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Roxette remasters reviewed

Written by tevensso on September 25, 2009 to , , and .

LJUSDAL (Updated) - 090909 the Beatles remasters were released (by EMI), both in stereo and in mono, now EMI is releasing Roxette's entire (well…) album catalog remastered, albeit only in stereo… "The Rox Archives." Which is more anticipated I cannot say, but from what I can gather both the Beatles's and Roxette's albums are released in this new "eco friendly" packaging. Which is a fancier name for a high gloss gatefold paper sleeve. The albums look very spiffy, with a collection name on the former jewel case spine; "ROX ARCHIVES VOL. X. FILE UNDER POP" written in the style of an old plastic strip type labeler - all labels of the releases follow this pattern. All the albums have the same back sleeve. Do the albums come with a booklet? Yes they do, and they are indeed redone, however, they are not better, in fact they are very plain with just the lyrics and the odd photo. These are not collector's items as Per stated, and mind you they are also not priced as new releases. So, to recap: very very nice looking sleeves, quite disappointing booklets. But the music, you ask? Hey, I'm getting there!

First, let me present to you some graphs of "Neverending Love." The top one is the 1986 release, the middle is from 1997 and the bottom is the new 2009 release. As you can see the sound has gotten more compact for every release. But is this a good thing? There's no right answer to that question, some songs are better more compressed and some aren't. In my opinion, pop music generally doesn't suffer from this, as long is it's not overly compressed and/or distorted. What gets lost is the dynamic range.
We're using "Neverending Love" as an example here and the song is much much louder on the new release, but I feel that the song sounds better than before so it's not just louder.

The sound of these albums is nothing short of amazing! The bass punches like it hasn't done before, the highs are crisp like a razor, and like I said - pop music doesn't usually suffer from this kind of compression. There's much more presence in the songs, I feel almost like I'm in the studio at times. The sound of first and foremost "Look Sharp!" and "Joyride" is truly great, the sound of these albums was very dated. Now they both feel like they were more or less recorded in 2009. "Pearls of Passion" was already remastered once, but gets the treatment again, with good results. "Tourism" sounds as perfect as the other albums, especially the studio tracks, but also the live material. Two tracks that sound extra excellent are the country version of "It Must Have Been Love"and the live version of "Things Will Never Be the Same."

"Crash! Boom! Bang!" is my favorite Rox album and the remaster does not disappoint. "Crashing Guitars" is even more crashing, and "What's She Like?" sounds better than ever. "Honey butt, keep your big mouth shut!" "Love is All" is magical, sounds more like a hymn than ever before… Over to newer albums!"Have a Nice Day" and "Room Service" both sound better than their older counterparts, but not that much better. Obviously this is because by 1999 people had learned how to make CDs sound as nice as vinyl records. As far as I can tell none of these CDs are encoded in HDCD format.

By the way, "Soul Deep" on "Joyride" is so much better than the original boring version, but the best version of all is on the B-side of "Church of Your Heart".

Too bad EMI feels that the majority of the bonus tracks should be available as digital downloads only. There are many among them that I personally would have liked on CD, and not on a semi-decent 256 Kbit AAC-file (iTunes). According to Per there were talks about a box with all albums and a bonus CD with all the bonus tracks, but the plans were scrapped.

What else can I tell you? The "Joyride" inner sleeve is actually like the original, scrapped, gatefold sleeve with the picture now where it was supposed to be, while the "Tourism" sleeve suffers from the small format and the generic back side. "Pearls of Passion" is no longer dubbed "The First Album" and "Look Sharp!" has the original LP sleeve with "A collection of 12 songs…" instead of the CD sleeve with "…13  songs…"

In conclusion, these releases are what every Rox fan needs to own if you like Roxette's music and have a decent stereo system. The albums sound terrific in headphones. 

I have not heard the iTunes material so I cannot review that.

One last tip: don't eat cheez balls while handling the new sleeves…

Update: Erik Broheden at Masters of Audio (former Polar Mastering) has remastered the albums.

104 comments

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

Great stuff Thomas! Always good to read reviews... Really really can’t wait for these CD’s to be on my CD player!!!

CRIZ said on :

Thanx for this review....makes appetite to buy....against my plan not to do it. :)

chrisjankunas said on :

I also love the Tom Lord Alge remix of Soul Deep! And really looking forward to the country version of IMHBL and Love Is All! Good review, ha ha! Duly noted in regard to cheese puff balls! =p

BTW I think it’s really funny that Almost Unreal is on C!B!B! but they opted not to stick IMHBL on Look Sharp! I guess because AU was on the Japanese version of C!B!B! ?

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

I think it’s odd about IMHBL, but what you gonna do? I have it already on single, DBU, Ballad Hits, Balladas, Rox 20, Tourism, PoP... So I think thats enough! lol

chrisjankunas said on :

I don’t know... would have been nice to see it on a studio album, ha ha ha! =p

ncurran said on :

Yeah I think they should have included IMHBL on Look Sharp. Its probably the song they are most remembered for. Not a big deal though. Anyway, I caved in and ordered all the albums from CDON.com this morning. Was planning to wait for them to be released in the UK and order them from amazon, but since I don’t see that happening anytime soon I thought I would just bite the bullet and get them from sweden. Not really interested in downloading the mp3s, which is all that seems to be available to order in the UK....I want the CDs in my hands!

Oh and I noticed after I placed the order that I ordered 2 copies of room service by a mistake, so if anyone wants the extra one?!

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

Same here Neil. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to walk into HMV and pick them up from there :-( Just typical!!!

SouthernBeatBox said on :

A-W-E-S-O-M-E-!!!!!!!!! I’m hoping Best Buy will carry these ’remasters’....and, definitely looking forward to the ’Crash! Boom! Bang!” album co’s it is also my fav album of Roxette’s....’Love Is All’ is colossal and I bet it’s going to sound f$@’in superb as it already had when I first heard it. It’s too bad they couldn’t come out with an album with all the singles from the numerous greatest hits albums...Like ’Breathe’, ’ATAY’, ’Little Miss Sorrow’, ’June Afternoon’ etc...basically, in the likes of Oasis’s Masterplan LP......Breathe would sound amazing....not that it doesn’t already....Cheers and appreciate the review/update!

roxlad said on :

Well I have the iTunes versions and they sound pretty good! “Hotblooded” kicks ass! The sleeves look better too. LS! has the ’13’ track sleeve and POP is labeled as the 1st album.... just in case anybody is interested.

Jud (moderator) said on :

great review! :) Can’t wait to have them in my hand and.. PLAY!!!!!
___________________________
Marie Fredriksson Online
Be strong, speak true

roxlad said on :

Listening to Room Service now... it’s like another album! Worth the money!

the big D. said on :

Can’t wait buying them!

Especially look sharp and joyride! Tev, thanks once again!

coyboyusa said on :

perhaps its just me but I really think they should have remastered baladas with the spanish tracks recorded for HAND..just it seemes the collection is incomplete without it. I’m still debating buying any of these...i dunno maybe cause I’m tired of buying the same stuff over n over again.

so say we all

Bananylopalabomba said on :

Thank you very much for the review. I just don‘t get, the new booklets does not contains the fotos from the original booklets ? Only lyrics ?
tevensso, couldn‘t you, please, take and show us more fotos from this releases ? Especially interesting booklets. Thank you.

tevensso (moderator) said on :

You are correct, there are no, or very few, photos in the booklets, just lyrics.

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

Don’t really mind about the booklets to be honest. I know the words backwards, and if I want to see pictures of Rox I’ll look on the internet! ha ha I’m getting them for the music...

rossyrox said on :

Amazon.co.uk have them listed as 6th October in the UK

ncurran said on :

Where did you see that? As far as I can see the mp3 albums are available to download from tomorrow, but there is no release dates listed for the CDs
Here’s Joyride for example:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joyride-Roxette/dp/B002N57W9M/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8...

ncurran said on :

Actually, you’re right. I can see a release date on the listing.....but there is something fishy about it. You can normally pre-order stuff weeks in advance, but for these it only says you can sign up to be notified when it becomes available. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was nowhere near 6th Oct

RobS said on :

Thanks for the review. Sounds like I might just end up getting the whole collection seeing it seems to be so good, and cheap.

It’s dissappointing to see the compression on the new tracks (can’t say i’m surprised or wasn’t expecting it though). But so long as they sound good I should be happy.

Not really worried about the booklets - this release was supposed to be about the music. So long as that is good, that’s all that should matter.

No word of any release here in Australia BTW.

ncurran said on :

Weirdly, HMV now has them listed as in stock, with a release date of tomorrow. I’ve already ordered them from Sweden though. They’re cheaper from HMV as well, with free delivery :(

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

I can’t find the CD’s on HMV!!! Am I being stupid or what?!?! The HMV warehouse is in Guernsey so they’d come tomorrow or Tuesday if I order them today!!! :-)

Galning said on :

To be true: I never heard a different sound when I listened to something re-mastered. OK, maybe at very old records like the Beatles it makes sence. But I never heard a different sound from the Gyllene Tider CD´s from 1990 and 2000.

Maybe my CD-Player and the speakers on it aren´t good enough to hear the differenz...

Therefore I won´t buy it...

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

When you select ’Buy the CD’ it takes you to the original release. I tried HAND and it said released in 1999. How irritating!!! Looks like I’m gonna have to order from Sweden and pay the extra shipping costs... :-(

ncurran said on :

Yeah you’re right. Very bizarre....and a con if they do end up shipping left over copies of the original when you have clicked on the remastered version. I wouldnt have even noticed that if you didnt point it out, so lucky I had already ordered them

ncurran said on :

I quite like the cover designs, even if the booklets are a bit basic

rossyrox said on :

I won’t be ordering from Amazon ever again after they took a week to deliver my Pre-order of the new Halo game, thanks for the HMV advice!

TheRain1981 said on :

Who mastered these?

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

To UK Fans: I’ve yet to find ANY UK based online retailers stocking the actual CD’s of these remasters. Of course, you can download the digital versions but, if you’re like me, and want the CD you’re gonna have to order from overseas. Just typical!!

Read my above comment re HMV. Be careful!

tevensso (moderator) said on :

I haven’t been able to find out yet, but Clarence hasn’t been involved more than listening to the results.

Bananylopalabomba said on :

Just ordered all the CDs from Bengans with no problem. Thank God they delivers to Russia.
Let those CDs will be in my collection ;) Design is so cool!

chrisjankunas said on :

Well, the albums are out in the UK on iTunes - but as with the other European releases, there is no sign of “Tourism” or “Have A Nice Day”. Anybody know why they don’t seem to have materialized???

BTW as for the 10 tracks I’ve downloaded (Some of the bonus songs), they’re sounding pretty decent - especially Come Back (Demo), Listen (US Mix) and Better Off On Her Own. I even downloaded Love Is All and it’s just excellent - even in just a 256kpbs file !! Can’t wait for my cds to arrive!!!!

seba said on :

Taking a look to the graph I can see that there’s some clipping to the waveform...This “Loudness war” is useless.

ChrisWilliams said on :

I appreciate it is very unfashionable to go against the crowd, but I’m feeling rather let down by these releases. Roxette have 1 megahit in IMHBL and, on top of that, a handful of “saleable” hits, so they deserve decent treatment when it comes to their back catalogue.

It’s all very well saying that these CDs are “about the music”, but I shouldn’t imagine much care has been put into the mastering. If EMI was interested, they would have asked Clarence to get involved, which I don’t believe is the case. If it’s solely about the music, then a lossless download is all we need - Why bother with packaging if it is supposedly designed to be substandard?

As Per and Marie license the songs to EMI (via Jimmy Fun/Shock The Music, etc), they will have given the OK to these releases, so I guess they too are losing motivation for taking care of the Roxette catalogue. Quite unlike ’The World According To Gessle’, which is a very good re-release indeed :-)

I would have loved to have seen a smart set of Roxette CDs back on the shelves of HMV :-(

muc_ben said on :

Well as someone posted above or somewhere else, I also would welcome a remastered edition of “Baladas en Español” with the 3 spanish versions of 1999 included. And further more I’d love to see a release of the spanish version of “You don’t understand me”. Maybe Marie & Per could also do a handful of new translations and versions of ballads of the past 8 years.

So a new edition of “Baladas en Español” could look like this (in my imagination):

Baladas en Español – Nuevo Edición

1. Un dia sin ti (Spending my time)
2. Crash! Boom! Bang! (Crash! Boom! Bang!)
3. Directamente a ti (Run to you)
4. No se si es amor (It must have been love)
5. Cuanto lo siento (I’m sorry)
6. Timida (Vulnerable)
7. Habla el corazon (Listen to your heart)
8. Como la lluvia en el cristal (Watercolours in the rain)
9. Soy una mujer (Fading like a flower)
10. Quiero ser como tu (I don’t want to get hurt)
11. Una reina va detras de un rey (Queen of rain)
12. El dia del amor (Perfect day)

Bonus:
13. Liberame amor (You don’t understand me)
14. Quisiera volar (Wish I could fly)
15. Alguien (Anyone)
16. Lo siento (Salvation)
17. Leche y pan tostado y miel (Milk and toast and honey)
18. Un poco de ti (A thing about you)
19. Abrir (Reveal)

As I don’t speak spanish I just looked up the translations for tracks 17-19 from the dictionary. And I’m also not quite sure if “Liberame amor” is the spanish version of “You don’t ...”. But someone on this site previously guessed this title could equate with “You don’t...”.

So don’t take this post too seriously. Just a modest wish ;o)

P.S.: I really welcome the 7 remastered Rox-CD’s, but as many others I don’t like the idea of releasing a few songs just via Internet as download. I’m not a fan of download music at all. I wanna buy them all on CD and listen to them in CD quality.

alexandru. said on :

Hello out there

@muc_ben nice post, and yes I am big fan of Baladas en espanol. So, where is Baladas en espanol?

Sascha said on :

Wow, we started with 35 positive comments! Quite seldom. ;-)

To Chris Williams:
- As far as I know Clarence was never involved in mastering. That step comes after mixing and was mostly done by George Marino at Sterling Sound in NY.
- EMI owns the master tapes/recordings up to DBU-GTTC. Only after that Per & Marie established their own labels. Fundamental/Elevator, Roxette Recordings and Marie Jane. So they have only limited control over the older recordings. Jimmy Fun/Shock are just publishers of compostion/lyrics and control funds of that.
- What does IMHBL have to do with this? It doesn’t belong to any of the albums, was a one-off. AU was recorded for CBB.

While I’d prefer big extended booklets as well, I understand the rest of the packaging is very nice. :-)

ChrisWilliams said on :

Thanks for a constructive response. I feel that having Clarence involved in the mastering might have further ensured that the remasters remain true to the original recordings; This wouldn’t usually concern me, but seeing as these releases are meant to be “about the music”..! :-D

It is possible to release albums that have remastered sound... But they can also look stunning; have informative booklets and can attract a new audience - Just as the Beatles remasters have this month. And while one perhaps shouldn’t compare Roxette’s albums with the Beatles’, releasing a complete package is commonplace these days - Look no further than Marie’s box set. :-)

These CDs are aimed at the general public (and not the few contributors to TDR) - And the general public thinks “Roxette = IMHBL”. So yeah, it’s odd that song doesn’t make an appearance, but that ship has sailed.

I am gutted, give me a hug :-D

RobS said on :

For any Aussie’s still waiting for a local release, I received this replyl back from Chaos.com:
The 2009 remastered Roxette albums are expected to be available to order late next week. These are import titles and the Australian record company are currently waiting for permission to make them available in this country.

“Waiting permission” sounds abit odd? Permission from who? but at least they will be available, so i’ll wait it out. So long as the prices aren’t overly expensive.

ChrisWilliams said: ”...so I guess they too are losing motivation for taking care of the Roxette catalogue. Quite unlike ’TWATG’, which is a very good re-release indeed”

That makes no sense to me. Per would have been involved with both releases. Why would he ensure that the Gessle release is better than the Roxette one, apart from the fact that the Rox release will sell 100x better than TWATG only because of the name alone.

Also, the TWATG release, to me atleast, was very much for the fans with the tracks on the bonus disc. The only reason most fans would want these discs is for the remastered tracks. With that said, if there was a lossless download available, i’d be quite happy with that and not buy the discs.

Jud (moderator) said on :

we heard from EMI Spain that they will be released in Spain too, end of October.
But no, I don’t need the baladas remastered :D Even though Marie’s voice is TOP, it really hurts to listen to this album.. it’s then that I wish I didn’T understand Spanish!
___________________________
Marie Fredriksson Online
Be strong, speak true

P_Gessle (popstar) said on :

Of course we have been involved in the re-mastering of all the Roxette albums! Clarence spent a week on this! Where do all these strange ideas come from????? And same goes, of course, with the packaging and everything else. We’re still working as close as possible with the EMI Stockholm office since we’re still EMI artists. There is supposed to be a “high-light-feed” at iTunes all over Europe pretty soon for your info. Whatever that means.

Humbly yours, P.

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

@Mr G - Unfortunately, some fans think they know all... :-)

Roxerally said on :

Is that really you Per?

roxeteer (moderator) said on :

Yes, it really is Mr. G himself.

chrisjankunas said on :

LMAO at the “popstar” in brackets besides Per’s username, How funny! Just in case people didn’t know! And I’m sure I’m not the only one detecting a bit of sarcasm in Ally’s words? Heh heh heh ;)

alexandru. said on :

Dear Per,

How about the Baladas en espanol?

Jud (moderator) said on :

so what now? Was Clarence involved or not :D

and yes, it’s Per, we have clarified this already the first time the user was used :)
___________________________
Marie Fredriksson Online
Be strong, speak true

tevensso (moderator) said on :

Apparently he didn’t remaster the tracks, but he listened to them and gave pointers.

RobS said on :

So still no word on who actually did the remastering then...

Hehe @ popstar :-P

Just on a side note, I wonder when the music world is going to go back to making songs that aren’t all clipped and compressed.

Roxerally said on :

@roxeteer I was joking, I know it was Per it was a bit of a Twitter joke between me, Paul and Mr G... who was going to be the first to ask if it was Per! ;) I was having a ’I’m in a really funny mood today’ day or rather this afternoon day... :)

CoyRoy said on :

Can someone help me... LOL
Where do I go to download those digital releases of the re-masters? I mean, the songs that didn’t make it on the cd. I would LOVE to have a decent version of the US Mix of Listen To Your Heart....

tevensso (moderator) said on :

iTunes.

ChrisWilliams said on :

“Apparently he didn’t remaster the tracks, but he listened to them and gave pointers.”

In terms of audio, that’s all I hoped for! Nice.

ogeid said on :

@muc_ben : You’ve just revealed the reason why some people still like the BEE album: they don’t understand Spanish.

By the way, some of the titles you translated into Spanish look as if they had been translated by Mr Escobar/Escolar himself: they have nothing to do with the original titles!

you don’t understand me : tu no me comprendes (this one even fits the metrics when singing the song)
reveal : revelar / revelo

liberame amor : love, set me free
abrir : open

Hope Mr G keeps his promise of never recording in Spanish again (or at least, never with Luis “Puedomatartusletras” Escobar).

Love & Peace

roxtexanet said on :

Well, it looks like most of the remastered albums are also available on iTunes Canada, starting today. No sign of the physical releases, and no sign of either “Have a Nice Day” or “Room Service.” Random! But as of yesterday, only “Look Sharp!,” “Joyride,” “Tourism,” “The Balland Hits” and “Rox20” were available, so this is an improvement!

Roxette-atic said on :

Are these CDs out today?? I pre-ordered them from Ginza, but it seems´they have not been sent to me yet... I was expecting them to arrive today....

Txiqui said on :

The sound of Crash Boom Bang album is great!!!! I couldn’t resist and bought it this morning in i-tunes shop.
I love the guitars!! :)
I’m just willing to arrive home and be able to listen to the rest of the albums!
God What she like is AMAZING!!! I’ve allways loved this song but now ist just incredible!.
I don’t care if the booklet of the album is horrible or whatever, just take a listen to the album and forget about everything else, the sound is great! much much better than the first release.
I don’t know who was involved in the remastering but he did a really good job.

tevensso (moderator) said on :

The booklet isn’t horrible, just a little dry. :)

Kiwein1 said on :

Hmm..I strangely remember someone saying the booklets of the remasters to be extended as well. Where did I read it and when was it? I can’t remember..but I am sure I’ve read that somewhere. So..starting from this point the booklet thing is a bit disappointing.

But: The sound of the albums is really great and I can’t wait for them to arrive, especially Look Sharp! and Joyride. I already listened to (Do you get) Excited? (still wonder why this didn’t make a single, you could easily release it now with some changes here and there and it’s about 18 years old) and Things will never be the same (great, too!) and it really sounds brilliant.

——————————–
www.marie-fredriksson.com
www.planet-roxette.com

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

Hmmm, still no Rox-Remasters in the post this morning :-( I’m waiting to get the CD’s before listening. It’s proving difficult though, may have to download a couple of tracks from iTunes to pass the time....

RoxAnna1978 said on :

@Txiqui
Oh, yes-“What’s she like” is such an endlessly beautiful song-I like it even more that I did a few years ago!
Re to the booklets, packs and the whole stuff...-I also agree, because are they really that important?? ;-)
For me the main thing is the improvement of the sound and the feeling you get listening to the new versions-it’s awesome!!!

ettexor said on :

today, i have downloded “cinnamon street” (tourism 2009), whith Marie voice, from the site “Ibs.it” (is a legal download), the song is f a n t a s t i c!!!!!!!

coyboyusa said on :

does anyone know the best place to order the remasters that ships to the usa? usa amazon has them for 16.99 cheap for imports but still it’s the cost of a new release here..

so say we all

tevensso (moderator) said on :

www.cd-wow.com maybe?

Txiqui said on :

I haven’t seen the booklets as i just downloaded one of the albums from itunes but the sound is amazing, i just don’t care about the booklets or the sleeve (never cared really), although i hope to have them in my hands soon.... (It depends on spanish post office so i must be patient).

@RoxAnna1978 I have been the whole day listening to roxette!! this is crazy!!! i thought that i had grown up but it seems that i haven’t grown that much, i just cant get those tunes out of my head.

RoxAnna1978 said on :

I’ve downloaded “What’s she like” from i Tunes and it really sounds incredilble..For the whole album to buy I must wait a bit because they are not available in Austria yet :(
@Txiqui
I think it doesn’t have anything to do with growing out, because if you grow up with a certain kind of music, it just forms your acustic preference for the future and this remains for the rest of your life.

Rox-USA said on :

@coyboyusa: I pre-ordered from Tower.com. They’ve got them for $9 each, released on October 6. Orders over $25 have free shipping if you select the slowest shipping. That makes it just $63 for all 7 albums. Hope this helps.

joyrider said on :

WHAT’S SHE LIKE (2009) is really great — if you compared the song with e.g. a picture, it would show a color range form deep purple (the bass) to a goldish orange (Marie’s voice) and an icy light blue (the synthies). Very nice composing and timeless beautiful; strong and yet so fragile — def. a Roxette highlight!

pwbbounce (moderator) said on :

I caved! I downloaded What’s She Like?, Lies, Dance Away, Paint, Real Sugar, Surrender Live, Neverending Live and Things Will Never Be The Same.

All I can say is they’re brilliant. You can definately hear the difference on the older tracks. The bass on Paint is so good, Things Will ... sounds so much grander. That’s always been a fave for me, and it makes it so much better.

Like most people, What’s She Like? is another great transformation. During the instrumental part you can hear instruments much more clearer (acoustic guitar etc) and it just brings a whole new depth to the song.

Real Sugar is good, but you can’t really notice much difference for me. More bass during the chorus perhaps, and Marie’s vocals don’t sound quite as ’screachy’ (for want of a better word) as the original release.

i’m being strict, and NOT downloading anymore now. I’ll eagerly await for my CD’s to come...

CoyRoy said on :

is there some other store I can download the songs legally from?? Seems we here in South Africa aren’t allowed to buy from Itunes....

Roxette-atic said on :

Just got he cds with the mail: LOVE THEM:D. The sound is fantastic! Hotblooded sounds amazing!

gloubibou said on :

Amazon.de just shipped my CDs via DHL.

RobS said on :

pwbbounce said: “All I can say is they’re brilliant. You can definately hear the difference ... and it makes it so much better.”

Everyone is talking about how good it is to hear these songs. Arrgh... I really wanna hear these now!

Just found Look Sharp! available as a download through bigpondmusic.com.au. But strangely nothing else.

Has anyone gone into a shop and walked out with all 7 albums?

Kerstin said on :

@RobS

No, I only found Look Sharp and Joyride in the shop today. But indeed, the sound is clear and fresh and louder ;-)

I hope you will get your copies soon :-)

kman said on :

Have you guys found the new 2009 cd:s in your local stores. It’s a shame that here in Finland the biggest cd seller store Anttila Top Ten has chosen not to have the cd:s for sale at their stores. Every 4th cd in Finland is bought from them. This is very bad for Roxette. Hopefully people here in Finland find the cd:s anyway, but I’m afraid they won’t sell thay many copies. Lets hope the situation is better else where. :)

ettexor said on :

for all roxette albums and singles download:

http://www.ibs.it/ser/serfat.asp?site=mp3&xy=roxette

by.

abysmo said on :

I’m really curious if will some remastered album chart in SverigeTopplistan Top 60. We will see, if not tommorrow then next Friday.
______________

RoxRoom.wz.cz

chandeosilva said on :

Roxette is an european band who make songs to european people.
People in Brazil only know Roxette cos the old songs... YOU NEVER REMEMBER US!...

No singles, no RoxBox, no All videos ever made and more (only The pop ballad videos with synchronization error), no bonus EP, no shows...

That’s a stupid thing to read on booklet to buy the RoxBox on that stupid another ever and ever forever GREATEST HITS...

_______________________________
亚历山大奥利维拉
巴西

juanber82 said on :

Hi! I’m Juan from Argentina, and I want to know if this roxette’s remastered albums will be available in Argentina to buy them.
I think it’s a shame that EMI worldwide don’t put attencion in the latest roxette material; honestly they didn’t do the best with the latest songs, but they still are Roxette and I think that they have a lot of potencial to make a great pop album again.

Best wishes to all Roxette fans around the world!!!

JotaM from Argentina

Kiwein1 said on :

Wow! Look Sharp! and Joyride arrived today and I really don’t find the right words to say what I feel!! Especially when it comes to The Voice. I always loved this song and now it sounds like Marie has recorded it again and ..well...yesterday?? This song sounds so fresh, so new, so nice. New bits and pieces here and there, they really could have put in on any album. The same goes for all the others b-sides that come with the albums and are remastered. The guys did a great job this time and although I really dislike the covers, the whole layout and booklet I just LOVE the music. After 18 years it feels something unknown of Roxette has been revealed to me. Can’t wait to listen to Tourism and CBB! (Haven’t ordered RS and HAND yet..)

——————————–
www.marie-fredriksson.com
www.planet-roxette.com

GGessle said on :

Hi if you have more information about buying the remasterd albums on tower.com, please let me know
I cant find the remasterd albums there. just the old ones
thank you so much... let me know to... [email protected]
Albert

TheRain1981 said on :

In the search box under the drop down menu of “Music” type in Roxette Pearls Of Passion. It should come up with a pre-order price of $8.99. Do the same for each Roxette album. They are showing up for me.

GGessle said on :

Thank you so much!! You must think i´m blind, but a few days ago, the remastered albums were not listed. After posting my question i realized they are listed now!!! ;) Thank you my friends. I´m from Peru but a friend of mine lives in the USA and will buy and bring me the albums!!! I´m so happy!!!
Take care and keep on roxing!!!

PartyCrashess said on :

Do these albums will be in any store? Or I have to buy them online only?

Kiwein1 said on :

What does “online” mean here? You mean online like iTunes (the file only) or online like Amazon (the whole CD)? ;-)

I just searched some iTunes store (different countries) and it seems hard to get hold of Tourism (2009) and Have a nice day (2009) AND Pearls of Passion (2009). I’d say you better order the “real” copies on Amazon or any other online shop like cdon.com..
——————————–
www.marie-fredriksson.com
www.planet-roxette.com

tevensso (moderator) said on :

According to Per iTunes is sloooooow, that’s the reason not all albums are up yet.

davidc4 said on :

wheres the best place to order the CDs from UK wise? i.e cheapest option incl. shipping?

Kiwein1 said on :

Oj, there’s really a typo on the Room Service CD: My world, my love, my live...

Funny, though..

——————————–
www.marie-fredriksson.com
www.planet-roxette.com

RobS said on :

Still no word from EMI OZ about a local release :-(

Sanity.com.au seems to think they are all discontinued and recommends ordering from Amazon!

chrisjankunas said on :

Tourism and Have A Nice Day 2009 Versions are finally released on iTunes Uk =) Been waiting for Paint [Live] =)

Raëlian said on :

I still don’t get the idea of getting a remastered album from iTunes (or any other digital format), when you know that kind of files are heavily compressed and have lost a great deal of quality. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Sascha said on :

Actually the quality of iTunes tracks (256 kbit AAC) is very good and you can’t hear a difference to a CD track. The player/headphone equipment makes a much bigger difference in sound!

TheRain1981 said on :

“I still don’t get the idea of getting a remastered album from iTunes (or any other digital format), when you know that kind of files are heavily compressed and have lost a great deal of quality. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

I completely agree. They should be made available in a lossless format somewhere else if they didn’t want to put them on the CDs. I’m tired of having exclusive digital, compressed format options for a number of exclusive tracks. This “digital only” bonus tracks idea is annoying. And I’m seeing it more and more often.

However, the idea is that, regardless of being compressed format, it is still going to sound much better than the original mastering of the past. I suppose that’s their logic behind it all, not that I agree with it. As for not being able to hear a difference between a CD and 256 kbps file, I disagree. The majority of people will not hear the difference. However, I, along with select others, can.

CoyRoy said on :

WOW!!!! What can I say!!! I received my cd’s today, and it’s immaculate!! The sound is to die for! Great job!! Dance Away ROCKS!!!!! There was a few nice surprizes with the cd pics of “Look Sharp! too - great!

I must stay - I live in South Africa and I waited only 2 for my cd’s to arrive from Bengans.se!! Great service!

TheRain1981 said on :

Still waiting for my CDs to be shipped from tower.com. Ugh.

CoyRoy said on :

I meant to say 2 weeks.
Great service from Bengans.

RobS said on :

Chaos.com. strangely has Joyride listed for sale, along with PoP except that PoP is “no longer available”. Strange that they can’t have them all available for sale.

I haven’t received a reply from EMI OZ, and most other outlets don’t have any idea about these releases.

Yup, you just gotta love EMI.

I think i’m just gonna get them all when the Gessle DVD is released.

TheRain1981 said on :

Still no sign of these from tower.com. Ugh. Such wonderful distribution! LOL. Hopefully, they will ship soon!

rossyrox said on :

Finally got my remasters, at 224k ripped to MP3 I can’t tell the bloody difference, what a total waste of money!

alcibiades said on :

I was really looking forward to these re-releases, but having read this review and listened to Joyride, I think I’m passing on them. Saying that “compression and loudness is not a problem for pop music” is a plain lie - and whoever tries to pass this either does not have a clue about what he’s talking about or trying to get someone to buy something which he knows is inferior.

I always treasured Joyride, not only for its phenomenal tunes, but also for its wonderful sound. In contrary to what some people claim, being made in the early 90’s is not a disadvantage, in fact Joyride had an absolutely wonderful dynamic mix which really offered a great sound, not only of the low bass and highs, but also midrange and drums sounded great.

Listening to the new mix I can hear the distortion plainly and this is not even the the mp3 version, I’m listening to the original uncompressed .wav files. Much of the dynamics has gone from a song like Hotblooded (perhaps the greatest Roxette song never to be released on single?), and the drums are more burried on Fading Like A Flower, on which the quiet and loud parts seem much closer to each other.

People get fooled by the fact that “louder sounds better” but fail to realize that you can reach louder simply by turning up the volume knob - however, you can’t recreate dynamics once it’s gone.

To further rub salt in the wound, the new packaging is bland (the booklets look extremely cheap inside!), EMI failed to sanction any rarities to the CDs that was not previously released as B-sides AND THEN re-released already on the Roxbox or the Pop Hits/Ballad Hits. Way to go. The collectors box with the bonus CD was also scrapped, so that we can only get half the bonuses as mp3 files (way to go - make a re-release to “improve quality” and then make it available only as mp3’s ... geez). As much as it pains me, I’ll go back to the store and exchange these for something else.

It could have been so great (imagine a full remaster series in 5.1 with a proper packaging and rarities addition) - instead we just got another run on the compression mill.

unreal said on :

hello @alcibiades. what you have said before sounds really interesting to me. i would like to make you a couple of questions regarding this issue, but cannot contact you by private message. here´s my email to get in touch with you . [email protected] regards.

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