Swedish news service TT Spektra has interviewed EMA Telstar's CEO Thomas Johansson about the alledged poor ticket sales for Per Gessle's "En händig man" tour. "It's the best selling tour in Sweden at the moment," Thomas Johansson says.

Thomas also comments that around 80,000 out of 140,000 tickets have been sold to date, and that he's satisfied since the sales is going fine still. People say that the "Mazarin" tour sold 160,000 tickets in total, but Thomas says it was closer to 140,000. He also lets us know that normally a tour sells 50 % of the tickets before a big tour starts and that EMA counts on selling somewhere between 130,000 and 140,000 tickets. That makes an average of 7,000 people per concert, which is the same as "Mazarin."

According to the German site Musicload.de the next single off "En händig man" will indeed be "Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke." The site even has the sleeve posted! Digital release date is July 9.

Oh and yes, "En händig man" shoots straight into #1 on the Swedish album chart. 

HALMSTAD - Here are exclusive comments from the hand of Per Gessle regarding the songs on "En händig man." Consider them a holiday gift for you who have listened to the album for a few days now.

En händig man
Was written on the balcony on a sunny day in Halmstad last summer. The title and the main idea for the lyrics came first. We recorded 2 versions in the studio in Skåne.
The first one (which we now refer to as "En händig man (blåser)” /btw. ”blåser” means “to blow”/ sounds totally different with a quite a big intro and with a… that's right, a brass-section. I didn't really like it, it felt like the original idea got lost in the shuffle and my voice sort of disappeared in this big mess… so we made a new, more “primitive” take and that one became the opening track and the first single!

Pratar med min müsli (hur det än verkar)
Did an acoustic demo in Tits & Ass last summer that turned out really cool. When I played it for C&C (Clarence Öfwerman & Christoffer Lundquist) totally new things popped up in their amazing minds. Suddenly we had a "Doors organ", a rattling drum beat in the choruses and The Lovely Helena (Josefsson) blessing the middle eight. I was overjoyed of course!
The lyrics, I’m sure you know, are about a lonely sod sitting by himself talking to his breakfast about how great everything will be… maybe… eventually…

Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke
Was everyone's favorite in the studio from day 1! It's one of those songs that makes you smile while you're writing it! It has happened a few times over the years and I was lucky to experience it even as a 47 year-old!!! The title came first, I've had it in my big black book for ages. We saved this song to the very end since we wanted to get some experimentation out of our systems recording other songs first. Cos this song needs almost nothing. Our main job was to hold back. A few acoustic guitars, some backup vocals and a bassline McCartney would have been proud of. Glorious.

Fru Nordin
Well, my wife's name is Nordin so everyone assumes it's about her. And that's… so funny. Well, maybe it is… come to think of it…! I wrote it in the studio in Skåne last winter and knew immediately that it needed some frenzy, some "The Who-inspired guitars" and kinky drums that Jens (Jansson) plays so good just after breakfast. Didn't like my lead vocals so I re-did them late at night just before the final mix in April. It's so much better now.

Dixy
Was also written in the studio in Skåne last winter, both lyrics and music at the same time. It took about 2 hours. When I was done I played it for C&C and we did a take immediately. I had the capo on the 9th fret (my old Martin) and someone thought it would be funny to have a clarinet playing some free-form notes, almost Dixieland-style that we know nothing about. Said and done, Christoffer fetched an old dusty clarinet and did the overdubs before dinner! What a guy! Especially considering this was the second time ever he held the instrument. What would I do without these guys???

När Karolina kom
Yepp, wrote it in the studio in Skåne! The verse has a sort of summer vibe to it that's very appealing to my ears, the chorus is really just finishing up the verse and takes no space at all. It's the verse that's the whole thing, you know… The core in the lyrics is about… no one you know… we're talking about my childhood and the '60s… hence the line "himlen var full av astronauter" ["the sky was full of astronauts"]… They landed on the moon in 68, right?

Hannas kärlekspil
"Hanna" pops up here and there. She’s so funny. Don't remember much about this, I know I was listening to The Kinks a lot when I wrote it and it does sound a bit like an old Kinks-song from, say '65. Nice saxophones in the middle eight which C&C recorded while I was looking away.

Om du kommer ihåg
I like this one a lot. Wrote it in front of the TV in my living room in Stockholm in August last year. It's hard to be this simple and hold on to it, anyone who writes songs knows this.

Om jag vetat då (vad jag vet nu)
Was called ”If I knew then (what I know now)” when it was born. It was written for Roxette's "The Ballad Hits" and "The Pop Hits" collections 2002. Rox never recorded it so I wrote some Swedish lyrics to it that's been in the drawer ever since. Its time is now!!! I like this one very much. It has a lovely '60s aura around it. And Christoffer added some groovy Beatles-inspired 12-stringed acoustic guitar licks in the verses that are top notch in my book! Awright.

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Per Gessle – En händig man (EMI Elevator Entertainment 3931662)

Per’s back with a new album and – once again – we were eager to gather some of our staff around our virtual roundtable to listen to his new album and share our thoughts.

"En Händig Man" is Per’s seventh solo album if you count "Son of a Plumber" (which he nowadays claims was sort of a solo album, but as "no one can pronounce Per Gessle abroad"… you know). So what do we get this time?!? We get a ton of "sha la la's" and Per whistling! Per has also used horns a lot for once.

"En Händig Man" is – like "Mazarin," Gyllene Tider’s "Finn 5 Fel!," "Son of a Plumber" and most recently Roxette’s two new tracks "One Wish" and "Reveal" – recorded in The Aerosol Grey Machine down in the heart of Skåne. It is also recorded with (mainly) the same band and the same producers. Does it sound the same? Well, yes… and no. You can definitely hear the C&C (Christopher and Clarence) sound on this album, but it has evolved. We like what we hear, even though it is very far from the Per Gessle power-pop that most of us usually love (and miss). This album is sometimes very similar to "Mazarin" and also very similar to the Plumber album. We can even hear touches of "Finn 5 fel!" on it. But enough of this rambling introduction, let's get down to reviewing the tracks!

Colin: On this new album I hear many familiar things but also some completely new sounds. There’s a bit of SOAP, Mazarin, GT, more sixties/seventies, but also some new Gessle sound I can’t really define yet. A bit more raw, edgier, live-ier. This album goes from heavy rock tunes to beautifully smooth ballads – Per Gessle has outdone himself – Again!

The first track of the album is "En händig man" – also the first single. Like we mentioned before, this track was at first recorded using strings and horns, but as that version strayed too far from Per’s vision, they re-recorded the track at the end of the sessions. This version is how Per envisioned it. Thomas: I like it, a typical nice mid-tempo Per track that should do very well on the charts in Sweden. And you do understand what Per talks about, don't you…? Colin: Well, frankly I don’t, since I still haven’t mastered Swedish yet. Awesome song though. It really gets stuck in your head after a while. Since I first heard the song, it hasn’t gotten out of my head for at least a week – lots of credit for that! The songs sounds really smooth and relaxed – a perfect song for a sunny (Sunday?) afternoon!

Thomas: The next track starts with what Per calls a "killer organ intro" and it is. It sounds The Doors all the way. "Pratar med min müsli (Hur det än verkar)" isn't even mentioned in the song, but a nice track it is, very up tempo and frisky. Per says this guy is having a conversation with his breakfast cereal about this girl he wants. He feels they have a future together even though they are total opposites. Colin: Well, his breakfast has a beautiful female voice! The percussion makes me think of a marching band, but the organ and melody kick ass!

Thomas: This one is one of my very favorites of the album - "Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke," a mid tempo track that just hits my heart. Great lyrics and a melody that just is right. This can be one of those live songs that goes on and on and on with lighters and sing-a-long forever. I want to see that happen! Five stars for this one! Colin: I keep singing this now and then (when I’m not humming EHM), it tends to relax me a bit I think. I’ll bring a lighter to Stockholm this summer! Judith: This is a soft, cute song which stays in your mind!

"Fru Nordin" is probably about Per's wife Åsa, but we'll probably never know for sure. He mentions in the liner notes that "most people think this is about my wife. That's nice I guess!" Thomas: This song I like every other listen, when I like it I think of the '60s, I think Roxette's "Soul Deep" which has a similar beat. This one is very energetic and noisy. Colin: I don’t agree on the every other listen – this song is really powerful. Per’s voice is kind of distorted and the guitars are pretty loud – I like! Judith: One of my favorites on the album. I love guitars, I love noise, I love distortion!

Thomas: "Dixy" is another favorite of mine, this is possibly how dixieland sounds to Swedes I would guess. Like Per says in the liner notes "we thought a clarinet would sound nice, a touch of dixie which we knew absolutery nada about…" Christoffer plays the clarinet and it's the second time in his life he's even touching the instrument. Colin: Wow, a clarinet in a Gessle song – that must be a first! Nice song. Sha-la-la-la-la-la…Thomas: This was written and recorded more or less on the spot in the studio.

This next track is about one of Per's first loves, a very early love. "När Karolina kom." Thomas: Karolina seems to have been a neighbor of Per's in the late '60s! The song is so-so, I do like it, but it's at the bottom of the favorites list, usually. Although the chorus is rather cute when you know that Per means a 7-year old girl (or something to that effect). Colin: The intro of the song reminds me of another (not sure which), but the overall melody makes me very happy. Thomas: Hmmm, you are on to something there.

Hanna is back, Hanna from "Henry, dansa inte disco" and "En händig man." Here she should shoot Per with her love arrow in "Hannas kärlekspil." Another '60s flirt, an up tempo track. Colin: Oh yeah, bring on the old sixties uptempo! GT meets the Beach Boys - clap your hands everyone! (oh and by the way, "Henry, dansa inte disco" is still a kick ass song!) Thomas: Lots of saxophones in the background here, this track also has a wild drum beat. Not at all bad, but not on my top 5 either. This track concludes the A side of the LP, by the way. It will be really interesting to hear the vinyl edition as that album will be mastered differently!

Thomas: Here we go! This song, "Om du kommer ihåg," is one of my top 3 songs. A mid tempo number that, in my opinion, is reminiscent of "Tycker om när du tar på mej" mixed with some "På promenad genom stan." Very lovely song, and also one of Per's favorites. The lyrics are obviously about Woody… Colin: Acoustic, very smooth. Helena provides the necessary background atmosphere…sounds like dreaming away. Thomas: And like Per said, his fingerpicking is out of this world! Judith: One of Per's best lyrics ever to me. Simple, direct, touching.

For you Rox fans out there, here's the never recorded Roxette song - "Om jag vetat då (Vad jag vet nu)." Thomas: This is my third favorite of the album. One will never know how the Roxette version would have sounded, but I can't imagine it would have been bad. To me this is Per at his best. And contrary to what Per thinks, I think this would've sounded fabulously on "Finn 5 fel!." It's a mid tempo song with an amazing 12-string playing around all the time. Also a wonderful post(?)-chorus. Top notch and single material maybe? Colin: Yes, it’s really a beautiful song, strings & chimes and all. Very powerful chorus, a beautiful duet – Gessle at his best! One of my favorites on this album for sure. Definitely in my top 3 as well, only maybe at second place. Beautiful song, perfectly performed – even better than it would have been with Roxette I think. Judith: My absolute favorite, indeed Gessle at his best! I too think it would have been a great Roxette song.

"TomTom" was written a tad too late to be included on "Mazarin." TomTom is also a character that Per wants to write a full album about. So far he has only this one. Thomas: What can I say about "TomTom"? I like it, but I don't think it'll be a favorite of mine. The lyrics are playful. Someone here suggested there are too many "emergency rhymes" in it. I see the point, but it doesn't bother me. Another mid-tempo track. The album consists of five up-tempo songs, six mid-tempo ones and three ballads, by the way. Not counting the EP of course. Colin: TomTom, Blabla. Unplugged-like song, really relaxing – feels like driving from Halmstad to Tylösand on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The intro is really nice, one of my favorites on the album.

Now this is possibly a reason why Per calls this album a "bluesier cousin of 'Mazarin.'" Thomas: "Våldsamt stillsamt" is my second favorite up tempo track, and on this one I do get a Blues Brothers light feeling, ha ha! Lots of energetic drums, Hammond organ and saxophones. Very Gyllene Tider, but with a twist. "This is how I sound when I put on my dark skinned mask! Ha ha ha!" Per exclaims in the booklet. Colin: Hey! Are the Lonely Boys back in Swedish? In any case they stole an organ player from the sixties! Oh yeah, and some cow bells as well…

Thomas: "Trött" is my other favorite up tempo number. Fast, heavy Gyllene Tider sound. One can almost see Micke Syd play this one. And in the second verse you get a gorgeous angelic background choir! You gotta love that! Per mentioned that it's always hard to not overdub too much, but I have to say that this album is anything but over-produced. Great track! "May be very cool live" Per comments. Colin: Pure Gessle rock, pretty heavy. Trött? Don’t think so when you can perform this!

Colin: Shalalala - need I say more? Thomas: "Samma gamla vanliga visa" is a title Per has been wanting to use for a long while now. Nice track, another "sha-la-la-la" song. There are surely plenty of them on this album. "The idea was to write a summer song without muscles but with a spark in the eye." He has succeeded once again. (Colin is lost in the shalalala's here.)

Finally we get a ballad as the end of the album and side B of the LP. Thomas: "Min hälsning" is from 1978 and was written for Gyllene Tider's debut album but was shelved due to the need of other material for that album. For the biography about Per he was asked to find material that had that "vintage" look to be photographed and when he found this demo he realized that he still liked this song a lot, so he re-wrote two corny lines in the song and they recorded it live in the studio, two acoustic guitars and one electric. They overdubbed a bass guitar and an organ. Voila. And like I mentioned in my interview with Per, this song really sounds like Per Gessle 1978. A good ending of the regular album. Colin: A very old GT song – beautiful in its purity. I’m very happy it survived the years!

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STOCKHOLM (Updated) - More tidbits about Per and his doings: tomorrow at 11:00 CET Per will chat with the readers of Aftonbladet. Expressen on the other hand reveals today that Per will start blogging on their site tomorrow and continue until Saturday. Apparently Per was so impressed with Plura Jonsson's (Eldkvarn) blogging that he decided to do it himself. "Everybody talked about Plura's blog so I had to check it out and the blog was fun!" Per says in Expressen.

"En händig man" was released today, at least online. CDON has a bonus track named "Ett perfekt ägg," another instrumental, while iTunes has both "Ett perfekt ägg" and "En händig man (demo)." But wait, that's not all! Telia has yet another bonus track named "En händig man (blåser)." CDON's and Telia's tracks are copy protected.

On Wednesday the physical CD of "En händig man" hits the stores. The vinyl edition will be out in about three weeks from now.

Check out TDR on Wednesday for a thorough review.

Update: This morning, Per's new video was presented on SVT in all secrecy… Here it is, view it in the correct widescreen format!

The Daily Roxette, together with MarieFredriksson.net, are happy to give you the chance to win one of the five copies of Mikael Bolyos' coming album "A Family Affair". The CDs are provided courtesy of Mikael himself.

This contest is open to all TDR subscribers who have an accurate Profile. In order to participate, simply follow the instructions below:

1. Make sure that your TDR user profile is updated with your REAL First and Last Name and CURRENT active email address. If you do not wish to share this information with other TDR subscribers, simply leave that box unchecked.

2. Send an email to mbcontest (at) mariefredriksson.net with your Name, TDR Login Name and your answers to the following questions.

Correctly answer two of the following two questions…

1. With whom does Mikael sing "When The Lord Is About To Come"?

a) Mats Persson

b) Mats Ronander

c) Tomas Ledin

2. With whom did Mikael form his band Stars & Bars?

a) Marie Fredriksson

b) Roger Pontare

c) Pugh

The contest runs until June 13 and the winners will be announced the following week.

Good luck!

(Updated) - Here are some bits and pieces about Per's present and upcoming activities:

Per will perform on Allsång på Skansen July 3. He will also be on Bingolotto's season finale June 5. And most important of all: the new single "En händig man" jumped up to #1 on the Swedish single chart! It entered last week after only one day of sales at #59. The song is also presently #5 on Rix Top 6. "En händig man" entered Sweden's official Topp 40 at #10 as well.

Also, in an interview on Swedish Radio P3 Per lets us know that the Plumber's son will return…

"En händig man" soars into spot #3 after only one day at #8 and a few days at #13 on Nielsen's Music Control chart. Nielsen's count the official radio play.

As revealed earlier this year, iTunes became one of the first online stores selling music published by EMI without copy-protection. EMI artists include Roxette, Per Gessle, Marie Fredriksson and Son of a Plumber (links open iTunes Store). Many albums and singles by them are now available as "iTunes Plus." This means that the songs can be burned and copied without restrictions after purchase. The songs also have a better bit rate. Individual songs cost a bit more (in Europe 1.29 Euros instead of 0.99 Euros), but full albums are available for the same price as the protected ones.

The DRM-free releases include the new Per Gessle single, "En händig man/Vet du vad jag egentligen vill?" To get the songs in iTunes Plus format, view an album or a single In iTunes Store and click the iTunes Plus link to see the list of DRM-free songs.

STOCKHOLM - Per, the last time we spoke you were doing the final touches of the mixing, now the album finally is mastered and finished and the sleeve is done. Do you still feel it's "tuh-riffic"? Is there anything you are especially happy with this time? Is there anything you aren't happy with?

I'm extremely pleased with the album, I'm a very lucky man indeed, having this profession. I'm also glad that I managed to convince everyone that this brilliant EP had to be included! The four "extra" songs are as important as the other fourteen, no sub-standard third division tracks here, dear boy! And getting Anton Corbijn onboard doing the cover shots was terrific. He's the best there is! And really hard to track down!
The whole package looks fantastic and feels very personal and even slightly "luxurious". Just the way I like it.

You mention in the liner notes that you recorded "En händig man" with horns and that it somehow ruined the song, what went wrong?

Well, nothing went wrong. Clarence and Christoffer wanted to try out a brass and a string section. But I felt my voice sort of disappeared in the arrangement. I had a completely different route planned for this song. The version you hear on the album and single is more or less the way I wanted it to be. But you know, you have to try different things all the time otherwise everything would sound the same at the end of the day.

Which songs on the album are your favorites, at the moment?

"Min hälsning" became an unexpected winner. It's recorded completely live in the studio with vocals and all. "Jag skulle vilja tänka en underbar tanke” became just as good as I had hoped for. That’s probably my favorite track of them all. "Samma gamla vanliga visa" has that lovely '70s pop feeling that I adore. Sort of like "Hjärta utan hem" from "Finn 5 fel!." But I like all the songs, otherwise they wouldn’t have made it to the album, right! "Hon vill sväva över ängarna" from the EP is also excellent in my book. And "Pratar med min müsli" has got a killer organ-intro!

What can you tell us about this year's tour? Have you decided what you'll play yet? "Mazarin," English material, Gyllene Tider, Plumber, a mix? We talked about it the last time as well, but you hadn't yet decided. You did order sun, didn't you?

Yep, I have booked a heatwave and sunshine throughout July and August! You can do that at Ticnet nowadays. But I haven’t, believe it or not, decided what to play yet! We'll try out lots of songs during the rehearsals. But for sure, a few GT sledgehammers will be included but no Rox. Hardly any SOAP, I guess I'll be sticking to the Swedish bonanza.

"Om jag vetat då" was written as "If I'd Known Then (What I Know Now)" for Roxette 2002, but it was never recorded. Was there no time or…? I also happen to know that Gyllene was scheduled to record it for "Finn 5 fel!," but it never showed up there either. What happened?

Regarding Rox, there wasn’t any time, Marie was ill so we had to concentrate on just one track. So we chose "Opportunity Nox" instead. Regarding GT: the song didn't fit the concept. Everyone in the band liked it but we felt we needed another type of material for that particular record. But for this album, it was perfect.

My favorites are, just like yours, "En underbar tanke" and "Om du kommer ihåg." They both have great lyrics and amazing, sweet melodies. I come to think of "Om du kommer ihåg" as a prelude to "På promenad genom stan," am I right or is it subconscious?

The lyrics to "På promenad gemon stan" are quite old so I don't know… I haven't really thought about it. "Om du kommer ihåg" I’m very proud of. It has one of those very intimate lyrics and melody lines that just pops up in your head. In my head anyway… hard to put my finger on it. I wrote the melody and the lyrics at the same time in my library here in Stockholm, they fit rather good together. And my fingerpicking is of course out of this world, ha ha ha…
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