Edel America (EAR) is considering commissioning yet another remix of Wish I Could Fly, looking for an even more “updated” sound than that of the Todd Terry or Stonebridge remixes. Should EAR go ahead with such plans, the record would be released to “dance” format radio stations and club DJs. It could also possibly be included on a U.S. commercial (retail) version of the single, should the song continue to do extremely well on radio and make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 list.

Over 65 radio stations in the U.S. have added WICF to their playlists in the first week, and a fan-based “Roxattaq” is underway at www.roxette.net.

• Roxattaq USA

Whether as a DVD or videotape or both, there are plans to release a recording of the upcoming Stockholm concert of Marie’s “Äntligen” tour.

In a conversation with fans after the Malmö concert, Judith Seuma reports that Marie said there will be a video crew recording the Stockholm concert on the 10th. She said it will “cost a fortune” to produce, but that she was really proud to do this and that fan requests once again helped convince her. “You’ve gotta have a memory of this tour” she said.

A recent issue of Billboard Magazine had an absolutely raving review of “Wish I Could Fly”.

Swedish duo Roxette scored nine top 40 hits during its U.S. heyday in the early ’90s, including four No. 1 songs (remember “The Look” and “It Must Have Been Love”?). But what many don’t realize is that after EMI stopped promoting the band here, it continued to thrive overseas, maintaining a level of depth and soulfulness that far exceed what we call pop music on these shores. Thankfully, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle have been signed to Edel America, with a greatest-hits album heading this way Sept. 26. The first release—the most-played single across Europe last year, according to Edel—is an extraordinary ballad with all the juice of previous winners like “Spending My Time” and “Listen to Your Heart.” Like those titles, “Fly” begins wistfully, then builds methodically with elegant aplomb, never crossing the line into melodrama. Foremost is its rich, melodic palette, the ever-potent vocals of the astounding Fredriksson, and the song’s production, always one of Roxette’s strongs suits. “I Wish I Could Fly” is truly a magnificent anthem, the kind of song that possesses such personality, it will etch the times of listeners’ lives. An ecstatic moment for top 40 and its mainstream sisters. Don’t overthink it; just add it.

This review is not in Billboard’s online edition.

• Billboard Online

“Jag väntar vid Picasso, kom och möt mig om en stund,” (“I’ll wait by Picasso, come and meet me in a while”) sings Per in the song “Småstad”. “Picasso” is the nickname for a sculpture, “Woman’s head”, by Pablo Picasso, located in a park in the center of Halmstad.

Stig Nordström, an art lover from Halmstad, was the person who first proposed acquiring an artwork from Picasso in the early 1970s. Luckily, he also had contacts to people who knew Picasso. After long hesitation, the town officials decided to finance the project.

Many people were against purchasing the sculpture. It cost 230,000 SEK and people didn’t understand why one should pay so much for a piece of concrete. For the sake of comparison, a brand new Audi 100 at the time cost 21,000 SEK.

“Woman’s head” was unveiled on April 28, 1971. Picasso was not present.

• Hallandsposten’s Swedish article

Hitmakers Online (see the previous article) lists comments of Music Directors and Program Directors of American radio stations on the new releases. Many of them mention Roxette’s brand new US single, “Wish I Could Fly”. Here are the best bits:

• Rick Vaughn, APD, KHTS, San Diego:
  
  “Don’t think this one’s just a novelty, spend some time with it.”

• Jim Allen, APD, KRSK, Portland:
  
  “This could be a surprise hit in our format!”

• Ted Striker, PD, WILN, Panama City:
  
  “I heard this at the Conclave and I love it. It’s got a cool, moody sound and the video is provacative and really cool. I’ll be one of the people to get this record rockin’!”

• Beau Derek, MD, WNDV, South Bend:
  
  “We tested this and it did very well.”

• Jeff ’Hitman’ Dewitt, MD, KIXY, San Angelo:
  
  “Great upper-demo record! It’s perfect for your middays.”

• Brent Ackerman, PD, KROC, Rochester, MN:
  
  “I really think this sounds like Roxette at their peak. It’s got a great retro feel to it.”

• J. Love, MD, Q95, Detroit:
  
  “I’m vibing it!”

• Kevin Palana, PD/MD, WQGN, New London:
  
  “This is surprisingly better than what I thought it was going to sound like.”

• Tommy Bo Dean, MD, WZEE, Madison:
  
  “There’s definitely something to this.”

• Bruce Wayne, Interim PD/MD, WMC-FM, Memphis
  
  “Great f#%king record!”
  

The remixes of “Wish I Could Fly” also gets very positive feedback:

• Mark Perry, MD, KSMB, Lafayette:
  
  “The Dance remix is out of this world! It will probably be a hit in the clubs, in our area at least.”

• Mark Perry, MD, KSMB, Lafayette:
  
  “This is a good song. Check out the club mix.”

• Krash Kelly, MD, KSMB, Lafayette:
  
  “Check out the remix. It should be the single.”
  

• Hitmakers Online

According to Hitmakers Online (dubbing themselves as “America’s Leading Online Top40 Radio & Music Industry Source”) Roxette’s new USA single, “Wish I Could Fly” is the 5th most-added song at mainstream radio and the 2nd most-added song at adult contemporary radio this week.

• Hitmakers Online

The current issue of Billboard magazine reports that McDonalds restaurants has once again signed a deal to distribute inexpensive CDs, and mentions that the last time this was done, EMI was the partner with Roxette and Garth Brooks involved. Regular music retailers were furious with the arrangement.

This time around, there will be various compilations — including one from Jive with N’Sync and Britney Spears.

The former head of EMI in the States, who now is a principal in a recording industry finance company, was involved in putting this marketing deal together.

The cover picture of the new greatest hits album for the US market has been revealed on the Internet. The picture was included on a music industry advertisement which is currently on sale at eBay auctions site (someone has simply cut it out of a trade magazine)

This new greatest hits album is a revised version of the 1995 compilation “Don’t Bore Us, Get To The Chorus!” and it’s scheduled for release on September 26 in the United States.

While difficult to see in this “thumbnail” form, Marie is shown holding two “crystal balls” that show the faces of both Per and Marie.

The Swedish TV4 is working on a documentary on Marie’s summer tour. Footage for the film has been shot at least in the Halmstad concert, where they filmed Marie’s performance and the audience and interviewed fans. The documentary is due to be broadcasted in autumn. (Thanks to Mari!)

• TV4

Judith, the organizer of the successful campaign to get Marie on tour, has together with James (of Gun-Marie Guys and Gals fame) started a new petition. This time fans can leave messages to Marie for a live compilation, either on CD or on video/DVD. This new campaign has already been mentioned in many Swedish newspapers.

The site also contains article clippings and pictures from Marie’s ongoing tour.

• MF ƒntligen Tour Special

Roxette’s first American single in the better part of a decade, “Wish I Could Fly” has already earned its first honor.

Billboard’s online radio named the single its “Pick To Click” for its broadcast ending the week of July 22nd. The “Pick To Click” is awarded to songs that the Billboard magazine editors feel have the best chance to make it to the top of the charts.

Radio personality Chuck Taylor said of Roxette, “We love ’em around here” and that Roxette is “ready to re-conquer America.”

The mention comes about 28 minutes into the broadcast.

• Billboard Radio

Friday evening Marie had the second concert of her summer tour, this time in Roxette’s “home town”, Halmstad. About 5,000 people packed their picnic baskets and went to Brottet where Marie had a magnificient gig.

The evening’s big surprise were her special guests, Per Gessle and Mats “MP” Persson. They played Gyllene Tider’s “Kung av sand” together and then Per and Marie performed an acoustic version of the Roxette hit “Listen To Your Heart”.

In Halmstad, Marie ended her concert with “Så skimrande var aldrig havet” and with the words “I hope it won’t take 8 years again before the next time”.

• Hallandposten’s Swedish article

Judith Seuma, the webmaster of tro.roxette.org got a message from the Swedish reporter Cecilia Parkert who wrote an article about Marie’s tour in Metro. Here’s the message:

Hello Judith

 

What Marie said was that her fans mean a lot to her and that she’s read messages from fans at site on the Internet. The fans “demanded” that she’d go on tour in Sweden and this was what made her make up her mind.

 

Plus the fact that she really wanted to go.

 

She also said that some of her foreign fans send letters to her in Swedish. She is amazed that people abroad actually look up the words in her texts and learn a new language that way.

 

She hoped that some of her foreign fans would be able to come to Sweden to see her on tour. And, according to the newspapers here, part of the audience is from abroad.

 

Hope this is what you wanted to know

 

Cecilia Parkert

reporter, FLT

Judith’s site first hosted the petition to get Marie on tour and now hosts an unofficial guide for Marie’s summer tour.

• Metro’s Swedish article

“You can see that she loves her job and she really infected the people with her enthusiasm,” Måns Ivarsson writes in Expressen. He rates Marie’s live performance 3 out of 5.

Ivarsson says that Marie is a brilliant singer, but her lyrics don’t catch. He thinks it may be that Marie is more of a women’s thing.

“Her repertoire has a couple of pearls, but musically is pretty much only 80s’ nonsense. It sounds like she’s found a mixture of bands from 1985: Bangles, Fleetwood Mac, U2. Skillful, but lifeless sound.” Ivarsson thinks that the fast-tempo material is clearly the best, but ballads sound old and indifferent. “What saved the show was Marie herself and her charisma.”

According to Ivarsson, Marie’s show was 90-minute long compilation of 16 hits. In the middle of her show she had a solo performance with only her and a grand piano. The show was ended with “Äntligen” and “Den sjunde vågen”.

• Expressen’s Swedish article

Marie’s tour started yesterday evening in the Borgholm castle ruins. It was rainy, but 3,900 people still wanted to see Marie live in this exceptional outdoor venue, familiar to many Roxette fans from the “Listen To Your Heart” and “Dangerous” videos.

“I was really nervous about the bad weather - what if people wouldn’t come at all. It’s been eight years since my last solo tour and I got a wonderful response from the brave audience,” Marie says in Expressen.

Marie’s one-and-a-half hour concert got 2 out of 5 stars in Aftonbladet. “She is so good,” Per Bjurman writes. “But unfortunately: she is so uninteresting.”

• Expressen’s Swedish article
• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article

Read more…

The Swedish newspaper Metro has an interview with Marie who is preparing to leave on her summer tour. The tour begins today in Borgholm.

“My fans launched a website where people could write messages to me,” Marie tells. “There were people from South America, USA, England and other countries who wrote that I ’must go on tour in Sweden’. And that’s what made me to do it. This tour is for my fans.”

The compilation album “Äntligen” has already sold over 170,000 copies. “It’s fantastic. In fact, I haven’t fully understood it yet. It’s an enormous number of records these days when the record sales in general are reducing, partly because of the Internet. It feels like this is the album that many people have been longing for,” says Marie.

Marie’s previous solo tour was in 1992 with only indoor venues. This summer tour will consist of only outdoor venues, but for Marie it’s routine after Roxette’s huge world tours. “I’m used to perform in big arenas where you have to be prepared to stand out,” she says.

Marie’s band on the tour will be Mikael Bolyos, Staffan Astner, Christer Jansson, Mats Persson, Frank Ådahl and Katarina Millton.

• Metro’s Swedish article (nice pic!)
• Metro’s page in PDF (requires Acrobat Reader)

The Swedish tax authorities are accusing both Per and Marie of fraud for avoiding 2 million SEK each (approx. 226,000 USD) in taxes. The authorities raided the EMA Telstar office and discovered that the company never paid the agreed royalties for the German part of the band’s Crash! Boom! Bang! world tour (max. 4,500 USD/concert) to Per and Marie. Instead, EMA paid their company, Roxette Produktion AB, 5,6 million SEK (633,000 USD). The tax authorities claim that Per and Marie had an employment contract with EMA Telstar, but they didn’t make the appropriate report of the income. Now they have to pay the income tax and a 40% penalty, making the total 4 million SEK.

A legal representative of Roxette, Mats Nilemar, has announced that the band will appeal the decision. According to Nilemar, it’s even unsure which country the taxes — if there are unpaid taxes — should be paid to.

• Expressen’s article 1
• Expressen’s article 2

Read more…

Roxattaq USA website at www.roxette.net has published the confirmed tracklisting for the revised US version of “Don’t Bore Us - Get To The Chorus!” compilation.

1. Wish I Could Fly
   
2. Stars
   
3. The Look
   
4. Dressed For Success
   
5. Listen To Your Heart
   
6. Dangerous
   
7. It Must Have Been Love
   
8. Joyride
   
9. Fading Like A Flower
   
10. Spending My Time
    
11. Church Of Your Heart
    
12. How Do You Do
    
13. Almost Unreal
    
14. Sleeping In My Car
    
15. Crash! Boom! Bang!
    
16. You Don’t Understand Me
    

The album is due to be out in September. This will be the first release by Roxette’s new US record label, Edel America Records.

Just to let you know about two articles published in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

The members of Gyllene Tider were interviewed by Aftonbladet’s weekly extra Puls. “Gyllene Tider is the soundtrack of the Swedish summer,” Frida Lindqvist writes. Gyllene Tider, especially because of their smash hit “Sommartider” (“Summer times”), has become a synonym to “summer” in Sweden.

By the way, according to Aftonbladet, the original Gyllene Tider “EP” (the yellow one) is worth 5000 SEK (approx. 560 USD) “among the collectors”.

Marie was interviewed on Friday’s Aftonbladet. She’s enthusiastic to go on tour. Her family will be traveling with her for the whole tour. Micke Bolyos, Marie’s husband, will be the tour’s bandleader.

• Gyllene Tider in Aftonbladet
• Marie in Aftonbladet

Judith and Jenny have been kind enough to put online some screenshots of Marie’s interview on Swedish TV yesterday. The pictures were taken of an actual TV screen.

• Marie in Bl timmen

Has the Time Warner/EMI Group merger hit a snag? London’s ’Financial Times’ reported on Friday that there may be a
counter-offer by a consortium of three unnamed U.S. record companies. Some EMI shareholders are concerned with the
Warner deal, because European authorities have launched a four-month antitrust probe, worried that the amalgamated
company would have too much concentration of power, control the largest number of copyrights in the world and dominate
digital downloading.

Halland Academy, an organization set up in part to promote the Swedish province of Halland, will be presenting special awards to three people for helping to make the province famous. One of these people is Marie Fredriksson, who is going to receive an award of 100,000 SEK (11,300 USD) during an official ceremony in Varberg on August 27.

The other two awardees are professor Carl-Gustaf Andrén and the former prime minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt.

“Marie Fredriksson has for the whole of her successful career had a strong connection to the province. From her home in Halmstad in her youth and working with the Halmstad band Strul - to the world tours with Roxette, and to her present solo performances that include also her own production. Marie Fredriksson is one of the most successful rock and pop singers of today. Remarkable to her singing is the deep emotionalism, strong musicality and a great sense of style,” the Academy jury said in explaining their decision.

• Hallandsposten’s Swedish article

Aftonbladet has listed the top Swedish albums of the first half of year 2000. They aren’t very impressed. “It can’t get much worse than this,” Tore S. Börjesson writes. According to Aftonbladet, Marie and her compilation “Äntligen” (156,000 copies sold so far) is clear #1 of the list. But, as Börjesson says, Marie’s album “is a compilation, songs we’ve already heard”.

Number 2 is Lisa Nilsson with “Viva” and #3 Di Leva with “Älska”.

• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article

Online record store Boxman has published the cover of the forthcoming Gyllene Tider compilation, “Konstpaus”. The album will gather all the tracks that Gyllene Tider has recorded during their short reunions between years 1989 and 1996.

• Boxman product info (incl. sound clips)

Expressen interviewed Per after tragic death of eight people in Roskilde Festival on Friday. Per knows what it feels like to be on stage when something like this happens. In Kristianopel, in 1981 three people suffocated to death in Gyllene Tider concert.

“It was an awful weather and everyone waited for the last minute before coming to the area. And nobody thought that several thousand people would force their way in at the same time,” Per tells.

In Rio de Janeiro, one person died in Roxette concert on one of the band’s world tours. “Though there was a knife involved.”

Per stresses that arrangers’ most important area of responsibility is security. “Big assemblings contain security risks. One has to be aware that there can be things that haven’t been thought before, especially in concerts where people try to get as near the stage as possible.”

8 people died and over 20 was injured in Roskilde, Denmark on Friday during Pearl Jam concert. This year’s festival had over 70,000 visitors. Oasis and Pet Shop Boys cancelled their gigs to express their sympathy to the friends and families. “I don’t play on cemeteries, and that’s what this place is now,” said Liam Gallagher of Oasis on Finnish TV.

• Expressen’s Swedish article

Marie will be interviewed in Blå timmen on SVT2 next Wednesday, 22.10 CET. Marie, 42 years old, mother of two children, one of the richest people in Sweden and an artist with a good outlook, will be telling about her values and plans for the future.

Marie was interviewed in restaurant Gondolen in Stockholm in early May. The programme will be broadcasted also on SVT Europa.

• Aftonbladet’s Swedish article (very nice new pic of Marie!)