Started planning for an insanely big, yet fascinating project,
that actually got started in a smaller scale back in 2006.
Had carried a vision ever since those days to do a monster thing
dedicated to those neverending tunes of, part the man behind lots
of the tracks I grew up with, part the one who had been
influencing my songwriting to the point of becoming a muse.
Of course I'm talking about the uncrowned Swedish king of pop
from Halmstad, Per Gessle.
That thing has probably been, and in 2011 still is, the 2nd
greatest thing I've pulled together. Or the absolute greatest
if you count the tracks and stuff included. No holding back there.
One part Gyllene, one part Roxette and one part solo,
this was on the limit of making me run out of energy totally
when it was finished. Still it feels like I couldn't have done it
in a much different way, though. It was all in, right from the start.
Anyway, when that was done it was really quick onto the next.
Got interrupted in the middle of that one, though, with a question
from the lovely Jess, or more specifically a friend of hers,
who asked me to write a song. Jess would be going away over the summer,
actually to be visiting myself on the way back, so I was more than happy
to do something. The song was written in Swedish and entitled
"Kom Tillbaks Innan Sommaren Är Slut" (Come Back Before Summe's Over).
Sadly she didn't even get to leave, or have the chance to read the lyrics.
Little did I know that very night I got it finished, that she would
loose her life in a car crash the following morning. Got the call
from her friend, crying and saying "Jessica passed away this morning,
we don't need that song anymore". I still decided to publish that song
on the blog, though, not because I wanted to show it, but more because
it felt like the right thing to do.
I guess what was the hardest part to get out of myself wasn't her
fabulous face, sweet voice and ringing laughter, or the fact that
I'd been spoken to her on the phone the night before, and suddenly
She wasn't there. but that her very last words before she passed out
was "Tell Kim I love him, with all my heart". I guess that was
when my heart broke.
Anyway, needless to say that the following week went in a blur.
Stayed home from work two days (friday - right after it happened,
and the monday after). Wasn't really doing much, sat up all nights
trying to let it sink in, then laying sleepless, staring into the ceiling.
And I wrote. Started writing down memories we had, wishes for her
to come back, simply all those things I wish I could've told her
while she was alive. Needless to say that I was really pissed off
with myself, I guess. Anyway, in just a few days I had put together 16 tracks.
Added 15 covers and gave the whole plethora the very fitting name of
"Songs For Jess".
I guess I didn't publish much new material apart from that one.
It felt like I kinda lost momentum. I did pull through
the other thing planned for that year though, which was
to bring the 10th anniversary of R.I.P. to an early start
(ironic, huh?). Since 2007 was just around the corner,
it felt a bit too early to use that stuff, so instead
it simply became "Memories 96-06 - Ten Years Of Musical
Adventures", thus bringing in the Love Ballads-thing from 1996
on the track. Included all the projects, plus tracks that
served as a foundation for A Christmas Tribute and Life Of Me,
plus demos for Broken Hearts Cafe and Unhappy Love,
plus...yeah, just about all the stuff made in those ten years.
Was crazy to put together, but not crazier than the fact
that I recalled it being the 15th anniversary of my
first project the year before, thus doing it all over again.
This time it went under the name of "Memories II -
The Early Years" and spanned between 1991 and 1996.
So, summarying 2008, I guess you could call it
"the year of the collections".
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