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 Roxette  Roxette’s comeback album represents a clear return to the original sound from the time when the duo’s name was flying all over the world.  
Just a little more boring. Without the charm from the past.

 Roxette’s comeback album represents a clear return to the original sound from the time when the duo’s name was flying all over the world.  
Just a little more boring. Without the charm from the past.

 No, it is not miserable. If somebody is really afraid of that. "Charm school" is rather double as good as Roxette’s latest cd "Room service". But, unfortunately, it doesn’t say too much, because "Room service" is their worst album.

"Charm school" has an average character. The single "She's got nothing on (but the radio)" says everything: Roxette fights a lot to accumulate points and the listener starts to yawn before the refrain. It is already a failure on the hit lists.
Without songs that can be remembered the existence of a group is disappearing.
The comeback is surprisingly little undefined, taking into account Gessle’s creative power for solo hits during the last ten years, but it probably comes from the fact that neither Per nor Marie can say clearly what Roxette means today.
On the one hand they seem fearful of being considered as nostalgic; on the other hand they don’t fight at all for that. 
With these occasional songs the sound is familiar anyway. Like "Son of a Plumber", minus the experience desire, or like Gessle solo, excepting the direct addressing to a person.
"Charm school" is typical middle-of-the-road-pop at 70 km/h, without a certain destination. Stable, not adventurous. If you listen to two – three songs, then you have listened to the whole CD – and this you have already done before.
Anyway, it sounded funny.

Roxette: "Charm school"

GENRE: Pop. 
RELEASE: 11^th of February. 
WHO: Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson have sold 75 mil CDs as Roxette. On the 28^th of February they will start their world tour.  
WHAT: The first CD since Fredriksson recovered from cancer. Includes few live recordings from the mini tour last year.  
DOWNLOAD: "Way out", "I'm glad you called", "Sitting on top of the world". 

Song list on "Charm school"

"WAY OUT" THREE WASPS
A guitar play and rythm drums opens the comeback. Sounds like a live-b-side to "The look".

"NO ONE MAKES IT ON HER OWN" TWO WASPS
Marie Fredriksson sings an anonymous piano ballad with good schlagerfeeling but bad feelings. 

"SHE'S GOT NOTHING ON (BUT THE RADIO)" 
TWO WASPS 
Word play and sound play succeed each other without any kind of action.  

"SPEAK TO ME" TWO WASPS
Synthesis where Gessle and Marie sing together. A mediocre attempt to bring back the 90’s. 

"I'M GLAD YOU CALLED" THREE WASPS
Bonus traces from Gessle’s latest soloalbum, with Marie as main character. Acoustic, with strings that lift up. 

"ONLY WHEN I DREAM" TWO WASPS
Sounds like an influence from Fame, almost. "DREAM ON" Fluffy "Son of a Plumber"-pop with Gessle in the main role. 

"BIG BLACK CADILLAC" CROSSED WASP
Idiot pop-techno attempt. 

"IN MY OWN WAY" TWO WASPS
Sounds like Marie Fredriksson sings one ballad from Niklas Strömstedt at the same time with REM’s "Everybody hurts". 

"AFTER ALL" ONE WASP
Popretro with clear influence from Cliff Richard. 

"HAPPY ON THE OUTSIDE" ONE WASP
Ballad with something bombastic at origin, but it never lifts up. And the text is infantile. 

"SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD" TWO WASPS
Regarding the text: this one is embarrassing near Ace of Base. What a shame for a nice Marie-ballad and a stupid text content.

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