Look Sharp! (Roxette Album)
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''Look Sharp!'' is the second studio album by Swedish
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
duo
Roxette Roxette is a Swedish pop rock duo originally consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, both of whom were already established musicians in Sweden prior to the band's formation. Fredriksson had released a number of successful solo albums, ...
, released on 21 October 1988 by
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
, two years after their debut '' Pearls of Passion'' (1986). It was recorded at
EMI Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music compan ...
in Stockholm and at Trident II Studios in London between March and September 1988. The album was an immediate commercial success in Sweden, debuting at number one and eventually being certified 6× platinum there. Although commercial success elsewhere was initially modest, the album was the duo's international breakthrough. It went on to be certified platinum or multi-platinum in numerous territories, while four of its singles attained commercial success. In the United States, the album was certified platinum and the singles "
The Look "The Look" is a song by Swedish pop duo Roxette. It was released in early 1989 as the fourth single from their second studio album, '' Look Sharp!'' (1988). It became an international hit, and was one of the most successful singles of 1989. It t ...
" and " Listen to Your Heart" both topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, while " Dangerous" and " Dressed for Success" reached numbers 2 and 14, respectively, on the same chart.


Background and release

" Dressed for Success" and " Listen to Your Heart" were released as the album's first two singles in Sweden, with
Per Gessle Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbande ...
and EMI choosing to highlight
Marie Fredriksson Gun-Marie Fredriksson (; 30 May 1958 – 9 December 2019) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist, and lead vocalist of pop-rock duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s an ...
as Roxette's lead vocalist. They were immediate hits in Sweden, peaking at numbers two and three, respectively. " Chances" was released as the album's first single in France, Germany and Italy, but it failed to chart. "
The Look "The Look" is a song by Swedish pop duo Roxette. It was released in early 1989 as the fourth single from their second studio album, '' Look Sharp!'' (1988). It became an international hit, and was one of the most successful singles of 1989. It t ...
" was released as the album's fourth single in January 1989, becoming another top 10 hit in their home country. While studying there, an American exchange student from
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, Dean Cushman, purchased the album and brought it home, giving a copy of it to his local
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
radio station,
KDWB KDWB-FM (101.3 MHz) is an commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, licensed to suburban Richfield. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a contemporary hit radio format. KDWB has an effective radi ...
101.3 FM. "The Look" quickly became popular, and the station began distributing the track to their sister radio operations. EMI America had previously rejected the duo as unsuitable for the American market, and Roxette did not have a recording contract there. "The Look" had already entered the top 50 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 before the duo began official promotion. It would go on to peak at number one eight weeks later. It gradually became a global hit over the next year, topping the charts in 25 countries. It also spent six weeks at number one on the
Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
. The album's previous singles—excluding "Chances"—were re-released internationally. Roxette would go on to have four number ones on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, including "Listen to Your Heart"; while the album's final single, " Dangerous", peaked at number two.


Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews from critics. In a retrospective review,
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
complimented its singles, but said that the album tracks "aren't necessarily filler, but they also aren't as strong as many of the cuts that made up Roxette albums that followed. ..Only 'Chances' and 'Shadow of a Doubt' show glimmers of the skills the duo would soon flourish." A review for ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' echoed a similar sentiment, praising its singles and "Shadow of a Doubt"—along with "Cry"—but said that: "the problem is that most of ''Look Sharp!''s music is of such a light, ephemeral nature that it disappears without a trace the minute the record leaves the turntable. Looks like Roxette's forte is pop music that is prettily presented but totally disposable."


Accolades

Roxette were nominated for two Grammis Awards—the Swedish equivalent of the
Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
—in 1989, for Artist of the Year and Best Pop/Rock Group. Fredriksson and Gessle each won an award for Best Pop/Rock Female and Best Composer, respectively. Both Roxette and Fredriksson won numerous
Rockbjörnen Rockbjörnen (Swedish: ''the Rock Bear'') is a music prize in Sweden, divided into several categories, which is awarded annually by the newspaper ''Aftonbladet''. The prize was first awarded in 1979, and is mostly centered on pop and rock. In ...
awards during this period. They were awarded Best Swedish Album and Best Swedish Group at the 1988 ceremony, and won the latter award again the following year. Fredriksson won the award for Best Swedish Female over four consecutive years, from 1986 to 1989.


Commercial performance

''Look Sharp!'' was an immediate commercial success in Sweden, selling over 140,000 copies within ten days of release. It spent seven weeks at number one, and was certified platinum in the country for shipments in excess of 100,000 units. In the US, the album was certified platinum on 20 January 1990 by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
for shipments in excess of one million units. As of 2009, it sold 408,000 copies there since
Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...
began tracking sales data in May 1991. It peaked at number four in the UK, where it spent over a year on the charts. It was certified platinum by the BPI in December 1990 for sales in excess of 300,000. As of 2001, ''Look Sharp!'' had sold over 9 million copies worldwide.


Track listing


Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Look Sharp!''. * Roxette are
Per Gessle Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbande ...
and
Marie Fredriksson Gun-Marie Fredriksson (; 30 May 1958 – 9 December 2019) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist, and lead vocalist of pop-rock duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s an ...
* Recorded at EMI Studios,
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, Sweden and Trident II Studios,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England *
Remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...
by Alar Suurna at Polar Studio, Stockholm (2009 reissue) * All songs published by Jimmy Fun Music, except: "Dance Away", "Cry" and "Half a Woman, Half a Shadow" published by Shock the Music/Jimmy Fun Music Musicians *Marie Fredriksson –
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
and
background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...
,
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
, keyboards, mixing *Per Gessle – lead and background vocals, mixing * Per "Pelle" Alsing –
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
and
hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock music, rock, popular music, pop, jazz, an ...
* Erik Borelius – Spanish guitar * Graham Edwards –
bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
(tracks 6, 7 and 10) * Erik Häusler –
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
(track 3) * Anders Herrlin – background vocals, bass guitar,
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
, programming * Jonas Isacsson –
electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
and
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
s * Henrik Janson
talkbox A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the so ...
(track 8) * Jarl "Jalle" Lorensson –
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
(track 8) * Adam McCulloch – saxophone (tracks 6 and 10) * Morris Michael – electric and acoustic guitars (tracks 6, 7 and 10) * Adam Moseley – engineering,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...
(tracks 6, 7 and 10) * Clarence Öfwerman – background vocals, keyboards, programming,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...
* Jan "Janne" Oldaeus –
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...
* Alar Suurna – engineering, mixing * Andrew Wright – keyboards, programming (tracks 6, 7 and 10) Technical * Julian Adair – production assistant (tracks 6, 7 and 10) * Kjell Andersson – sleeve design,
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
* Carl Bengtsson – photography * Lennart Haglund – engineering assistant * Mikael Jansson – photography * Rolf Nygren – executive producer * Pär Wickholm – sleeve design


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Look Sharp! (Roxette Album) 1988 albums Albums produced by Adam Moseley EMI Records albums Roxette albums