28 Mar 2003

Small town, big feelings (III): Opportunity nox

The new compilation of Roxette, the Pop hits, has been released this week.The album includes a new songs, Opportunity Nox (the single), and other old demos like Little Miss Sorrow, Better off on her own, Stupid (Spun version), Makin' love to you and Bla bla bla bla bla You broke my heart.

On Friday 31 January 2003, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle were awarded a Royal Medal of the Eighth Size with a blue ribbon' by the king of Sweden, for their outstanding achievements in both the Swedish and International music world. It was the first public appearance together since September (due to Marie's health after a tumour surgery last year).

Opportunity Nox features very little of Marie Fredriksson's vocals and adds Milla Andersson's backing vocals of the demo. Produced by Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist also plays acoustic and bass guitar. It sounds really close to Ramones' covers recorded by this team last year. Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen both has given the song 4 stars and called it Roxette's best song since "Dangerous" and "Joyride" respectively.

Lund is a university town in Sweden with an eclectic music scene. It's about one hour's drive to the nearest large town, Malmö, and eight hours to Stockholm. In the Winter, there are only a few hours of sunlight but the creative energy in Lund is boundless. Lund Records was formed a few years ago by local record and filmmakers.

LUND CALLING: FROM SWEDEN - LoveCat Music has released today a compilation with some indie bands from Lund. The recordings were made between 1994 and 1998 by Lund Records, but many of them (e.g., Favorita) were never released.

  • FAVORITA: Magnus Borjeson: vocals and bass; Fredik Blank: guitar; Benjamin Peetre: keyboard; Conny Stade: drums.
  • POETIZED: Oliver Hallquist: vocals; Erik Hjarpe: keyboards; Gustav Lindroth: bass; Mattias Nihlen: guitar; Clemens Martensson: drums.
  • DAMM!: Måns Svante, Måns Block, Måns Mernsten
  • THE MUTTS: Hakan Akesson: guitar/vocals; Fredrik Svensson: drums; Tommy Nilsson: bass
  • THE LANGHORNS: Rikard Swardh: drums; Martin Berglund: bass; Michael Sellers: guitars.
  • THE CREEPS: Robert Jelinek: lead and backing vocals/electric guitar; Hans Ingemansson: Hamond organ/Wurlitzer electric piano/ grand piano; Anders Johansson: electric bass guitar; Patrick Olsson: drums
You can listen to these interesting bands here:

Edit 2007: Magnus Borjeson from Favorita has worked with Per Gessle in Mazarin and En Händig Man. It is the first time some songs from Favorita are released since 1996. Erik Hjarpe has worked with Sandy Mouche and Helena Josefsson.



I was actually on my way to a pressconference in Brussels when the phone rang and I got this message that Marie was ill. So, of course, it was a big blow for first and foremost herself and her family, but also for all of us. It was devastating. But now it's six months later, and it's been scary times, but Marie's health has improved a lot and she's almost back to normal.

Marie's state changes by day, although she's doing much better nowadays then she did last autumn. It's going up and down like night and day, it's the state of the day that decides what she is able to. She is definitely feeling much better. It takes time for her to come back. And she has to decided for herself she feels like doing so, there's no reason for her to stress. She will take it easy for the rest of this year. It will take a while for her to come back.

Previously, the intention was to perform with Roxette in the summer, but now, the release of The Pop Hits could become the only event for Roxette this year. Under normal circumstances we would certainly have taken a few months this spring to promote the album. Now I hardly think it will be so. It can turn out that we don't do anything this year. But we're not in panic that we have to record a new Roxette album.

The original demo version of Opportunity nox was called “Yellow-Bellied Alligator.” Yea, I have the original lyrics in my computer but I won’t reveal them. They’re awful (even though the title is very cool…)
Per Gessle

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