Casablanca (album)
| Casablanca Casablanca ... or good reasons |
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| City studio album | ||||
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Publication |
1987 |
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| Label (s) | Amiga , pool | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, MC, CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
35:59 |
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Klaus Peter Albrecht / Tom Cunningham |
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Casablanca is the sixth album by the Berlin group City . The concept album was published in 1987 by the GDR record label Amiga and is considered a milestone in GDR rock history because of its revealing lyrics. In the Federal Republic of Germany it was published in the same year as Casablanca ... or good reasons .
occupation
City recorded the album with singer Toni Krahl , guitarist Fritz Puppel , drummer and percussionist Klaus Selmke as well as keyboardist and background singer Manfred Hennig. The guest at Pfefferminzhimmel was Susanne, Krahl's first daughter.
The compositions come almost exclusively from City. Casablanca and Gute Reasons were composed by City and Henry Hübchen , a famous actor . As a songwriter who are pseudonyms Kuno Kleinfelt and Titti flannel indicated (the Berlin author pair Alfred Roesler & Scarlett Kleint) for Cinema Hall and example Susann Friedrich P. Hayn (a corruption of Berlin's Friedrichshain ) and Titti flannel and night in my dreams Eckhard Bodice and city. The arrangements are from City. Klaus Peter Albrecht and the American musician Tom Cunningham, then living in West Berlin, were responsible as producers .
content
The plays on Casablanca are about the world of the cinema and the memories of childhood and youth associated with it. While the title song refers to a distant land, the other songs deal with everyday life in East Berlin and the GDR. In addition to Casablanca , film titles such as Beyond Eden and The Cranes Draw are mentioned. The music is determined by Krahl's rough, expressive voice as well as the use of electronic musical instruments and - with some reservations - the electric guitar . The drums are often in the background; City didn't have a bass player back then. Almost all songs are written in major keys and are mid-tempo numbers, some of which contain elements of rock 'n' roll .
Cinema Hall tells of childhood memories of the Berlin cinemas during the Second World War. The title track is the only minor title . It alludes to the key scene of the film of the same name and at the beginning uses original recordings from the film As Time Goes By. In the rather slow song Night in My Dreams , the singer tells of his dreams in which he is not restricted. While many noises determine his life during the day, he perceives dreams as silence. Peppermint sky depicts the existence of a cinema employee. She looks Gone with the Wind and dreams of a life under palm trees. The stanzas are performed as spoken chants . The last refrain is repeated several times. Susanne Krahl also sings along.
Noch 'n Bier is a rock' n 'roll song that describes the life of the average person, for whom consumption is the most important thing. Again and again a beer is drunk on it, at the end even a grain . Current pop music is derided as "Yup-Dep music". The song Susann , for example, describes life in East Berlin after the war, when trips to the “Wanzenkino” on the outskirts of West Berlin were still possible. The singer describes the current view of West Berlin, to which the refrain “In Berlin” is also related. The meetings of the unconventional youth at East Berlin's Dönhoffplatz - which had lost its name in 1975 - are mentioned, where a love lasted from spring to August - this period refers to the Prague spring 1968. Finally, the prosperity that followed is mentioned and others Events alluded to, including the birth of Susann.
In Wall to Wall , Toni Krahl sings about himself and an obviously female person who lives in another apartment just 20 centimeters away from him. He hears them, but the noises “come like from another country”. To get to know them, they would have to meet “in another place”. The song apparently alludes to the divided city of Berlin. The reference to Berlin is named in Halb und Halb . Many things are described as half. The ending is introduced by an electric guitar solo and reads: “In half the country and the cut up city, halfway satisfied with what you have. Half and half. ”Finally, the sparingly orchestrated song Gute Grund describes a bourgeois bourgeois life. However, it should be noted that there is a wooden fence with a loose board at the marshalling yard.
Cover
The record cover corresponds to the theme of the album. You can see a blind in black and white and on the right a piece of a wall with a colorful but torn picture of a coast with palm trees hanging on it. The City logo can also be seen at the top left, as well as the 1940s-style lettering "Casablanca". Below are the titles and lengths of the A-side pieces. The same blind can be seen from the outside on the back. One hand is put through the blind. On the right are information such as price, composer, lyricist, cast, producer and the Amiga imprint. The logo and lettering as well as the title of the B-side and their lengths are arranged as on the front. The back is upside down in relation to the front.
The inner sleeve contains - unusual for an Amiga LP - all the texts on one side and a black and white photo of the band on the other.
The edition of the record company Teldec shows on the cover on the left a clothes rack with a trench coat and hat, which are supposed to remind of Humphrey Bogart . Palm branches protrude into the picture from the top right. At the bottom right is a small movie poster with a photo that looks like Ingrid Bergman . The lettering contains the band and album names like a scrolling text, the background is gray.
history
The texts were approved by René Büttner, who was responsible for the Amiga, even though they addressed taboo subjects in the GDR. On the radio of the GDR , however, only the titles on the first page were allowed to be played, the other titles were not even allowed to be played.
Toni Krahl was not allowed to sing the title Halb und Halb at an FDJ festival in the presence of the then Deputy State Council Chairman Egon Krenz . Instead, he read the text out loud during the concert without musical accompaniment, so that its effect increased. Krahl also recited the text in subsequent concerts.
In 1987 the album was released in the Federal Republic of Germany as Casablanca ... or good reasons as well as the single Casablanca / Cinema Hall by Pool, a Teldec brand . In 1992 the album was released on CD by Ariola .
Reviews
For Wolfgang Martin, New Life Casablanca was the “No. 1 of the month ". For him, the songs (except for Casablanca ) play “in a reality and present that now has 26 years of history” - alluding to the construction of the Wall in 1961. For him, Casablanca is “the best I've heard of German rock in a long time ".
In the next issue of the same journal, Dr. Lothar Dungs the album. He praised the atmosphere created in the cinema world and identified “longing” as the “cornerstone of the texts”. Some lyrics are "very serious, ironically biting and also a bit bitter". He also praised the technical production quality and stated that "most modern technical equipment" had been used to produce the album.
“The LP Casablanca can without a doubt be seen as the highlight of the band's history . Prepared in 1986 and published in 1987, City present themselves in top form. "
Placements and honors
In the GDR annual hit parade in 1987, the song Casablanca was ranked first, peppermint sky ranked 21st in 1988, wall to wall ranked 13th.
In 1987 Casablanca was "LP of the year" in the GDR. In March 1988 City received the " Golden Amiga " for the album .
Track List (LP)
A side
- Cinema Hall (4:14)
- Casablanca (4:29)
- At night in my dreams (4:23)
- Peppermint sky (4:41)
B side
- Another beer (3:35)
- e.g. Susann (5:03)
- Wall to wall (3:23)
- Half and Half (3:02)
- Good reasons (3:17)
Web links
- Review ( memento of August 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) in Neues Leben 5/1987
- Review ( memento of August 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) in Neues Leben 6/1987
Individual evidence
- ↑ Götz Hintze: Rock Lexicon of the GDR. 2nd Edition. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-303-9 , p. 67
- ↑ Presentation of the album at musik-sammler.de , accessed on September 18, 2011
- ^ Bernd Lindner: GDR Rock & Pop. Komet, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-89836-715-8 , p. 189.
- ↑ Christian Hentschel : You forgot the color film and other Ostrock stories. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-317-9 , p. 178
- ^ All quotations from: Review ( Memento of August 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) in Neues Leben 5/1987, accessed on September 17, 2011
- ^ All quotations from: Review ( Memento from August 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) in Neues Leben 6/1987, accessed on September 17, 2011
- ^ Biography Toni Krahl , accessed on September 20, 2011