"Almost Unreal" is a song by Swedish pop music duo
Roxette
Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second a ...
, released on 10 May 1993 as the
lead single
A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
Release s ...
from the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
of the 1993
live action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...
adaptation of ''
Super Mario Bros.
is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for th ...
'', which starred
Bob Hoskins
Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...
,
John Leguizamo
John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...
,
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
, and
Samantha Mathis
Samantha Mathis (born May 12, 1970) is an American actress and trade union leader who served as the Vice President, Actors/Performers of SAG-AFTRA from 2015 to 2019. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in '' Pump Up t ...
. The song became a top-20 hit in numerous territories, including Scandinavia, Ireland and the UK. It would also be the duo's final top ten hit in the latter two countries, excluding a re-release of "
It Must Have Been Love
"It Must Have Been Love", originally "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)", is a song written by Per Gessle and performed by the Swedish pop duo Roxette. The power ballad became the duo's third number one hit in the United ...
" two months later. The song proved to be unsuccessful in North America, peaking at number 94 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100, although it performed better in Canada, where it peaked within the top 30. It appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of their next studio album, ''
Crash! Boom! Bang!
''Crash! Boom! Bang!'' is the fifth studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 9 April 1994 by EMI. The album was an immediate commercial success, peaking within the top 10 in over 20 national charts throughout Europe, Australasia and ...
'' (1994), mis-titled "It's Almost Unreal".
Background and recording
Per Gessle
Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the Swedish pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was d ...
wrote "Almost Unreal" after
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...
contacted him about composing the theme song to
Bette Midler
Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
's upcoming film ''
Hocus Pocus''. The song's backing track had already been completed at
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
's
Mayfair Studios
Mayfair Recording Studios, earlier called Spot Studios or Ryemuse Studios, was a recording studio in London, England, located in Mayfair from the 1960s to 1981, then in Primrose Hill from 1981 until it closed in 2008.
In the early years the studio ...
in March 1993 when Disney informed Gessle that US girlband
En Vogue
En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...
had been invited to record the film's theme song. "Almost Unreal" was then transferred to another Disney project, the
live action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...
adaption of the
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
game series ''
Super Mario Bros.
is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for th ...
'', which was released under the
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Established on February 1, 1989, by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner and then-studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hollywood ...
banner. Although hesitant about the project, the duo decided to allow the company to use the song in
the film
The Film is a 2005 Indian thriller film directed by Junaid Memon also produced along with Amitabh Bhattacharya. The film stars Mahima Chaudhry, Khalid Siddiqui, Ananya Khare, Chahat Khanna, Ravi Gossain, Vaibhav Jhalani and Vivek Madan in lead ...
, as they were both fans of
Bob Hoskins
Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...
and
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
. The group re-recorded the lyrics to omit most references to ''Hocus Pocus'', although the title would still remain in the song's chorus, with the lyric "I love when you do that hocus pocus to me".
Marie Fredriksson
Gun-Marie Fredriksson (; 30 May 1958 – 9 December 2019) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist and painter, who was best known internationally as the lead vocalist of pop rock pop duo, duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. ...
's vocals were recorded at
Polar Studios
Polar Studios was a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden, which operated from 1978 through 2004. The studio was formed by ABBA musicians Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and the band's manager Stig Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording ...
in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in March 1993, when she was nine months pregnant.
Composition and style
According to
Ultimate Guitar
Ultimate Guitar (Ultimate Guitar USA LLC), which is also known as Ultimate-Guitar.com or simply UG, is an online platform for guitarists and musicians. Its website and mobile application provides guitar tablature catalogues and chord sheets. UG ...
, "Almost Unreal" is a mid-tempo
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
song composed in the key of
E major
E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...
, and is written in
common time
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
with a moderate tempo of 92
beats per minute
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery ( ...
. The
intro
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
is composed of two repetitions of an E–B–A
sus2 sequence, followed by a further two lines composed of
C♯m–B–Asus
2. Each
verse
Verse may refer to:
Poetry
* Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry
* Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza
* Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme
* Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...
is composed of variations of a B–
G♯m7–E–C♯m–E–A–
G♯sus
4–G♯ sequence, while the
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
is composed of two repetitions of E–B–A, followed by a C♯m–B–A–F♯ sequence.
Critical reception
Larry Flick
Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...
from ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' complimented the song as a "familiar power pop
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
" and said that "
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...
-esque harmonies at the chorus give the track a cute vibe, while hard drums and nimble guitar riffs lend an bright rock-ish glow." Alan Jones from ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' wrote, "Roxette have produced a string of catchy pop smashes, so this frankly rather dreary song from the forthcoming ''
Super Mario Brothers
is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for th ...
'' is a bit of a disappointment. What could be anthemic with a little work just sounds pompous." Mike Schiller from
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
called the song "awful"; and wrote, "...not only does it sound like corporate pandering, but it's probably the most forced smash-hit wannabe Roxette ever created."
Roxette themselves later dismissed both the song and the associated film, calling the latter a "flop" and "ridiculous". In the
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desce ...
of the duo's first greatest hits compilation, ''
Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!
''Don't Bore Us - Get to the Chorus! Roxette's Greatest Hits'' is the first greatest hits compilation album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 30 October 1995 by EMI. The record contains the duo's four number ones from the US ''Billboard'' ...
'', Fredriksson referred to the track as "not one of our most inspired moments", while Gessle said, "I still like the song, in a way... but if you wanted to make a parody of Roxette, it would probably sound something like this."
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
was directed by Michael Geoghegan, and stars the British actor
Nick Pickard
Nicholas Pickard (born 27 May 1975) is an English actor. He is known for his portrayal of Tony Hutchinson in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', a role he has held since its first episode in 1995; he remains the longest-serving cast member.
...
as a young man playing a video game in which he's watching parts of the film, as well as both band members performing the song, ending with him being de-evolved into a
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...
like in the film.
Formats and track listings
All music and lyrics were written by
Per Gessle
Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the Swedish pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was d ...
.
* 7-inch single and cassette
(Australia 8806494 · Europe 8806492 · North America · UK EM268)
# "Almost Unreal" – 3:59
# "The Heart Shaped Sea" – 4:10
* UK exclusive 12-inch picture disc
(12EMPD268)
# "Almost Unreal" – 3:59
# "The Heart Shaped Sea" – 4:10
# "
Fingertips '93
"Fingertips '93", is a song by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released as the third and final single from their fourth studio album ''Tourism'' on 26 January 1993. The single was only released in a select few countries, and charted moderately in terri ...
" – 3:42
* CD single
(Europe 8806762 · UK CDEM268)
# "Almost Unreal" – 3:59
# "The Heart Shaped Sea" – 4:10
# "Fingertips '93" – 3:42
# "Almost Unreal"
( AC mix) – 3:56
Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of ''
The Ballad Hits
''The Ballad Hits'' is the second greatest hits compilation album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released on 4 November 2002 by Roxette Recordings and Capitol Records. It was the first of a two-part series of "best of" albums released by the duo in ...
''.
Studios
* Recorded in March 1993 at
Mayfair Studios
Mayfair Recording Studios, earlier called Spot Studios or Ryemuse Studios, was a recording studio in London, England, located in Mayfair from the 1960s to 1981, then in Primrose Hill from 1981 until it closed in 2008.
In the early years the studio ...
(London, England) and
Polar Studios
Polar Studios was a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden, which operated from 1978 through 2004. The studio was formed by ABBA musicians Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and the band's manager Stig Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording ...
(Stockholm, Sweden)
*
Mixed at Mayfair Studios
Musicians
* Marie Fredriksson – lead and backing vocals
* Per Gessle – lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar, mixing
* Per "Pelle" Alsing – drums
*
Vicki Benckert – backing vocals
* Anders Herrlin – bass guitar,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
,
programming
* Jonas Isacsson – electric guitars
* Clarence Öfwerman – keyboards, programming,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
, mixing
* Staffan Öfwerman – backing vocals
* Alar Suurna – mixing, engineering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
1990s ballads
1993 singles
1993 songs
Capitol Records singles
EMI Records singles
Music videos directed by Michael Geoghegan
Pop ballads
Rock ballads
Roxette songs
Songs written by Per Gessle