Description
Rock the World is the debut album by the Swedish melodic hard rock band Charizma (brothers Bo, Jan, and Göran Nikolausson), independently released in Sweden on United Rock Records in 1985, distributed by EMI. The album was recorded and mixed during eleven days in 1985 by Janne Apelholm at OAL Studio in Stockholm, Sweden; with Hasse Engström and the band producing.
Charizma features Bosse Nikolausson on lead vocals and bass, Göran Nikolausson on guitar and vocals, and Janne Nikolausson on drums and vocals. Keyboards provided by producer Hasse Engström.
Fun facts: At the release concert, more than 300 copies were sold, even though the cover wasn’t finished yet. The buyers had to pick it up in a local store a couple of days later.
Hot on the heels of the new album by the veteran Swedish rockers (see CR51 for the review, CR50 for the article), comes this remastering of the Christian rock album that hit it so big in the Soviet Republic of Estonia in the late ’80s, that it was released on the Estonian Communist State record label Melodiya, who distributed throughout the USSR and shifted in excess of 40,000 units! The Lord works in mysterious ways! It’s good to hear those glam rock anthems again, this time digitally mastered on hiss-free CD, so what if the songs are old-fashioned, so what if it’s all embarrassingly reminiscent of glitter and lurex and big hair; reach for the air guitar and rock on Tommy! These guys put the gospel into an atheistic country and won souls for the Kingdom, so they deserve our respect. Meanwhile, this CD is guaranteed to delight metal hard rock nostalgists. [Trevor Kirk, Cross Rhythms, August 1999]
So apparently this release was more underground than I originally thought it was. The story goes that the three Nikolausson brothers started as a punk rock band called High Voltage. But they changed musical style and name and borrowed money to self-record this album. Oh, and it was on vinyl not tape, but ignore that for now. For this album, they played anthemic hard rock / heavy metal with some slight classic metal touches here and there (although those disappeared after this release). After this, they released a new song called «Turn Me On» in 1986 as a 7-inch with «Try It (Feel the Love)» on the B-side. Then they started recording a series of demos in 1987-1989. When this album was released on CD in 1999 by Magdalene Records, «Turn Me On» was added as well a 1988 demo called «Guardian Angels». «God Bless Rock’n Roll», «Try It (Feel the Love)», «On Your Own», «Won’t Let Me Down», and «Where Do You Stand» were all later included on Rockin’ the World Together. Also of note is that in 1987 or 88, a Polish version of this album as released that adds «Turn Me On» as the second track, removes «Won’t Let Me Down», and adds «The Light» in its place. So far, «The Light» has not been released on any other albums. Oh, and it had a different cover. [Christian Tape Underground, July 4, 2024]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-the-world-usa-version/1446178333)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “The Knights” – 4:44
A2. “Free From The World” – 4:54
A3. “Make Up Your Mind” – 5:04
A4. “Rock The World” – 4:45
Side Two
B1. “God Bless Rock’N’Roll” – 3:07
B2. “Try It (Feel The Love)” – 4:20
B3. “On Your Own” – 4:25
B4. “Won’t Let Me Down” – 4:12
B5. “Where Do You Stand” – 5:02
Note: Re-issued on CD in the US by Magdalene Records in 1999, featuring two bonus tracks; “Turn Me On” and “Guardian Angels”.
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