Secret Service

News added 2000-11-19
New songs out!!!

The impossible has happened. Secret Service has once again released new material! The new hit compilation contains remasterd songs from before. Plus new recordings. This quite contradicts what Ola states in the interview below. Either he was not fully honest, or the guys sort of rediscovered the joy of it all while remastering or something like that.

All songs are remasterd. Most songs appears as they have done several times before. Some songs need a more detailed explanation (see next paragraph). All new and re-recorded songs sound very "Secret Service-ish". It is however hard to understand why they did not include The Go-Between. I further miss the rather remixed single version of Don't You Know, Don't You Know. Also why has there not been released any single to promote this album?

The Dancer
This turns out to not be a new song. Instead it is just a re-recording of When The Dancer You Have Loved Walks Out The Door. Why they renamed it is unclear, perhaps the title was too long to print on the sleeve... The original version appears on Cutting Corners.

Destiny Of Love
A brand new song, written by Norell-Oson-Bard. In the typical Secret Service slow "tragic" synth sound that we all love.

Night City
The sleeve states that this is an unreleased version based on Anders Hansson's 12" remix. It may very likely be the Not After 8 p.m. Version from the same 12". My turntable is not working at the moment so I can not compare.

Rainy Day Memories
Another re-recorded version of a song from Cutting Corners.

The Sound Of The Rain
Another brand new song, written again by Norell-Oson-Bard. This is more upbeat.

Bring Heaven Down
Stated on the sleeve as "previously unreleased", which is a lie. Was included on the Ha Ett Underbart Liv soundtrack. Another excelent Norell-Oson-Bard song. Recorded as one of the last songs from the production team Norell-Hansson-Håkansson.

According to the sleeve, the members are: Ola Håkansson, Tonny Lindberg, Leif Johansson, Ulf Wahlberg, Leif Paulsén and Tim Norell. As usual Tim is not pictured on the sleeve. I think it is rude not to mention that Anders Hansson and Mats A. Lindberg was members for a while. I also question who is member on the 2000 recordings. Probably just Ola, Tim and Ulf. The booklet leaves a lot to be desired...

News added 2000-11-03
A new album out soon!
Well not a new album in the usual sense. Just another hit compilation. This time it is even supposed to be released in Sweden. It is supposed to be out November 15th, and the title will be Top Secret - Greatest Hits. Apperently there will be 20 tracks. If there will be any remixes or unreleased material is not known.

News added 2000-02-12
Ola intreview - Come back?
Ola Håkansson was interviewd yesterday in radio show Curry-Curry. Carolina Norén had meet at MIDEM in Cannes (France) a while ago. There was a lot of talk about the ABBA cover band A-Teens. Ola had more then one finger in the creation process and also in the marketing.

He said he likes his job as president for Stockholm Label Group. He was really fed up with the studio work when he started Stockholm Records. It had been to much in the 80's and early 90's. But now he feels the urge to do at least one day a week in there.

Any plans for a come back for Secret Service seems remote. He has the rather healty point of view that should they do someting new it may very well crush the memmory people have of their old work. He has no carving what so ever to be on the stage again. However he let it slip out that Ola, Tim Norell and Ulf Wahlberg have been in the studio recently, just for fun. With regards to what he said minutes earlier a Secret Service come back would probably not be likely. However there might be some sort of remix work of old material (which is not really a come back...). Or hopefully some completely new band very similar to Secret Service. Anyway the result would be out later in the year.

Carolina then played Flash In The Night performed by Ysa Ferret that had just been a hit in France. He liked that... (It might actually be Tim Norell and/or Ulf Wahlberg that produced that single.) It is translated into french.

News added 1999-11-21
Still no compilation in Sweden.
The hit compilation released in selected European countries in 1998, is still not released in Sweden. This is just another in a long line of "not so very smart" moves by PolyGram. Apperently it is available in Germany and Holland. However most big record stores should have it on import. With Ola Håkansson being busy as record label boss, the chance for new albums to be released looks slim. We can only hope for re-issues of the old ones. Presently no Secret Service album at all is available in Sweden.

News added 1998-05-24
The Way You Are single out on CD.
Former ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog has just released a brand new compilation, That's Me - The Greatest Hits. It includes the single version of The Way You Are, and as a bonus also Fly Like The Eagle. These Ola Håkansson / Secret Service songs has previously been hard to get on CD. For more information, ordering etc go to Agnetha Fältskog.

News added 1998-02-02
New album + Luke Skywalker.
The greatest hits album Very Best Of Secret Service, which first was rescheduled from November '97 to January, has not yet been released. No word of when it will be out. Meanwhile parts of Secret Service has worked on a new single with Ardis. No Mans Land is taken from her fortcomming theird album, and from the Hamilton motion picture soundtrack. The film stars Peter Stormare, Lena Olin and Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill. The song is produced and co-composed by Anders Hansson, and mixed by Ola Håkansson himself no less.

News added autumn 1997
New greatest album due, new single out.
After a long time of talk about Secret Service will now finally release a new compilation CD, to include all the old hits and some new remixes. It has been scheduled every now and then since 1990. It will probably contain the two only known 90's recordings by the band. These are Bring Heaven Fall Down from the Ha ett Underbart Liv soundtrack (for which they also did as yet unreleased score music)and The Go-Between, from The Stockholm Party promo only compilation

The first single to be released for this project is the Flash In The Night/Oh Susie double a-sided issue. Both songs has been remixed by Antiloop. In addition there also the original versions of the songs. A "Strictly Limited DJ Edition" remix CD, it contains the longer versions of the remixes on the standard issue, plus one mix of each song by Martin Terefe & Claes Björklund.

Contents on CD 1: Flash In The Night (The Antiloop Reconstruction) Oh Susie (The Antiloop Reconstruction) Flash In The Night (Original Version) Oh Susie (Original Version)
		Click to see the complete sleeve!
	Contents on CD 2 - Strictly Limited DJ Edition: Flash In The Night (The Full-Length Antiloop Reconstruction) Oh Susie (The Full-Length Antiloop Reconstruction) Flash In The Night (London Remix) Oh Susie (London Remix)

In a recent interview in the industry weekly magazine Topp40 Tim Norell said he would think it very unlikely that they will start to record new material. It appears as they have not even discussed that option within the band. However at interviews throughout the 90's Ola Håkansson has stated that there will be something new out eventually. Ola himself is very bussiy, being the president of both Stockholm Label Group (= all PolyGram activities in Sweden) and Stockholm Records (of which he a co-owner). In this function he is very much responsible for the world wide success of The Cardigans , and others. In an interview about 1995-1996 he said he did set aside the Friday's for creative work, i.e. composing, producing, mixing. The only thing that has been noticed publicly about this is the work with singer Andreas Lundstedt.

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