Roxette - Look Sharp!
Morten Skjefte
som...@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog) writes:
>
> But it has to be put on his minus account that
> he has not been able to write those mindless nonsense lyrics in
> English which he did in Swedish with his first band. But not even
> Per Gessle can be perfect, and anyway, it's slicker this way.
> --
> Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - som...@enea.se
Erland,
Since Roxette ever hit it big here in the US I have been wondering
what Swedish band did Per Gessle play in previously? Was it
Gyllene Tider or Lustans Lakejer??? As far as I remember G.T was
pure hit music, while L.L. was more in the synth/new wave mode, so I
would guess that Gessle was in G.T. Am I right?
-morten (norwegianinexile)
David A. Pearlman
On a related note, Capitol (US) issued a 6 song EP by an older incarnation
of Roxette back in 1984. The songs were all written by Per Gessle, and
the arrangements were by Gyllene Tider. No female singer. The coulda-
beena-hit on the album was "Teaser Japanese".
dap
--
===============================================================================
David A. Pearlman
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. email: d...@vpharm.com
Erland Sommarskog
>Since Roxette ever hit it big here in the US I have been wondering
>what Swedish band did Per Gessle play in previously? Was it
>Gyllene Tider or Lustans Lakejer??? As far as I remember G.T was
>pure hit music, while L.L. was more in the synth/new wave mode, so I
>would guess that Gessle was in G.T. Am I right?
This posting made me burst out in laughter. Per Gessle in
Lustans Lakejer, what a joke!
Gyllene and Lustan appeared around the same time. There is a
similarity between their debut albums, in the sense that both
make you laugh, but of different reasons. Gyllene Tider's
debut album was a very good rock album with some lyrics
that were intentionally stupid. (And actually some quite
serious ones too. If I translated and "Billy" and posted
it, you wouldn't believe that it was Gessle.) Simply good
rock'n'roll with the tongue in cheek.
Lustans Lakejer seemed awfully serious. Only 17 years old,
their lead singer Johan Kinde sang lyrics from a decadent
over-class life which he couldn't have had much experience
of. (Or...?) Here you also smile because its stupid, but the
stupidity is not intentional.
I never checked out any other albums with Lustan, but I
recall that there was an interview in a sort-of-trying-to-
be-alternative music magazine, Schlager, which I subscribed
to at the time with Johan Kinde. The interview was five
pages long which was quite an over-exposure.
I'm not really sure, but I believe that there was one good
thing which originated from Lustans Lakejer, and that was
Stranded, a record label which was not fully commercial,
but neither related to the left-wing labels. Stranded did
only exist for some years, but quite some records came out
on that label, although Lustans Lakejer was hardly none of
them.
Note: Gyllene Tider = Golden Times
Lustans Lakejer = The Lackeys of Lust
I believe that Lustans Lakejer has recorded in English as
Vanity Fair.
Erland Sommarskog
>On a related note, Capitol (US) issued a 6 song EP by an older incarnation
>of Roxette back in 1984. The songs were all written by Per Gessle, and
>the arrangements were by Gyllene Tider. No female singer. The coulda-
>beena-hit on the album was "Teaser Japanese".
Actually, that *was* Gyllene Tider. I guess that they used the name
Roxette, since Gyllene Tider gives some problems for the dear Americans
to pronounce.
I don't know which songs which were on this EP - of course, never
heard of it before - but "Teaser Japanese" was on their fourth
and last album "Heartland Cafe", and their only effort in English.
"Heartland Cafe" was quite a disappointment. "Teaser Japanese" is
quite good, although I would like to hear a version which have been
blended with Arthur Brown's "I'm the God of Hell Fire". ("And boy -
you gonna get *burned*.") But the rest is very lame.
Gyllene had quite much of a teenage audience, and that shows in
the lyrics on the first three albums. But I think as they got
older (Gessle was 20 already when they made their breakthrough),
they wanted to make more "adult" music, and "Heartland Cafe" was
such an attempt. Already the predeseccor, "Puls", showed this
direction, but also had typical teenage-directed songs as the
big smash hit "Sommartider" (Eng. "Summer Times"). But the result
of this attempt was a failure, and I don't think "Heartland Cafe"
never sold very well.
By the way, there are female vocals on "Heartland Cafe". Anne-Lie
Ryde' sings lead vocals on one song, and then no one else but
Marie Fredriksson is there on background vocals on three songs.
More by the way, at least two members from Gyllene Tider was involved
with "Look Sharp!". Mats M P Person who has co-written two of the
songs with Gessle was lead guitarist in Gyllene, and Anders Herrlin
who was one of the producers played bass in Gyllene.
David A. Pearlman
>David A. Pearlman (d...@predator.vpharm.com) writes:
>>On a related note, Capitol (US) issued a 6 song EP by an older incarnation
>>of Roxette back in 1984. The songs were all written by Per Gessle, and
>>the arrangements were by Gyllene Tider. No female singer. The coulda-
>>beena-hit on the album was "Teaser Japanese".
>
>Actually, that *was* Gyllene Tider. I guess that they used the name
>Roxette, since Gyllene Tider gives some problems for the dear Americans
>to pronounce.
>
>I don't know which songs which were on this EP - of course, never
>heard of it before - but "Teaser Japanese" was on their fourth
>and last album "Heartland Cafe", and their only effort in English.
Yeah, I knew there was some weirdness with the name in the US vs. the name
in their homeland, but thanks to Erland for setting the record straight.
Here's the track listing for the 6-song EP:
Teaser Japaness
Run Run Run
Break Another Heart
Dreaming
When Love's on the Phone (You Just Have to Answer)
Another Place, Another Time.
The name of the EP is "Heartland". (I guess the pruned songs were the "Cafe"
part :-) ).
r...@and.cs.liv.ac.uk
d...@predator.vpharm.com (David A. Pearlman) writes:
>
> On a related note, Capitol (US) issued a 6 song EP by an older incarnation
> of Roxette back in 1984. The songs were all written by Per Gessle, and
> the arrangements were by Gyllene Tider. No female singer. The coulda-
> beena-hit on the album was "Teaser Japanese".
Are you talking abou "Pearls Of Passion" ? Latest rumour is that this is to
be re-released on "budget price" (9 pounds = 16 dollars = NOT budget price !)
CD here in the UK later this year (no firm date yet).
BTW, am I the only one who thinks that "Look Sharp !" is excellent pop and
the follow-up "Joyride" album absolutely stinks ? That title track with its
naff whistling and even naffer video was a travesty...
Richard K. Lloyd, **** This is a MicroVAX II running VAX/VMS V5.4 ****
Computer Science Dept., JANET : r...@uk.ac.liv.cs.and
Liverpool University, Internet : rkl%and.cs.l...@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Merseyside, England, UUCP : ..!mcsun!ukc!liv-cs!rkl
Great Britain. Q: "What's the world's fastest home micro ?"
L69 3BX A: "The Archimedes A3000. 4 MIPS for under 800 pounds."
Erland Sommarskog
>Here's the track listing for the 6-song EP:
>
>Teaser Japaness
>Run Run Run
>Break Another Heart
>Dreaming
>When Love's on the Phone (You Just Have to Answer)
>Another Place, Another Time.
Yes, all songs are from the album "The Heartland Cafe".
Looking closer at the cover art I made an interesting discovery,
though. On the record label there is an dancing couple in tuxedo
and long dress. On the back of cover, just at the bottom the
same picture appears very minimized in a little rectangle, and
here, below the couple the word ROXETTE appears.
Also, looking at the label I noticed that the songs are copyrighted
by Inhouse Music and Music For Money. No hypocrisy there!
Erland Sommarskog
)David A. Pearlman (d...@predator.vpharm.com) writes:
)) On a related note, Capitol (US) issued a 6 song EP by an older incarnation
)) of Roxette back in 1984. The songs were all written by Per Gessle, and
)) the arrangements were by Gyllene Tider. No female singer. The coulda-
)) beena-hit on the album was "Teaser Japanese".
)
)Are you talking abou "Pearls Of Passion" ? Latest rumour is that this is to
)be re-released on "budget price" (9 pounds = 16 dollars = NOT budget price !)
)CD here in the UK later this year (no firm date yet).
No, DAP is not talking of "Pearls of Passion" which is Roxette's
first album. DAP is talking of "The Heartland Cafe" which was the
last album of Per Gessle's first group Gyllene Tider. Apparently
this EP was released under the name of Roxette in the US.
By the way, I forgot to mention. On DAP's EP all three songs
with Marie Fredriksson on background vocals are featured:
"Run, Run, Run", "Break Another Heart" and "Another Place,
Another Time".