Roxette

  

As a music lover and lifetime Roxette fan, I was thrilled to find that Santa had left two Roxette albums under the tree last year.  The first was Bag of Trix: Music From The Roxette Vaults. This album is a must-have for any Roxette fan's collection.  It is a compilation of previously unreleased demos, outtakes, bonus tracks and live and remixed versions of some of their biggest songs.  In addition, there are several Spanish versions of Roxette favourites, namely Tu No Comprendes (You Don't Understand Me), Alguien (Anyone), Lo Siento (Salvation) and Quisiera Volar (Wish I Could Fly).  

Among the many highlights on the album are a selection of acoustic songs recorded at the legendary Abbey Road studios, including a stunning cover of The Beatles' Help and their hits, Listen To Your Heart and The Look.  Another one of the highlights from the collection is Piece of Cake, an outtake from the Good Karma album and the very last song that Roxette recorded.  Even though it didn't make it onto their final album, it's a great song that deserves to be on a Roxette collection.

The album was dedicated to Marie and released in physical form two days after the first anniversary of her death.  For Marie's fans around the world, the extras on this compilation will probably be even more meaningful since they include three home-recorded demo versions of her own songs Pocketful Of Rain, Waiting For The Rain and Beautiful Boy.  The latter was rewritten by Marie with her son Oscar in mind and recorded with her husband, Mikael, in their home studio.  

The booklet that is included with the three-disc album features track-by-track notes from Per Gessle as well as Mikael, providing fans unprecedented insight into the thought processes behind song choices for various albums, the recording process involved in each of the tracks and demos and the reasons final mixes of certain songs were selected above the demo versions featured on this collection.  

The second Roxette surprise from Santa was the 30th anniversary edition of their third studio album, Joyride.  I was slightly obsessed with the title track (not to mention Marie's red & white geometric leggings in the music video) as well as the timeless single, Fading Like a Flower.  AllMusic referred to the album as "the work of two pop artists at the top of their game" and listening to the 30th anniversary edition of the album is a reminder of the accuracy of this statement.  The compilation includes two CDs of previously unreleased demos, live recordings and mixes (some of which overlap the extras on Bag of Trix).  A beautifully illustrated 32-page booklet that tells the story behind the album and its phenomenal success.

According to Lexer Music, Joyride was the album that "was supposed to cement Roxette’s new-found status as a global hit-makers" - which it certainly did, especially after the 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".

Some of the highlights from the 30th anniversary edition include the US single version of Joyride (mixed by Brian Malouf), the US single version of Fading Like a Flower (Humberto Gatica mix) and the Tom Lord-Alge Mix of Soul Deep as well as the previously unreleased demos, Sweet Thing, Run Run Run, Things Will Never Be The Same and Hotblooded.  It is interesting to listen to the various demos to see how they evolved into the final versions that made it onto the album, again offering insight into the creative process of one of pop music's most talented pop duos.