Edin-Adahl - X-Factor

By 1984 I wasn't buying a lot of Christian music. Oh, there were exceptions but for the most part I'd grown pretty weary of shitty sounding music wrapped around the same time tired heavy handed lyrics within the structures of an inferior pop song. I'm painting with a wide brush here and I'm pretty much throwing the baby out with the bath water, but for every decent "Christian" record there was a mountain of trash that was supposed to be appreciated because it was a ministry, not an art.

Now, to prove my point I'll enter into evidence those first three North American releases from Jerusalem. From 1980 through to 1982 I bought three albums of rather tired hard rock that seemed to have lyrics translated into English from Swedish using a travel dictionary. I'll admit I look back rather fondly on these albums, but it's not because of the music. The cover of the first album was a homage to Boston, the second featured a Les Paul leaning against a smoking Fender amp, and the third was a lone rider on horse back against a black back drop with bolts of lightning. Musically the band was a plodding mess for the most part, with Ulf Christiansson singing in heavily accented English. You can't make this stuff up, and we ate it up, because there was no other alternative at the time.

Now, I've heard of Edin-Adahl, but I have no idea how, why, or when, as I never had any of their stuff. I don't remember hearing them. I suppose I saw an album on a rack at some point. I recognized the label Refuge because they released Daniel Amos' Vox Humana (also in '84, now that is a great album and one I need to pull out at some point). Refuge seemed to specialize in more alternative rock which was a good thing back then. Like I said, pickings were slim.

A glance at the back cover and I learned that Edin-Adahl, like Jerusalem was from Sweden. Listening to Edin-Adahl was an odd experience. I keep trying to imagine how 21 year old me would have received this one, versus how old man me is processing it for the first time. The album starts out pretty strong with the new wave infused title track "X-Factor" but as the song went on it became pretty obvious that English was not the band's strong suit and the Swedish accent slipped through. Lyrically many of the songs are just a step above gibberish, and I'm guessing the guys worked really hard on them too. It gave me a better appreciation for ABBA's music.

Which just goes to show I was lying through my teeth when I'd tell my parents "I don't really listen to the lyrics" when trying to defend whatever band was offending their ears on the radio. Lyrics matter, but musicality of the lyrics matters more. It doesn't have to make sense so long as it sounds good, and for better or worse if you didn't listen to the lyrics some of the songs on X-Factor sounded pretty good. 

With the passage of time, it's hard to remember that this was once pretty cutting edge, especially within the limited and out of step Christian market. For me to sit and bitch about the production and songs sounding like they were made in 1984 I suspect was exactly what the band was striving for. I can actually see my younger self eating this up like ear candy. There was a uniformity to the songs and while there really isn't a holy cow moment, there are no duds or misfires.

There are no credits on the album other than songwriting, but from what little I can find out there, this band was made up of two sets of brothers Bertil and Lasse Edin and Simon and Frank Adahl - hence, Edin-Adahl. As to the horns on the album they were the real deal, which is kind of cool considering in '84 most horns were a cheesy sample.

In 1990 the band would win Melodifestivalen in Sweden, which was the entry point to qualify for the annual Eurovision Song contest, and then in 1991 they would place second. So the guys had some credibility at home.

This was a nice little slice of '80s AOR, and while the accents and poor lyrics are irritating, the music was pretty decent. It sounds as generic AF now, but there was a time this felt like the future. I suppose this is like trying to decide whether you want Sno Balls or Twinkies after the zombie apocalypse. X-Factor is like a collection of Sno Balls.