Charm School (Roxette album)

Charm School
Studio album by Roxette
Released	11 February 2011
Recorded	2009–2010, Aerosol Grey Machine Studio, Vallarum (Sweden)
Genre	Jangle pop, power pop
Label	EMI
Producer	Clarence Öfwerman Christoffer Lundquist Per Gessle Marie Fredriksson
Roxette chronology
The Rox Box/Roxette 86-06 (2006) Charm School (2011) Travelling (2012)
Singles from Charm School
"She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" Released: 10 January 2011 "Speak to Me" Released: 18 April 2011 "Way Out" Released: 10 June 2011 "No One Makes It on Her Own" Released: 28 November 2011

Charm School is the eighth studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 11 February 2011. It is Roxette's first studio album in 10 years since 2001's Room Service^[1] and was the duo's biggest chart success since 1992's Tourism in countries like Germany and Switzerland, where it reached number one.

According to their official website, the album was released on CD and LP. A deluxe edition, including a bonus CD with 12 live tracks was also available. These songs were recorded in Saint Petersburg, Halmstad and Stavanger during their 2010 Tour.^[2] Charm School had been certificated Gold in Sweden, Austria, Germany, Russia and Czech Republic within 4 months of its release, and was eventually certified Platinum in Germany for shipments of over 200,000 units.^[3]

A digital-only American release for the album was released on 26 July 2011. On 28 November 2011, the album was re-released under the title Charm School Revisited with a bonus disc containing demo versions of every track from the album, plus two remixes of "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" and one of "Speak to Me".

Background

On 23 October 2009, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that Roxette were recording new songs. Per stated that he had been working on new material for an upcoming album since May 2009.^[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
The AU Review	(6/10)[6]
BBC Music	(positive)[7]
Dagens Nyheter	[8]
Expressen	[9]
Göteborgs-Posten	[10]
musicOMH	[11]
Svenska Dagbladet	[12]

Charm School was chosen as BBC Radio 2's album of the week for the week commencing 21 March 2011. It received a positive review from BBC music critic Chris Roberts, who commented, "Charm School is loaded with punchy, hook-riddled anthems that can only be described as absolute belters. From the opening surge of "Way Out", a sonic sibling to Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" only even bigger, louder and dumber, this album consummately achieves its goals and then some."^[7] Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic wrote, "Roxette may be a band out of time on Charm School but, well, that’s their charm: they’re still unapologetically big pop, they still celebrate melody over everything else."^[5]

Spin magazine voted Charm School the 15th best pop album in 2011, saying "Even more influential than ABBA on the Swedes behind Britney, Kelly and Ke$ha, these masters of the pre-grunge pop airwaves return from the near-dead for a thrilling third act of classic rock riffage, supercharged sugar hooks, and soul-aching choruses bigger than the national debt".^[13]

Reception from Swedish newspapers was less positive, Anders Nunstedt from Expressen wrote, "Charm School is a clear return to the successful sound the duo had. Just a little boring. Without the former charm." Charm School is middle-of-the-road pop at 70 kph with no specific destination."^[9] Andres Lokko form Svenska Dagbladet gave a scathing review, scoring the album one star and said "Often I found myself thinking about how there is too much pop music, to ever be able to find a single reason for this album's existence."^[12]

Track listing

All tracks written by Per Gessle. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Way Out"	2:46
2.	"No One Makes It on Her Own"	3:43
3.	"She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)"	3:34
4.	"Speak to Me"	3:42
5.	"I'm Glad You Called"	2:48
6.	"Only When I Dream"	3:51
7.	"Dream On"	3:09
8.	"Big Black Cadillac"	3:05
9.	"In My Own Way"	3:30
10.	"After All"	3:15
11.	"Happy on the Outside"	3:39
12.	"Sitting on Top of the World"	3:55
Total length:		40:57

iTunes only bonus track
No.	Title	Length
13.	"It Must Have Been Love" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	6:01

Deluxe edition bonus disc
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dressed for Success" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	4:36
2.	"Sleeping in My Car" (Live in Stavanger 2010)	3:41
3.	"Wish I Could Fly" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	4:51
4.	"7Twenty7" (Live in Halmstad 2010)	3:57
5.	"Perfect Day" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	3:19
6.	"Things Will Never Be the Same" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	3:00
7.	"How Do You Do!/Dangerous" (Live in Stavanger 2010)	6:55
8.	"Silver Blue" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	5:10
9.	"Joyride" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	4:27
10.	"Listen to Your Heart" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	5:46
11.	"The Look" (Live in Halmstad 2010)	6:23
12.	"Church of Your Heart" (Live in St. Petersburg 2010)	4:07

Charm School Revisited CD 2
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Way Out" (Demo 25 January 2010)	2:22
2.	"No One Makes It on Her Own" (Demo 26 July 2010)	3:18
3.	"She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" (Demo 7 August 2009)	2:30
4.	"Speak to Me" (Demo 13 July 2010)	3:33
5.	"I'm Glad You Called" (Demo 19 November 2009 at The Westin Hotel, Rotterdam)	2:40
6.	"Only When I Dream" (Demo 7 August 2009)	3:33
7.	"Dream On" (Demo 25 January 2010)	2:53
8.	"Big Black Cadillac" (Demo 2 July 2010)	3:02
9.	"In My Own Way" (Demo 7 August 2009)	2:53
10.	"After All" (Demo 27 July 2010)	3:22
11.	"Happy on the Outside" (Demo 17 August 2005)	2:27
12.	"Sitting on Top of the World" (Demo 13 July 2010)	2:45
13.	"Speak to Me" (Bassflow Remake)	3:37
14.	"She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" (Adam Rickfors radio edit)	3:28
15.	"She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" (Adrian Lux Remix original version)	5:34

Vinyl edition

According to a news entry on their official website, from 26 December 2010 the LP will contain a longer version of "No One Makes It on Her Own" (3:58) and a slower version of "Speak to Me".^[14]

Outtakes

• "Charm School"^[15] (later retitled "Touched by the Hand of God" and included on their next studio album Travelling)^[16]

Personnel

• Marie Fredriksson - vocals
• Per Gessle - vocals, guitar
• Clarence Ofwerman - keyboards, programming, string arrangement
• Christoffer Lundquist - bass, guitar, keyboards, programming, string arrangement
• Jens Jansson - live drums
• Lotta Weber Sjöholm - strings
• Emil Carlsson - strings
• Johanna Skoglund - strings
• Tomas Ebrelius - strings

Charts

Chart (2011)	Peak position	Certification
Argentinian Albums Chart[17]	1
Australian Albums Chart[18]	49
Austrian Albums Chart[19]	2
Belgium (Flanders)[20]	27
Belgium (Wallonia)[21]	57
Czech Albums Chart[22]	1	Gold[23]
Danish Albums Chart[24]	11
Dutch Albums Chart[25]	21
Finnish Albums Chart[26]	22
German Albums Chart[27]	1	Platinum[3][28]
German Downloads Chart[29]	1
Greek Albums Chart[30]	15
Hungarian Albums Chart[31]	16
Italian Albums Chart	45
Norwegian Albums Chart[32]	26
Polish Album Charts[33]	16
Russian Album Charts[34]	8	Gold[35]
Spanish Albums Chart[36]	14
Swedish Albums Chart[25]	2	Gold[37]
Swiss Albums Chart[38]	1	Gold[35]

Year-end charts

Chart (2011)	Position
Austrian Albums Chart[39]	56
German Albums Chart[40]	26
Swiss Albums Chart[41]	19

References

1. "Roxette turn on the charm". EMI.
2. "Charm School deluxe". www.dailyroxette.com.
3. ""Charm School" goes platinum in Germany". http://roxetteblog.com/. Retrieved 2012-03-19. External link in |publisher= (help)
4. "Roxette spelar in nytt material". Expressen (in Swedish). 2009-10-23. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
5. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Charm School - Roxette". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-08-05.
6. Nick Mason (2011-02-07). "Roxette - Charm School (2011 LP)". The AU Review. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
7. Chris Roberts (2011-03-18). "Music - Review of Roxette - Charm School". BBC Music. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
8. Hansson, Nils (2011-02-09). "Roxette: Charm School". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
9. Nunstedt, Anders (2011-02-01). "Roxettes "Charm school" saknar charm" [Roxette's Charm School lacks charm]. Expressen. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
10. Andersson, Jan (2011-02-09). "Roxette: Charm School". Göteborgs-Posten. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
11. Dillingham, Victoria (2011-03-28). "Roxette - Charm School". musicOMH. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
12. Lokko, Andres (2011-02-11). "Återkomst som saknar charm" [Comeback lacking charm]. Svenska Dagbladet.
13. "20 best pop albums of 2011". Spin. 2011-12-15. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
14. Roxette – News
15. Per tells TDR that he ad Marie are "thrilled" with what's to come in 2011 – The Daily Roxette
16. Travelling Tracklist
17. "Ranking Mensual Pop". CAPIF. 2011-02-01. Archived from the original on 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
18. "Charm School Charts". aCharts'. 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
19. "Austrian Charts". GoTV. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
20. "Belgian charts archive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
21. "Belgian charts archive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
22. "ČNS IFPI". Hitparáda – TOP50 Prodejní (in Czech). IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
23. Roxette receives golden record for Charm School
24. "Danish Album Charts". IFPI Denmark. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
25. "Charm School Charts". aCharts'. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
26. "Finnish Charm School Charts". Hung Medien. 2011-02-25. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
27. "Roxette, Charm School – German charts archive". Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
28. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Roxette)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
29. Lady Gaga stürmt internationale Download-Charts
30. "Greek Album Charts". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
31. "MAHASZ – Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége". mahasz.hu. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
32. "Norwegian album charts". Norwegian Album Charts. Retrieved 2011-02-19.
33. "OLIS – Official Retail Sales chart". www.olis.onyx.pl. 2010-02-25. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
34. "Маленький праздник". lenta.ru. 2011-03-18. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
35. "Roxette receives golden record for Charm School in Switzerland". Retrieved June 23, 2013.
36. "Charm School Charts" (in Spanish). Promusicae'. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
37. "Official Swedish charts website". Sverigetopplistan. Archived from the original on 2015-12-26. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
38. "Roxette, Charm School – Swiss charts archive". Hung Mdien'. 2011-02-18. Archived from the original on 2010-03-01. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
39. "Ö3 Austria Top 40 - Longplay Charts 2011". Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
40. "Album Jahrescharts 2011". MTV Germany. Archived from the original on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
41. "SCHWEIZER JAHRESHITPARADE 2011". http://hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on 2013-08-15. Retrieved 2012-01-02. External link in |publisher= (help)

External links

• Charm School at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
• "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
• "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" at MusicBrainz (information & list of recordings)