"The Right Time"

Trackinglist:

Love Has Got The Power
Baby Don't Cry
Right Time
Always On My Mind
It's Over Now
We Live
Is It Love?
Radio Interlude
On The Radio
I Love You
When You Touch My Hand
Something To Believe In
Happy

This CD was released in 1998 - which means Bosson was 22/23 then. What's the difference between this album and the new, I hear you ask. Well, apart from the fact that he has a slightly better haircut now, not too much. This album is, however, more popish than "One In A Million". It's also quite obvious that he's grown, that he's more of a professional now, but the lyrics and the vocals are just as good as on the 2nd album.

The first time I listened to the album I noticed a couple of songs. It's always like that, I can't listen to an album once and notice all the great things about every single song. I did, however, notice "I Love You" and "It's Over Now". My first thought when I saw the title "I Love You" was that it was going to be a some kind of cheesy pop ballad about someone finding the right one and they live happily ever after, and "It's Over Now" could mind as well be a typical, "I-don't-think-I-can-live-without-you-now-that-you-left-me-for-another-and-I-think-I-need-to-go-and-cut-my-wrist-with-a-cheese-grater" type of song. I was totally mistaken.

The song "I Love You" is kind of boyband-ish, upbeat pop song by first impression, but the lyrics say something else:

"When you wake up in the morning, I love you
When you come home in the evening, I want you
When you are angry and shouting, I need you
When I find you with another, I love you."

Below the song it's written: "Some people just haven't got enough selfconfidence to understand that it IS possible to love them. (... and some understand that WAY too well)" It's so true! So many people stay with a person who does just about anything to hurt them - cheating, lying, physical violence, verbal abuse... and they stay, because they think nobody else will love them.

"It's Over Now" is a beautiful ballad written to his grandmother who died in 1993. This also shows how good his voice is: I counted a tone that is 13 seconds long - which is (at least in my book) rather bloody impressive!

"I miss the times when I stopped by
I still remember our last goodbye
You were standing in the door waving to me
Like thousand times before"
(...)
"Saving you from all your pain
Guiding you through storm and pain
To heaven, beautiful heaven
Singing for you..."

I'm on my 5th run through the album now, and more and more songs stick to my mind. Right now it's "When You Touch My Hand" that's caught my attention. The whole sound to it is wonderful, it's relaxing and the vocals are great. As per usual, I know, but it's something special about this one - I can feel it. "Love Has Got The Power" has a kind of Pet Shop Boys sound to it with a "boychoir" in the background - like the Pet Shop Boys always seem to add to their songs. It's cool, something I'd put on on a Saturday night with pals while dancing and drinking beer.

The beginning of "Baby Don't Cry" reminds me of any Modern Talking remix, maybe mostly of "Cheri Cheri Lady". I'm not originally a huge fan of the German group, but I loved the remixes they released a couple of years ago. (I know my sister would disagree, as she was a huge fan of them in the 80's - when the beat was half the speed and their hair twice as long!) Anyway, "Baby Don't Cry" doesn't really remind me of "Cheri Cheri Lady" other than in the beginning. It's a regular pop song with a catchy bass line and it makes me wanna daaaance the night away!

"Right Time" is kind of, slightly Backstreet Boys meets Britney. Happy-happy tune with lyrics I can totally relate to. Lyric-wise it reminds me of "Secret Love", which goes like this: "Now I shout it from the highest hill, I ever told the golden daffodil. At last my heart's an open door, my secret love's no secret anymore." You feel like telling everyone - it doesn't really matter if you are with the person or not, as long as you're in love nothing else matters.

When I saw the title for "Always On My Mind" I thought "Is he doing a Pet Shop Boys cover??" Again, I was wrong. (This is why you should never judge anything on a first impression!) This song is totally different from the PSB tune with the same name - and to be honest, I'm glad. I like both Bosson's music and the Pet Shop Boys' music - but separate. I mean, why f*** with perfection, right? (By the way, pardon my French!) I don't even have to compare this song/title with anything, cause it's strong enough to stand for itself! Nice lyrics too!

"I never thought you wanted more than that.
You tore me apart, my love
I never thought I was good enough
So now that I know I want to say
You will always be on my mind
You will always be there through the rest of my life"

"We Live" I am, of course, familiar with before. I notice that it's the same vocals as the version on "One In A Million" but with slightly different background. It's kind of funkier than the new release, and absolutely a good first version of the song! "Is It Love" has almost the same beginning as "What Is Love" - but that's about it. I could have written these lyrics myself, really. [You took the words right out of my mouth, love!] "Can someone explain why I feel this burning pain inside, it tears me apart, makes me weak but I can't resist."

Have I heard this one before? "On The Radio" sounds so familiar. Both the lyrics and the beat. (Mental note: Check this out!) It makes me want to stand up and bop to the beat - and sing along. (Thank God I'm home alone!) "Something To Believe In" doesn't exactly make me want to sit down. (I tried, but my butt wouldn't stay on the chair... so I'm standing up, bent over the keyboard, shaking my arse to the beat). Definitely something I'll bring to the next party to make people dance!!

Somehow I expected "Happy" to be really upbeat. For some reason I can't really figure out. It's a mid-tempo pop-song that makes me sit down and take a breath again. Not because it's boring or less interesting, but because it's not a "shake-your-arse" song - would you shake it to "Send Me An Angel" for instance? You might, but I wouldn't. I nice round-off of a very impressive debut album. Well done, Staffan!

***********

Some of the comments below the other songs cracked me up - and some are quite deep:
"Right Time": "A cute way of expressing a feeling of wanting to tell everybody when you get that feeling... (comprende?)"
"Always On My Mind": "Friendship sometimes turn to love. And if you don't take the risk showing it, it might be too late to party. (Gee, maybe I should have become a shrink after all.....!?)"
"It's Over Now": "A dedication to my grandmother who passed away in -93. She was a fantastic woman, simply the best. We will always love you
"We Live": "It's so simple. It's boring to be bored, and no use to worry. It's fun to have fun and eat a lot of....... curry. It's your life. Your choice, live and be happy!"
"Is It Love": "It's it funny that the best thing we have in life, sometimes can hurt so much.... (kind of a nice pain though)"
"I Love You": "Some people just haven't got enough selfconfidence to understand that it IS possible to love them. (... and some understand that WAY too well)"
"When You Touch My Hand": "Have you ever noticed that you become a weak, completely different, stupid, .I-do-anything-you-want-me-to-do person with no own will when you meet someone you really want? I have. In this song."
"Something To Believe In": "We all need something to believe in; religion, wooden dolls, ourselves... it doesn't matter what! It's when we STOP believing we're in trouble."
"Happy": "Like somebody said before me: Don't worry, be HAPPYYYIIIEE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Also, a quite funny dedication:
"Thanks to Michael Jackson for financial support (thanks for the car, man...!)"
and:
"I would also like to thank myself for this album and an absolutely brilliant, fantastic, tremendous, super-duper-turbo job!!! I LOVE YOU MAN!! (ooh, that felt good...)"

 

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