Thinking back now, I realize how truly blessed I was to be coming of age and be able to buy my own records precisely in 1991. Sit back and reflect for a moment and I'm sure those of you who entered their teenage years around that time can recall a veritable barrage of amazing ambums from that particular year: Nirvana's Nevermind, Metallica's Black Album, Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion 1+2 & Michael Jackson's Dangerous (which spawned more singles than any album I can remember) and a host of Greatest-albums from artists like Queen, among others. And here in Denmark, where I'm from, rockers DAD released their pinnacle album, Riskin' It All. Now, alongside all of those there was a plucky duo (duette) from Sweden who were determined to claim their piece of the pie. They were & are Roxette and Joyride was the album with which they accomplished just that. My story with this record is like many you all can tell. I was visiting a friend and suddenly he says 'Hey I got something you should hear' and proceeds to put on Fading Like A Flower. I'm a sucker for power ballads, always will be, and needless to say I was hooked and sang it all the way home. So, inevitably, I bought the album (on Cassette, no less - I would switch to CD's the following year) thinking that if there was just a couple more songs as great as Fading on there I would like it. I started playing it...and then I found myself completely and helplessly unable to stop playing it! I simply fell in love with practically every single track on that damn thing - and now, 15 years later, I still get a kick out of putting it on. If THAT's not the definition of great music then I'll gladly admit that I've missed something. Yes, there are a couple of fun filler tracks but it's also very varied album and the percentage of great songs is nothing short of astounding! I would not hesitate to proclaim this one of the great pop records of all time. And in a way, I'm glad that Roxette decided to mature their sound after this. Because I honestly can't see how even they could have begun to try and top this...
So, in closing, if you're looking for a fun, energetic pop/rock album that features great songwriting to boot, then hunt this up. You shouldn't be dissapointed.

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When I was a kid Roxette were the most popular band in the world (at least for me). In the early 90's, when they were riding high on a commercial success of their thrid studio LP "Joyride", I started discovering Roxette's past albums and "Look Sharp!" was the one that caught my attention right after the first listen. 1D0-541 I had bought it cheaply on the cassette and soon it became one of the most-played albums in my collection (along with Paula Abdul's "Spellbound" and Madonna's "True Blue"). After twenty-plus years I'm still convinced, that "Look Sharp!" ranks among the finest straight Pop albums of the 80's. Song after song what we experience are great hooks, 117-301 memorable melodies, easy to sing along lyrics and poppy arrangements. Of course for music purists Roxette and their output might be considered of low quality, because they don't sing about social problems, nor they perform sophisticated, elitist, alternative like music. 646-203 But judgeing Pop music by these standards is not what it should look like. Pop music is about melody and catchiness and these two ingredients are perfectly incorporated into Roxette's music. 1K0-002 Sugary? Commercial? Sure it is, but who can resist irresistible melodies of "Listen To Your Heart", "The Look" or harmonica solo on "Dangerous"? I can't, that's why I still listen to "Look Sharp!".