(UPDATED) - The new Roxette DVD called “Ballad & Pop Hits - The Complete Video Collection” is out now, so far only in PAL format. This is the new title of the updated “All Videos Ever Made” DVD.

  Capitol Records Sweden confirms this is a worldwide release. TDR’s sources claim this DVD has better video and audio quality than the previous issue. Added to the new DVD are the two latest videos; “A Thing About You” and “Opportunity Nox”, while some of the extra material has been removed.

• Capitol Music Canada
• HMV/Amazon Canada
• CDON (EU)

Read more…

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Per Gessle’s live DVD, “En Mazarin, älskling?”, recorded during this summer’s “Mazarin” tour, has a definite release date now: Wednesday November 26. Per will sign his new DVD exclusively at Åhlens City in Stockholm at 5 pm that same day.

  The DVD will contain the following goodies:

01: Kung av sand

02: Vilket håll du än går

03: Gungar

04: Inte tillsammans, inte isär

05: (Hon vill ha) Puls

06: På promenad genom stan

07: Timmar av iver

08: Segla på ett moln

09: Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång

10: Jag tror du bär på en stor hemlighet

11: Småstad

12: Smakar på ett regn

13: Tända en sticka till

14: Bandpresentation

15: Här kommer alla känslorna

16: Födelsedag

17: Spegelboll

18: Juni, juli, augusti

19: Gå & fiska!

20: Om du bara vill

21: Tycker om när du tar på mej

22: Det är över nu

23: Sommartider

24: Billy

25: Ta en kaka till! - Mazarindokumentär

26: En Mazarin blir till - 33 minuter verklighet filmad av Per & hans vänner

27: Mazarin Back Stage - Följ med Per, band & Crew bakom scenen

28: Produktion - Vem har gjort vad

  The DVD (7243-5990409) features Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, 16x9 anamorphic widescreen picture, and is in PAL system, region 0.

  Update Nov 13: “En Mazarin älskling?” will also be available on VHS.

• Order the DVD at CDON (Sweden)
• CDON (EU)

KRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN - Multi-talented musician and producer Christoffer Lundquist has found himself yet another project. This time he is producing an album for Loserville, a band from Hässleholm, a town in southern Sweden. Lundquist became well-known as a member of the band Brainpool and has since worked with Roxette and co-produced Per’s “Mazarin” album.

  The Loserville album Lundquist has been working on is the band’s second and will be released in December. “I can’t remember exactly how we got into contact with each other,” Lundquist told Kristianstadsbladet. “I suppose someone knew someone… that’s how it usually works. Anyway, there was an email and a demo. So, I read and listened. And liked it. They sound real and strong. They are not stereotyped and they have joy in their performance.”

  Lundquist doesn’t like the way the music business works these days. “I’ve been in this business for 10-11 years now and I must say that we’re in an all time low right now. The record companies don’t sign new bands. Instead, they are signing concepts and think about advertising campaigns that may suit in some sort of quartal capitalism. It’s sick.”

  Lundquist is still working with the guys from Brainpool. They have been composing a “rock opera” for years and it’s finally nearing completion. “There hasn’t been a real rock opera since The Who made ’Tommy’. We though it’s about time,” says Lundquist. “It’ll be a stage show and an album. The director will be Anna Novovich, a Swedish woman who has mostly worked in Copenhagen. It still takes some time to get the stage show ready, but because the songs have already been recorded, I believe the album will be in the shops next spring.”

• Kristianstadsbladet article (in Swedish)
• Loserville (currently under construction)

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish collection series Absolute will include both “Opportunity Nox” and “Här kommer alla känslorna (På en och samma gång)” on their upcoming collection “Absolute Hits 2003.” The release is scheduled for November 12. On the DVD version, only “Opportunity Nox” is included (as it had a video).

  Both the CD and the DVD will include Miio’s version of the Gyllene Tider song “När vi två blir en.”

• CDON
• Absolute (In Swedish)

Per Gessle was asked a short comment on Roxette’s future by Aftonbladet. “We are waiting until Marie knows what she wants to do and how she’s coping. But the next thing is that we’ll update the DVD with the latest singles,” Per says.

  Roxette unveiled their first - and so far the only - DVD release in 2001, aptly titled “All Videos Ever Made & More - Roxette The Complete Collection 1987-2001”. The DVD contains the 35 “official” music videos they had released, five previously unreleased video clips and two documentaries.

• Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - According to the site CDON the next single from “Mazarin” will be “På promenad genom stan” (7243-5528782) . Release date and b-side are yet to be decided.

• CDON

STOCKHOLM - Due to problems at the DVD pressing plant some of the limited edition of “Mazarin” is postponed until June 20. The normal version will be out as planned.

• CDON

NEW YORK (UPDATED) - Jewel case packages of “Look Sharp!” are on sale in the United States where, by mistake, the cover booklet was inserted reverse-side-up and the now-classic Mikael Jansson photographic image of Marie and Per lounging against a black limo – along with their “autographs” – shows through as the cover art.

  A spokesperson at EMI knew of no intentional change to the cover, and the number of units affected is unknown. The catalog number is CDP-7-91098-2.

NEW YORK (UPDATED) - Without any fanfare – and at retail stores at least, totally overwhelmed by the hype surrounding the release of Madonna’s new album – “The Ballad Hits” was finally released in the United States today.

  This release marks the return of Roxette to the EMI family of labels in the US, after a many years of separation. During that period, Roxette released “The Greatest Hits” on the Edel America label, just before that company went out-of-business two years ago.
  According to The Daily Roxette’s correspondents, only a handful of copies of “The Ballad Hits” could be found at Virgin Megastore in New York City’s Times Square (where Roxette performed just a few years ago), and not with the new releases in the front of the store, but in the bin with previous Roxette albums. In the Miami area, the CD is nowhere to be found. Many stores there have not even heard about the release.

  Capitol does not intend to release “A Thing About You” as a radio single to promote the album. A sticker on the CD package reads “15 of the International duo’s biggest love songs including the #1 smash It Must Have Been Love.”

  Thomas Evensson and Jackie_Radiorox contributed to this article.

MELBOURNE/STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - EMI Australia claims that “The Pop Hits” will be released in Australia on April 21. According to Li Eriksson at Capitol Records Sweden, “The Pop Hits” will also be released in the UK, “in June”.

  EMI Australia will be releasing the “The Pop Hits” CD in two formats - the standard CD, and the CD with the Limited Edition EP. We have no further details on the UK release yet.

  There’s also, as previously reported, a US release date set for “The Ballad Hits” and it’s April 22.

  Thomas Evensson contributed to this article.