Gesslel@nd tells that EMI Hungary has announced the release dates for the album and the single. Airplay is going to start on the week of January 13. The single “Wish I Could Fly” will be in the shops on February 3 and the album release follows a month later, on March 3.

The release dates in Finland are the same as in Sweden (single on February 1 and album on February 22). Radio play is going to start “pretty soon, maybe next week”. EMI Finland hasn’t yet received the promo singles, but they have a few “unofficial advance listening CD’s which are only for EMI internal distribution”. EMI Finland is planning to promote the album on MTV3 web portal where Real Audio files will be available for download.

Gesslel@nd tells that the Official Roxette Fan Club is planning a new fan meeting and are having negotiations with EMI Electrola (the German EMI). The fan club had a succesful fan convention in Germany in May ’97. This time the meeting may be held in Holland, though.

Roxette’s new single “Wish I Could Fly” didn’t get very positive welcome on Sweden’s largest newspaper Aftonbladet. “It is, as usually, well made and beautiful, with Beatles strings and strong voice of Marie Fredriksson and a little playful idea by Gessle. But that’s all, and I can assure you that we’ve heard it better and fresher before”, writes Håkan Steen on Aftonbladet. 2 pluses to Roxette.

• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article

Jan-Owe Wikström, also known as the author of “Roxette - The Book”, has written a review of “Wish I Could Fly” for Hallandsposten. “I’m a little disappointed that Roxette’s first single from the upcoming album ’Have A Nice Day’ is a ballad and not an up-tempo song”, says Wicke.

“It’s a power ballad of the classic Roxette-style. The sound is updated to the late 90’s in an industrial park. But after the neat suggestive role in the verse, on the second hand it reminded me of the start on EMF’s ’Unbelievable’ - then comes a big dramatic refrain with Marie at her best, as a distant cousin to megahits like ’It Must Have Been Love’ and ’Listen To Your Heart’. Roxette’s comeback sounds very much like Roxette.”

“’Wish I Could Fly’ may be the appetizer, but i’m convinced that there will be even more tasty popcandies on the album.” (translations by Marcus van Deursen, Gesslel@nd Reporter)

Aftonbladet tells that EMI Svenska is having a big draw for all the radio stations that play “Wish I Could Fly” a lot. The producers of 14 Swedish radio channels can win holiday trips, luxury goods and restaurant visits. EMI demands that the radio stations give “Wish I Could Fly” the highest priority between January 11 and 31, or they play it at least 17 times between January 11 and 17. “Damn suspicious. It’d be nice to test this in the court and see if they take this as bribing”, says Per Alexanderson, music chief of P3 radio station.

• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article

The 30-sec sound clips from Roxette’s coming single, “Wish I Could Fly”, are now available on the fan club’s site and on the official Swedish “Have A Nice Day!” site. The fan club’s clip is in MP3 format (480 K). www.haveaniceday.nu version is in Streaming Real Audio format (downloadable part 49 bytes, needs an active Internet connection). The fan club has also a picture of the single cover.

The www.haveaniceday.nu site got some new stuff at the same time they uploaded the song clip. There are new graphics and a new section, pictures. However, there’s only one picture at the moment (the same one that was on Radio RIX’s site) and a message from Per. This is a bit late (I wonder why they didn’t release it earlier), but here it is:

HELLO FOLKS.

So it’s (finally?) time for a new Roxette album. We have worked with the album from late January and recorded 19 songs from the 42 songs written. According to the happy mathematician Clarence Öfwerman, we have spent over 200 days in the studio and one grabs the red Gretsch guitar as a reflex when he hears this [album]. Well, anyway, Have A Nice Day is the title of this epic and I can promise you that we have never been as satisified with the results.

 

Our ambition has been to preserve all the “trademarks” of Roxette, but at the same time to give you new freshness and an update of production and arrangement.

 

Roxette anno 1999 quite simple!

The first single (of the many, we hope!) is a rather classical Roxette song with delightfully young strings and with Gun-Marie Fredriksson at her best (she has never sung as well as on this album). Until the weekend we’re making a video with Jonas Åkerlund. It’s going to be cool.

 

Live well and I hope you all have a merry Christmas.

greetings Per Gessle / Lucia 1998 [Lucia = December 13]

• www.haveaniceday.nu

The Gessle World is the first site on the Internet to have a sound clip from “Wish I Could Fly”. The clip is recorded from TV and is in Streaming Real Audio format. The connection seems to be very slow, but I’ve got many messages from people all over the world who have managed to download the whole 11-sec clip.

• The Gessle World

Swedish radio station RIX will be the first station to play “Wish I Could Fly”. The song will be broadcasted on January 4, 12.00 CET. On the radio station’s web site (check out the first page for a new picture of Roxette) Per tells about the song: “The first single is a rather classical Roxette song with delightfully young strings and with Gun-Marie Fredriksson at her best.”

• RIX