Look Sharp! Album Review

1988 was a very interesting year for music; R.E.M released their sixth studio album Green, Sonic Youth released their fifth album Daydream Nation, and Public Enemy released the critically acclaimed It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. But the 90's pop game would be changed forever when Roxette burst onto the scene with the hugely successful Look Sharp!.

Look Sharp! establishes the base line for what Roxette would be famous for in the early 1990's, and that is their strong melody lines. Per Gessle, chief songwriter of the duo, can be seen honing his skills through this album, as he wrote nearly every track by himself. Something that takes a great amount of talent and skill to accomplish. Marie Fredriksson, the female lead of the band, has a very strong and powerful voice, which fits very nicely with Gessle's softer, tamer vocals.

Even though the record never hit the top ten (number 23 on billboard 200) it did spawn 4 number one singles. The sunny and jumpy "The Look", the powerfully optimistic "Dressed for Success" the passionately strong "Dangerous" and the overproduced soft rock tune "Listen to Your Heart". All of these tunes are more than enjoyable for the ears as they highlight the strengths of the band, mixing the interesting vocal abilities of both members with strong melody lines and fantastic production values.

Dressed for Success is the strongest single out of the bunch for a number of factors. It shows off the fantastic vocals of Fredriksson, establishes a simple yet extremely catchy melody, and finally gives the song enough productive polish in order to build onto the style. 

Listen to Your Heart on the other hand, is the weakest single. While not the worst song ever written, its slow soft rock nature mixed with overproduction gives the music itself little to keep the listener coming back. Once again, the unique vocals of Fredriksson saves this single from being a complete throw away as well as showing off the strong vocal talent which would continue on throughout the next decade.

Both The Look and Dangerous are similar in style, containing a solid, powerful aspect which Roxette was known for in the early days. The softer vocals of Gessle on both of these tracks, with Fredriksson providing backup is a very interesting contrast to the other tracks on the record, unlike anything I have heard before. These two singles are expertly written with a catchy pop melody and strong drum beat to compliment it.

When it comes to the filler tracks on the album, in my opinion, there is none. Every non-single is catchy and addictive enough to keep you listening, throughout the entire album. Sure not every one of them is top notch, however they are more constantly positive than even the critically acclaimed Joyride album was.

In short Look Sharp! is a fantastic album, and gets every aspect of catchy 80's pop right. Both members of the duo have flawless vocals that nicely compliment each other, and Gessle's songwriting abilities is absolutely incredible considering he did the majority of it by himself. It is a solid release and would kick off their extremely successful 90's career, regardless, Look Sharp! remains one of my favorite albums to date and I can easily recommend  it to any 80's pop fan.

FINAL VERDICT

9/10

(fantastic)