Age of Madness

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Age of Madness
Studio album by Jane

Publication
(s)

1978

Label (s) Brain (1978), Repertoire Records (1997)

Format (s)

LP, MC (1978); CD (1997)

Genre (s)

Rock , Krautrock

Title (number)

9

running time

36:03

occupation
  • Guitar / vocals: Klaus Hess
  • E-bass / vocals: Martin Hesse

production

Jane

Studio (s)

Jane Studio

chronology
Between Heaven and Hell
(1977) 		Age of Madness Sign No. 9
(1979)

Age of Madness is the seventh studio album by the German Krautrock band Jane . For the first time a studio LP was recorded with the same line- up as its predecessor. Of the nine pieces, all of which are less than six minutes long, three are instrumental.

History of origin

In September 1977 Jane was awarded the in-house “Golden Brain Label” for a total of 300,000 LPs sold in Germany. The action, intended as a sales promotion , involuntarily strengthened Jane's position in negotiating a follow-up contract. While both sides were scrambling for money, Jane inaugurated the Jane Studio she had just moved into with the production of an album. At the same time, Metronome / Brain put together a best-of-LP in case of failure. In March 1978 a new record deal was signed. The all-inclusive license agreement provided for a guarantee of 600,000 DM for the copyright exploitation rights . Instead of the already pressed compilation Crown , the recently completed work Age of Madness was released at the beginning of April . On April 13, 1978, Jane received the next award, this time an official one, namely a "Silver Record" for Jane Live at Home . Despite the peak of success and the stability of the line-up, Manfred Wieczorke felt uncomfortable, so he left the band in the spring of 1979.

Repertoire released the CD on June 17, 1997, bonus material is not included.

Track list

All compositions: Jane.

Page 1:

  1. Age of Madness - 5:45
  2. Memory Symphony - 4:25
  3. Auroville - 3:40
  4. Love Song - 3:53

Page 2:

  1. Bad Game - 5:14
  2. Get This Power - 2:40
  3. With Her Smile - 4:20
  4. Meadow - 3:27
  5. Age of Madness (Part II) - 2:39

Song info

In the musical description of Jane, three styles were repeatedly cited with prominent representatives. The most common name was Pink Floyd . On Age of Madness , the closeness to Pink Floyd is shown in the symphonic cover, i.e. the two parts of the song Age of Madness at the beginning and at the end of the LP, which is then also titled. In connection with the rock component, which sometimes turns out to be hard rock , naming the Scorpions made sense because of their common hometown of Hanover . Bad Game is the rockiest track on the album and is the closest to this comparison. With Her Smile is more clearly reminiscent of the glam rock group Slade ( Coz I Luv You , 1971, to be precise ). In addition to symphonic-psychedelic and melodic-rock components, the third is the then contemporary and subsumed under the term Krautrock, which sets unmistakable accents in the form of the instrumental piece Meadow , being carried like one or the other passage with the label colleagues of Novalis , sentimental to dream invites what was also known as "atmospheric soft rock".

The single Lovesong ( B-side : Get This Power ), released in May 1978, was touted as "the first Jane single ever", which was just as untrue as the spelling of the title. A release in the 16-minute EP format is also called Age of Madness and actually suggests a focus on the title song, for example a cut long version, but only "Part II" can be heard. Also included are the album versions of Auroville , With Her Smile and Bad Game .

Auroville is in southern India located on the UNESCO -sponsored project city in which the thought is lived a societal humanity.

Artwork

The design of the album cover worried, as with the two albums before, "PPT" which resolved "Peter Peter Team" means. Otherwise, PPT did not make itself felt in the area of ​​cover design. The author of the photos is Peter Peter.

The front and back of the flip cover show different macro shots of the same white jeans , each with a detail of the zipper , but only on the front with an unprofessionally sewn metal fairy figure in the manner of a brooch . The one angled leg of the fairy standing in the air corresponds entirely to the archetype . A winged human figure - probably a representation of Icarus - had already appeared on the inside of the previous studio album Between Heaven and Hell .

The unfolded cover of Age of Madness is inwardly an Art Deco - interior , where photography is mirrored. The mirror axis is the vertical bend in the middle. An Art Nouveau motif can be seen through an open door . This is the recurring advertising poster for the preprint of the novel Rome by Émile Zola in the Paris magazine Le Journal (1894) by the French illustrator Charles Lucas. In contrast to the left picture, this poster is missing in the right mirror image. It was not carefully retouched , but roughly cut out. The knob belonging to the door still shown fell victim to the elimination of the background .

No information was given as to when and where the photo was taken, nor was there any information about its interpretation (for example in connection with the album title). Since it was a quick shot due to the short-term extension of the contract with the record company, which was waiting for supplies , the change in the song sequence could no longer be taken into account on the back cover. At least the information on the labels on pages 1 and 2 is correct. The later book club license edition carries the corrected order (and of course the much later CD re-release ).

reception

Age of Madness is considered to be the last "good" Jane album. Some believe that the following decline is already recognizable. The German rock lexicon says that Age of Madness “misses the dynamism of their early works”. Deliberately exaggerated, Laabs Kowalski writes in his satirical all-round flip 50 years of Pop & Rock : "One of the real minus talents was Jane above all others, as pain fanatics like to listen to on their LP Age Of Madness ." The Internet platform Allmusic awarded 2 out of 5 possible stars.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ mj. [Music Joker]: Gold for Jane . In: Musik Joker. No. 20/77 (from September 19 to October 2), p. 7.
  2. ^ A b Hermann Haring: Rock from Germany West. From the Rattles to Nena: Two decades of home sound. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag , Reinbek bei Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-499-17697-1 , p. 62.
  3. ^ A b c d Günter Ehnert: Rock in Germany. Lexicon of German rock groups and performers. Taurus Press, Hamburg 1979, ISBN 3-9800079-6-0 , p. 122.
  4. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Wilholm: German Rock Lexicon. Lexikon Imprint Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-89602-212-1 , p. 147.
  5. ↑ Lukas Murnau: Jane… . In: Fachblatt Musikmagazin . 6/1978, p. 29.
  6. ↑ Online music database ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / omdb.info
  7. ↑ Sounds and Record World magazines . Quoted in: Günter Ehnert: Rock in Germany. Lexicon of German rock groups and performers. Taurus Press, Hamburg 1979, ISBN 3-9800079-6-0 , pp. 119 and 121.
  8. ^ Biography of Matthias Mineur
  9. ↑ Christian Kneisel: Where the herb grows. Rock in the Federal Republic . In: Tibor Kneif (ed.), Rock in the 70s. Jazz rock, hard rock, folk rock and new wave. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1980, ISBN 3-499-17385-9 , p. 210.
  10. ↑ Julian Cope: KrautRockSampler. One Heads Guide to the Great Cosmic Music. Werner Pieper's MedienXperimente, Der Grüne Zweig 186, Löhrbach 1996, ISBN 3-925817-86-7 , p. 25.
  11. ^ A b Christian Graf: Rock Lexicon Germany. The German music scene in more than 700 keywords . Lexikon Imprint Verlag, revised edition, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89602-273-3 , p. 177.
  12. ^ Günter Ehnert: Rock in Germany. Lexicon of German rock groups and performers. Taurus Press, Hamburg 1979, ISBN 3-9800079-6-0 , p. 121.
  13. ^ Dietrich zur Nedden: Worst of first concerts. Jane, Scorpions, The Vibrators in Hannover (1976ff.) . In: Frank Schäfer (Ed.), The Boys are Back in Town. My first rock concert - a reader. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-342-X , p. 92.
  14. ↑ Henning Dedekind: Krautrock. Underground, LSD and Cosmic Couriers. Hannibal, Höfen 2008, ISBN 978-3-85445-276-8 , p. 272.
  15. ^ Joachim Deicke, Burghard Rausch: Stations. The lifestyles of the rock era. Politics, fashions, trends, cults, stars, facts, tendencies, dates . Ullstein Verlag , Ullstein Book No. 36541, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-548-36541-8 , p. 123.
  16. ↑ Ulli Engelbrecht, Jürgen Boebers: Lights off - spot on! Spotlights on the music of the 70s . Klartext Verlag, Essen 1995, ISBN 3-88474-275-2 , p. 82. (The quote is based on Novalis.)
  17. ↑ Promotion supplement Metronome Product-Facts. Hamburg, May 1978.
  18. ↑ Fan forums and biographies on the Internet, for example Werner Nadolny ( Jane Story - Part 5 ( Memento from March 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )).
  19. ↑ Laabs Kowalski: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. 50 years of pop & rock. Tacitus Verlag, Kreuzlingen / Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-03744-000-7 , p. 52.
  20. ↑ Age of Madness at Allmusic (English)