Gessle Upgraded (Let's Celebrate!)
Jason W. Bellenger | Byron Center, Michigan, USA | 03/07/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"'The World According To Gessle'
5 099921 511721
Produced by Gessle, Michael Ilbert, & Clarence Ofwerman
Music from EMI
2008 Elevator Entertainment/EMI Music Sweden AB is a Capitol Music Label
The complete tracklisting:
CD 1 (~74 minutes)
Original tracks --
01. Stupid
02. Do You Wanna Be My Baby?
03. Saturday
04. Kix
05. I Want You To Know
06. Reporter
07. B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B [Homage to Brian W.]
08. Wish You The Best
09. Elvis In Germany (Let's Celebrate!) [Battery Studios Mix]*
10. T-T-T-Take It! [Battery Studios Mix]*
11. I'll Be Alright [Battery Studios Mix]*
12. There Is My Baby [Battery Studios Mix] (as used on the original album release)*
13. Lay Down Your Arms
14. Kix-Cha-Cha ["ghost track"]
All tracks are the Mono Studio mixes, except where noted*
Extras --
15. Love Doesn't Live Here -- outtake from album + B-side of "Kix"
16. Always Breaking My Heart (Demo - 30 May 1995) -- B-side of "Do You Wanna Be My Baby?"
17. I Wanna Be With You (Demo - 2 Nov 1994) -- B-side of "Do You Wanna Be My Baby?"
18. Blue Umbrella (Demo - 15 June 1993) -- B-side of "I Want You To Know"
19. Jupiter Calling (Demo - 3 Aug 1995) -- B-side of "I Want You To Know"
20. Let's Party! (Demo - 14 July 1988) -- B-side of "I Want You To Know"
CD 2 (~78 minutes)
The Demos according to Gessle --
01. There Is My Baby (June 27, 1994)
02. I'll Be Alright (July 16, 1994)
03. June Afternoon (July 17, 1994)
04. Writer (July 17, 1994)
05. T-t-t-take It! (Sep 12, 1994)
06. Elvis In Germany (Nov 2, 1994)
07. Every Day Outside My Window (Dec 28, 1995)
08. Love Doesn't Live Here (Feb 25, 1996)
09. Detective Jones (Feb 29, 1996)
10. Beautiful Things, Terrible Things (Apr 7, 1996)
11. Elvis In Deutschland (Apr 26, 1996)
12. Makin' Love To You [acoustic version] (June 9, 1996)
13. Lay Down Your Arms (June 23, 1996)
14. Do You Wanna Be My Baby? (Aug 12, 1996)
15. B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B (Oct 24, 1996)
16. Stupid (Oct 28, 1996)
17. Saturday (Nov 2, 1996)
18. Drum (Nov 2, 1996)
19. I Want You To know (Dec 28, 1996)
20. Kix (Jan 2, 1997)
Originally released 2 May 1997 as Per Gessle's English solo debut 'The World According To Gessle' received an upgraded reissue on 14 May 2008 under Elevator Entertainment/Capitol Records Sweden/EMI. Now featuring 40 tracks over 2 compact discs (the original album had 13 tracks plus a bonus "ghost track") 'Gessle' has been expanded with demos, b-sides, outtakes, new mixes, and newly mastered audio.
Other record companies please take note! This is how a reissue is done! How often to the labels get these kind of reissues right? How often do we get all the tracks that we've wanted and then some more? How often do we get flawless remastered audio? Not very often! Fortunately, Gessle and company went nuts with this 2008 upgrade! Gessle's personal involvement with the project resulted in this definitive package!
Since Amazon does not give a complete overview of the recording dates, mixes, and demo information I have included a more complete tracklisting. Worth noting first is that "Kix-cha-cha" is now listed as a separate track, track 14, when it was originally hidden at the end of track 13 on the original release.
Starting with the 'Extras' is "Love Doesn't Live Here" at track 15. Finally we get this stunning gem on the album! I still cannot believe that the song was not included on all pressings of the original album (only as a bonus track on the Japan edition and later as a "Kix" b-side). "Love" is simply one of the best tracks that Gessle has ever recorded, in my opinion, and even deserved a single release at the time. Belinda Carlisle, on the other hand, recorded the gem for her 'A Woman & A Man' 1996 album.
Tracks 16 - 20 are demo tracks, even though they are not listed as such on this reissue. Note that I have listed them as demo tracks in the above complete tracklisting since the original single releases from which these tracks were pulled listed them as demo versions. In actuality, however, the only track that sounds like a demo version here is "Let's Party!". The productions of the other tracks are quite crisp and complete, resembling the productions of final, studio versions.
In addition to the beautiful "Love Doesn't Live Here" these demo tracks are all excellent, some of which I think are even better than some of the cuts that made the original album. "I Wanna Be With You", which was recorded for the 1995 'The Lonely Boys' project, rocks in the same vein as "Do You Wanna Be My Baby?". "Blue Umbrella" is a stripped down acoustic guitar gem with luscious vocal harmonies. I adore this track, especially when the harmonica solo comes in! Beautiful melody and striking chorus. "Jupiter Calling" was recorded by Leningrad Cowboys for their 1996 album, 'Go Space'. "Let's Party!", a track originally intended for the Roxette 'Look Sharp!' album, became a Scandanavian hit in 1990 for Swedish/Norwegian group Sha-Boom.
"Always Breaking My Heart" is available on a few different releases. It was recorded by Belinda Carlisle for her A Woman & A Man album, becoming a #8 U.K. smash in 1996. The Gessle demo version featured here is available on the Roxbox 1986-2006 too!
And then there's the Battery Studios mixes made by Michael Ilbert in London in December 1996. The original studio album featured only one Battery Studios mix -- that track being "There Is My Baby". The remaining tracks used the January 1997 Mono Studio mixes. Now that Per and company have had the chance to re-examine these mixes they've decided to include the Battery mixes of "Elvis In Germany", "T-T-T-Take It!", and "I'll Be Alright" for this release over the Mono Studio mixes.
What about the digital remastering? I'm sure that many fans are laughing at the idea of having an album that was originally released in 1997 receive a new mastering treatment. Is it really necessary? Well, yes! Per has always believed that the original mastering by George Marino and Michael Ilbert was too hard. Per is right. The mastering of the original release is quite harsh, resulting in clipping on a number of tracks. Nonetheless, it has always given the album a distinct, hard sound, which makes sense in a way since it's a harder sounding album, for the most part.
Mastering credits for this new 2008 edition go to Bjorn Engelmann, Cutting Room, Stockholm, March 2008. And what a difference a new mastering engineer makes! Audio standards back in 1997 on most releases are not the same as audio standards today, and that is evident most on this release by the crisp new transfers! Gone is the harsh, muffled mastering of the original album. In it's place is a warm, full sound. These tracks sound awesome! Everything now sounds wide and clean.
The remastering is most evident, in my opinion, on tracks like "Love Doesn't Live Here", "Wish You The Best", and "Stupid", for example. The original mastering of "Love Doesn't Live Here" made it sound like a flat demo. I cannot believe how much better the song sounds here! The dullness of the original mastering is now gone. In it's place is a warm, full depth. The entire package benefits from a previously unheard warmth and presence. Note: If you are listening to this album on a poor or mediocre sound system (iTunes anyone?) then you probably won't be able to tell the difference in the mastering.
The second disc comprises of 20 demo tracks! Ah yes! Does it get any better than Gessle demo tracks? These tracks all sound excellent! Per surely was cranking out those power-pop-rock gems and melancholy ballads in the mid '90s! It's one great demo after another, many of these tracks resembling finished studio cuts with their shiny productions. All tracks are previously unreleased, with the exception of the "June Afternoon" demo, which was previously released as a Roxette single b-side.
A few notes regarding the demos ...
The demo for "Writer" became of course "Reporter" for the album. "Every Day Outside My Window" became the beautiful Marie Fredriksson/Roxette piano ballad, "Every Day", which can be found on the Roxbox 1986-2006 and limited edition EP pressings of Roxette: The Ballad Hits. Per's uptempo, electric guitar, original demo version is quite the contrast to the slow, haunting Roxette version. "Beautiful Things, Terrible Things" is a slow, electric guitar-laced gem, which of course became the melancholy, piano-based "Beautiful Things" on Roxette's Have a Nice Day. "Elvis In Deutschland", with it's haunting chorus and striking lyrics, is brilliant and could have become something quite special if given studio time. It sounds like a completely different song than "Elvis In Germany". "Makin' Love To You" appears here in an acoustic version and has appeared on both Roxette's 'The Ballad Hits' limited edition EP and 'RoxBox' as performed by Marie Fredriksson. "Drum" is an early demo version of "Wish You The Best", which was originally slated to appear in a later demo on this release.
My only complaint with this release is that it's missing the demo for "Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play)". This 4 minute demo originally appeared on a limited edition bonus EP for The Look for "Roxette": The Illustrated Worldwide Discography and Price Guide in 2002 and would have fit nicely as a bonus track on disc 1 (which clocks in at 74 minutes). Recorded in July 1995 the demo, a personal favorite and highlight, was given to Danish artist Ann-Louise for her 1996 debut album. Perhaps "Stay" was not designated for this project and may explain it's absence. (Then again, "Let's Party!" was not intended for this project either!)
While not much of a success on a worldwide scale (like many Roxette releases it did not see a U.S. release), 'The World According To Gessle' reportedly sold upwards of half a million units, including a gold certification in Sweden, in which it debuted at #1 and spawned 3 singles. "Do You Wanna Be My Baby?", the lead single and my personal favorite, debuted at #1 and received a gold cert. "Kix" followed with it's controversial video and peaked at #28, even getting a U.K. single release. "I Want You To Know", the third and final single, reached #48. All 3 promo videos for the singles were directed by Jonas Akerland and are worth checking out.
Now that Gessle and Capitol Sweden have invested so much time in this release how about giving the Roxette back catalogue a similar upgrade? In the meantime, if you are fan of melodic power-pop-rock tunes and stunning ballads I simply cannot recommend this release enough! A 5-star reissue for a 5-star album.
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Track Listings (20) - Disc #1