My Heart of Stone

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	My Heart of Stone

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Singles
	My world

chronology
My Heart of Stone
Studio album by Peter Heppner
Publication ; (s)	May 18, 2012
admission	2011/2012
Label (s)	Polydor
Format (s)	CD, digital
Genre (s)	Electro-pop , synth-pop
Title (number)	17 (+ bonus tracks)
running time	51:05 (+ bonus tracks)
occupation	Peter Heppner: Singing; Boris Matchin: cello; Lothar Manteuffel : Keyboard; Stefan Pintev: viola, violin; Rodrigo Reichel: viola, violin; Dirk Riegner : Keyboard;
production	Thommy Hein; Lothar Manteuffel; Dirk Riegner;
Studio (s)	Thommy Hein recording studio, Berlin

My Heart of Stone ( English for "My Heart of Stone"), the second studio album of the German synth pop - singer Peter Heppner .

Creation and artwork

All the songs on the album were written and composed by Heppner himself, with Heppner only being responsible for the vocal composition of the compositions. With one exception, all compositions were created in collaboration with the German composers Dirk Riegner and Lothar Manteuffel . On the previous solo version , Heppner wrote two songs with Riegner and one song with Manteuffel. Only the song Cry Tonight does not come from the collaboration of the trio, this was composed by Heppner together with the German music producer Thommy Hein . My Heart of Stone was produced and programmed by Hein, Manteuffel and Riegner. Mastering was done by Master & Servant in Hamburg , under the direction of Tom Meyer. The recordings were made in the Berlin Thommy Hein recording studios from 2011 to 2012. My Heart of Stone was published under the music label Polydor and the music publishers EMI Publishing , the Hanseatic MV and Manuscript and distributed by Universal Music Publishing .

On the cover of the album - next to the artist name and album title - a red heart made of stone can be seen against a black background. The back shows this, from the top of which the list of titles snakes out and circles the heart. Inside there is a 22-page booklet with song texts, the contributors and Heppner's pictures. It also includes some cartoons from the My World music video . As often in the past, the artwork is again by Ulrike Rank.

Publication and promotion

The first publication of My Heart of Stone took place on May 18, 2012 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The album consists of 16 new studio recordings as well as a new edition and is available as CD and download. In addition to the regular edition, a limited “Deluxe Edition” of the album was released at the same time. This includes a bonus CD with a selection of guest contributions that Heppner made in the course of his career.

To promote the album, there was a live performance on the Harald Schmidt Show on April 17, 2012; Here Heppner presented a piano version of Meine Welt together with Riegner . On September 1, 2012, Heppner had an appearance on Krömer - Late Night Show in the First , where he acted as a witness for the first meeting between Adel Tawil and his "idol" Mohammed Mounir . In addition, Meine Welt accompanied a commercial for the reality soap opera Berlin - Tag & Nacht on RTL II , in which the actress Pia Tillmann (in her role as "Meike") could be seen. In order to promote the album further, Heppner went on the My Heart of Stone tour from November 2012 to April 2013 , where he played 21 concerts in three countries.

background information

Heppner himself described the album as "extroverted". While he was more "introverted" with his predecessor solo and more explored his inner workings, with this record he also assumed he was, but looked a bit outward. Heppner himself is of the opinion that this can be translated as introversion and extraversion .

The title My Heart of Stone occurred to Heppner during production and was initially one of many possibilities. By chance, he finally decided on the title in question. In his collaboration with Ulrike Rank, he wanted her to do a cover that also featured something from the music video for Meine Welt . He was not satisfied with the first suggestions, so Rank made a few more suggestions that included the final cover. It was a tremendous coincidence that she had a heart of stone on a proposal while he was considering naming the album that. Then he thought: "If there are such coincidences, I shouldn't stand in between." For him, the whole production was "a little" under the motto "My Heart of Stone". He also understood that as a question to see: “How much is my heart made of stone? How much have I hardened over time? ”Heppner has been dealing with very serious issues for almost 30 years. Topics where many say they harden your heart, harden you or something like that. He thought it was “very good” to observe his work from this point of view. He noticed that his heart - "thank God" - is not so made of stone.

content

All lyrics on the album are written in German or English and come from Peter Heppner. Heppner made the compositions together with Lothar Manteuffel and Dirk Riegner, only the composition for Cry Tonight comes from the collaboration with Thommy Hein. Musically, the songs move in the realm of electro and synth pop . The album consists of 16 newly recorded tracks and a cover version of Meine Welt . The cover version is a "children's version" of the song, in which the main vocals come from the children Carla and Jule, Heppner can only be heard in the background with Katrin Sommer. In the original version, the main vocals are by Heppner and the two children can be heard in the background with Sommer. The songs Prologue , Pénombre Islandaise , D'antan , Au large and Épilogue are purely instrumental pieces between the vocal pieces. Heppner already used this principle with his former band Wolfsheim on the album Dreaming Apes with five instrumentals between the vocal pieces . In a previously published promotional sound carrier for My Heart of Stone , the composition Pénombre Islandaise appeared under the title Iceland Twilight .

In the song Deserve to Be Alone Heppner was supported by the American singer Kim Sanders . The song was actually intended for Sanders and should be Hepnner's first work to be interpreted by another artist. Sanders also sang the song in a solo version, ultimately the two decided to publish the song as a duet. In addition to the main vocals by Heppner, the voice of Hein can be heard in the background of Letter from America . Most of the instruments were recorded by Hein, Manteuffel and Riegner. Boris Matchin on cello and Stefan Pintev and Rodrigo Reichel on viola and violin were also employed as additional instrumentalists .

Track list
#	title	Author (s)	Producer (s)	length
1	Prologue (Instr.)	Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner, Lothar Manteuffel	Thommy Hein, Dirk Riegner, Lothar Manteuffel	0:37
2	Give Us What We Need (Truth is Not the Key)			3:38
3	My world			3:24
4th	Deserve to Be Alone (feat.Kim Sanders )			3:19
5	Penombre Islandaise (Instr.)			1:25
6th	God Smoked			3:46
7th	Whenever I Miss You			4:46
8th	D'antan (Instr.)			2:06
9	I won't give up			3:52
10	A love divine			4:06
11	Letter from Africa			3:58
12	Au large (Intr.)			0:45
13	Not that far yet			4:08
14th	Cry Tonight	Thommy Hein, Peter Heppner		3:22
15th	Epilogue (intr.)	Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner, Lothar Manteuffel		1:07
16	All right! (Song for competitions)			3:17
17th	My World (Kids Edit)			3:26
	CD 2 (Deluxe Edition)
1	Reach Out for the Stars (with Girls Under Glass )	Axel Ermes, Hauke Harms, Conny Mollison, Volker Zacharias	Axel Ermes, Hauke Harms, Volker Zacharias	5:28
2	Do you hear my calling (Version 2005) (with Umbra et Imago )	Lutz Demmler, Mozart	Lutz Demmler	5:34
3	The flood (with Witt )	Peter Heppner, Joachim Witt	Jose Alvarez-Brill, Joachim Witt	4:12
4th	Glass garden (with Goethe's heirs )	Oswald Henke, Peter Heppner, Jürgen Jansen, Mindy Kumbalek	Jürgen Jansen	3:58
5	We are we (with Paul van Dyk )	Peter Heppner, Paul van Dyk	Paul van Dyk	3:46
6th	Made of gold (with Milù & Kim Sanders )	Anke Hachfeld, Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner	Dirk Riegner, Milù	3:38
7th	Maybe? (with Jose Alvarez-Brill )	Jose Alvarez-Brill, Peter Heppner, Henning Verlage	Jose Alvarez-Brill	3:53
8th	Gone (with Moonrise )	Tom Albrecht, Jose Alvarez-Brill, Dior Da Silva, Peter Heppner, Marc Kaschke	Thommy Hein	3:39
9	House of the three suns (with Nena )	Jörn Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, Carlo Karges	Peter Heppner, Lothar Manteuffel, Dirk Riegner	3:44
10	Exactly the opposite (with Marianne Rosenberg )	Marianne Rosenberg, Ken Taylor	Dirk Riegner, Marianne Rosenberg	4:44
11	All right! (Song for competitions)	Peter Heppner, Dirk Riegner, Lothar Manteuffel	Thommy Hein, Dirk Riegner, Lothar Manteuffel	3:17

Single releases

Just one month before the release of My Heart of Stone appeared with God Smoked the first single from the album on 11 April 2012. In God Smoked is a free track, for free download from a "I like" on Facebook was made available. The piece was first released as part of the soundtrack for GOD SMOKED - A Mindtrip with Howard Marks in 2011. A promotional sound carrier for I Won't Give Up was also released in 2012.

The song Meine Welt was released on May 4, 2012 as the only official single from the album . The single was released as a digital and physical 2-track single and includes the song Give Us What We Need (Truth Is Not the Key) as the B-side . In addition to the regular version of Meine Welt , a piano version of the piece was also available as a single download. The single made it to the chart in Germany and reached its highest rating in four chart weeks at position 44.

Contributors

Standard Edition

Album production

Carla & Jule: vocals (song 17) , background vocals (song 3)
Thommy Hein : background vocals (song 11) , instrumentation (songs: 1-17) , composer (song 14) , music producer (songs: 1-17) , programming (songs: 1-17)
Peter Heppner : vocals (songs: 2-4, 6-7, 9-11, 13-14, 16-17) , composer (songs: 1-17) , songwriter (songs: 2-4, 6-7, 9 -11, 13-14, 16-17)
Lothar Manteuffel : instrumentalization (songs: 1-17) , composer (songs: 1-13, 15-17) , music producer (songs: 1-17) , programming (songs: 1-17)
Howard Marks : vocals (song 6)
Boris Matchin: Cello (songs: 1-17)
Tom Meyer: Mastering (songs: 1-17)
Stefan Pintev: viola (songs: 1-17) , violin (songs: 1-17)
Ulrike Rank: Artwork (booklet and cover)
Rodrigo Reichel: viola (songs: 1-17) , violin (songs: 1-17)
Dirk Riegner : instrumentalization (songs: 1-17) , composer (songs: 1-13, 15-17) , music producer (songs: 1-17) , piano (songs: 1-17) , programming (songs: 1-17 )
Kim Sanders : vocals (song 4)
Katrin Sommer: background vocals (songs: 3, 17)

Companies

EMI Publishing : Publisher
Hanseatic MV: Publisher
Manuscript: Publisher
Master & Servant: Mastering
Thommy Hein Tonstudios: recording studio
Polydor : music label
Universal Music Publishing : Distribution

Deluxe Edition (CD 2)

The following list contains an excerpt from the contributors to the Deluxe Edition of the album. Since this is a compilation, the information is limited to the authors (music and text), performers (lead vocals) and producers.

Tom Albrecht : composer (song 8)
Jose Alvarez-Brill : composer (song 7-8) , music producer (song 3, 7)
Dior Da Silva : composer (song 8)
Lutz Demmler : composer (song 2) , music producer (song 2)
Axel Ermes : songwriter (song 1) , music producer (song 1)
Jörn Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen : composer (song 9)
Anke Hachfeld ( Milù ): vocals (song 6) , composer (song 6) , songwriter (song 6) , music producer (song 6)
Hauke Harms : composer (song 1) , music producer (song 1)
Thommy Hein : music producer (song 8, 11)
Oswald Henke : vocals (song 4) , songwriter (song 4)
Peter Heppner : vocals (songs: 1-11) , composer (song 3, 5, 8, 11) , songwriter (song 3-8, 11) , music producer (song 9)
Jürgen Jansen : composer (song 4) , music producer (song 4)
Carlo Karges : Lyricist (Song 9)
Marc Kaschke : composer (song 8)
Mindy Kumbalek : Composer (Song 4)
Lothar Manteuffel : composer (song 11) , music producer (song 9, 11)
Conny Mollison: composer (song 1)
Peter Manuel Munz : vocals (song 2) , composer (song 2) , songwriter (song 2)
Nena : vocals (song 9)
Timo Peter : vocals (song 8)
Dirk Riegner : composer (song 6, 11) , music producer (song 6, 9-11)
Marianne Rosenberg : vocals (song 10) , composer (song 10) , lyricist (song 10) , music producer (song 10)
Kim Sanders : vocals (song 6)
Ken Taylor : Composer (Song 10)
Paul van Dyk : composer (song 5) , songwriter (song 5) , music producer (song 5)
Henning Verlage : Composer (Song 7)
Joachim Witt : vocals (song 3) , composer (song 3) , songwriter (song 3) , music producer (song 3)
Volker Zacharias : vocals (song 1) , composer (song 1) , music producer (song 1)

reception

Reviews

The German-language online magazine laut.de rated the album with three out of five stars. Kai Butterweck described the album as "lively" its predecessor. But that is less due to "elementary tonal changes", but rather to an almost constant positive mood that runs through the album. Even the most thoughtful moments in songs like Meine Welt , Whenever I Miss You or Not So Far left the "hearts of warriors and hope" pounding rather than providing a platform for deeply sad feelings. Heppner's “delicately-tempered” and always “slightly bitter-sounding organ ” seduce you as “ever” and take the listener with beautiful regularity into “air bubble realms”, far away from “stress and hectic everyday life”. It is "leisurely". It would rarely be “powerful and danceable”. Most likely on pieces like Give Us What We Need , God Smoked or Letter from Africa , when “airy, light cheerfulness” spreads and “tripping rhythms” when “experienced synths ask for the dance floor”. But mood is not everything. Even if both the "brisk" and the "shallower effusions" tend to brighten up everyday life in terms of feeling, the firmament darkens with increasing duration in terms of the chosen instrumentation. This is sometimes "so old-fashioned and outdated" that one has to ask oneself whether Heppner would have completely forgotten, despite all the mood work, that we are now in 2012 and will not be enjoying the new millennium in six or seven years. “ Beats from the retort, synth pads without volume and structural monotony” left a “bland aftertaste” as soon as you deal with the musical foundation. A “standard sound carpet” weaves itself free of “rough edges” on the next, so that when Heppner's singing partner Sanders comes in on Deserve to Be Alone or the surprisingly interspersed guitar elements on D'antan, one is almost shocked the innovations in the otherwise "stuck sound" of the album. With "a bit" more sense of the "zeitgeist" and a "pinch" more courage in setting My Heart of Stone could have been a great work. The unique emotional worlds on Heppner's second work are primarily "intoxicated". Fortunately, there are enough of these.

Andreas Schulz from musikreviews.de awarded 13 out of 15 points for My Heart of Stone . The album is reminiscent of Wolfsheim times, that becomes "clear" after the intro. The "lyrically pessimistic" Give Us What We Need (Truth Is Not the Key) is nothing else and indicates the direction in which the album is basically going. Heppner keeps looking to the left and right, integrating guitars (like in the "rocky / combative" I Won't Give Up ) or even allowing it to be more experimental in God Smoked , without sacrificing catchiness. With Letter from Africa he exaggerates it a bit. Schulz described my world as a beautiful title because he was so naive. The children's version of the song is already "too much frosting", but still consistent in itself. The second bonus track has the strange title Alles Klar! (Song for competitions) and sounds like Heppner has been commissioned to write a sports anthem for the upcoming European Football Championship . You shouldn't be surprised if your voice would soon be heard more often on ARD and ZDF . Deserve to Be Alone lives from its "bitter text" and the "very melancholy mood". Whenever I Miss You , on the other hand, is great “drama pop”. Who would have just a separation behind the "sparsely instrumented" should, "sad" unless Still "skipping" ( Engl. , Skip ') or ever ready hold a box of tissues. Schulz described A Love Divine as "introverted", the instrumentals as "atmospheric". Schulz has rarely heard a voice that has such a relaxing, calming and beneficial effect on him. It goes so far that any "objectivity" leaves him when it comes to judging his music. Perhaps My Heart of Stone is here and there, despite the return to its own musical history, a little too much groomed to mainstream - which doesn't matter to Schulz.

The German-language e-zine Plattentests.de rated My Heart of Stone with seven out of ten points. Oliver Ding from the online editorial team is of the opinion that My Heart of Stone is no more an artistic liberation than it was solo . The fact that producer Thommy Hein already had Bushido , Kool Savas and Corvus Corax and in front of the regulators is the footnote that can be expected to be neglected. By Dave Gahan nobody expect from Depeche Mode to solve. So meet Heppner's “warm”, but at times “resigned vocals” with the usual “undercooled electronics”. That works splendidly with Give Us What We Need (Truth Is Not the Key) or God Smoked, which is based on "vintage" Violator "sounds, " as usual. Between the “flickering” ballads like Deserve to Be Alone or the “dejected” one, Heppner didn't build in “handcrafted” instrumental pieces. Most of them are "pretty", which is mainly due to the fact that they are over before they can be annoying. It is Heppner's "nasal baritone " who delivers the necessary height of creation even when he reads out the Hamburg telephone book. So from the “pleasantly tingling” Whenever I Miss You becomes “emphatic pop”, Letters from Africa “flashes playful” in the minor key and “mopst” exactly the guitar sound with which Coldplay stole for talk at Kraftwerk . The "driving" I Won't Give Up rocks the house for a certain amount of rock that doesn't have too many guitars. "Of course", Heppner is vulnerable. For example, when he paints naive pictures in the play Meine Welt and tells of a world made out of children's eyes. But before the mockery could become spiteful, he opposed a defiant "And I can still dream!" And garnishes the excellent synthetic with lots of "Dadadamms". That's because pop works through the ear and not through the brain. Compared to its predecessor, My Heart of Stone turns out to be more accessible because Heppner renounces the very grand gestures and the even greater pathos . The proportion of black kohl and tight leather corsets would continue to decline at Heppner's concerts. The “gentlemen” could then quarrel with fate at Unheilig .

Charts and chart placements

My Heart of Stone reached position six in the album charts in Germany and was able to stay in the top 10 for one week and five weeks in the charts. In Austria the album reached position 47 in one chart week and position 64 in Switzerland in one chart week. For Heppner this is the second chart success as a solo artist in Germany and the first in Austria and Switzerland. In Germany it is also his second top 10 success .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c repertoire search. online.gema.de, accessed on December 9, 2017 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g CD booklet: My Heart of Stone (Deluxe Edition) , Peter Heppner, May 18, 2012.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. discogs.com, accessed December 10, 2017 .
↑ Peter Heppner live with Meine Welt. ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) sat1.de, April 17, 2012, accessed on May 3, 2019.
^ Krömer - Late Night Show. fernsehserien.de, accessed December 10, 2017 .
↑ Berlin Day & Night Trailer. rtl2.de, accessed on September 19, 2015 .
↑ A heart made of stone? In conversation with Peter Heppner. ( Memento from December 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) alternativmusik.de, May 21, 2012, accessed on May 3, 2019.
^ Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone (Promo). discogs.com, accessed December 10, 2017 .
↑ Peter Heppner - My world. officialcharts.de, accessed on December 9, 2017 .
↑ Peter Heppner - I Won't Give Up - Promo-Single-CD, 2012. musik-sammler.de, accessed on December 26, 2017 .
↑ Atmospheric album with an old-fashioned sound. laut.de, accessed on December 10, 2017 .
^ Peter Heppner: My Heart of Stone (Review). musikreviews.de, accessed on December 10, 2017 .
↑ From the Wolf. plattentests.de, accessed on December 10, 2017 .
^ Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. officialcharts.de, accessed on December 9, 2017 .
^ Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. austriancharts.at, accessed on December 9, 2017 .
^ Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. hitparade.ch, accessed on December 9, 2017 .

[gema-1] repertoire search. online.gema.de, accessed on December 9, 2017 .

[Begleitheft-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g CD booklet: My Heart of Stone (Deluxe Edition) , Peter Heppner, May 18, 2012.

[discogs-3] Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. discogs.com, accessed December 10, 2017 .

[4] Peter Heppner live with Meine Welt. ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) sat1.de, April 17, 2012, accessed on May 3, 2019.

[5] Krömer - Late Night Show. fernsehserien.de, accessed December 10, 2017 .

[6] Berlin Day & Night Trailer. rtl2.de, accessed on September 19, 2015 .

[7] A heart made of stone? In conversation with Peter Heppner. ( Memento from December 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) alternativmusik.de, May 21, 2012, accessed on May 3, 2019.

[8] Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone (Promo). discogs.com, accessed December 10, 2017 .

[9] Peter Heppner - My world. officialcharts.de, accessed on December 9, 2017 .

[10] Peter Heppner - I Won't Give Up - Promo-Single-CD, 2012. musik-sammler.de, accessed on December 26, 2017 .

[11] Atmospheric album with an old-fashioned sound. laut.de, accessed on December 10, 2017 .

[12] Peter Heppner: My Heart of Stone (Review). musikreviews.de, accessed on December 10, 2017 .

[13] From the Wolf. plattentests.de, accessed on December 10, 2017 .

[14] Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. officialcharts.de, accessed on December 9, 2017 .

[15] Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. austriancharts.at, accessed on December 9, 2017 .

[16] Peter Heppner - My Heart of Stone. hitparade.ch, accessed on December 9, 2017 .