Charm School

Performer: Roxette
Engineer: Christoffer Lunquist; Mats M.P. Persson...
Producer: Christoffer Lunquist; Clarence Ofwerman; Per Gessle...
Distributor: Phantom Import Distributi

Notes: Personnel: Per Gessle (vocals, guitar); Marie Fredriksson (vocals); Christoffer Lundquist (guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals); Emil Carlsson, Lotta Weber Sj�holm, Tomas Ebrelius, Johanna Skoglund (strings); Clarence �fwerman (keyboards, programming); Magnus Borjesson (bass guitar, background vocals); Pelle Alsing (drums, percussion); Jens Jansson (drums); Malin Ekstrand (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Christoffer Lundquist; Ronny Lahti. Recording information: Aerosol Grey Machine, Vallarum, Sweden (02/2010-10/2010); Atlantis studio, Stockholm, Sweden (02/2010-10/2010); Halmstad, Sweden (02/2010-10/2010); Room 166, Innside Hotel, Munich, Germany (02/2010-10/2010); St. Petersburg, Russia (02/2010-10/2010); Stavanger, Norway (02/2010-10/2010); Tits & Ass Studio, Halmstad, Sweden (02/2010-10/2010); Aerosol Grey Machine, Vallarum, Sweden (08/2010-09/2010); Atlantis studio, Stockholm, Sweden (08/2010-09/2010); Halmstad, Sweden (08/2010-09/2010); Room 166, Innside Hotel, Munich, Germany (08/2010-09/2010); St. Petersburg, Russia (08/2010-09/2010); Stavanger, Norway (08/2010-09/2010); Tits & Ass Studio, Halmstad, Sweden (08/2010-09/2010); Aerosol Grey Machine, Vallarum, Sweden (12/2009); Atlantis studio, Stockholm, Sweden (12/2009); Halmstad, Sweden (12/2009); Room 166, Innside Hotel, Munich, Germany (12/2009); St. Petersburg, Russia (12/2009); Stavanger, Norway (12/2009); Tits & Ass Studio, Halmstad, Sweden (12/2009). Photographers: Mikael Bolyos; Ulf Magnusson; Important Pete; Gabriel Gessle; Ekaterina Belinkata. Returning to action after a decade-long hiatus, Roxette don't skip a beat on 2011's Charm School. Roxette were never in the thick of things, never setting the pace, but they did reflect their times during their 1988-1991 peak. They still reflect those times 20 years later, still favoring the brightly colored productions of the late `80s, still relying on cavernous drums and squealing fuzz guitars skipping over tightly wound guitar riffs, piling on synth after synth, every element accentuating their enormous hooks. Roxette may be a band out of time on Charm School but, well, that's their charm: they're still unapologetically big pop, they still celebrate melody over everything else. Sometimes things crawl just a tad on Charm School -- it's not the power ballads that sag but the chugging midtempo tunes -- but it serves up enough surging soft rock and fizzy pop like "Big Black Cadillac" and "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" to make this a successful comeback. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

It's tempting to write Roxette off as nothing more than a shallow pop/rock band, but their shameless hooks are precisely what makes them so enjoyable. Roxette has a knack for writing extremely catchy and simple hooks and melodies that are sweet but not saccharine; it's radio-friendly pop, but the hooks don't wear thin with repeated plays. The duo of guitarist Per Gessle and vocalist Marie Fredriksson released an album in 1986 that didn't display much of their talents, but the infectious follow-up, 1988's Look Sharp!, brought them to the top of the charts in America and England; 1991's Joyride was almost equally successful. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.3

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