Tourism (Roxette album)

Background and recording

Tourism was described by Roxette in the album's liner notes as a "tour album, [...] not a live album". It consists of songs recorded by the band in various locations during the "Join the Joyride! Tour". The idea was to "create and collect material along the way; to record our music in different environments in different parts of the world; to take advantage of the excitement and the energy within the band on a tour like this." It does contain several live recordings, including versions of "The Look" and "Joyride" taken from their 13 December 1991 performance at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, as well as an acoustic version of Joyride album track "Things Will Never Be the Same" from a November 1991 concert in Zürich. A portion of a live performance of "It Must Have Been Love" from their 25 April 1992 concert at San Carlos Stadium in Santiago, Chile is used as an intro to a new studio recording of the song. This new version was recorded in Ocean Way Recording Studios in March 1992, and features k.d. lang guitarist Greg Leisz performing pedal steel guitar. Also recorded there was new song "The Heart Shaped Sea", which again features Leisz.

The band recorded several songs while touring in Latin America in May 1992. Two songs were recorded in Brazil: the album's third single, "Fingertips", was recorded in Nas Nuvens Recording Studio in Rio de Janeiro; "Never Is a Long Time" was recorded live in an empty nightclub in São Paulo. "Here Comes the Weekend" and a new version of "So Far Away" – originally released on their 1986 debut Pearls of Passion – were recorded live in room 603 of the Alvear Palace Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 4 May 1992. Two other previously released studio recordings are included on the album: "Silver Blue" was originally released as a b-side to "The Look" in 1988; "Come Back (Before You Leave)" appeared on the "Joyride" single in 1991.

The majority of the remaining tracks were recorded at EMI Studios in Stockholm, Sweden between late March and early April 1992, with the exception of "Cinnamon Street", which was overdubbed at Medley Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark on 6 July. The album's second single, "Queen of Rain", was recorded in July 1990 in Stockholm during the sessions for Joyride. It was originally set to appear as that album's final track, but was later excluded in favour of "Perfect Day". However, the closing notes and sound effects of the Joyride version of "Things Will Never Be the Same" – that album's second-last song – can still be heard over the crowd noise on the intro of "Queen of Rain".

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews upon release. A review for Billboard complimented the album for abandoning the "production glitz" of past work, while Bryan Buss of AllMusic said that the album "spotlights how strong an act they are even without the benefit of studio production." He praised the re-recorded version of "It Must Have Been Love", saying "you have to hear 45,000 Chilean fans singing back-up to truly appreciate what was one of their least affecting ballads", and said that the album demonstrates "what true pop craftsmanship is." He compared the album to Joyride, saying that both releases contained very little filler, before summarising that Tourism was "Not quite a greatest hits package, this is your best bet as an introduction to Roxette."

Dennis Hunt of Los Angeles Times, who incorrectly described the album as containing just five new songs, praised Fredriksson's vocals. He referred to her as being "one of pop's best and most underrated singers", but said that the material on Tourism was "beneath her talents". He awarded the album two-and-a-half stars out of four, highlighting her performance for transforming "low-grade fluff into passable–often delectable–pop." Entertainment Weekly referred to the album as a "stopgap measure between discs", but said that the "catchy and pop-savvy Tourism ain't half bad", awarding the album a grade of B–.

Commercial performance

Though not matching the success of the duo's previous studio albums, Tourism has sold in excess of 6 million copies worldwide. The album had little impact on American music charts, peaking at number 117 on the Billboard 200—in stark contrast to Joyride, which peaked at number twelve on the same chart. As of August 2005, it has sold 273,000 copies in the US. It peaked at number eighteen on the national RPM albums chart in Canada, where it has been certified platinum by Music Canada (formerly the Canadian Recording Industry Association) for shipments in excess of 100,000 units.

It did far better elsewhere, especially in Europe, topping the European Top 100 Albums Chart for four consecutive weeks in September 1992. In the duo's native Sweden, the album spent two weeks at number one and was certified triple platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association for shipments in excess of 300,000 units. It also topped the album charts in a number of other Scandinavian countries, including Finland and Norway. The album was a massive commercial success in Germany, spending five consecutive weeks at number one there. It was certified triple gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie for shipments in excess of 750,000 units. The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, where it was held off the top spot by Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II. It spent seventeen weeks on the chart, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry in September 1992 for selling more than 100,000 copies.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Per Gessle, except "So Far Away" by Gessle and Hasse Huss; all music composed by Gessle, except "Queen of Rain" by Gessle and Mats MP Persson and "Hotblooded" by Marie Fredriksson and Gessle.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Tourism.

Musicians

Technical