SÖDERHAMN - Snippets of some of the new songs are now available on gessle.com. The remastered and extended version of "The World According to Gessle" will be released May 14.

Gessle.com, thru Bengans, is taking orders for the remastered and extended version of "The World According to Gessle." Swedes can pay via invoice - 169 SEK, or credit card - 159 SEK, foreigners via credit card only. Shipping to Sweden is 29 SEK, EU 45 SEK and the rest of the world 55 SEK.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Per writes us:

Jeezus - no order in the bedroom! This morning I found a very early demo of "Wish you the best" called "Drum", which we just have to use on new TWATG-release!!! So… WYTB is left out in the cold… the album release is set for early May. that's the most recent whisper in the EMI corridors…

Update:  Release date is May 14. Still no word on where it's being released besides Sweden.

Per GessleToday the album "Per Gessle" turns 25 years old! The album, which was at first supposed to be called "Syrenernas tid" ("Age of the Lilacs"), was released 25 years ago today, on April 8, 1983.

Per tells us that he started recording this album right after "Puls" when the other four in Gyllene Tider were drafted for the army. "I remember I didn't really get along with my high voice so I set all the songs in keys too low (to get a 'deeper' voice). This is/was a big mistake. Some songs, for example 'Syrenernas tid' would have been much better with some sharper vocals."

Per isn't really happy with the sleeve either. It was shot at Tylösand and at the suite at the Hallandia Hotel in Halmstad. "I never liked the sleeve, much too 'grown up' for a 24 year old… but maybe that happened to show a different side of me than the one in GT…"

The album generated one single; "Om du har lust" with the flip side "Överallt" and "Man varnade för halka." The single is quite hard to find. EMI even claimed it was never released.

Some sources claim that the singer Anne-Lie Rydé loved "Segla på ett moln" so much that she "stole" it (convinced Per she could have it,) but that's not how it went down. Anne-Lie got it because it was a left-over.

"Per Gessle" was released on CD in the box set "På väg" July 1 1992, this time with three bonus tracks. "Segla på ett moln," performed together with Marie Fredriksson, ended up on the album "Demos 1982-86."

STOCKHOLM - Art is not just short for Arthur it seems after all. In the footsteps of Marie Fredriksson, Per will open an art exhibition of his own in May, coincidentally with the re-release of "The World According to Gessle." We have previously seen Per's drawings in the "Mazarin" album booklet and he even created a painting for an auction in 2003, but this exhibition will be something completely different. It's entitled, "The Art According to Gessle."

"I've always liked the classic Greek statues. Michelangelo's David and all that, you know. I even have a couple of antique statues in my house," Per says to The Daily Roxette. "So I thought, what the heck, why shouldn't I get my hands dirty and try to re-create that magnificient style. It's not that popular these days, but I don't think I need to worry about that, do I?" Per says with a crooked smile.

Per has transformed a room in his house in Halmstad into a studio where he works exclusively with Ferrara marble imported from Italy. Like all the great masters, he actually has an assistant doing much of the actual sculpting. Per provides direct supervision and instruction.

Per will be interviewed about these new works on Kulturnyheterna on SVT2 at 19:00 CET today. The program is also broadcast on SVT Play on the Internet.

Editor's Note: As many of you guessed from the Dateline… this was indeed our April Fool's joke. Thanks to Jastrow for the photo!  – LEO