by Matthias Mineur - DEC 2000
´Edlund's Alter Ego` would have been an equally suitable title for this release: the Lucyfire debut This Dollar Saved My Life At Whitehorse shows a whole new side to Johan Edlund's creativity. Edlund, otherwise frontman with Swedish goth metal act Tiamat, comes across unusually rock-oriented and direct on his first Lucyfire release, underlining his penchant for straightforward rock music with lyrics about the frequently quoted subject matter of wine, women and song. The whole album is thoroughly enjoyable, and the listener should bear its creator's sense of humour in mind. "Music is supposed to reflect the soul, and I feel extremely well at the moment, after all I'm in a very fortunate position," he offers. "The last Tiamat albums sold amazingly well, our festival appearances were highly successful, and I am very grateful to find myself in the situation that I'm in. That's why I felt like recording an album that's more representative of the fun side of rock music. No deep messages, no special meaning, no sharp-witted analyses, only straightforward rock songs that entertain and serve all the usual rock clichés."
This Dollar Saved My Life At Whitehorse symbolizes the typical rock'n'roll dream, which is a side to Edlund that doesn't fit in with the familiar Tiamat image; which is why he's also come up with a new name: Lucyfire is Edlund's flirt with a slightly different aspect of rock music, yet it's neither a side project nor a solo album in the true sense of the word. "I wouldn't call it a side project, simply because it's much more than a mere project. Although all the songs have been recorded by studio musicians I am going to put a real band together and play some gigs with this material, so in that respect the term 'solo album' is not 100 per cent accurate either. It's really something in between the two." The above mentioned studio musicians were drummer Bertram Engel, bassist Jan Kazder, guitarist Dirk Draeger, who also produced the record, as well as keyboarder Marc Engelmann. Edlund, only supported by vocalist Sille Lemke, recorded all the tracks. The material was cut in Germany at the Woodhouse Studios in Hagen and at the Hafenklang in Hamburg, as well as at the P.U.K. studios in Denmark, where This Dollar Saved My Life At Whitehorse was also mixed. The result is as surprising as it is versatile and entertaining.
The opener ´Baby Come On turns out to be a relaxed party tune which indicates the direction of the album pretty unequivocally. "It really was great fun to just rock away and sing ´Baby Come On," Edlund confesses. The subsequent ´Mistress Of The Night tells a humourous story about an illegal sex club which was located in an old coal mine somewhere in the German city of Dortmund, while ´Thousand Dollars In The Fire deals with the typical 'nine to five job' phenomenon. "The track is about people who work hard all day long just to be able to afford two weeks in Mallorca once a year, while rich rock stars spend six months out of twelve basking in the sun in Florida." The most unusual Edlund number on This Dollar Saved My Life At Whitehorse is called ´Perfect Crime. "It's completely different to anything else that I've ever done musically. Its basic mood is very positive, and the track dwells on the advantages of a successful bank robbery, which puts you in a position you take your girlfriend to the Caribbean and enjoy life. It's a kind of escape song, very much in the tradition of Bruce Springsteen's ´Born To Run." The atmospheric ´Annabel Lee on the other hand is based on the same-named poem by Edgar Allan Poe and tells a kitschy-romantic love story that's so sweet that even the angels are jealous and decide to kill the young bride. The first single release ´The Pain Song comes closest to his own Tiamat history. "Somehow it was clear from the start that this track would close the album," Edlund says. "It's a kind of summary of the record, there are a lot of references to your typical rock'n'roll clichés, and at the same time it's closest to the Tiamat material." ´Sharp Dressed Man, a light, driving new version of the ZZ Top classic, also deserves to be mentioned. "I'm totally into Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top, which I wanted to express with ´Sharp Dressed Man, especially since the song sums up practically the whole Lucyfire concept."
Naturally, the historic album title demands an explanation: the quote "This dollar saved my life at Whitehorse" is by Donald Duck's Uncle Scrooge, the richest duck of the hemisphere, who keeps his first dollar in a glass ball in his safe, as a special reminder of his hard-earned success - another hint at the sense of humour that's so typical of this album. Edlund: "That dollar symbolizes: this is the way to do it if you want to be no. 1." So the album has been completed, first reactions from friends and various journalists have been unanimously positive, and it's only logical that Edlund is determined to find a live band to present This Dollar Saved My Life At Whitehorse live. "I'll be holding auditions soon," says Edlund. "I plan to do either a support tour or a number of individual shows in the most important German cities, followed by various festivals during the summer." Despite the Lucyfire activities, the continuation of Tiamat was never called into question. "Tiamat will go on, there's no doubt about that," Edlund reassures the fans of his gothic metal band. "But I write songs practically all day long, so it just isn't enough for me to bring out an album every two or three years. Lucyfire is a fun opportunity to do all the tracks that don't suit Tiamat and to show that there's another side to me. I could imagine a coexistence of the two groups in future." His fans probably could, too …
Source: http://www.lucyfire.com/
