Massive Luxury Overdose

1991 studio album by Army of Lovers

Massive Luxury Overdose

Studio album by

Army of Lovers

Released| August 26, 1991
March 13, 1992
Genre|

* Euro Pop
* dance
* Euro house

Label| Ton Son Ton
Stockholm Records (1992)
Producer|

* Alexander Bard
* Anders Wollbeck
* Per Adebratt
* Emil Hellman
* Ola Håkansson (also exec.)
* Anders Hansson
* Tim Norell

Army of Lovers chronology
| Disco Extravaganza
(1990)  | Massive Luxury Overdose
(1991)  | The Gods of Earth and Heaven
(1993)

|
|

Singles from  Massive Luxury Overdose

1. "Crucified"
Released: May 1991
2. "Obsession"
Released: September 1991
3. "Candyman Messiah"
Released: November 1991
4. "Ride the Bullet (re-release)"
Released: January 1992
5. "Judgment Day"
Released: June 1992

Alternative Cover

1992 cover

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music| [2]
NME| (favorable)[3]

Massive Luxury Overdose is the second studio album by Swedish pop group Army of Lovers. It was originally released in 1991, and a reissue of the album with altered track listing was released in 1992. It contains the band's biggest hits, including "Obsession", and "Crucified", which was a number one hit in 29 countries.[4] The original version of the album also includes three songs from their first album Disco Extravaganza (1990), which aren't included on the reissued version.

## Background

[edit]

When La Camilla left the band in 1991, she was replaced by Michaela Dornonville de la Cour. For the second release in 1992, the band recorded four new songs and reissued the album with a new cover, introducing de la Cour.

Army of Lovers made their first tour in March 1992 and at that time the album had already sold over 500,000 copies. The tour began in Sweden, at High Chaparral in Kulltorp, and after several Swedish cities the tour continued throughout Europe.[5]

## Critical reception

[edit]

AllMusic editor Neil Raggett wrote, "Some album titles do nail it, and this is one of the prime candidates." "Crucified" was named the "most memorable number", "a totally over-the-top disco anthem on all fronts". He also mentioned the "half-twinky, half-ominous" "Candyman Messiah" and "Say Goodbye to Babylon", which are "taking religious imagery and tweaking it for all it's worth".[1] David A. Keeps from Austin American Statesman felt the album is "audacious in its appropriations". He added; "We Stand United" is "a rote re-creation of Chic's classic disco", "Say Goodbye to Babylon" "blends Theme from Midnight Express into massive hallelujah choruses suitable for Andrew Lloyd Webber", "I Cross the Rubicon" has "a piano bass line [that] thunders beneath cymbals, horn crescendos, whispered male vocals and soul diva whoops", "Walking with a Zombie" "fuses boulevardier accordion with an insistent Latin beat", and "Crucified" is "steeped in romantic and biblical imagery that suggests, in a typically broad camp stroke, that obsessive love is the most religious experience of all."[6]

American magazine Billboard constated that the "campy Swedish trio continues to reverently pilfer through '70s-era disco and '80s-style hi-NRG on this glittery sophomore outing." They highlighted the "bombastic" "Dynasty of Planet Chromada" and the "swin-vibed" "Say Goodbye to Babylon", and concluded, "Melodramatic dance/pop that should make acts like Pet Shop Boys green with envy."[7] NME said, "A great record, proper disco style dance music and packed full of cultural surprises."[3] Joe Brown from The Washington Post wrote that here, "the Army presents its unapologetic, exuberant Eurodisco as if house never happened." He felt that on tracks like "Crucified" and "Dynasty of Planet Chromada", "the Army reveals a lyrical obsession with a millenarian-apocalyptic- sacrilege thang, and La Camilla's kitschy cooing includes imitations of Grace Jones and Debbie Harry."[8]

## Commercial performance

[edit]

In Sweden, Massive Luxury Overdose sold about 70,000 copies, and worldwide the album sold at least 2 million copies.[9]

## Track listing

[edit]

Standard editionNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "We Stand United"|

* Alexander Bard
* Anders Wollbeck

| 3:44
2.| "Crucified"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Jean-Pierre Barda

| 3:32
3.| "Candyman Messiah"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda
* Camilla Henemark

| 3:24
4.| "Obsession"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck

| 3:39
5.| "I Cross the Rubicon"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 4:01
6.| "Supernatural (1991 remix)"|

* Bard
* Magnus Frykberg
* Emil Hellman
* Leif Jacobsson

| 3:54
7.| "Ride the Bullet (1991 remix)"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda
* Henemark
* Hellman

| 3:42
8.| "Say Goodbye to Babylon"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 4:26
9.| "Flying High"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda
* Henemark

| 3:39
10.| "Walking with a Zombie"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 4:09
11.| "My Army of Lovers"|

* Bard
* Tim Norell
* Ola Håkansson
* Anders Hansson
* Peo Tyrèn

| 3:27

1992 reissueNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Dynasty of Planet Chromada"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 3:54
2.| "Crucified"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 3:32
3.| "Candyman Messiah"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda
* Henemark

| 3:24
4.| "Obsession"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck

| 3:39
5.| "We Stand United"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck

| 3:44
6.| "Say Goodbye to Babylon"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 4:26
7.| "Ride the Bullet"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda
* Henemark
* Hellman

| 3:27
8.| "The Particle Song"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 3:26
9.| "Someone Somewhere"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck

| 3:18
10.| "I Cross the Rubicon"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 4:01
11.| "Flying High"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda
* Henemark

| 3:39
12.| "Walking with a Zombie"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda

| 4:09
13.| "Judgement Day"|

* Bard
* Wollbeck
* Barda
* Michaela de la Cour

| 3:58

Note

* Track 7, "Ride the Bullet", not included on US version of the album.

## Personnel

[edit]

* Erika Essen-Möller, Jean-Paul Wall, Katarina Wilczewski, Malin Bäckström, Richard Evenlind – backing vocals
* Per Adebratt – co-producer (tracks 1–6, 8–10), engineer (tracks 1–10), mixing (tracks 1–10)
* Anders Wollbeck – guitar (tracks 1, 5, 7, 10), keyboards (tracks 1–10), producer (tracks 1–10), programming (tracks 1–10)
* André Ferrari – percussion (tracks 1, 4, 5, 10)
* Alexander Bard – producer (tracks 1–10)
* Anders Gustavson – saxophone (tracks 1, 5, 8, 10)

## Charts

[edit]

Chart performance for Massive Luxury Overdose Chart (1991–92)  | Peak
position

|

Australian Albums (ARIA)[10] | 126
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] | 7
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[12] | 28
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] | 13
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[14] | 9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] | 21

## Sales and certifications

[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

Sweden (GLF)[16] | Platinum  | 100,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Massive Luxury Overdose - Army of Lovers - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". Retrieved 23 April 2017.
2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). "The Encyclopedia of Popular Music". Omnibus Press. p. 249.
3. ^ a b "Short Circuit". New Musical Express. 11 January 1992. p. 28. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
4. ^ Sarina; Gogi (1 May 2011). "Crucified – The 20th Anniversary". Army of Lovers.net. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
5. ^ Dagens Nyheter, 8 March 1992, Nils Hansson, "Bards armé på testväg runt landet"
6. ^ A. Keeps, David (20 August 1992). "After 13 years, B-52's still lead the flight to camp". Austin American Statesman. p. 6.
7. ^ "Album Reviews". Billboard 28 March 1992. p. 46.
8. ^ Brown, Joe (17 July 1992). "Moving the Feet, Shaking the Mind". The Washington Post.
9. ^ Tidningen Vi, no 26/27, 1 July 1993, Hans Wigstrand, "Våra välljudande världsstjärnor", pp. 19-20
10. ^ "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing 10 February1992". Bubbling Down Under. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
11. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Army of Lovers – Massive Luxury Overdose" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
12. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Alice Cooper". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 19.
13. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Army of Lovers – Massive Luxury Overdose" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
14. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Army of Lovers – Massive Luxury Overdose". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
15. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Army of Lovers – Massive Luxury Overdose". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
16. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-17.

* v
* t
* e

Army of Lovers

* Alexander Bard
* Jean-Pierre Barda
* Camilla Henemark
* Michaela de la Cour
* Dominika Peczynski

Studio albums|

* Disco Extravaganza
* Massive Luxury Overdose
* The Gods of Earth and Heaven
* Glory, Glamour and Gold

Compilation albums|

* Les Greatest Hits
* Le Grand Docu-Soap
* Big Battle of Egos

Singles|

* "Ride the Bullet"
* "My Army of Lovers"
* "Crucified"
* "Obsession"
* "Candyman Messiah"
* "Israelism"
* "La Plage de Saint Tropez"
* "Give My Life"
* "King Midas"
* "Let the Sunshine In"

Related bands|

* Vacuum
* Alcazar
* Bodies Without Organs
* Nouveau Riche
* Gravitonas

Related pages|

* Discography

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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