If you love Roxette and/or speculative books about The Beatles, thank your lucky stars, because this is the week you’ve been waiting for. If not, well, maybe it’s a good week to get some yard work done. Or take a vacation, just like the book gods apparently have. See for yourself:
Listen To My Heart: Life, Love & Roxette
By Marie Fredriksson & Helena von Zweigbergk
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Listen To My Heart is a completely candid and passionate, heartbreaking yet often witty life story of one of rock music’s most resilient lead singers, Marie Fredriksson from Roxette (It Must Have Been Love, Listen to Your Heart, The Look, Joyride). Given only a few months to live following a harrowing diagnosis in 2002, Marie boldly forged ahead into a life with newfound courage and inspiration. She continued as both a solo singer and with Roxette, where she performed over 550 concerts, sold 75 million records, and released over 50 singles including several global hits. In all, Roxette is Sweden’s second-biggest music group after ABBA. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Tina Turner and Elton John to The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra, Listen To My Heart also explores her humble family beginnings, an early tragedy in the sudden loss of Marie’s sister, her transition into the music industry as a solo artist, and the formation and challenges of being in one of the world’s most successful pop groups. All while trying to maintain a stable marriage and being a mother to two young children in the face of a life-altering illness. Marie passed away in the aftermath of her diagnosis in December, 2019. Heart-wrenching yet winning, and told with exceptional energy and sincerity, Listen to My Heart sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our generation’s most talented and courageous artists.”
The Lost Album of The Beatles: What If The Beatles Hadn’t Split Up?
By Daniel Rachel
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This is the story of the great lost Beatles album. The end of the band wasn’t inevitable. It came through miscommunication, misunderstandings and missed opportunities to reconcile. But what if it didn’t end? What if just one of those chances was taken, and The Beatles carried on? What if they made one last, great album? Daniel Rachel — winner of the prestigious Penderyn Music Book Prize — looks at what could have been. Drawing on impeccable research, Rachel examines The Fab Four’s untimely demise — and from the ashes compiles a track list for an imagined final album, pulling together unfinished demos, forgotten B-sides, hit solo songs, and arguing that together they form the basis of a lost Beatles masterpiece. Compelling and convincing, this is a daring rewrite of Beatles history, and a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been.”
