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Why "The Ballad Hits" and "The Pop Hits" both suck

14 replies

s-czopek said on April 25, 2003 16:09:

I’m sorry but Roxette’s biggest mistake to date is currently happening : releasing another “full of missing tracks” set of compilations..!
No wonder those cds have trouble charting high and staying up in the charts : everybody’s got most of the tracks already...
The so-called “Bonus EP” on “TPH” is a joke.
They should have released a double CD called “The Complete Hits” compiling EVERY single from “Teaser Japanese” to “Opportunity Nox”.
THAT would have given their audience the feeling they were buying something slightly special instead of those two single cds (filled with copy protection but missing so many singles).
They look like they’re trying to ripp people off for the first time in their whole career and that’s probably why people are not rushing out to buy those albums. “The Ballad Hits” amazingly found its way to the Top 10 in most countries (thanks to Valentine’s Day in UK) but with “The Pop Hits”, the plan is wearing thin and the joke doesn’t seem to be funny anymore.
I know it’s a paradox to say that but I’m happy ’The Pop Hits” is not doing so well. It’s not a good cd and as such it doesn’t deserve to peak high in the charts.

harriej said on April 25, 2003 17:00:

Difficult point:
You are right when you say that it should have been better to release an album with all the missing singles instead of 2 albums with songs which everybody already has.
But I do not agree with you, if you say that TPH is not a good album; all of their good songs are on it. Saying this is not a good album almost means saying that you don’t like the roxette-music.

So, concluding:
The IDEA behind the release of TBH and TPH sucks!
But the cd’s themself do not suck!

dcantera said on April 25, 2003 18:28:

I´m a big fan but didn´t buy any of them. I think they should record a new album with all new songs

s-czopek said on April 25, 2003 22:22:

@ harriej :
Of course there good songs on “The Pop Hits”. It is filled with songs we’ve all been listening for the past 15 years. But most of them were already available on previous greatest hits packages (“Don’t bore us...” of course but also the limited japanese cd “The Greatest Roxette”). Also, the “new” (“Stupid” and “Better off...” aren’t exactly new songs) songs are not very good by Roxette’s previous standards.
THAT’s why I say “The Pop Hits” isn’t a good album.
I mean, c’mon !, it’s supposed to be a greatest hits album and AS SUCH it is not a good one. I’m not a big fan of Depeche Mode, for instance, but their greatest hits albums (1 single cd + a recent doucle cds) are great : all their singles are included, you can bet there’s going to be a third volume if they keep on releasing singles and I’m pretty sure there won’t be any missing singles.
That’s what Roxette should have done. Something like the audio version of their DVD release.

Mfan28179-Jason said on April 26, 2003 11:14:

That’s what Roxette should have done, but maybe they didn’t have any choice? I think this whole copy protection idea is what ruined the compilations. If there had been no copy protection, then there would have been room for more songs. In any case, it is nice to have these songs in remastered quality. Also, you gotta love the covers of the albums!

joyrider said on April 26, 2003 17:28:

i would have enjoyed a BALLADS MEGAMIX and a POP MEGAMIX (like this thunderpuss remix when madonna released GHV2)... maybe we get it on the next greatest hits in 3 years ;)

irvye said on April 26, 2003 18:06:

We can sit around arguing the “ifs and buts” of the whole situation” but ultimately it isn’t really our choice and it might not have been Per or Marie’s choice either. Like Mfan said maybe they didn’t have a choice in the situation, maybe EMI was pushing for them to re-release another worldwide greatest hits. No one here really knows. I bought both TBH and TPH. Sure I have all the songs on other CD’s but I like being able to look up at my collection and see them. Sometime Roxette is gonna call it quits, and when they do I’ll have every CD they made. My two cents.

Jackeill said on April 26, 2003 18:46:

that’s why i haven’t bought those two compialtions and i’m not gonna buy them.

LoneGunman said on April 27, 2003 02:38:

Hej

Well, I can’t deny that ANOTHER compilation was a very bad idea for the real fans like me, but after all these two compilations gave to Roxette some good chart numbers all over the world (Including UK and Holland).

I think both albuns are great... cool EPs too... but of course I rather have a brand new album, but let’s think... If they’ve released a new album back in September last year, it would have no promotion at all cause Marie got sick... so after all, we were lucky that they released a compilation.

And if you think... Roxette released 6 new songs (Ballad EP + Pop EP) and together with those demos from Marie that we got some months ago, I can say that we recieved our “new” Roxette album this year. :)

All the best
LoneGunman

Mfan28179-Jason said on April 27, 2003 03:22:

Good point! Some fans are forgetting that we got 5 new songs with each compilation. So, while we can still complain about the releases, we have to remember we got 5 new songs - lol, that is of course if you imported it from the right country - in addition to remastered old songs.

Jackie_Radiorox said on April 29, 2003 22:02:

I still say and believe it is a way to fill up their contract. The new songs are cool, sure... but compliations? :/

How many CD with “The Look” and “Listen To Your Heart” do we really need?

Vixzter said on April 29, 2003 22:12:

Did I miss the bus or has Marie not been very well for the last 7-8 months?

OK so the idea was there b4 she fell ill.....but its not like she had a choice......the compilations may well suck in some ppls oppinions but they sell! and thats why they’ve been brought out.

Number 11 in the UK sales charts proves that point.

If it sux....don’t buy it......simple really!

roxtexanet said on April 30, 2003 01:45:

I don’t think the compilations suck at all. Going on the axiom that “something is better than nothing,” I really don’t see what there is to complain about. It’s not as though the compilations come at the cost of something else - without the compilations we’d get nothing at all anyway! Compilations are just a fact of life for successful artists... I think the only major artist I can think of who has had more than five successful albums and hasn’t put out a compilation is Melissa Etheridge. Some artists (Roxette?) like the Indigo Girls even have compilations written right into their contracts! The Indigo Girls put out two “Best of” collections in four years and they made it very clear that this was not their idea. Per even said that the record company was nagging for new compilations... doesn’t seem like they have a lot of choice in the matter, to me. It’s exactly like others have said here - compilations are cheap to produce and they sell themselves, as long as people know they’re out there. From the point of view of the record company, they can try to convince record buyers to buy a CD with the new Roxette single + 12 songs you’ve never heard or the new Roxette song + a bunch of tried-and-true hit songs you know and love. For us, of course, the all new CD would be an easy sell, but how about for the general public? At least we get something new with each compilation... Madonna didn’t include so much as a demo on GHV2!

Besides all of this, I think the compilations are a great testament to Roxette’s enduring popularity and phenomenal success (despite what so many of you seem to think, selling a million records is NOT something every artist can do!)... they released two full albums of their hits because they CAN!

Small-talker said on April 30, 2003 10:50:

The idea behidn TBH + TPH was to get people interested again. To get new fans. They wouldn’t have wanted a double CD of all that crap! They wanted the brief songs they knew well and some new songs and some of the stuff they missed out on HAND + RS. It would’ve been too expensive if it was a big double CD costing £35.99! People would just ignore it cos it costed too much. If it was a handle little 15 track CD costing £9.99 then they would’ve picked it up instantly!

DavidRox said on April 30, 2003 22:08:

I still think that since most of these songs were on DBUGTTC they should have taken a different approach with these compilations.
They should have done a poll of their fans and done a double CD featuring the top 10-15 ballads (or lighter songs like “Run To You”) chosen on one CD and the top 10-15 power pop songs on the other.
I guarantee we would have songs like “Fireworks” and “Crush On You” instead of “Church Of Your Heart” and “June Afternoon” on the power one and softer songs like “I’m Sorry”, “Go To Sleep” or “The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye” rather then “Vulnerable” or “Anyone”

I also expected more from the song “Little Miss Sorrow” on the pop hits.

I can’t comment on the EP since I live in Canada where we DIDN’T get the EP on the Pop Hits. I don’t understand why we got the EP on the Ballads and not the Pop Hits.

In response to the title, the CD’s we got don’t suck, but it does suck that we have so many CD’s with “The Look” and other older Roxette songs on them. Heck, I could have burned them onto a compilation CD myself and saved money.

Let’s hope for more “new” Roxette in the future when Marie is healthy again.