Room Service is the seventh studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, released worldwide from 2 April 2001. A planned release in the United States failed to materialise, as the duo's label there, Edel Records America, had been disbanded the previous month due to financial difficulties. Marie Fredriksson was not as involved in the album's production as she had been on previous records, taking part in the composition of just two songs. The album was remastered and reissued with bonus tracks in 2009.
Three singles were released from the record: lead single "The Centre of the Heart" was a hit throughout Europe, and was Roxette's third number one single in their home country. "Real Sugar" underperformed; it remains the lowest-peaking of all their charting singles in both Germany and Switzerland. Conversely, "Milk and Toast and Honey" performed well, and was the album's longest-charting hit in Sweden and Switzerland. The latter was also the only single from the album to be released in the United Kingdom.
The album received mixed reviews upon release. AllMusic called it an "exciting, immediate, high-gloss pop gem that contains very little filler indeed", He eventually demoed a total of 29 songs for Room Service, excluding songs written by Marie Fredriksson, or songs originally demoed for Have a Nice Day, such as "The Centre of the Heart". That song was first recorded in October 1997, and is the only track on Room Service to feature a production credit from Have a Nice Day co-producer Michael Ilbert.
"Little Girl" is Fredriksson's only contribution to the album. It was written and composed solely by her, while "Every Day" was co-written with Gessle. The latter song was also released on deluxe editions of The Ballad Hits in 2002, It later appeared as a bonus track when Room Service was remastered and reissued in 2009, along with another Fredriksson-composed track, "All I Ever Wanted". Despite this, "All I Ever Wanted" is unrelated to the album: it had first been demoed in April 1997 and re-recorded in June 2004 during sessions for Fredriksson's first English-language solo album, 2004's The Change. Filmed over three days at The Madonna Inn in California, it is Roxette's most expensive music video, surpassing the budget of "Spending My Time" from their 1991 album Joyride. The song was sent to radio on 19 February 2001, with a commercial single release following a month later. The album was released worldwide from 2 April, with a North American release set for the following day via Edel America Records. although the record was released in Canada through EMI Music. but it performed poorly elsewhere, charting only in Germany and Switzerland and becoming their lowest-charting single to date in both territories (numbers 96 and 72, respectively). The third and final single from the album, "Milk and Toast and Honey", was more successful, peaking at number 21 in Sweden and becoming their longest-charting single in the country since "You Don't Understand Me" in 1995 (14 weeks). Similarly, it peaked at number 29 on the Swiss Hitparade and spent 17 weeks on the chart—their longest-charting single in that country since "Sleeping in My Car" in 1994. It was also the first and only single from Room Service to be released in the United Kingdom,
The "Room Service World Tour" was Roxette's first concert tour in over six years. Concerts planned in South Africa were cancelled after the September 11 attacks. The tour began on 28 September and saw them performing in Spain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Russia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden over its 25-dates. Johan Lindqvist from Göteborgs-Posten was more positive, scoring their concert in Munich four stars.
Critical reception
Room Service received a mixed response from critics. Leslie Mathew of AllMusic said it was their best album since Joyride (1991), calling it an "exciting, immediate, high-gloss pop gem that contains very little filler indeed." Bjurman from Aftonbladet put it bluntly: "[Room Service] is not very good", elaborating: "Many songs sound like covers of old Roxette material. Perhaps inevitable when a band returns to its 'roots', but a little more imagination may be required." However, he did praise the three singles, calling "Milk and Toast and Honey" their "strongest ballad since 'It Must Have Been Love' or maybe even 'Listen to Your Heart'," before ending his review with "Roxette is not finished. But soon, I suspect." He also hypothesized: "On Have a Nice Day, you heard a band that had lost its compass. You do not have to listen carefully to Room Service to hear the sound of a duo who had been lost in the woods for so long that the search had ended."
Commercial performance
The album was not as successful as the duo's preceding studio albums, It topped the national record charts in both Belgium and Sweden,
- Roxette are Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson
- Recorded at Atlantis Studios and Polar Studios in Stockholm between January 2000 and January 2001.
- Mastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road Studios, London
- Remastered by Alar Suurna at Polar Studios, Stockholm <small>(2009 reissue)</small>
Musicians
- Marie Fredriksson – lead and background vocals, percussion, production and sleeve design
- Per Gessle – lead and background vocals, acoustic guitar, 12-stringed acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, keyboards, percussion, programming, production, mixing and sleeve design
- Jonas Isacsson – acoustic guitar, 6-stringed and 12-stringed electric guitars and E-Bow
- Christer Jansson – live drums and electronic drum loops; percussion
- Christoffer Lundquist – backing vocals, bass guitar, electric guitar, 6-stringed and 12-stringed acoustic guitars, zither and percussion
- Clarence Öfwerman – keyboards, percussion, programming, engineering, production and mixing
- Mats "MP" Persson – electric guitar, tremolo guitar, keyboards, synth bass, programming and engineering
- Shooting Star – programming
Additional musicians and technical personnel
- Jonas Åkerlund – photography and art direction
- Micke "Nord" Andersson – acoustic guitar
- David Birde – electric guitar
- Mikael Bolyos – engineering
- Marie Dimberg – management
- Mats Holmquist – conducting
- Michael Ilbert – engineering and co-production
- Ronny Lahti – engineering and mixing
- Sarah Sheppard – photography and art direction
- Stockholm Session Strings – strings
- Mattias Torell – acoustic guitar
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!scope="col"|Chart (2001)
!scope="col"|
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"|European Albums (Billboard)
| align="center"|3
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)
| align="center"|5
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| align="center"|34
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (Promúsicae)
| align="center"|5
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
| align="center"|120
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!scope="col"|Chart (2001)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
|42
|-
!scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)
|10
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums (GfK)
|34
|-
!scope="row"|Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)
|14
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)
|12
|-
!scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)
|46
|-
|}