Roxette Hits: A Collection Of Their 20 Greatest Songs

Roxette

Capitol, 2006

http://www.roxette.se

REVIEW BY: Michael R. Smith

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/19/2007

When it comes to Swedish imports, there are only a select handful of acts that have been able to duplicate their success in America:  ABBA, Ace Of Base and the duo Roxette. Two out of three have since called it a day, though Roxette still manages to come out with some new tunes every few years. 

However, at this point, the duo has reached the saturation point when it comes to releasing repackaged hits collections. The older material is starting to wear thin, with the possible exception of their durable debut single “The Look” and their greatest ballad from my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250 Pretty Woman, “It Must Have Been Love.”

The latest Roxette Hits CD has everything a passing fan could possibly want, making it a much more concise offering than previous high-priced, import-only sets. An added bonus is the inclusion of a DVD featuring all of their best-known music videos.  If anyone wants to hear more obscure Roxette material, I’d advise them to check out the actual albums from whence these hits came. In particular, I highly recommend their last two techno-tinged efforts Have A Nice Day and Room Service.

Within Roxette Hits you find two rare singles that were released on their own without a parent studio album:  “Almost Unreal” (from the Super Mario Bros. soundtrack) and “A Thing About You” (from their Ballad Hits compilation).  There are also two brand new tracks for your consideration, “One Wish” and “Reveal.”  The former song is your typical bubbly Roxette kind of fare, while the latter is an average ballad by the numbers that seems to be lacking that extra something special.

The fact that so many of these songs have been played within an inch of their lives on the radio makes this hits compilation nothing more than a non-essential curiosity. The new songs just aren’t as strong as previous bonus tracks like “Opportunity Nox” from Pop Hits -- and we’ve already experienced Roxette re-mastered. There is also a DVD available that contains every Roxette video ever made, and so there’s nothing other than the two lackluster new tracks to differentiate this from any other Roxette comp on the market. 

I’d much rather see Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson attempt an all-new studio album, because, at this point, their hits are starting to overstay their welcome.

Rating: C

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© 2007 Michael R. Smith and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without written permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of Capitol, and is used for informational purposes only.