Mazarin - a short review
Written by tevensso on May 23, 2003 to Editorial.
STOCKHOLM - 
I put the advance-listening CD that TDR was provided in the player and out pours “Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)”. I’m stunned, this song will absolutely kill all competition on every radio chart in Sweden this summer! A Swedish “country” song, if there ever was such a thing! And when I’ve heard it for the tenth time, I’m all smiles. I move on to “Om du bara vill”, a mid-tempo song in the “Chrissie, hur mår du?” genre, very lovely vocals.
“På promenad genom stan” features Marie Fredriksson on background vocals. The lyrics seem to be about when Per first met his wife, Åsa, and about them strolling through an empty Halmstad. Another mid-tempo number with a sha-la-la chorus that can very well be a hit. To me “Gungar” has a Kent-feeling, but people I’ve asked don’t hear that. A very simple mid-tempo song that grows and grows on you. A bit 70-ish sound. (Which really saturates the whole part of the album I’ve heard.)
“Idag är det är min födelsedag…” (“It’s my birthday today”) Per sings in “Födelsedag”, a rocker reminiscent of Roxette’s “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” or Gyllene Tider’s “Faller ner på knä”, I like this song! I continue with “Tycker om när du tar på mej”, a ballad that reminds me of the songs on “The World According to…” with a cute flute (keyboard?) intro.
“Spegelboll” - what can I say? This is Kylie Minogue, Gyllene Tider, Per Gessle and Pet Shop Boys all combined. If this isn’t single #2 I will personally visit Capitol and have a talk with them. This is a power disco rocker complete with a glockenspiel, and all! A guaranteed hit!
What strikes me over and over again is how happy Per sounds, even if the lyrics are of the sadder kind, like in “Här kommer…”, he still sounds truly happy. I assume the recording sessions were fun. His voice is also wonderful on this album.
If the rest of the album is as good as these seven songs, there is no doubt in my mind that this album will sell more than a few copies… I understand the problems they had to pick a single.
Other articles with the same topic
- Brazilian site jumps the gun and puts single on sale over one week early (December 31, 2010)
- "Gessle over Europe" the review (October 20, 2009)
- Roxette remasters reviewed (September 25, 2009)
- Per Gessle's show in Gent a magical night (May 4, 2009)
- Not so silly, really: Dreams of Roxette together again (April 17, 2009)
48 comments
daniel_alv said on May 23, 2003 23:35:
i agree, u have to choose, swedish or english... i would like songs like som i en dröm and svarta glas as b-sides
Jackeill said on May 24, 2003 10:16:
so he has got the album. sb could upload it somewhere... i want it right now! :(((( please..... :(
mattias said on May 24, 2003 10:56:
for once, it would actually be quite nice to listen to the songs the first time when you actually have the album in your hands. patience is a virtue.
Kama said on May 24, 2003 11:17:
pleaseeee upload it!! :-)) I know what they say about patience but in this situation it’s not possible to be patient :))) When you don’t want to hear it earlier, you don’t have to download this :)))
vemroe said on May 24, 2003 11:31:
Wow you guys are so impatient, considering that the album is due only next month, and you will certainly get your hands on it the first day it’s released. While me and other fans from ’remote countries’ won’t possibly get the chance to have the album with its bonus.
mattias said on May 24, 2003 11:37:
@Kama
Technically, you’re right. but i’m sure you do know how things work in practice.. ;)
coyboyusa said on May 24, 2003 11:43:
maybe its true per has been getting vocal lessons i thought he sounded alot better than usual when rs came out
colinvdbel (moderator) said on May 24, 2003 12:11:
@Jackeill the album isnt available yet. There only is a promo conatining 7 snippets of songs from the album..
mazarin said on May 24, 2003 13:06:
And if the album will be available for download soon, less people will buy it - so there will be less success. so please wait like all those fans who will buy it on the release day. i think one reason for roxette’s recent lower success (Romm Service, Pop Hits...) is that the new songs are available for download to soon. so people don’t buy cds anymore... just my thought :-Z
daniel_alv said on May 24, 2003 13:09:
i think it’s good of him not to upload.... because fio he do i think EMI wont give him more info to give to us... and accually it would be nice to hear the songs for the first time on the album this time...
Jackeill said on May 24, 2003 13:39:
but you know i won’t be able to buy album on its premiere, even some days after.... it would be so hard to get it here in poland just after its relase in sweden..... i will buy it anyway, somewhere in the net, but it will take a long time i think... so i want mp3’s ! ;)
Kama said on May 24, 2003 13:41:
@mattias
Yeah you’re right :)))
But not everybody will hear this album in a month.
It’s easy to say for Swedes. And we people from other countries will hear it much later! I’ve just ordered the cd from Fanclub. But first opportunity for me to hear Mazarin will be probably in the end of august so I’d ike to hear some part of it now!
But I think it’s impossible :((
Kama said on May 24, 2003 13:44:
Jackeil!!!!! I agreee with you so much!!! I want mp3 now!! :)))) Ja te¿ nie bêdê mia³a tak prêdko w rêkach tej p³ytki! Te¿ chcê mp3!!!!
daniel_alv said on May 24, 2003 14:44:
but when we swedes has it in less then a month maybe someone uploads it
DaminehGessle said on May 24, 2003 15:26:
vemroe: Buy the album through fanclub. You will get the CD + DVD + something else! I ordered it yesterday. Although the cost is high, who cares?
Anyways yeah I cant wait to get a hand on the mp3s. I have pre-ordered mine anyways so doens’t matter if I get the mp3s or not, I have bought it.
Also, HAND was online before it came out. I bought it. So some fans would buy the album no matter what!
Junkie said on May 24, 2003 18:03:
Nice review, Thomas, thanx a lot. But where have you got the CD from? ;)
Fernandinha said on May 25, 2003 02:22:
I’m really sad because it never will be release here in Brazil and I’ll have to wait a lot to listen the other songs :(
Fernanda - Brazil
camillarox said on May 25, 2003 10:09:
if he can’t, he can’t, and that’s all about it. Why don’t you mail our great friend Bjurman and ask him for the mp3s instead of nagging Tevensso?! ;)
daniel_alv said on May 25, 2003 13:35:
camillarox >>> Well said!
Wait until the 16th, then I’m sure someone will mp3 the whole album....
ditroia said on May 26, 2003 01:32:
Look, I am all the way here in Australia But I already made plans fro ma reliable trader to secure the album + DVD as soon as it got released.
There are lots of good traders out there just ask around.
Or you could find a helpful Roxette fan in sweden to buy it for you, and then you send them the money.
Then there’s the fanclub or Online stores like EIL or Amazon or Skihivett [Spelling?].
Anf Finally theirs good old Ebay.
Dave
rarcher said on May 26, 2003 06:30:
Per’s music is good regardless of the language he sings in. It’s like listening to Pavorati or another artist sing in their native tongue. The instrumentation and the sound of their voice still has a profound effect.
tevensso (moderator) said on May 26, 2003 08:24:
Just to speak from experience; Per’s Swedish music is very personal and Swedish, it won’t work in any other countries. (And stop misunderstanding me here now, I don’t want to hear how great 100 fans in for example Poland thinks he is.)
colinvdbel (moderator) said on May 26, 2003 16:00:
It doesnt contain 7 full songs... This CD only had snippets on it...some are abbout 1,5 minutes, some 2 minutes. Full songs hvent been sighted anywhere yet...
derek said on May 28, 2003 19:28:
i dont care what languege it is swedish is fine by me even though i cant understand a word its the music and the singer that counts .go Per go i cant wait to buy the cd and dvd
StupidGirl said on May 29, 2003 11:21:
I think you have to understand that he doesn’t want to upload any songs. Because of my spare time job I get promotion CDs, too. Sometimes they’re all normal, not differing from the ones you can buy in the shop. But if this is a CD with only outtakes from the album, it might aswell be copy protected. Record companies have all kinds of tricks to prevent that journalists spread their music on the internet.
Sometimes for example every CD has a special code. So if a journalist copies the CD, they can track him/her down. And that means a lot of trouble. I’ve heard of an american record company that even glued their CDs into a discman and shipped them around like that. You couldn’t take the CDs out of the player without destroying it (the CD).
Though I must admit that, at least in my case, most CDs that are shipped around are quite safe to copy and upload in the internet. BUT, even though, record companies won’t find out who it was, they still notice that someone uploaded their CDs and that that someone was quite likely a journalist. So guess what they do? They stop shipping around promos at all. If jounalists want to listen to the new album of a big star, they have to go to a listening session. I’ve never been to one myself, but I’ve been told that they suck. You’re packed into a room with a lot of other journalists and they play the CD to you and you’re supposed to take notes. But as you all know it’s often hard to judge a CD just from listening to it once or twice. Sometimes to really appreciate a CD you have to listen to it several times and the mood has to be right, too.
and finally I have to admit that it’s cool to priviliged and listen to a new CD before everybody else can ;) (not talking about Mazarin, didn’t get that one)
brunorox said on May 29, 2003 20:19:
hello every one,
The first thing I got to tell is this is great that Per makes a new album but it’s a pitty it’s not a Roxette Album with Marie (but I think Marie is on one or two tracks of this album).
Secondly, why not make an album in both languages as told Per before (I read this on the dailyroxette !!!) but maybe it was just an idea ...
Have a nice day ...
daniel_alv said on May 30, 2003 17:16:
when i was a kid i loved roxette, but I didn’t understand what they sang then....
brunorox said on May 31, 2003 20:31:
To Daniel:
Hello !!! I do agree with you but if you come out from Sweden, this is now not a problem for you: could you send me a translation of the Mazarin album ? :-)))
Do you think this album will be available in Belgium, too ? (it was when it was for “the world according to Per Gessle” but i got to admit it was in english and not in Swedish ...)
Anyway, I wish you to have a nice day ...
Bruno
daniel_alv said on May 31, 2003 23:30:
brunorox >>> Yeah, now I understand the english lyrics, but I just wanted to make an example that you can sing a language you don’t understand....
and yes, I can try to translate mazarin for you...
but no, i don’t think you can buy mazarin in belgium.... u will surely have to order it from the net....
brunorox said on June 3, 2003 19:53:
To Daniel:
Allright for the translation :-)))))
What a pitty it’s not available in Belgium ... Fortunately, as you say, we can order it by the net.
Have a nice day ...
Stormkeeper said on May 23, 2003 22:46:
He should put even 1 song in English as a b-side.
Disco feeling? I like what I hear.