Vinyl Review: Roxette – Crash!Boom!Bang! (30th Anniversary Edition)
4 min read
Keeping in line with previous anniversary releases – the last being pop juggernaut, Joyride’s 30th Anniversary reissue back in 2001 – Swedish pop icons Roxette (formerly of Per Gessle and the late Marie Fredriksson) are gearing up for the release of the next reissue from their weighty back catalogue of pop splendour.
December 6th sees the release of the 30th anniversary of the band’s 1994 guitar heavy 5th studio album, Crash!Boom!Bang! – the album that spawned mammoth singles including the beautiful title track, Run To You, Fireworks, Vulnerable and the storming Sleeping In My Car. It’s long been considered one of the band’s most cherished releases and a heavy stamp of approval coming from the band’s avid followers, otherwise known as Roxers. It was also an album that closed off a very big chapter in the band’s career, and following a hugely successful world tour, allowed the band to then take some much-needed time off to focus on solo projects, family and the release of their first greatest hits collection, the mighty Don’t Bore Us…Get To The Chorus.
The reissue of Crash!Boom!Bang! is quite the treat. The album comes in a gorgeous double vinyl package – one black and one white record – a nod to the chequered aesthetic of the album’s famous artwork.
Guitars are really at the forefront on this album – if not from their prominent appearance on most of the tracks on the record like the opening Harleys & Indians (Riders In The Sky) or back to back album earworms, Do You Wanna Go The Whole Way? and Lies, then by the ode to the instrument on I Love the Sound Of Crashing Guitars that sits deeper within the tracklisting. But for fans like me who sway more towards the sweet pop melodies and dream sequences that the band are so famous for, tracks like Fireworks, I’m Sorry and the iconic sweeping title track are here to tick those sugary boxes.
There was just so much to love about this record in its original form, and now so much more in how it’s been presented here. It also comes with a fascinating ‘Making Of’ story in the albums sleeve. This record has always sounded like a sort of greatest hits style album simply because of the high quality of songwriting contained on the record and the infectiousness of every track placed within it.
One of the band’s finest recordings, Almost Unreal finds its rightful place here as well as a personal pair of favourites, Crazy About You and See Me which have shown up in the past on other releases, including sitting back-to-back as B-sides of the band’s Salvation single during their Have A Nice Day era. If you also get your hands on the CD version, there is a stack of demos and other rarities on that. We just have the vinyl in our hands right now but will definitely be getting hold of the CD for our collection, that for sure.
As a 90’s teen who grew up without the ability to skip, randomise or playlist songs as easily as we can do these days thanks to streaming services, I have to say that putting this record on the player, seeing it spinning in all its glory and playing through each song in the order that was intended carries such a special, nostalgic feeling to it. Hearing it like this reminds you of how this record felt back in the day and none of that is lost with it being remastered and prepared in this new glossy packaging. Hearing songs like power ballad Vulnerable bleed gently into the acoustic and cute The First Girl On The Moon creates a very concept album type of feel to the record that – despite each number on the record being a masterpiece in its own right – is easily diluted when played out of order. But that’s where this release comes in. It takes you gently by the hand and back in time to an era when this type of attention was given to recording songs – and as a fan, listening to them with a care and consideration that is mostly lost on today’s listener.
We may not have seen a Pearls of Passion reissue and the band may have skipped over 1993’s Tourism but this release certainly makes up for both, and who knows, maybe a 40th Anniversary Pearls of Passion reissue? And then there’s the bands greatest hits collection, Don’t Bore Us… Get To The Chorus turning the big 3-0 in 2025 so on top of a 2025 tour throughout Australia and Europe next year (with singer Lena Philipsson stepping in for the late Marie Fredriksson), I’m sure there is still a lot up Gessle’s sleeves yet, but for now this 30th Anniversary reissue of Crash!Boom!Bang! really does quench ones pop thirst!
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Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
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