This year, Swedish group Roxette celebrates the 30th Anniversary of their third album “Joyride”, following the band’s spectacular global breakthrough with “Look Sharp!” in 1989.
Three US #1 singles – “The Look”, “Listen To Your Heart” and “It Must Have Been Love” – and other big hits like “Dressed For Success” and “Dangerous” had rapidly made the Roxette duo Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle a world-wide hit phenomenon.
”Joyride” was the album that was supposed to cement Roxette’s new-found status as a global hit-makers. Which indeed it did. On May 1, the title track zoomed all the way up to #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart – setting a record no Scandinavian group or artist has yet been able to break, helping to make “Joyride” a 11+ million seller.
This autumn the 30th Anniversary of ”Joyride” will be celebrated with the release of a 4-album vinyl and a 3-CD box, containing the original release as well as previously unreleased or hard-to-get material, that paints a fuller picture of a unique time in pop history. A richly illustrated 32 page booklet tells the story.
Twelve of the songs are previously unreleased, among them the first recording of ”Hotblooded”, which originally was meant to be the album’s opening track until ”Joyride” knocked it down a notch, giving the album and the upcoming “Join the Joyride” World Tour its name.
The “Joyride” box set also offers a chance to hear two previously unreleased demos of songs originally released by Per’s former group Gyllene Tider, who in 1984 tried to break the international market with the album “Heartland Café”.
In the autumn of 1989 I was going through all kinds of possible material for the new Roxette album. ”Run Run Run” and ”Another Place, Another Time” from the ”Heartland Café” album felt like quite strong contenders, so we did new and more ”Roxified” demo versions of them. ”Run Run Run” was a favourite of mine – I thought it had potential to go a long way, Per Gessle remembers.
The two songs never made it to a studio recording, however.
“Even though we were travelling the world constantly doing promotion for “Look Sharp!” as well as “It Must Have Been Love”, I managed to find time to write lots of new songs. Most of them were customized for Marie to sing, and in the end we preferred those,” Per says.
Other unearthed demos from 1990 are ”Small Talk”, ”Church Of Your Heart”, ”Physical Fascination”, ”Things Will Never Be The Same”, ”I Remember You” and not least the future single B-side ”The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye” – one of the strongest songs that never made it to the album. It would however become a much loved track by Roxette fans – the “Roxers” – and recorded by many artists, among them American singer Laura Branigan.
”Sweet Thing” is another one of the many songs written and demoed for the new album, giving the listener a more complete insight in the making of this classic pop album.
In addition the LP box with four vinyl albums, the original album is also released, this time with a gatefold cover and pressed in marbled or black vinyl. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.
A single teaser from the ”Joyride” 30th Anniversary box ”Small Talk” and ”Hotblooded” in previously unreleased versions will be released on the 8th October.
‘Joyride’ Tracklistings:
LP #1
A
1 Joyride
2 Hotblooded
3 Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)
4 Knockin’ On Every Door
5 Spending My Time
6 Watercolours In The Rain
B
1 The Big L.
2 (Do You Get) Excited?
3 Small Talk
4 Physical Fascination
5 Things Will Never Be The Same
6 Perfect Day
LP #2
A
1 Soul Deep
2 I Remember You
3 Church Of Your Heart
4 The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye
5 Fading Like A Flower (US single version, Humberto Gatica mix)*
B
1 Joyride (Us single version, Brain Malouf mix)
2 Soul deep (Tom Lord-Alge mix)
3 Church Of Your Heart (US adult contemporary mix)*
4 Hotblooded (Live Sydney Dec 1991)
5 Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave) (Live Sydney Dec 1991)
LP #3
A
1 Joyride (T&A Demo – May 23, 1990)
2 Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Jan 23, 1990)*
3 Fading like a flower (T&A Demo – Aug 31, 1990)
4 Knockin’ on every door (T&A Demo – Aug 15, 1989)
5 Spending my time (T&A Demo – May 24, 1990)
6 I remember you (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
7 Watercolours in the rain (T&A Demo – Jan 24, 1990)
B
1The Big L. (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
2 (Do You Get) Excited? (T&A Demo – Aug 19, 1989)
3 Small Talk (T&A Demo – aug 30, 1990)*
4 Church Of Your Heart (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 1990) *
5 Physical Fascination (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)*
6 Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Jun 17, 1989)
7 Perfect Day (T&A Demo – Aug 23, 1990)
LP #4
A
1 Sweet Thing (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 1990)*
2 Seduce Me (T&A Demo – Aug 22, 1990)
3 Run Run Run (T&A Demo – Jan 10, 1990)*
4 Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Sep 17, 1989)*
5 Love Spins (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)
6 Come Back (Before You Leave) (T&A Demo – Apr 8, 1990)
7 The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye (T&A Demo – Mar 16, 1990)*
B
1 Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
2 Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
3 Another Place, Another Time (T&A Demo – Jan 11, 1990)*
4 I Remember You (T&A Demo – Mar 15, 1990)*
5 Queen Of Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 2, 1990
6 The Big L. (T&A Demo – Mar 29, 1990)
7 Joyrider (T&A Demo – May 22, 1990)
*Previously unreleased
CD and Digital tracklist
CD1
Joyride
Hotblooded
Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)
Knockin’ On Every Door
Spending My Time
I Remember You
Watercolours In The Rain
The Big L.
Soul Deep
(Do You Get) Excited?
Church Of Your Heart
Small Talk
Physical Fascination
Things Will Never Be The Same
Perfect Day
The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye
Joyride (US Single version, Brain Malouf mix)
Fading Like A Flower (US Single version, Humberto Gatica mix)*
Soul deep (Tom Lord-Alge mix)
Church Of Your Heart (US adult contemporary mix)*
CD2
Joyride (T&A Demo – May 23, 1990)
Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Jan 23, 1990)*
Fading like a flower (T&A Demo – Aug 31, 1990)
Knockin’ on every door (T&A Demo – Aug 15, 1989)
Spending my time (T&A Demo – May 24, 1990)
I Remember You (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
Watercolours In The Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 24, 1990)
The Big L. (T&A Demo – Apr 1, 1990)
(Do You Get) Excited? (T&A Demo – Aug 19, 1989)
Small Talk (T&A Demo – Aug 30, 1990)*
Church Of Your Heart (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 1990) *
Physical Fascination (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)*
Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Jun 17, 1989)
Perfect Day (T&A Demo – Aug 23, 1990)
CD3
Sweet Thing (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 1990)*
Seduce Me (T&A Demo – Aug 22, 1990)
Run Run Run (T&A Demo – Jan 10, 1990)*
Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Sep 17, 1989)*
Love Spins (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 1990)
Come Back (Before You Leave) (T&A Demo – Apr 8, 1990)
The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye (T&A Demo – Mar 16, 1990)*
Hotblooded (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
Things Will Never Be The Same (T&A Demo – Dec 13, 1990)
Another Place, Another Time (T&A Demo – Jan 11, 1990)*
I Remember You (T&A Demo – Mar 15, 1990)*
Queen Of Rain (T&A Demo – Jan 2, 1990
The Big L. (T&A Demo – Mar 29, 1990)
Joyrider (T&A Demo – May 22, 1990)
Hotblooded (Live Sydney Dec 1991)
Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave) (Live Sydney Dec 1991)
*Previously unreleased
