Sleeping Dogs (Album)
| Sleeping dogs | ||||
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| Janus studio album | ||||
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Publication |
November 9, 2000 |
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| Label (s) | Trisol / Ric ( energy for everyone ) | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
69 min 04 s |
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| occupation |
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Tobias Hahn, Dirk Riegert |
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Studio (s) |
Night shift studio |
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Sleeping Dogs (with the EP Hundstage ) is a concept album by the German band Janus , which is about the rivalry between two dissimilar brothers for the favor of the same woman and in which each song tells a story. The CD is divided into three parts.
Artwork
The mood and history of the album is made clear by the artwork. On the cover picture drawn by Oliver Schlemmer , the protagonist of almost all of the songs, the nameless Mr. Drown, stands on the jetty of a lake veiled by night and looks at the surface of the water, next to only the word "Janus". On the reverse, Mr. Drown is shown drowning in the water. It pulls him down in the direction of view and only in a shadowy drawing does he see the surface of the water himself. The CD itself is black and has no lettering except for the URL of the Janus homepage and standard information (such as the EFA number). The twelve-page booklet is also accompanied by Schlemmer's ComicNoir illustrations, which reflect the course of the story.
action
The story of Sleeping Dogs is told on the CD in an irritating, as it is not chronological, order of the present and the past. To support understanding, however, the date and time are given for each text in the booklet so that the individual songs can be sorted. Furthermore, it did not stop at the information that emerges from the lyrics: on the Janus homepage you can read information about the characters and the course of the story between the songs.
In chronological order (the CD starts with the third part):
The madhouse
The nameless protagonist of this story is called Mr. Drown. He is in love with the prostitute Veronica ("Day by Day" from the supplementary EP Dog Days), whom he regards as his job to free her from her misery. He makes his salvation dependent on her (“My sick heart”) and commits a murder at a festival (“Das Fest”) because he thinks he has to save her from the hands of another suitor . He then takes her with him and looks for shelter with her with his honest and respectable brother, who has no idea of any of this. The brother also falls in love with Veronica, who is afraid of Mr. Drown and appreciates the sensitive nature of his brother, as well as his success compared to the failure Mr. Drown. He becomes jealous and sees himself deceived ("reptile"). He tries to numb himself with alcohol and medication and looks for a replacement for his Veronica (“Hotel Eden”) in brothels , while his anger grows inexorably.
The bowls of anger
Veronica and Mr. Drown's brother are a couple. Drown swears revenge and sees himself as a victim of an intrigue ("Verflucht"). Subsequently, Drown seeks a conversation with his brother in order to make it clear to him that Veronica is not an appropriate contact for him, Drown sticks to imprecise statements and thus arouses the brother's anger. There is a dispute ("brother kiss" from the supplementary EP Hundstage), after which Drown withdraws. Now you can hear Veronica speak ("Veronica"). She tries to de-escalate and rejects Mr. Drown once and for all. He shouldn't try to stand between her and his brother if he really loved him. He doesn't know about her past. She never asked Mr. Drown for his help and he was in her way and a block on her leg. She has the uncomfortable feeling of waking sleeping dogs. Mr. Drown, however, is reassured. He invites you to a clarifying conversation at night by the lake. He can only hide his vindictiveness with difficulty and finally he freaks out. He ties a stone ball to Veronica's leg ("Klotz am Bein") and throws her cursing into the depths. He wishes her a good rest in the deep (“sleep well”) and suspects that he will follow her. Now the paranoid delusions that are already emerging in him are only just beginning:
The forest of suicides
He hears Veronica calling at night ( Coming down ) as she tries to lure him into the depths. He seeks help from a psychologist ( Rorschach ), whom he later kills in order to cover up the alleged murder of Veronica ( head on fire from the supplementary EP Dog Days). However, he tells his brother that Veronica left him and was a prostitute. This breaks the brother apart, no matter how hard the now even more desperate Mr. Drown tries to distract him. Ultimately, the brother shoots himself on New Years ( Failed ). At his brother's funeral, Mr. Drown is approached by a prostitute from the Eden Hotel who tries to blackmail him, knowing that the suitor has been murdered. Mr. Drown accompanies the prostitute Heim and kills her ( empty-handed from the 2014 deluxe version).
After Mr. Drown has lost all reference points in his life, he goes to the only place he has left, the frozen lake. He stumbles over the ice, curses and wails and finally breaks in. He half sinks, half pulls him ( under the ice ) and he finally dies.
Expansion of the story
One year after Sleeping Dogs later, the EP Hundstage was released , which contains three unreleased songs ( Bruderkuss , Kopf in Flammen , Tag nach Tag ) , which complement the concept, and alternative versions of Hotel Eden and Bruderkuss .
In 2014 a “deluxe edition” was published which, in addition to revised titles and demo versions ( water bodies ), also contained a new track: With empty hands . The orchestral work joins the first act after Rorschach and expands the concept album by a further chapter. The limited edition came with Rorschach cards with fictitious diagnoses of the psychiatrist whom Mr. Drown ultimately killed.
Track list
Sleeping dogs
| Track | title | fictitious date | Track length | chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Come down (prologue) | February 2, 1990, Friday 6.16am. | 2: 52min | The forest of suicides |
| 2 | Rorschach | February 2, 1990, Friday 10 a.m. | 5:42 min | |
| 3 | Failed | February 3, 1990, Saturday 7.17pm. | 7:40 min | |
| 4th | Under the ice | February 3, 1990, Friday 7:25 p.m. | 8:31 min | |
| 5 | My sick heart | July 14, 1989, Saturday 9:13 p.m. | 3:10 min | The madhouse |
| 6th | The party | July 16, 1989, Sunday 1.05am. | 7: 35min | |
| 7th | reptile | October 13, 1989, Friday 2.30 p.m. | 6: 35min | |
| 8th | Hotel Eden | October 26, 1989, Thursday 8:58 p.m. | 4: 26min | |
| 9 | Cursed | November 7, 1989, Tuesday 6.25pm. | 4: 26min | The bowls of anger |
| 10 | Veronica | November 13, 1989, Monday 17.06h. | 5: 12min | |
| 11 | Millstone around the neck | November 15, 1989, Wednesday 6.30 p.m. | 8: 13min | |
| 12 | Sleep well (epilogue) | November 15, 1989, Wednesday 6:38 p.m. | 4:32 min |
Dog days EP
| Track | title | fictitious date | Track length | chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brother kiss | Tue 11/10/1989 9:45 p.m. | 6:01 min | The bowls of anger |
| 2 | Head on fire | Fri. 02.02.1990 11.21h | 8:15 min | The forest of suicides |
| 3 | day after day | Fri. 07/01/1989 8:45 p.m. | 4: 45min | The madhouse |
| 4th | Hotel Eden [retro] | Thu. 10/26/1989 8:58 p.m. | 4: 55min | The madhouse |
| 5 | Hotel Eden [schizo] | Thu. 10/26/1989 8:58 p.m. | 7:15 min | The madhouse |
| 6th | Brother kiss [disco] | Tue 11/10/1989 9:45 p.m. | 4: 35min | The bowls of anger |
| 7th | Veronica [psycho] | Mon 13.11.1989 17.06h | 6: 54min | The bowls of anger |
criticism
The press certified the album almost consistently mature ideas, intelligent poetry and an elaborate plot: Thomas Sonder of the music magazine Orkus Schlafendehund describes it as "a drama full of intricacies, the exploration of which takes a lot of time and effort, but ultimately fills body and soul." ( Orkus 11.00 Thomas Sonder) The production is listed as a defect. Compared to Nick Cave , Oomph! and Weissglut , Matthias Weckmann from Metal Hammer comes to the conclusion that Janus may have similar quality in terms of content and music, but without “being able to even come close to this in terms of production technology. It is precisely in this point that the claim lags behind the reality ” (Metal Hammer 12.00 Matthias Weckmann)