Plan A!
| Plan A! | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Thomas Godoj | ||||
|
Publication |
|
|||
| Label (s) | Sony Music Entertainment | |||
|
Format (s) |
CD |
|||
|
Title (number) |
13+ video clip |
|||
| occupation | Songs arranged, recorded and sung by:
|
|||
|
Valicon Production, Berlin |
||||
|
Studio (s) |
Valicon Studio, Berlin |
|||
|
||||
Plan A! is the first studio album by Thomas Godoj . It was released on CD on July 4, 2008 by the record company Sony Music Entertainment . Thomas Godoj, who won the fifth season of the casting show Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS) on May 17, 2008 , had repeatedly emphasized during the show that he wanted to win and that there was no plan B for him. The title Plan A! alludes to the fact that after winning the casting show, he is realizing his goal of being able to work as an artist. In addition to songs by experienced songwriters, the album also contains songs by Thomas Godoj, which is unusual for the debut album of a casting show winner.
Emergence
The album Plan A! As was still the case in 2008 for DSDS winners, it was released via the Sony Music Entertainment major label . This victory resulted in an option contract for three albums. The release of the first album after a casting victory always has to go very quickly, as production starts immediately after the respective victory, which is why the artists usually have to fall back on existing song material. As song material, the artists of each DSDS season still in the running are offered various songs from which they can choose for the potential album. For plan A! Among others, the Hitbay producer team from Stuttgart, which consists of Oliver Nova, Nicolai Sukup and Christoph Rau, but also Christian Neander , singer and songwriter of the rock group Selig , who was nominated for the 2011 German Music Author Award 2011, were creative. A contribution to the album contributed Harry Sommerdahl which, for example, The Rasmus produced, as well as Andreas Carlsson, Swedish music producer, composer and songwriter who in 1999 with the song of the Backstreet Boys I Want It That Way for the Grammy Award of the "Song Year ”was nominated. Due to his musical past with the band Wink, Thomas Godoj was also able to publish two German songs that he had written with his bandmates at the time, and another, new song, written with Christian Bömkes . The original release date had to be postponed by two weeks because, in addition to Let It Be , Leaving by the H-Blockx would have included another cover song on the album, which Thomas Godoj was not ready for. A reprint of the booklets became necessary. On November 21, 2008, Plan A! published again in a platinum edition. In addition to a second CD with five of his songs as an unplugged version and two video clips, there were also four bonus tracks. René Lipps was responsible for the acoustic arrangements of the unplugged songs . One of these bonus tracks was a cover of Suspicious Minds , the original of which Elvis Presley had released in November 1969.
| Cover of the album |
|---|
| 2008 |
|
Link to the picture |
Cover
Brown tones dominate the design of the cover, showing Thomas Godoj in jeans and a leather jacket. The booklet, which contains all the lyrics, was designed by Ronald Reinsberg. The photos were taken by Nikolai Georgiew in the Oberhausen Gasometer , a few kilometers from his home town of Recklinghausen .
Subjects and title list
| Track list | |
|---|---|
|
|
This album contains both English and three German songs. Thematically it is mainly about love, but Godoj also deals with other interpersonal topics and his own recent past in the songs he wrote himself.
For him, Love Is You was a rock ballad that went into his ears, which is why he chose this song for his first single. It was written, among others, by Michelle Leonard , who wrote a lot for casting winners, especially at the beginning of her songwriting career, but in recent years also for Cinema Bizarre or Tarja Turunen , for example . "Love is you, seeing things like you do, waking up next to you, wanna give you all, all that I am" is in the chorus and shows that the protagonist of this song seems to be very much in love.
Autopilot is the first song sung in German on this album, which was written in 2006. Thomas Godoj had the idea for this song when he remembered the line of text “We'll switch to autopilot and fly away from here, as long as the sky carries us, we'll be alive” in a traffic jam. A love song emerged from this line of text, mainly from his pen and that of his band colleagues. Martin “Fly” Fliegenschmidt also worked on the lyrics, as a songwriter and musician who has also written songs for Roger Cicero and Christina Stürmer , for example . Autopilot stands out because of its many metaphors, for example "Where does the daylight go, actually, as soon as we show ourselves, if that is something like a tear, mention it before I can no longer see you".
The second German song Plan A! he wrote the text together with Christian Bömkes. In this song he processes his victory at DSDS. After this victory, his life had suddenly changed: "a day without a flashlight, part of the past, I still don't think there is any". He also seems to be aware: "Something is still missing here, like a balance, but I know it will stop by sometime". But regardless of where the journey is going, he thanks his fans in this song: "It was worth building on you, you can continue to trust me, the other thing happens, you are important to me".
Let It Be is a songcomposed by Paul McCartney in January 1969. Thomas Godoj sang this song as a rock version of the semi-final of DSDS 2008. This release of Lillo Scrimali arranged that as Musical Director for RTL - talent show became known, broke both the audience as well as in the DSDS jury enthusiasm, which is why this package also came on the album.
Summer Breeze is a light rock ballad, written by Godoj's old bandmate and friend Christian Bömkes, among others. In Summer Breeze , the protagonist's love is compared with a summer breeze: “She's like a summer breeze, on cold and dark winter days, just like a star inside the roaring sky”, which takes him onto the roof of a house: “Look it's all so easy, don't you lose your faith now, everything's (so) small from up here ”. It gives him the certainty: "She lets me be who I want, she doesn't care, what people think or say, she spreads her magic every day".
Heroes wanted should actually be a football song. At least that was the intention of the band Wink, whose singer was Thomas Godoj and with whom he wrote and recorded the song for the 2006 World Cup . The topic “Heroes in our society” can be used in a variety of ways, so the song was rewritten on the album.
The refrain is general and stands for all “heroes of this society”: “Because we are looking for heroes who can take something under fire. Unstoppable, never too proud to lose yourself. Because heroes are being sought again who do not even ask for them. Ask how much, ask why, ask for whom. ”The song was given its original purpose in 2009 when the U-21 national football team chose this song as the theme music for the U-21 European football championship in Sweden. The kicker sang the motto song Euro hero wanted together with Thomas Godoj in the Peppermint Park Studios on the Expo grounds in Hanover .
Publications
Singles
The song Love Is You was released on May 23, 2008 both as a single and in the maxi version. On June 13, 2008, there was another release, which also included the video clip. On August 29, 2008, the single to Helden sucht followed . The Famous 5 of the album were also released as a maxi single on October 24, 2008.
Love is you
- Love Is You (radio version)
- Love Is You (acoustic version) - 3:51
Heroes wanted
- Heroes wanted
- I Surrender - 3:31
- Heroes Wanted (acoustic version) - 3:32
- Heroes wanted (instrumental) - 3:46
Famous 5
- Heroes Wanted (radio version)
- Love Is You (radio version)
- let it be
- Autopilot
- I don't feel the same
Music videos
The video for the preliminary single Love Is You by director Nikolai Georgiew was recorded in the Oberhausen Gasometer . It actually only shows the band playing the song together with Thomas Godoj. Nikolai Georgiev gave this video a very spherical note through frequent changes of perspective, fades and light reflections.
Responsible for the video for the single release searched hero draws John Grebert , the recordings in the University of the Arts Berlin had made. You alternately see Thomas Godoj singing with his band, but then again and again recordings of "everyday heroes" such as nurses at work, parachutists or workers in a colliery. With the exception of two recordings that were made, only people were filmed for these recordings who actually managed this work in their life.
On November 7th, 2008 the video for Autopilot was filmed in the Peppermint Park recording studios in Expo Park Hannover , owned by the music producer Mousse T. Nikolai Georgiev also directed this video. The playing of the different musicians is captured very expressively by fading in and out. Lots of glowing lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling convey something flying to the audience, as does the Persian carpet on which the musicians are standing, which arouses the association that this one with the text line “We switch to autopilot and fly away from here” like a magic carpet with them takes off together.
trip
Godoj's first tour of the same name for the album began on December 4, 2008 and took him to 16 cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The tour was planned and organized by the booking agency Four Artists and it was largely sold out, although in the meantime it had been rebooked to larger venues. Another 22 concerts followed in February 2009. Musically he was accompanied by Torsten Bugiel (drums) and Sebastian Netz (guitar), who had both been bandmates with Wink , as well as René Lipps (guitar), Daniel Geist (keyboard) and Bonny G. Assan (bass). The repertoire they offered during the two-hour concerts went beyond the album. In addition to the cover versions already on the album, the Polish song Urke was also played . This cover was originally published in 2002 by the rock band Wilki , who have been very well known in Poland since 1991. Thomas Godoj met their songwriter Robert Gawlinski during Plan-A! -Concerts to write a Polish song with him for his next album. The repertoire was also enriched by songs from his previous band Wink or new songs that were written with the current band. An acoustic part was built into the concert schedule in a very multifaceted way . The didgeridoos by guest musician Tom Fronza came into their own during this section . Close contact with his audience was important to him when performing live. He motivated them to participate or did stage diving . Several summer festivals followed in the summer.
resonance
Chart successes and awards
The album reached number one in the charts in Germany and number one in the Austrian charts, and it came to number three in Switzerland. In addition to platinum status in Germany, it was also awarded the Echo in 2009.
Press reviews
Laut.de rates the long player largely positive: “Expressive, versatile and thoroughly unpredictable, Godoj rock and languish through often refreshingly rich, touching texts. He mainly uses English, but also tries successfully in German. For some of the lyrics, in contrast to the majority of the casting clowns, he lend a hand himself. With autopilot , the music is partly on his own account. ”“ A day without a flash, part of the past. Hopefully the current popularity doesn't turn out to be overly fleeting. Melodic guitars carry you through the title track, with which Thomas Godoj outlines his situation with extreme caution. "The author sums up:" Everything is correct. Almost suspicious. "
"It is only his voice and the honest will to honest interpretation that give all the mid-tempo rock nuggets off the rack their comfort.", Writes plattentests.de. Love Is You can be heard in no time at all, with It's Beautiful that isn't even necessary. The real surprise, however, is that with Autopilot and Helden sucht also two songs from Wink times on Plan A! to be found that sound like gunslinger in good. The only thing that really doesn't work are the saber-toothed The Rasmus guitars on Let It Be , but you can't do much right with a Beatles cover anyway.
The platform for art and youth culture fm5.at sees in plan A! "Indulging melodies" from Love Is You , reminiscent of Oasis , or catchy songs of the Autopilot type , which is in third place and the best song on Plan A! represent. “It should be extravagant guitar pop ( Too Young to Grow Old , Let It Be , Helden sucht , The Morning Sun ), gently ballad-like (Summer Breeze) or earthy rock (Not the Only One) . The mixture is right, even if it makes the homogeneity flute. The relationship between quiet songs and catchy rockers can still be described as balanced. Unfortunately, despite all the sympathy, this must also be said, clichés are poked into from time to time, such as I Don't Feel the Same or It's Beautiful . That didn't have to be. Nevertheless, the impression would be confirmed that the man behind the microphone is a solid, honest guy who knows exactly what he can do and what he wants. ”Also,“ one could not blame the album for a lack of self-reflection, because the title track critically thematized the glittering world of illusion ".
Computerbild.de also rates it positively. “ Plan A! really doesn't sound like B-goods. Cleanly produced, even if you listen to the songs that they were created under time pressure, that they were written with the market in mind. ”Also,“ Godoj's distinctive voice gives the otherwise quite clean pop and rock numbers something independent. ”In relation to the However, the author sees no reason to purchase the platinum edition, even if “Godoj unplugged once again illustrates his vocal talent and that on the guitar. And the unplugged version of Autopilot is a listener. "
In the review, Cdstart.de goes first on plan A! (Platinum Edition) and complained, “ Plan A! will be back in stores as a heavily revamped new edition with nine (!) bonus tracks and two video clips. On the other hand, the first edition looks really old. ”In order to then shed light on the mechanisms of a casting show and to state that the Recklinghauser“ successfully prevented a collaboration with Dieter Bohlen for his debut called Plan A! In addition to the Valicon production team, the artist himself is also responsible. ”Finally, the songs themselves are discussed. “ Plan A is interesting ! therefore only in those moments when our Cinderella frees itself a little from the rigid scheme of coolly calculated radio suitability. With reservations, this applies to Summer Breeze , which sounds much more relaxed and effortless than superimposed emotional drudgery like Love Is You or It's Beautiful . Also wanted for heroes does not get lost in the courtesy sound of the fulfillment of expectations and should most likely stand for the music that this artist will release one day when the marketing department and the production team are busy with the commercial exploitation of the next "superstar". Probably Godoj had already developed a very promising “Plan C” for this time, as he himself knows how to classify his current work well in another line of text in the title song: “Something is still missing here / Like a balance / But I know / It will be fine come by sometime ". It would be nice, because Thomas Godoj always has the potential to enrich the German music landscape more long-term and more independently than his predecessors had previously! "
Individual evidence
- ↑ cd-lexikon.de
- ↑ IV with Thomas Godoj during DSDS 2008
- ↑ Contract of the DSDS winner
- ↑ Clixoom IV with Thomas Godoj on December 11, 2009
- ↑ Markus Grimm , Martin Kesici : Sex, Drugs & Casting Shows. Riva-Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-86883-023-1 , pp. 141, 154-159.
- ^ Radio SAW - IV with Thomas Godoj from July 6, 2008
- ^ IV with Thomas Godoj on Radio 7 from June 24, 2008
- ↑ Viva Live from May 22, 2008
- ↑ christophrau.de
- ↑ Musikautorenpreis.de 2011 ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Blessed on WP
- ↑ therasmus.com ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2015 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.
- ^ Grammy Award 1999
- ↑ IV with Thomas Godoj from July 11, 2008 on Radio Energie Zürich ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Interview with münchen.tv on June 24, 2008
- ↑ IV with Thomas Godoj on Clixoom.de on October 24th, 2009 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Reinsberg.de ( Memento of the original from May 7, 2010 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.
- ^ Radio SAW - IV with Thomas Godoj from July 6, 2008
- ↑ TV with Michelle Leonard on tvtotal
- ↑ The lyrics quotations are taken from the booklet
- ↑ hr3 handset from July 1, 2008
- ↑ tvtotal of May 28, 2008
- ↑ IV on mtv.de in September 2009 ( memento of the original from January 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ hr3 Madhouse broadcast on June 18, 2008
- ↑ dfb.de
- ↑ focus.de of June 7, 2006
- ↑ U21 and Thomas Godoj in the studio in June 2009
- ^ Official video for Love Is You
- ↑ Wanted official video for Heroes
- ↑ RTL Regional from November 7, 2008
- ↑ Thomas Godoj Videos ( Memento of the original from May 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Article in the Recklinghäuser Zeitung in the archive of the Vest Arena (PDF; 414 kB)
- ↑ DE ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. AT CH
- ↑ Echopop.de Enter "Thomas Godoj" in the search mask in the archive
- ↑ laut.de to Plan A! dated July 4, 2008
- ↑ plattentests.de on Plan A! dated July 4, 2008
- ↑ fm5 to plan A! dated December 24, 2008 ( Memento of the original dated December 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Computer image for Plan A! -Platinum Edition from December 26, 2008 ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ cdstarts.de to Plan A! (Platinum Edition)
