If you do a google search for
Swedish Erotica, you turn up the Tera Patrick Ultimate Erotic Love Doll. If you are searching for reviews for *that* particular item, then I am sorry to inform you that none of that will be found here. Nope, not at all. This (being the rock band
Swedish Erotica, not the love doll that shares the same monicker) is actually one of the bands that help launch the career of the very prolific Mats Leven, and they had a well received one off release before splitting and fading from the public eye.
Before that split occurred and Leven jumped ship to go on a largely unreleased stint with
Treat (those demos found life later as well), they recorded the basis of a second album. It went into the vaults somewhere and was forgotten about until just recently. The band always felt it contained some of their best work so seeing it resurrected for a now very appreciative audience is a beautiful thing indeed.
It is easy to see why they were so proud of their product, it has that snazzy 80s sleazy vibe but with enough melodic edge to add a touch of class. This is a tall order when your song is called
Skin On Skin but somehow it manages to straddle the fence in a friendly Warrant/Firehouse kind of way. Mats carried
Muscle in Motion right on to
Treat who pomped it up big time. Here it sounds rawer and naughtier, yet retaining that slick chorus that made the
Treat version so tasty. Good stuff.
Show A Little Lace is even down n dirtier. It could be early Lillian Axe, it could be Bulletboys, even
Danger Danger... it fits right in with all of them. Could you see this as part of the MTV lineup circa 1990? Sure why not?
Fire With Fire is just awesome. The melody is low keyed and gorgeous in that 80s sort of nostalgic way, and the throaty vocals add this touch of seductive mystery. *Almost* ballads continue to win my heart and this is no exception to the iron clad rule.
Terri is another fantastic song and closes out the album half of the CD. This one is just bathed in all things related to music of that decade with a superb Scandi twist that conjures images of the likes of Skagarack. It is one of those more uptempo ballads and just flies by with melody oozing at every turn. Mats Leven sounds fantastic here, I really believe he works best in this setting, as seen with
Treat too.
There is not a clunker throughout the eight songs on offering. Maybe one or two could use some sprucing, but the quality is exceptionally high overall, making it even more the tragedy that the disc did not receive its due.
The remaining eight are all demo pieces culled from
Swedish Erotica history, the latter ones dating all the way back to 1986 when the band was known as Swedish Beauty. Some of these did not even make the cut for the debut album, thus making them special oddities all of their own. My favorite of these is
Goodbye to Romance which has a slick Scandinavian melodic rock vibe and a crispy cool chorus.
This has been on my plate for awhile and has been frequented due to its down to earth nature. There are few things more exciting than having the 80s fires stoked this hard and pure when you are a fan of the styles and times. It is like they intentionally sealed up this really good album in a time capsule and then unleashed it years later on purpose. Long after the trends and sound has passed on. It makes it a delight to discover and prod through this type of music that other bands are now trying to copy and are failing at. There is just nothing like the authentic thing, no matter how hard you try, the feeling you get when listening to albums from that time just is not present in those trying to duplicate it in the here and now.
Too Daze Gone is definitely not for everyone. It is dated (its been languishing in a vault for fifteen years afterall) and is more for the collectors and already established
Swedish Erotica fans. But with so many tracks on hand and a robust 80s charm to the actual album on hand (not including the bonuses), anyone that dusts off their glammy stuff once in awhile will find merit in owning this piece of lost 80s flavored history. The production on the
Too Daze Gone portion is actually quite good as well and holds its own against other *officially* released albums of the time period. Just another reason to indulge your sleazy fantasies with hot n bothered
Swedish Erotica (and no I don't mean the love doll...).
Written by
Alanna Monday, February 27, 2006
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