release date: Oct. 1983
format: cd (1998 reissue)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,68]
producer: Per Chr. Frost, Malurt
label: CMC Records - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: 1. "På boulevarden" - 2. "Under uret" - 4. "Luxusliner" - 8. "Flugten til Amerika"
4th and initially final album by Malurt before the band's disbandment in '84, originally released on Medley Records, following 1½ years after Black-out (Apr. 1982).
The line-up remains the same and Michael Falch and Malurt are as usual credited all songs and music respectively. Producer Per Chr. Frost (guitarist in Gnags) is credited additional guitar, just as Nils Henriksen contributed in that role on the predecessor.
Stylistically, the album presents the band with a mainstream-seeking sound that resembles that found on the '82 album only with a new slight softer tone, which in a way puts the band closer to the sound of national acts like Gnags and C.V. Jørgensen with loans and inspiration from Springsteen but also from Dire Straits.
I purchased the vinyl album when it was released, but only found it a clear further step down compared to their previous release and I ended up reselling my copy less than a decade later together with three solo albums by Michael Falch. On this, the band seems to have lost more than just vitality, as they come out as a band, who doesn't know how to add new inputs to their music and without much will to stand out. Falch appears stuck as a songwriter repeating the same stories over and over again, and Malurt clings on to its status as a Danish version of Springsteen & The E-Street Band only without the inspiration to take it any further than just that, and some songs on this most evidently reveal a natural recycling of some of their older songs.
Tour de Force had been delayed as members of the band were preoccupied playing in other projects and lead vocalist Falch had been engaged as actor in his first feature film "Isfugle" (1983) by Søren Kragh-Jakobsen. Initially, the album came out as Malurt's final studio album after which they released the 1984 live album Kys mig før jeg bliver Cool. Falch then released his self-titled solo debut in Mar. '85 while the other band members turned to other acts. However, the band had a reputation as a great live band and this led to a reformation for Roskilde Festival in 1990 with Peter Viskinde replacing Christian Arendt as lead guitarist, and with that near original line-up they followed up with a fifth studio album Spøgelser in Mar. 1992. They continued as a much asked for live act and released their second live album Uden filter (1992) and then released their so far final and sixth studio album Ghetto in 1993. From '94 and onwards the band has been 'parked' on an indefinite hiatus while Falch has continued as a solo artist.
Of the band's original four studio albums, Tour de Force stands as their least favourable release.
Not recommended.
