LMG
08-09-2009, 12:01 PM
Roxette has been my favorite band since I was 7 years old.
This Swedish pop duo, formed by Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson gave their last live show in 2001 when Marie got detected a brain tumor from which she (God in between) succesfully got out of.
Now the will be back at the Night of the Proms (you can buy tickets online).
I'm so excited this band is back. Per Gessle is such a genious; I could never feel more identified with anybody else but him in the way he feels music and composes it. Especially, you must listen to Joyride (if you haven't yet), their 3rd album: a masterpiece from anywhere you look at it, and Roxette's most sold album to date. So simple and ultra catchy pop tunes, blended with distorted guitars (the finest solos by Jonas Isaccson, probably my most favorite guitar player in the world).
One thing that I've noticed from Per's composings, is that he never overcharges the songs with hundreds of instruments. On the contrary, he creates outstanding arrangements with the perfect sound at the proper moment. For example, there would be a grand piano playing just 3 notes (yeah, just 3 key touches) at minue 2:58 of the song, and that's the only time you'll hear that piano in the whole song. The same for the guitars and other efects.
Roxette was not just another pop band. Roxette was "elite" pop. Sometimes having more than 6 or 7 excellent musicians (and I do mean "excellent"). You could hear Jonas' solos live making it totally different from the one in the album and you would say "hey, wait, that solo is even better than the one in the album!".
What pisses me off is that I hear many people saying "hey, you still listen to that crap? that's gay stuff". Sometimes you have to deal with assholes that don't understand shit what music is about, and those same idiots, who label themselves as "heavy metalers" or "hardrockers" because they were listening to Guns 'n Roses and Metallica in 1991 (the same year that Roxette took over the world with the release of Joyride), those same idiots went to the Roxette concert, singing all the songs. And now they pretend they didn't like it because "what will everybody say if I say I listened to Roxette?" Ignorants! I love heavy metal and hard rock too (I eve play in a metal band!) and that's no reason to regret listening to such great pop bands.
Here I leave you some links to some great performances of Roxette so you can judge yourself. Pay special attention to keyboard and guitar arrangements, as well as to Jonas Isacsson solos. Enjoy!!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f-PHc_yQtg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJG2QGjOJ08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz5DLLff54Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGornGCqqeM&feature=related
This Swedish pop duo, formed by Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson gave their last live show in 2001 when Marie got detected a brain tumor from which she (God in between) succesfully got out of.
Now the will be back at the Night of the Proms (you can buy tickets online).
I'm so excited this band is back. Per Gessle is such a genious; I could never feel more identified with anybody else but him in the way he feels music and composes it. Especially, you must listen to Joyride (if you haven't yet), their 3rd album: a masterpiece from anywhere you look at it, and Roxette's most sold album to date. So simple and ultra catchy pop tunes, blended with distorted guitars (the finest solos by Jonas Isaccson, probably my most favorite guitar player in the world).
One thing that I've noticed from Per's composings, is that he never overcharges the songs with hundreds of instruments. On the contrary, he creates outstanding arrangements with the perfect sound at the proper moment. For example, there would be a grand piano playing just 3 notes (yeah, just 3 key touches) at minue 2:58 of the song, and that's the only time you'll hear that piano in the whole song. The same for the guitars and other efects.
Roxette was not just another pop band. Roxette was "elite" pop. Sometimes having more than 6 or 7 excellent musicians (and I do mean "excellent"). You could hear Jonas' solos live making it totally different from the one in the album and you would say "hey, wait, that solo is even better than the one in the album!".
What pisses me off is that I hear many people saying "hey, you still listen to that crap? that's gay stuff". Sometimes you have to deal with assholes that don't understand shit what music is about, and those same idiots, who label themselves as "heavy metalers" or "hardrockers" because they were listening to Guns 'n Roses and Metallica in 1991 (the same year that Roxette took over the world with the release of Joyride), those same idiots went to the Roxette concert, singing all the songs. And now they pretend they didn't like it because "what will everybody say if I say I listened to Roxette?" Ignorants! I love heavy metal and hard rock too (I eve play in a metal band!) and that's no reason to regret listening to such great pop bands.
Here I leave you some links to some great performances of Roxette so you can judge yourself. Pay special attention to keyboard and guitar arrangements, as well as to Jonas Isacsson solos. Enjoy!!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f-PHc_yQtg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJG2QGjOJ08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz5DLLff54Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGornGCqqeM&feature=related