STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - “Kärlekens Guld” is the name that’s been given to a box set of remastered Marie Fredriksson albums that will be released by EMI Sweden (on the Capitol label) as early as June 10th. The name means “Love’s Gold” in English.

  The set, to be packaged in an attractive slip cover, will include her five original albums – remastered using state-of-the-art equipment – along with the live recording of the Stockholm “Äntligen” concert that was previously included as a bonus in the DVD package. Each of the five albums will include bonus tracks.

  Li Eriksson, who managed the project for EMI, said
“What we’ve done is basically taken care of Marie’s catalog, which obviously is a treasure, and remastered her solo albums. During this summer and fall they will be available in this box ’Kärlekens Guld’ and further down the line as separate albums.”

  “This procedure is not unusual at all,” Eriksson told TDR. “Most artist’s back-catalogue is being remastered to get the soundpicture updated. It’s something record companies
do to preserve their artist’s history.”

  In the spring of 2000, after a relatively long period of silence as a solo artist, Marie and EMI selected her biggest hits and released them on a compilation album called “Äntligen” (which means “Finally” in English). Eriksson says this album has now sold about 290,000 copies making it one of the best-selling albums in Sweden last year.

  “A big summer tour followed, and solidified Marie’s standing as the biggest Swedish female artist,” said Eriksson.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Click on the cover photo to see what the promo poster will look like. If you would like to have a hi-res file sent to you (so that you can print your own mini-poster), write to [email protected] The front of the actual slipcase cover will not include the thumbnails of the previous albums as shown here. Read more…

STOCKHOLM - EMI Svenska is planning to release a summer collection of songs that were released under the Parlophone label during the period 1979-1983. Among others, the album will feature hits from Marie Fredriksson and Gyllene Tider. A more detailed track listing is not yet available. The compilation album, titled “En plats i solen” (“A place in the sun”), will be released on the same day as Marie’s box set, June 10th.

RIO DE JANEIRO - “Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus” sold more than 500.000 copies in Brazil since its release. This number will apparently increase more, as EMI Brazil will be re-releasing the album with a new cover.

  While the track listing of the CD will remain the same, the new cover - all in red - will say “Roxette - Limited Edition.”

ST. PETERSBURG - “Milk and Toast and Honey” has returned to Russia’s most popular FM station’s Euro Hit Top-40. It was in the 26th position last week and it is #21 this week. The DJs say Roxette could enter the Top 10 soon - a YEAR after “Room Service” was released!

• EuropaPlus chart (Site is in Russian)

LAS VEGAS - The world premiere of Spun will take place on June 8th at the Palms Hotel and Casino during the CineVegas International Film Festival. Spun is directed by Jonas Akerlund and will feature a new recording of “Stupid” by Roxette.

  The story revolves around an unemployed man and methamphetamine user, who during a visit to his drug dealer, gets caught up with the drug’s maker, who proceeds to take him on a three-day adventure.

  The movie stars Patrick Fugit, Jason Schwartzman,
John Leguizamo, Mickey Rourke, Mena Suvari, Swedish actor Peter Stormare, Brittany Murphy, Deborah Harry, and Eric Roberts.

  Unlike “Pretty Woman,” which also featured a Roxette song, this film is not backed by a major film studio and is more of an “independent”-type release. It will, however, be distributed internationally.

  Per and Marie, who are both good friends with Jonas, will not be attending the premiere. The Roxette version of “Stupid” (previously recorded by just Per) is not expected to be released as a single.

• CineVegas Film Festival
• Spun

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle’s recording of “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” for the Ramones tribute album will be released as a commercial single in Scandinavia on May 27 and to the rest of Europe on June 10.

  The vinyl 7” and the CD-single will include Per’s version of “Sheena Is A Punkrocker” and the 12” vinyl will have yet another track; Per’s version of “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment”.

  Per has just returned from Antwerp where he checked out a special performance of Night of The Proms.

EMI, one of the world’s big five record companies, has seen profits slide 40% in what it termed a “challenging year”. The company, home to Roxette and other artists such as Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams, has been beset by falling sales and piracy problems like the rest of the music business. According to BBC News, the company has also made its own mistakes, “including heavy debts, underperforming artists, and a £38m bill for extricating itself from a massive long-term deal with Mariah Carey.”

  In March, we reported about EMI’s plans to cut 1,800 jobs.

• BBC News article

LONDON - EMI Recorded Music has acquired Mute, one of Europe’s leading independent record companies, extending an existing licensing relationship that Mute has had with EMI’s Virgin Records for over 15 years.

  Founded in London in 1978 by Daniel Miller, Mute has consistently been at the forefront of artist development with an artist roster that includes Moby and Depeche Mode - whose last albums sold 8 million and 2 million each respectively. The acquisition includes Mute’s catalogue and its operations in the UK, US and Germany.

Eleven years ago this week, Roxette’s “Joyride” ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The chart topping single was the group’s fourth #1, following “The Look,” “Listen To Your Heart” and “It Must Have Been Love.”

  To commemorate the occasion, Billboardradio.com has included “Joyride” in its weekly streaming audio feed. The song comes about 15 to 20 minutes into the countdown.

• Billboardradio.com

STUTTGART - The weekly newspaper Stuttgarter Stadtanzeiger has a big story about Roxette’s appereance at Nokia ’Night of the Proms’ in this week’s edition (based on the organizer’s press release). You can read the scanned article – in German – at http://www.music-centre.de