[This review was originally published in 2016]
Most well known internationally for their 1988 LP Look Sharp!, Swedish pop duo Roxette have managed the rare trick most eighties acts couldn’t: longevity.
‘Why Dontcha?’ is a solid, bouncy opener. It uses real instruments and has an organic bounce missing from the rest of the album.
The rest of the album reads like a greatest hits of electro-pop cliches. The title track is an old-school power ballad. It’s more synth-driven, and sounds like a Euro-pop song from the late nineties. ‘This One’ has a theme that is oddly reminiscent of the theme to Dr. Who. It has the same sense of building momentum as the iconic tune, which is no bad thing. Weird echo aside, it is a catchy tune. ’20 BPM’ is the most danceable track on the track list, but is pretty indistinguishable with an other electro-dance number from the last decade. That description goes for most of the rest of the tracks.
Aside from the opener, the only standout track is ‘You Can’t Do This To Me’ -- it has a memorable chorus and melody, which immediately makes it stick out. It is easily the best song on the album.
In the end, Good Karma is a solid slice of Euro-pop but lacks that little dash of eccentricity to make it really stand out. In its favour no song lasts more than three and a half minutes, and all the songs are cut from the same cloth of vaguely affirmative hokum. It’s not bad, but it might be a little too cookie cutter for all tastes.
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