Album Analysis: Look Sharp

Look Sharp, Roxette's first internationally successful album, did not rise to fame immediately. It took a series of unlikely events - involving a US exchange student to Sweden bringing back a copy of The Look to a radio station in Minnesota, before their popularity suddenly began taking off. When Per Gessle (the male member) first heard that one of their songs was getting airplay in the US, he thought it must either be Dressed for Success or Listen To Your Heart, the first two singles in Sweden. But then upon reading Billboard magazine realised it was The Look, which was not even a single yet.

One would be forgiven for feeling that apart from the four major singles on this album, the rest of it is a bit bland. Unlike ABBA, Roxette did not manage to master the art of making every one of their album tracks sound like a single. However, over time I have come to realise that it is still listenable, as long as you are in an FM radio junkie frame of mind. ;) The golden rule with Roxette applies here as always: it's their seeming shallowness in their pop music that is actually their biggest strength.

As for their lead single, The Look, Per didn't originally want this to be the first single, because he was singing it. As he describes in the sleeve notes of Don't Bore us get to the chorus, he says "The whole idea behind Roxette was basically to have me writing clever songs and Marie singing like a Goddess." However, the single became a massive hit. Looking back on it, it's easy in a way to see why, it's everything one would imagine a pop song of the late 80s to be about. The 90s were almost there, but not quite, and this song marks the transition between those two styles quite well, I think.

Other gems on the album include Paint, which was actually covered by a Chinese band. Chances, which was released as a single in Germany but unfortunately never really got off. Cry, one of the only two ballads in the album, is actually I believe on of the more listenable ones, although in the opening lyrics you can catch the rather cliched melody. Still, that's part of the fun. ;)

Dressed For Success is one of the best female vocal performances I have heard at that time. Strong, and breathtaking, and reached #2 in Sweden, being their highest charting single from the album there. Dangerous was another major worldwide hit, but somehow failed to gather quite as much momentum as the ballad Listen To Your Heart. Listen to your Heart was both applauded by some for recreating the perfect American FM Rock sound at the time, as well as booed by others for sounding too obvious. In any event, a beautiful melody.

Shadow Of A Doubt is one other gem on this album that is little often talked about, that I believe shows talent. The melody is powerful, and the vocals, especially the high notes after the second chorus, are intense. The song is obviously about a breakup (like so many of their other songs), and the area this song touches on is a brutal moment of clarity, like a sharp point of a stick, when someone realises there is absolutely no doubt that this is real. Quite interesting.

As for other love songs on the album, I feel the lyric "Paint me right", in the song with the same name, was rather well done. Dance Away also takes an interesting turn in the lyric "Dancing away from me", while Chances speaks for itself. I suppose.