2008 World According to P, C & C (IV): Florian Horwath, You Got Me Wrong - PG finds another demo - Will HJ be in the Roxette band in the future?

Per Gessle is working in 2008 version of TWATG. Meanwhile, Chris Lundquist and "the junkies" are not bored.

Florian Horwath, the "German Cat Stevens" (although he is not German and he is no cat), began recording his new album in November 2006 in the AGM studio with a great band.

• Florian Horwath - vocals
• Jens Jansson ("Mom") - drums
• David Birde ("Dad") - guitar
• Magnus Sveningsson ("Righteous Boy") - bass
• Peter von Poehl - guitar
  
• Christoffer Lundquist ("Chris") - ? ... what's needed
  

Finally, the record is ready. The track Baby You Got Me Wrong with Nina Persson (The Cardigans, A camp) will be digitally released on March 28. You can listen to it in Florian Horwath Myspace. The brand new video is now online in the "Video" Section of Florian Horwath Website. It was shot during the recording session of the duet in Sweden in January.

LJdM

Jeezus - no order in the bedroom! This morning I found a very early demo of "Wish you the best" called "Drum", which we just have to use on new The world according to Gessle-release!!! So… WYTB is left out in the cold… the album release is set for early May. That's the most recent whisper in the EMI corridors…

You should know it by now but… movies are in my blood! There's a brand new track of mine included in the brand new excellent (trust me, I've seen it!!!) Swedish movie LÅT DEN RÄTTE KOMMA IN [Let Me In], based on the book of the same name. Opening in the autumn but it has already won 2 heavy awards. My song is called KVAR I MIN BIL [Left in My Car] and is featured 3 times in the movie (including a short whistling version…). It was recorded during the En händig man-sessions and is a somewhat bluesy ditty with a great snappy guitar-hook. And it's under 3 minutes!

Per Gessle

One of the most popular topics in The Daily Roxette this week has this title: Will Helena Joseffsson be in the Roxette band in the future? You can read it here.

Emil from Bulgaria thinks that "her way of singing is not good for powerful Roxette songs." Mariana “Txiqui” Gumuzio, from Spain, "don’t think Helena’s voice fits Roxette songs at all. I can’t imagine her voice beside Maries voice. I guess that if they both sing together we wouldn’t be able to listen to Helena’s voice clearly 'cos Marie’s voice is so much stronger and poweful that wouldn’t let Helenas voice come out".

According to Jorge Ojeda (a fan from Argentina), "We‘re disscussing if Helena is the best person to make the backing vocals in the Roxette band in the future!! (maybe for a little tour?) Nobody said that she´s going to replace Marie in Roxette! Maybe they should call to Vicky Benckert again, in my opinion, she was the best in backing vacals for The Roxette band... ever".

Auryte Cekuolyte, from Lithuania, "would really like to see Vicky back with Roxette! She’s great :) I agree with those who said that Helena’s voice doesn’t fit Roxette songs. She is really good in singing all those “nanana’s” and hmm hmm hmm’s” in the background. Roxette songs demand more power :) And I doubt that Marie’s and Helena’s voices would make a good match."

Regn ask himself: "Why not? It’s a fact that Rox songs MUST change to fit Marie’s nowdays voice, the labor of a backing vocal is Help and Helena did well on Gessle’s solo proyect... Anyway I think the best backing vocals on Roxette were made by Mia Lindgren on LS! Tour."

The moderator Judith Seuma thinks that "Helena should concentrate in her solo stuff".

LJdM also found some very irritating comments there. Some people simply say: "Hopefully not". Keti from Georgia says that "Helena can sing alone, unless she would always stand under Maries shadow". Taschi considers that "Helena does not deserve to sing backing vocals or anything else for Roxette. To be honest, I do not like her very much. I also do not know what’s Per liking at her at all... Possibly he just wanted a complete opposite of Marie for his albums. She is simply the worst I ever heard... But what shall we discuss here, Per rules and he decides... Please call Vicky again!!!!". FGOTM wants "no Helena in Roxette!!!Rox songs would sound ridiculous with her. I think Gessle is clever enough not to allow this. Save her voice for Gessle’s solo projects, though what he has found in her voice is a mystery to me. Glad I’m not the only one. Bringing back Vicki would be great idea indeed, she is simply superb."

7-Twenty-7 asks: "Has anybody noticed Vicki’s voice? She did some backing vocals for songs included on ’Joyride’ and ’Tourism’, but I never managed to hear her voice. Even in the live recordings, she’s not noticeable. I don’t really miss her... Some Roxette songs (like ’One Wish’ or ’Make Me Head Go Pop’) sound ridiculous, even if Helena was not involved. No need to blame her, Roxette can be ridiculous by themselves when they want, with no ’help’ from the outside."

Jiri Vlcek (aka abysmo, from Czech Republic) says: "Helena is completely different singer than Marie, every attemps to arrange her into Roxette as a singer must failed because everybody will compare her with Marie. Roxette is Per’ s music and Marie’ s voice. I’ m sure that Per have the same attitude. I like Helena’ s sweet voice, but not as a part of Roxette music. This will be same like replacing Per with Mikael. As I said, I like Helena and Mikael Bolyos, but H. on SOAP and Dynamo and M. on A Familly Affair or Marie’ s solo albums."

We can also read the comments by some active Helena Josefsson's fans (Alberto, Rachel and Ángela)

LJdM

Comments by fans:

IMHO, Roxette are Per + Marie. I don’t need Helena’s voice in Roxette (although I love it). I am a big fan of Helena and I like her work in her solo album (Dynamo), with her band Sandy Mouche and with Son of a Plumber (SOAP). But I think Gessle is not thinking about a “Roxette project” that could include Helena. SOAP is a very different project.

Btw, Helena is recording her second solo album and a new album of Sandy Mouche: obviously she is not thinking about being the substitute of Marie at all. Why should we write about this silly idea?

Everytime Helena is brought into conversation in TDR or R2R forums, some people speak about an unreal war (“Marie versus Helena” or “Helena versus Marie”??) using disproportionate words. Yes, I am too susceptible. Helena has worked with Magnus Sveningsson (Righteous Boy) and nobody thinks she is going to replace Nina Persson in The Cardigans. I will try to answer the question.

Helena as backgroundsinger of Roxette? She has worked with The Ark, Righteous Boy, Gyllene Tider, Andreas Johnson, Doug Wyatt, Justin Winokur, Junior Senior, Swan Lee ... Helena’s voice can fit different bands and very different styles. But she is now concentrated in her solo stuff, in Sandy Mouche and in Son of a Plumber.

And although I am a fan of Helena, I agree: Marie and Vicki Benckert could make a better match into a “Rox Pop Hit” but Marie and Helena’s voice would match better into a “Rox Ballad Hit”. By the way, you’d have to find Vicki (where is she?)

Alberto Fuente (aka Lantartida),
from Madrid, ES

I’d love it if she did wind up in the touring band, it’d be a test of people’s so-called devotion. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s not her you’d be paying to see, is it? I don’t know if she’d ruin Rox songs by backing. There is only one way of finding out though...

Rachel (aka whateveriam), from Norfolk, U.K.
The_cute_suit - La conasse

Wooooowo!!!! The Helena anti-fanclub is back again!!!!! Any excuse is good for some people to atack her. And no, I don’t see Helena doing back vocals for Roxette or for any other band on tour. I agree 100% with Judith. She should concentrate in her solo career or in Sandy Mouche and give more good music for those who can appreciate it. For those who cannot.... you’ll miss it!!! :p

P.S. Lantartida, take it easy man, you know this is quite useless :)

Ángela Peralta, from Zaragoza, ES -
aka Miss Misery / Miss Teacher

2008 World According to P, C & C (III): Junk Musik web, deleted? - The World gets updated

In the spring of 2005, a new records company was created in Sweden. The members of the project were well-known by LJdM: Christoffer Lundquist, David Birde, Jens Jansson (Brainpool), Magnus Börjeson and Anders Mildner (Beagle). Junk Musik released digital music for 2 years with at least some success. We also enjoyed the blog of Anders (with some articles from the others).

Exactly one year ago (on March 19th, 2007), Anders Mildner gave up the blog and the company. Le Journal des Mouches decided to compilate many articles from this marvelous blog. One year later, the blog and almost all the Junk Musik website have been deleted.

What about Brainpool? Metro Jets? Mom & Dad? AGM? We have no news about the "Junkies" but we missed them every day.

Meanwhile, Per Gessle has been working in the new edition of The World according to Gessle, the first album with the P, C & C team (Per, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist. Read about it.

LJdM

Just came home from a swell mastering afternoon at Cutting Room. To my surprise EMI have managed to locate the rejected Battery studios-mixes, made by Michael Ilbert in London in December 1996. Can hardly remember this…. but… I recall that Michael was very ill with a bad stomach throughout the week and I thought the studio was way too far away from my hotel in the posh areas so I didn't pay attention that much….. anyway… as you might know we only used the "There is my baby"-mix on the record. However, listening to the Battery mixes today both Clarence and I found them superior to the Mono Studio-mixes (made in January 1997) that we did use on the album… so…. we decided to change for this re-release. Which means you'll get "new" mixes on three tracks; "Elvis in Germany", "I'll be alright" & "T-t-t-take it!". Surprise.

This is the story about my record-companies:

I have two publishing companies: JIMMY FUN MUSIC & HIP HAPPY. SHOCK THE MUSIC is a publishing company owned by Marie Fredriksson.

INHOUSE MUSIC was EMI Sweden’s publishing company, nowadays it is merged into the big balloon called EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING.

MUSIC FOR MONEY has never been a publishing company (a publishing company owns the rights to the songs, not to the actual recordings!!!). MUSIC FOR MONEY has changed name and become ELEVATOR ENTERTAINMENT and owns for instance the master tapes (the recordings) of Mazarin and Finn 5 fel! and Son of a Plumber and The World According to... and En händig man and Helena Josefsson’s first solo album etc. etc. EMI has licensed these rights to be able to release the records officially.

GESSLE MUSIC was a publishing company but it doesn’t exist any more. All these songs (for instance Gå & fiska!) are nowadays published by JIMMY FUN.

ROXETTE RECORDINGS, owned jointly by Marie & myself, is a company who controls the rights to Roxette’s master tapes & recordings. EMI (and other record companies) license these rights to release the records and downloads.

FUNDAMENTAL couldn’t be called FUNDAMENTAL because there’s an English record company called just that (I wasn’t aware of this in time for printing the sleeve or creating the sperm logo...). FUNDAMENTAL became GESSLE RECORDS which doesn’t exist anymore. Nowadays these rights belong to ELEVATOR.

ROXETTE PRODUCTIONS is responsible for tours, merchandise etc.

HAPPY ACCIDENT was another publishing company (R.I.P.). Its catalogue is now controlled by the ever glowing JIMMY FUN.
TOM BONE is a publishing company partly owned by me. TB works with other artists, The Sounds etc and is run by small town genius Lars Ewald. Check out their thrilling website.

That’s the deal.

Another day, another record!

Spent the afternoon, sipping coffee and eating English muffins at Cutting Room meanwhile mastering the demo-CD. What does it sound like, someone asked on the bus? Well, it sounds like… hmmm… like a demo-CD!

We’ve managed to squeeze in three additional tracks so now the entire album can be enjoyed in its early glory! This is the final running order:

The Demos according to Gessle

1. There is my baby (June 27, 1994)
2. I’ll be alright (July 16, 1994)
3. June afternoon (July 17, 1994)
4. Writer (July 17, 1994)
5. T-t-t-take it! (Sep 12, 1994)
6. Elvis in Germany (Nov 2, 1994)
7. Every day outside my window (Dec 28, 1995)
8. Love doesn’t live here (Feb 25, 1996)
9. Detective Jones (Feb 29, 1996)
10. Beautiful things, terrible things (Apr 7, 1996)
11. Elvis in Deutschland (Apr 26, 1996)
12. Makin’ love to you (acoustic version) (June 9, 1996)
13. Lay down your arms (June 23, 1996)
14. Do you wanna be my baby? (Aug 12, 1996)
15. B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B (Oct 24, 1996)
16. Stupid (Oct 28, 1996)
17. Saturday (Nov 2, 1996)
18. Wish you the best (Nov 3, 1996)
19. I want you to know (Dec 28, 1996)
20. Kix (Jan 2, 1997)

Cheers, P.

Update: technical issues (the damn record is too long!!!) we have had to delete the kix (lovely pair remix) from the cd… shit happens. you'll have to do the twist to reporter instead!

Per Gessle

2008 World According to P, C & C (II): The World just got bigger and The Men are with Chris again

Per Gessle's (or rather "Gessle's") album "The World According to Gessle" from 1997 will be re-released on EMI/Elevator Entertainment in May in what Thomas Evensson, from TDR calls a "super duper extra turbo deluxe with cheese on" edition. The album is now a double with tons of nice bonuses and a new extended sleeve with an interview added.

Bonus trax CD 1:

• Kix-Cha-Cha "ghost track"
• Love Doesn't Live Here outtake from album + B-side Kix
• Always Breaking My Heart (30 May 1995) B-side Do You Wanna…
• I Wanna Be With You (2 Nov 1994) B-side Do You Wanna…
• Blue Umbrella (15 June 1993) B-side I Want You to Know
• Jupiter Calling (3 Aug 1995) B-side I Want You to Know
• Let’s Party! (14 July 1988) B-side I Want You to Know
• Kix (Lovely Pair Mix) B-side Kix

CD 2 – demos that were made for the album:

1. There is My Baby (27 June 1994)
2. I’ll be Alright (16 July 1994)
3. June Afternoon (17 July 1994)
4. T-t-t-Take It! (12 Sep 1994)
5. Every Day Outside My Window (28 Dec 1995)
6. Love Doesn’t Live Here (25 Feb 1996)
7. Detective Jones (29 Feb 1996)
8. Beautiful Things, Terrible Things (7 April 1996)
9. Elvis in Deutschland (26 April 1996)
10. Makin’ Love to You (acoustic version) (9 June 1996)
11. Lay Down Your Arms (23 June 1996)
12. Do You Wanna be My Baby? (12 Aug 1996)
13. B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B (24 Oct 1996)
14. Saturday (2 Nov 1996)
15. Wish You the Best (3 Nov 1996)
16. I Want You to Know (28 Dec 1996)
17. Kix (2 Jan 1997)

According to the drummer Niklas Kilenstam, maximum Swedish modband from Lund, The Men, are now in the AGM studio recording their third album with a few more instruments. Over a period of 8 weeks they are going to record 13 new songs. Christoffer Lundquist is their guide and master. As of today, 8 songs are down on track and the finnishing touches are being made this weekend for those.

LJdM

"Elvis in Deutschland" was recorded about a year after the "Elvis in Germany"-demo. I did it because I wasn't quite satisfied with the chorus of "EiG"!!! "EiD" has a totally different chorus (and different chorus lyrics) and is a ballad, sorta… But I went back to "EiG," a wise decision, if you ask me…

A different version of "Every Day Outside My Window" lyrics was given to Marie a few years later and became her ballad "Every Day" …

Same thing with "Beautiful Things, Terrible Things" (which turned into her "Beautiful Things"…)

…and of course we're talking remastering here, I always felt that the original [album] sounds a bit too hard, we'll try to fix it now.

"Detective Jones" also exists with different lyrics, then called "Young" and was recorded by Staffan Öfwerman in the 1800s.

"June Afternoon" ended up on Rox's "don't bore us" album but was ment for "TWATG" from the beginning. Micke Syd plays the drums and is brilliant. One of my best songs ever.

"Makin' Love to You" was written for "TWATG" too.

There's a demo for "Reporter" called "Writer," it's not on this album because it sounds almost exactly the same as the end results… besides the title of course…

The rest of the tracks were apparently also recorded as demos (it seems, I've forgotten most things) but they sound too much the same as the final album to be included. Why this snobism you wonder? Well, I want this demo album to be fun to hear for all the hardcore fans out there. As little as possible should be recognized…

Now the pizza is here!

Per Gessle

P, C & C are shopping with mother (V): Clarence 50th b-day and SOAP as a challenge to your ears

Boston Tea Party, the Swedish TV show, continues. In the show broadcasted on November 19, Fredrik and Filip reach the studio exactly when Per Gessle is threatening to commit suicide! In one of the darkest rooms in his studio, Per is sitting on the floor with a gun in his mouth terrifying the people around him. Even the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet is writing about this episode, under a malicious headline “Per continues to make a fool of himself in the Boston Tea Party show”.

Ivanych (a.k.a. pei99), remembered in R2R forum that this Thursday Clarence celebrates his 50 th b-day.

Clarence Öfwerman: Born: 22 November, 1957. Producer, keyboards and backing vocals. First produced Roxette's album 'Pearls Of Passion' and has been involved in every Roxette album since as producer and keyboards player. Responsible for most of Roxette's string arrangements. Played in groups Uvertyr, Raj Montana Band and Passagerarna.

Clarence is 'guilty' of the sound of LJdM's editor favourite album, Son of a Plumber.

I have always try to explain what I feel listening Son of a Plumber's album. Just today I have read an interesting topic in Son of a Plumber's Official forum. You can visit the forum and add your opinion.

"The nice Kai", from Berlin, thinks that Son of a Plumber's album is different from most albums you can buy in the shops these days: it is a challenge to your ears and maybe too hard for the average music listener. Anyway, according to him, you need to listen to the album very carefully to hear every single detail and to understand the story of the songs. He suggests that we should try to listen to the songs and all the background sounds carefully. I have done it and he is right: we can lose many details if we don't listen to the album again. It's worth indeed.

Other members of the forum seem to have done it too. For example, Christel Johansson (aka Chrissie78 or Baby-C),from Sölvesborg, SE thinks the same: the main problem with SOAP is that the "average listener" don't take the time to listen carefully to any kind of music nowadays. It could be the reason why SOAP is misunderstood: people just don't take the time to sit down and really listen to, and analyze, new music.

But, what make SOAP become such a great album?

René H. Jepsen (aka RJ1976), from Denmark / Flensburg, DE, says in TDR forum these days that he loves Helena Josefsson's sweet voice in SOAP. As other fans, I really believe that Christoffer (Lundquist) really complements Per work in such a great way! My fave song is still I have a party in my head.

Heyoka (aka Akoyeh from Poland) says that SOAP is the best Gessle album since this time. She is sure that with some good promotion it could be a success in Europe. She has taken an hilarious picture of her "soap" ("Per lives in her bathroom"). I have read many bad comments about the album so I wonder: should some Gessle's fans clean their ears with this soap before listening to the album. Heyoka also speaks about the future of Gessle & Co.:

"I am sure about a new SOAP album in 2008, and I feel the good vibrations because the winter is coming, SOAP was made at the same time and I have the strange feeling that the new album will have this same sweet winter melodies inside, little dreamy, romantic and Christmas climate...I would like to hear something like this, it's the best what Per could do now. EHM was made mainly for the Swedish summer tour and now it's time for winter songs, delicate sounds, for cold winter days near by the fire."

We will keep on waiting for a new album, the second challenge to our - your? - ears.

LJdM

My father did kind of the same things that I do, he played piano, jazz, and got into producing Swedish artists and later from all around the world. He always said to me “don’t become a musician, it’s very difficult to make a living on it”, he thought I should study economy, because he actually wanted to do that but never succeeded. He once produced an album with Toots Thielemans and he came down to Rotterdam and they hung out one night together, which was great!

Influences when I was younger? Beatles to start with. We actually had a Beatles night yesterday, we listened to three albums in between the sets. I actually saw the Beatles live in the stadium in the sixties, when I was six. I however don’t remember anything, except all the girls screaming. You couldn’t hear the band, they only had small guitar amplifiers back then. They couldn’t hear themselves, so they stopped I think in 65. But yeah, everybody in this band grew up with the Beatles.

I started to play in bands when I was a teenager anyway. I started playing guitar, then I met a guy who was a lot better than me playing guitar, so I switched to piano. I think that was around 73, 74. I don’t play the guitar now. I only help my daughter to learn some chords. That’s about it.

Clarence Öfwerman

P, C & C are shopping with mother (IV): Son of a shopping mother?

Son of a Plumber is in the studio again. According to SOAP's website and TDR, Son of a Plumber has recorded the new theme song for Swedish TV program "Boston Tea Party."

Fredrik Wikingsson, one of the show's two hosts, says: ""Boston Tea Party" is a show about finding strange things out, like how human flesh tastes like… "Many will see this as a new chapter of Per Gessle's musical career. I can't place this tune in a genre, but it sounds like how it would look when riding a limo through New York way too fast."

The tune is called "Shopping With Mother" and will be premiered in the season finale of the show at the end of November. It will be released as a double A-sided single together with two remixes by Erik Hjärpe (a.k.a. Voz Vibrante, a member of Damn!, The Martelli Tapes, and Krosusork). Erik has remixed "Shopping With Mother" in two different versions - the Voz Vibrante remix and the Mother's Dub by Voz Vibrante.

The directors and the two hosts of the show, Fredrik and Filip have chosen Per to be the composer of the new musical theme of the show. Therefore, along 9 weeks, the two guys followed Per creating the new song, being witnesses of his funny and surprising behavior which might have confused the viewers who have known the Swedish pop-star as a very “quiet” person.

Along these weeks, Per is constantly making fun of Fredrik and Filip who are trying to get at least a bit of the song, but all they find is a nasty Per who avoids them or closes the door in their noses. Surprisingly, on October 22, the two guys meet a very friendly Per in his studio in Skåne, who is willing to hand them the demo of the new song. Short happiness though for them, when they realise that Per handed them the “Gå och fiska!” disc; no new song!

Daniel Alvedahl, a Swedish fan, remembers us that Shopping with mother was a cool title that Per had in his list of cool titles that he wanted to make a song of. (Att Vara Per Gessle, page 220). Per mixes Swedish with English ... but just in theory, because this is an instrumental theme.

According to Thomas Evensson, from TDR: "Voz's style of music is fast fusion and electric funk, while the tune itself can be described best as a cross between a '60s Bond theme with some Star Trek and general '60s pop in it. Does it sound crazy? It is. The double A-sided single will be released November 28, with the slightly edited version of "Pratar med min müsli" from Per's hit album "En händig man" as the other A-side, a little later than expected, but now released to the public."

Per Gessle, his wife Åsa and their son Gabriel feature in Caroline Roosmark's 2008 calendar "The Women and Men of the Year 2008". Per is dressed in a Mozartesque style, with a "guitar" of course. He is in May's picture. You can order the calendar at Caroline's site, 15 SEK of every calendar will go to the foundation of Riccardo Campogiani's memory. Caroline Roosmark said: "Per usually doesn't do things like these, but this time he's been very into it. He spent days picking out a good wig! This year's edition is dedicated to 16 year old Riccardo Campogiani who was meaninglessly killed on the streets October 7, 2007. "

We have a handy man in the U.S., ... and it is not George Bush. Caroline Distribution, EMI’s U.S. independent distribution company, has released today in the United States "Finn5fel!" (originally 2004, by Gyllene Tider) and "En händig man" (2007, by Per Gessle). Last month they also released "Mazarin" (PG, 2003), "Gyllene Tider" (GT, 1980), "Moderna Tider" (GT, 1981), "Puls" (GT, 1982) , "GT25!" (GT, 2004) and "Hjärtats trakt" (PG, 1997). All albums can be found on iTunes USA. These are obviously digital releases only, so no problem to put them in your bedroom. By the way, I could not help posting here the story of René H. Jepsen (aka RJ1976), a fan from Denmark. This is what he wrote in TDR a few days ago:

I am Danish but I've got my second apartment in Germany, because I work a lot in the city of Flensburg also. I've made myself a Roxetteroom like office... Somewhere I gotta put it all. It’s all mixed up my collection, with Gessle, Grape Rock, Roxette and everything else from the God-Like Man Gessle, and Wonder Woman Marie :-)What I wanna know is... how big are you collections ? ... Mine ? I have no idea... I’d guess more than 300 cds, singles, vinyls, different versions of records and and and... Anyone else have made something like an Roxroom ? Instead of hiding it all in a box ? Poster and stuff like that doesn't interest me... That's magazin stuff and has nothing to do with them really... Eventhough I also have a lot of that. **LOL** Before you ask ... Looks quite cool and not like crap... Studio like office *G* ... Im 31 ... Will I ever grow up ? NOOOOOO WAY !!!... My 9 y.o daughter listens also to the stuff now ... Hmm... Thats not good... :-S

LJdM

P, C & C in a Rox-Plumber-Box (V): One wish and some lessons

The new Roxette single “One Wish” already got played in Germany’s radio stations on September 15 – unexpectedly early as the Swedish premiere was announced for next Monday. The video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, was premiered in Sweden on TV4’s “Nyhetsmorgon”. Roxette’s new single “One Wish” is the highest new entry this week on Sweden’s Topp 40 chart coming in at #26. “One Wish” also debuted at #17 on the Nielsen Radio Topp 20 chart.

LJdM staff has listened to the new song. We are a bit disappointed. It sounds very artificial, not special at all. We wished something new from the AGM Studio. Anyway, we enjoyed today's blog by Adela Toplean (Happy Birthday, Adela!): yes, Son of a Plumber is better than Gessle ... and much better than this 'One wish'.

Updated 2007: There has been no news about new projects of P, C & C (Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist) because Roxette is supposed to be the 'central issue' this fall. But we have known that P, C & C have been since September 2006 in the AGM Studio again to record new Gessle's songs, mostly in Swedish.

According to The Cardigans, NONS record has released today a Swedish Indie Anthology featuring 42 tracks. It´s called Svensk Indie 1988-2006 - En Svensk kärleks historia. ( A Swedish lovestory) First track is Happy dead men´s Silent sigh city from 1988. The last track is The Concretes´On the radio from early spring this year. The Cardigans are in the bunch aswell, with Rise and Shine from 1994! And Brainpool’s At school (one of their hits) or Radio Dept’s Against the tide are also ther (2002, when Per Blomgren was in the band).

cd 1

Happy dead men- Silent sigh city
Wannadies- The beast cures the lover
Easy-Cloud chamber
Eggstone- Wrong heaven
This perfect day- This friendship of ours
Popsicle- Hey Princess
Brainpool- At school
Suredo- Average cell
bob hund- Fem meter upp i luften
The Cardigans- Rise and Shine
Hardy Nilsson- Hela hjärtat mitt
Broder Daniel- Luke Skywalker
Honey is cool- Georgia
Kent- När det blåser på månen
Fireside- Left rustle
The Bear quartet- it only takes a flashlight to create a monster
Cloudberry jam- Elevator
Souls- Expensive
Yvonne- Modern love
Drowners- Summer break my fall

cd 2

Bad cash quartet- Amuse you
Club 8- Missing you
Doktor Kosmos- Le punkrocker
Plexus- Elektroplux
Håkan Hellström- Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg
First floor power- We are the people
David and the citizens- Now she sleeps in a box in the good soil of Denmark
Hell on wheels- Soda
Silverbullit: Magnetic city
The Knife- Kino
The Embassy- it never entered my mind
Marit Bergman- This is the year
Differnet- Conflictionary
The Radio dept- Against the tide
Suburban kids with biblical names- Rent a wreck
Andreas Tilliander- back to the USA
Jens Lekman- Maple leaves
The Tough Alliance- Take no heroes
Audionom- DC2
El perro del mar- This loneliness
Frida Hyvönen- Once I was a serene teenage child
The Concretes- on the radio

LJdM

Roxette sold a decent amount of records in South America, but nothing remarkable. Maybe 30,000 records in Brazil. But when we released tickets we sold 120,000 - just in Rio. 60,000 in Sao Paolo, 55,000 in Montevideo. Totally amazing! Porto Alegre was like Albert Hall only much bigger. Someone in the band had the stomach flu and threw up on stage. That was fun. And after a TV interview in Amsterdam we saw a guy in a window yelling ’I love your record!’ It was Tom Petty, my old hero. ’We love your records too!’ we yelled back. Everyone considered us a one hit wonder when we broke through with “The Look” in 1989. But we weren’t in our twenties, we were almost in our thirties. We owned our own publishing companies, we had chosen our management, we kept a check on things. When we got our foot into things, we hung on. The climate of pop music is totally different today. Almost no artists get time to make mistakes anymore, it’s more of a product thinking these days. Suddenly Roxette stand out as the real deal. It’s for real, we write and produce ourselves and people know all our songs. When I was in New York this summer and went through immigration, the officer asked me what I did for a living. ’Musician’ I answered. Then he wondered if he should know about me. ’Well, I wrote that’ I said, and pointed to the radio which was playing ’Listen to Your Heart’. That was fun.

Per Gessle

P, C & C in a Rox-Plumber-Box (IV): a book and a life

Per Gessle is going to write book about his life. Co-writer Sven Lindström, who is a copywriter and music journalist (at Sydsvenskan) who has interviewed Per several times over the years, says that the book should probably arrive next year (spring of 2007?). Sven has also written several sleeve notes for Roxette. Anna Tillman, PR and information manager at publisher Albert Bonniers, says “For now we’re aiming for the Swedish market, but of course this is the kind of book we’re bringing to the book fairs in Frankfurt and London.” She continues “It’s an authorized biography. Everyone’s involved. Per Gessle has given us full access to his archives so we have a lot of material. It’s fun with artists that have documented so much over the years.” What to be expected? We do not know, but we like the article written by Adela Toplean in her blog. Read it!

Meanwhile, the tracklist of the upcoming RoxBox was revealed today and TDR received a maelstrom of mostly negative comments that have been answered by Per Gessle himself. The box includes two new songs (One Wish and Reveal) and some demos.

The Norwegian band CC Cowboys released this week their seventh album "Evig Liv". The album was recorded and produced by Christoffer Lundquist at AGM Studios.

LJdM

Dear Daily Roxers, hope all is well in the real world!

I’ve noticed, reading on my own and thru various mails, that some of you are unhappy, furious, hurt, suicidal and even displaying a very unpleasant attitude regarding the upcoming Roxette releases.

Roxette has been around for 20 years, this particular year we have decided to release 1 compilation album with our biggest hits + 1 box set which should give a more complete picture of the band and our ambitions. All for a wide audience of old + new fans and people who perhaps didn’t even know they were fans…

We have recorded 2 new tracks which we feel are up to the same standard as our best material. As well as these new ones the box will include 14 tracks that most folks living on this planet aren’t that familiar with. And they’re pretty good too. Yea, that’s about it. No, I forgot the extended version of MTV Unplugged recordings which will also be included in this mighty box.

It has never been our intention to have a box-release leaning heavily towards demos, remixes, song sketches or live material. Like I mentioned before the idea with this particular item is to present the big picture of what Roxette is all about. We don’t want that flow of quality productions to be interrupted by 7-minute remixes or lukewarm demos. Quality over exclusivity has always been our choice.

By the way, talking about demos: Most artists (that I know of anyway) don’t release demos at all. Just so you know, the demo is made by the writer or the artist to try out the song, to find out for oneself what it’s all about. It’s not necessarily meant to be heard by the public. It’s work in progress. Some of you seem to think that these, often primitive, recordings or rough sketches are made for your ears. They are not. They are made for ours. You can’t take for granted that the demoversion of every Roxette-song you like has to be released. That won’t happen.

So…I really can’t understand the dissatisfaction among some of you. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it and certainly don’t buy it! Marie and I have to be the prime judges of our own music, our own lyrics and our own productions. That won’t change. It’s a beautiful day out there. Enjoy it.

Per Gessle

The son of a plumber writes a book about plumber’s son. More exactly, Per Håkan Gessle - from Roxette, from Gyllene Tider, from Mazarin, from Halmstad - writes a book about himself.
With a little help from Sven Lindström (I’ve read he’s a copywriter), he will do what every Q.I.P. (Quite Important Person) does at least once in his or her life: gather together the facts that made him look, stand and live the way he does it now. A typical success-story, that is. Which is always interesting to read for a few fans, but always boring for the general public. Why? Because the facts are always the same: these people tried and, to their own surprise, these people succeeded; so everything's the same, in spite of the different musical styles, different chart positions and different locations – be it Gainesville, Florida, be it Goldenburg, Germany, be it Halmstad, Sweden (no allusions, no comparisons to anything or anybody, I swear), the success story follows the same pattern.

What would make the difference between two or more success-stories in the end? Everything but the facts. Everything but those hallucinatorily exact dates that (I bet!) Gessle kept in his hundreds and thousands of drawers about when a certain line was written and how that line ended up in a hit, and how a potential hit ended up by being an actual hit and how America ended up by ignoring that hit and what time was it when he tried again and what time was it when he tried once again.

Since I'm a researcher (and that's nothing to be proud of), I know that, from a point on, the facts are, however, of very little help; even within a juicy area like anthropology.

This would a fortiori apply to situations in which the facts lead to a more than obvious point– i.e. fame, success, money – that is, in Gessle’s case, stark and clear even before opening the book; in my humble opinion, the predictable (and often well-known) facts should be mentioned in a (auto)biography only for justifying more subtle stakes. In short, in order to make a difference, a story needs reasons. Reasons that are completely unknown by the general public or average fan.

For instance, I’m almost sure I won’t get to find out - from Gessle’s autobiography, I mean - why did he actually decide to talk about his destiny really THAT early? Why all this excessive haste? Why couldn’t he wait for a few more chapters in his life to be closed? Another thing that is surely not to be found in his upcoming book: what exactly - from his personality or from his creed - makes him do unoriginal moves, why does he fail to be himself precisely when he struggles more to be himself (musically that is)? And so on and on.

The things supposed to make a difference in an (auto)biography, are, in fact, those that a human being like Gessle is not willing to share. And if he’d suddenly decide to be open (God forbid), he’ll end up backing up his book in precisely the same manner in which he upheld the Son of a Plumber album; namely, repeating over and over again– somehow in vain – a few sweet things about a little nerd who spent his childhood listening to the big brother’s vinyl collection… I expect you not to get me wrong, I love Son of a Plumber album, I think it's definitely his best album ever (and probably unrepeatable), but people failed to see any substantial connections between Jo-Anna, Havana and what it is like to be a son of a plumber in the 70’s... None would have guessed its personal imprint if Gessle himself wouldn't have mentioned it.

All in all, Gessle never succeeded in getting specific. This lack of specificity made him lose important credits among the listeners of the so-called "good music". And this might have been his very own goal after all. He never wanted to be himself, he always wanted to be “one of those” he admired. He's more a fan, a music-lover, not a creator; and so I always had to look for his originality in other places than those he pointed at. In other words, I had to retrieve him before starting listening to his music. I should praise myself for that.

I know he’s neither stupid nor totally unoriginal. But he simply read too many popstars trivia. He always wanted to be a legendary hero and, therefore, properly trivialized; that is, treated according to his musical hero status, originated in the old classic rock 'n roll league.
So, my humble conclusion is that he simply failed to put the differences between him and his idols to good use.

Taking into account his standards, I do hope his book will be “one of those” already written about his idols. Not better, not worse - just as he wants it. Taking into account my own standards (too much concerned with Serenus Zeitblom's concerns), I'm afraid his upcoming book will make no difference. Poor me, after all.

Adela Toplean - A_T_ blog

Plumbers around Europe (VIII): SOAP single and Junk book

Per Gessle has been visiting Holland and Germany this month as part of his “Son Of A Plumber” promotion tour through Europe. A new Son of a Plumber single, “I Like It Like That,” will be released in Sweden on May 24. The B-side is, as previously reported, the second installment of the series “Plumber in Progress.” Anyway, the new plans for Roxette do not help the SOAP project, that is going to be put on ice.

Other news: Christoffer Lundquist and Anders Mildner, from Junk Musik, are going to write a book about music.

LJdM

Promo is not become a routine, but in a way, every interview is like the other one. I remember the days that we were doing this every day for months and months – it’s not like that anymore, it’s fine. But it’s also an album – a project – that needs to be described, you have to sort of talk about it a bit and tell what’s behind it. If I could do a big talk show on TV, that would be easier.

All my life I’ve been ’accused’ of making commercial music. Though many people bought my records which received a lot of airplay, the press never was enthusiastic. Now a serious magazine like Rolling Stone gives nothing but praise. I can only laugh about that, since this is probably going to be my worst-selling record ever.

We’re gonna do some new Roxette stuff in the summer and so I think there won’t be any Son of a Plumber shows, because I have to work on the new Roxette. Don’t even know at this state if there will be a fourth single from the album. We might pass on that due to the upcoming Rox releases.

Per Gessle

It is the starting point of what will become a book. I have had this idea for some months now, but today was the first time that I met with Christoffer and talked about it (if you don’t count the time when I called him and asked ”Will you write a book with me?”) It’s going to be a book about audio: partly a guide how to record, partly a sound-philosophy. We have no idea how long time it will actually take to write this, but you will be able to follow the process and comment on our work & thoughts here at Junk.

Anders Mildner

Junk Musik

Anders as writer of a book you could maybe have seen coming, but Christoffer… Hurray for you two! I will read it, promise.

Jens Jansson - Junk Musik

May I ask why the previous poster is so sceptical about my ability to be a writer? Maybe, once the book is done, he (Jens) will read it and pick up a couple of useful things. And thank me accordingly for it.

Christoffer Lundquist - Junk Musik

Not at all sceptical. Just amazed. You’re a man of so many talents and sometimes I forget that. Your book will be a milestone, I feel it. Best of luck!

Jens Jansson - Junk Musik

Christoffer Lundquist - the renaissance man. Keep your eyes open for his premiere art exhibition!

David Birde - Junk Musik

Once you do a rock opera, all doors are open. You should feel that too

Anders Mildner

Junk Musik

My opinion on Christoffer the-yet-to-be-writer: apart from a very comfortable sense of humour, he has a very non-itchy flowing way of being, singing and producing. And he’s easy in manner. And free from tension. And I assure you there are no other more important qualities to be required from a writer of specialized books! As for the “l’homme-à-tout-faire”-issue, that’s just how creativity goes: no preferential direction, it strikes whatever way and when you expect the least…just like the Holly Spirit hahaha. So good for you guys, I’m sure the book will be not only useful, but enjoyable as well…Who knows, maybe the Swedish Academy will be amazed by your revolutionary approach of sound and you’ll get a Nobel for literature; or for physics at least.

Adela Toplean - A_T_ blog

P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (V): SOAP success in Sweden and TV time

P, C & C go straight to #1 on the Swedish album chart with his Son of a Plumber project beating Madonna! The new album already sold platinum (60,000 copies) in Sweden the first day.

On November 27th, 2005, Per Gessle was interviewed at TV Huset. The band also play (not live) the song Jo-Anna says, with Clarence Öfwerman, Helena Josefsson, Jens Jansson and Magnus Börjeson. We missed Christoffer Lundquist, but he was working at AGM studio.

Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson (Roxette) were on a stage at the Dorchester Hotel in London last 29th November 2005 to receive two BMI awards for “Listen to Your Heart” which has been played 2 million times (and is also the “Dance Song of the Year”) and “It Must Have Been Love” which has been played over 4 million times on US radio.

Per Gessle and his Son of a Plumber project were guests at TV4’s Nyhetsmorgon this morning. Son of a Plumber performed “Hey Mr DJ” live in an acoustic version and “I Have a Party in My Head” lipsynced.

Son of a Plumber has been nominated for a Grammis - Best Male Pop Artist. The Grammis gala will be held February 7. In our opinion, the great work of all the band (C&C, Helena, Jens, Magnus) is worth more than a solo momination.

We have read many comments about Son of a Plumber. For those who think that "Son of a Plumber" is not just another sideproject to keep Per Gessle busy, there is a new forum nicely moderated by ""The nice Kai", from Berlin" and others. Please, visit the SOAP forum.

By the way, we have read many comments about the role of Helena Josefsson, a big role that some fans of Roxette do not like at all. Three German girls created some time ago a good web dedicated tot he singer, http://www.helena-josefsson.com (Updated 2008: This web is deleted).

LJdM

Yesterday, New David vistited Malmö and met up with Metro Jets/Brainpool David (David Birde), nowadays often referred to as “Old David”. The two of them went to the gay club Tomboy, where Jens played with Monkeystrikes. Some hours later, Brainpool-Christoffer, Metro-Magnus and Helena from Sandy Mouche flew to Stockholm to play with Son of a Plumber on morning tv. Old & New David probably slept at that time. I sure did & missed all of it. But you can watch it on the web. Go here to watch.

Anders Mildner - Junk Musik

P, C & C have a party in their heads (II): Byrds, Troggs and other news about Gessle and AGM Studios

“I dag är det min födelsedag…” (“Today it’s my birthday…”) Per Gessle sang on “Mazarin” and while the song wasn’t written in January, it’s his birthday 46th today. Per also has promised The Daily Roxette a new project in 2005, so we await that eagerly. Is it going to be a new solo album? We’ll see! He has been working in the studio again with Christoffer Lundquist and Clarence Öfwerman.

According to TT Spektra, Per Gessle will be one of the interviewees in Swedish national television’s new series “Sixties.” He will be one of the artists telling about the 60s influences in his music, especially The Byrds and The Troggs.

Gyllene Tider received two Aftonbladet Rockbjörn awards for their outstanding performance in 2004. According to Expressen, Per paid 9,563,784 SEK (1,049,800 Euros) of taxes in 2003. With this figure he was the second biggest tax payer in Halmstad. The third single from Gyllene Tider's “Finn 5 Fel!” will be “Jag borde förstås vetat bättre" and the release date for the single will be February 2. The tracklist is still: 1. Jag borde förstås vetat bättre; 2. Speciell (T&A demo); 3. Tuffa Tider (T&A demo).

We have news from Metro Jets (Magnus Borjeson and David Birde). The last months they have been working in Brainpool's Rock Opera, Junk, but now they are working in a new album at Chris Lundquist's Aerosol Grey Machine Studio in Skäne.

Red light on! Studio? What studio? Rather than recording more of their brilliant material, Metro Jets spent last year playing comedy shows and rock opera. I´m not kidding you. This is a strange world (yeah, as if you didn´t know that already). Anyway. We have put an end to that now. We had to. Metro Jets are being driven to the studio as you read this. The studio is not even located in the city, so there is no way that they can get out without me picking them up. Car? What car? No car for you. Metro Jets next release will be out this spring.

LJdM

I listen to any kind of music. I do have a especially strong love for pop and rock music made roughly between 1965 and 1975. In that period there was so much amazing music made I can't believe it. The Beatles, The Who, Crosby,Stills and Nash, Joni Mitchell, Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, Dr.John, The Band, Genesis, Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, Simon and Garfunkel etc etc etc. This list could fill the whole page if I would continue...and all the soul music recorded in this period, the Motown stuff, Stax, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin...not to speak of country music from the same period: Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton. Fantastic music! But I listen to so much different music from any period including contemporary music and classical music. To tell you the truth I'm a totally single-minded music nerd. I'm really not interested in anything else. After a 12-14 hour working day in the studio I often wind down by - listening to music!

Christoffer Lundquist - AGM Studios

Mazarinerna is the band (VIII): Mazarinerna Fan Website

Fan page about Mazarinerna project

This page tells about the band, called Mazarinerna. They are the people who participated in recording Per Gessle's Swedish solo album 'Mazarin' and also played live with him during the Sommar Mazarin Turné 2003 (SMT).

The Tour:
The very tour began in Sweden on Tuesday, 29 July 2003 in Per's native town Halmstad and ended in Eskilstuna on Sunday, 27 August. Later it was decided to continue the tour and the band travelled to Oslo (23 September, Rockefeller club) and Helsinki (25 September, Tavastia club). The show in Copenhagen was cancelled. More than 175,000 people attended 15 live concerts. They also released live DVD 'En Mazarin, Älskling?' ('A cupcake, dear?') with the record of live show in Göteburg on Wednesday, 6 August 2003.

Per Gessle:
Born: 12 January, 1959. Don't think I should explain you who is Per Gessle. He'd written all the lyrics and all the music for all of 14 tracks to his solo album 'Mazarin'. During the tour, he was on lead vocals and played harmonica, electric and acoustic guitars.

Jonas Isacsson:
Born: 10 June, 1959. Electric guitar during the SMT. Has played electric guitar (almost all the lead parts and also backing and acoustic guitars) on all Roxette albums from the 'Pearls Of Passion' through to 'Room Service'. Featured in Roxette's MTV Unplugged appearance in 1993. It's him, who has written that guitar string in the very beginning of Roxette's song 'The look'. Released his solo album "Evergreen", which features only music, performed by Jonas on electric guitar.

Christoffer Lundquist:
Electric guitar, banjo and backing vocals. The album 'Mazarin' was recorded in his home studio in Skåne (South Sweden). Bass player in Brainpool (signed to Jimmy Fun) he plays with Roxette since 1999, including Room Service Tour 2001.

Jens Jansson:
Drums. Plays in Brainpool. First I saw Jens on some TV-rip playing with Per & Co. when Gessle was performing "I wanna be your boyfriend" cover at BingoLotto in 2001. Also performs with Magnus Sveningsson (from The Cardigans) in a project, called Righteous Boy.

Anders Herrlin:
Born: 17 September, 1961. Bass and backing vocals during the SMT. School friend of Micke "Syd" Andersson and bass player of Gyllene Tider. Went on to become Roxette bass player and has toured constantly with them. Worked closely with his old "partying" friend Marie Fredriksson on her solo album 'Den Standiga Resan'. Featured in Roxette MTV Unplugged apeparance in 1993. Programming genius.

Helena Josefsson:
Born: 23 March, 1978 in Kalmar. Her full name is Helena Marianne Josefsson. Backing vocals - and after hearing her singing live I should say it was damn brilliant! Amazing voice! She also played tambourine and harmonica. While watching the mentioned live DVD's documentaries, one can note, that Helena is left-handed. Helena also plays keyboards and sings in Sandy Mouche, which is produced by Christoffer Lundquist. It was him who's heard Helena's demos and suggested her singing with Per on his "Mazarin" album.

Clarence Öfwerman:
Born: 22 November, 1957. Keyboards and backing vocals during SMT. First produced Roxette's album 'Pearls Of Passion' and has been involved in every Roxette ablum since as producer and keyboards player. Featured in Roxette's MTV Unplugged performance in 1993. Responsible for most of Roxette's string arrangements. Plays in group Passagerarna who released a Gessle-Öfwerman song 'Never say goodbye'. Co-produced Roxette's 'Have A Nice Day' album.

Marie Fredriksson:
Born: 30 May, 1958. May be I shouldn't have written her name in here, but as she participated in recording 'På promenad genom stan' single, which was also included on 'Mazarin' album, she does have the right to be a part of this fantastic band! Though it's a pity she hasn't joined other musicians from the band on the stage, but Marie was like a VIP guest to view the premiere concert in Halmstad. Let's hope to see her in some live show on GT's upcoming tour 2004! :-)

Ilya Volkov
-(a.k.a. Kreecher)- Roxette House