found on Instagram posted by non-Roxers who were surprised to find Roxette posters just around the corner at a not so common place for these beauties and we were happy that it worked. Let’s do it again one day, MAGIC FRIENDS!

 

 

 

Thanx for the extra special bonus (= your comment on it), Per! You made all Roxers extremely happy with it. We are incredibly glad that you liked it. Cheers!

 

Update at 7:45 am, 7th December:

Ivan Kelava made a fantastic video about the flashmob to remember! I just love it! Enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3foeYwJI18