Den ständiga resan

Den ständiga resan (The Eternal Journey) is the fourth studio album by Swedish singer songwriter Marie Fredriksson, released on 9 October 1992 by EMI Sweden. Predominantly composed during Roxette's "Join the Joyride! Tour", the album contains some of Fredriksson's darkest lyrical content. "Så länge det lyser mittemot" ("As Long as There Is Light on the Other Side") and "Mellan sommar och höst" ("Between Summer and Autumn") were issued as singles. The latter song, along with "Så stilla så långsamt" ("So Still, So Slow") and "Det regnar igen" ("It's Raining Again"), were top ten hits on the Swedish Airplay Chart. The album remains both her highest selling and most critically successful release in her native country. It spent two weeks atop the Swedish Albums Chart, where it was certified platinum within a month of release. As of 2002, the record sold over 185,000 copies in Sweden alone, and remains her only studio album to chart outside of Sweden, peaking within the top twenty of the Norwegian Albums Chart. The success the record achieved in Scandinavia led EMI to release it internationally; it was issued throughout Europe, as well as in Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Marie Fredriksson began her musical career as keyboardist and co lead vocalist of Swedish punk rock group Strul (Trivial' or 'Insignificant), who released their first and only single in 1981 before disbanding the following year. Strul's only permanent members – Fredriksson and her then boyfriend Martin Sternhufvud – went on to form power pop band MaMas Barn alongside Gyllene Tider bassist Anders Herrlin and drummer Micke "Syd" Andersson. The latter band issued their only album in 1982, Barn som barn (italic=yes), which struggled commercially. Fredriksson then embarked upon a career as a solo artist, releasing Het vind (italic=yes) in 1984, Den sjunde vågen (italic=yes) in 1986, and Efter stormen (italic=yes) in 1987, all of which were recorded with Gyllene Tider producer Lars Göran "Lasse" Lindbom. In 1986, Fredriksson formed pop duo Roxette alongside Gyllene Tider vocalist Per Gessle. Roxette experienced an international breakthrough with albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991), and had a string of worldwide hit singles, including the Billboard Hot 100 number ones "The Look", "Listen to Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love" and "Joyride".

Den ständiga resan was Fredriksson's first solo album since 1987, and was produced alongside Gyllene Tider and MaMas Barn bassist Anders Herrlin. The album contains material which has been ascribed to a diverse range of genres, such as alternative rock, acoustic rock, ambient pop and hard rock, Fredriksson wrote the lyrics to every song on the album, and was the sole composer of the vast majority of music, with the exception of "Ett enda liv", "Den där novemberdan" and "Vem tror du att du är? ", which were co written with Herrlin. The record contains some of the most oppressive lyrical content Fredriksson has written. whom she met while touring Australia during "Join the Joyride!". She later commented: "If Micke and I hadn't met, I don't know if I would have been able to continue in Roxette much longer. I couldn't handle the personal side of life on tour. I was hanging out in bars, drinking too much. I was sad a lot of the time and had a hard time with the press, when I always had to be nice and say the right things, always having to be available to everybody, always putting on a smile and being happy. Marie Fredriksson the performer had grown in stature, at the expense of Marie the private person. I had less and less space to be myself. And when I was myself I felt uncertain, small and lost."

The record was an immediate commercial success upon release on 9 October 1992, and remains Fredriksson's most commercially and critically successful solo studio album. The album debuted at number two on the Swedish Albums Chart before spending two weeks at number one, while Sveriges Television described it as Fredriksson's "great masterpiece" and "an obvious soundtrack to the hardships of adulthood." They elaborated that the tracks were tuned to the "same tone as the disillusionment and loneliness of adulthood, and nothing is as comforting as when Sweden's best singer puts words and music to these dark thoughts." Fredriksson was nominated for three awards at the 1993 Grammis, the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy Awards. She won the award for Artist of the Year, and also received nominations for Songwriter of the Year, as well as Pop/Rock – Female. "Så länge det lyser mittemot" was released as the album's lead single throughout Europe on 28 October 1992, backed with the album version of "Den där novemberdan". Fredriksson toured Sweden in support of the album in November and December 1992. A further three songs from the record were top ten hits on Svensktoppen, Sweden's airplay based chart: "Så stilla så långsamt", "Det regnar igen" and "Mellan sommar och höst". On 26 February 1993, the latter song was released exclusively in Sweden as the second and final single from the album; this single was issued in limited quantities – only 640 copies were manufactured – and featured live versions of "Bara för en dag", "Värdighet" and "Den bästa dagen" recorded at Stockholm Circus on 7 December 1992. Also included was her 1989 non album single "Sparvöga". The album's title track was later covered by Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth and was featured on a special edition re release of their 2008 album Watershed.

Region Date Format Label Catalog # Ref. (References) Sweden 14 October 1992 Gramophone record, LP, CD, Compact Cassette, Cassette EMI4750281 · 4750282 · 4750284 Taiwan1993EMI4750282 Indonesia · Malaysia CassetteTC–7808804 Sweden June 2002 Remastered 24 bit HDCD: Kärlekens guld box set Capitol Records7243 5 40199–2 0 5 March 2003 CD