Techno prisoners
| Techno prisoners | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roger Chapman's studio album | |||||
|
Publication |
1987 (Reissue 2003, Mystic Records) |
||||
| Label (s) | Polydor | ||||
|
Format (s) |
CD, LP |
||||
|
Title (number) |
9 (+ 5 bonus tracks) |
||||
|
running time |
49:06 (+ 22:23) |
||||
| occupation |
|
||||
|
Studio (s) |
Bullet Sound Studios (Nederhorst den Berg, NL), Soundpush Studios (Blaricum, NL) |
||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
Techno Prisoners is Roger Chapman's seventh solo album . It was released in Germany in 1987 under the Polydor label . The music style is attributed to alternative rock . After three top 100 chart positions in a row, this album failed its fans and critics and received mostly poor reviews.
For radio presenter Pete Feenstra ("The Pete Feenstra Rock & Blues Show") there were two reasons for this. Firstly, working with the Bolland brothers , who were known for their techno style, and secondly, the record company's attempt to commercialize Roger Chapman.
Music genre
Chapman gave up the songwriting for the first time on the instructions of the record company for the two single releases The Drum , Black Forest and the song Run for Your Love . The album was produced and mixed by the Bolland brothers, who were known for ace dance music, according to the techno style and sound of the time. They merged several styles of music with strong synthesizer sounds and used drum machines or electronic drums.
Almost all songs have strong bass lines and a pounding basic rhythm. So this album came to his fans as dance music. In order to establish a connection to Chapman's previous musical style, his song Prisoner was re-recorded and interpreted in techno style, and for some songs hard electric guitars with incisive solos and classic keyboard were used. For this, Woodstock legend Alvin Lee was hired by Ten Years After , who can only be heard on three songs when it was first released in 1987, although he played on five songs, as well as the shortlist musician Tim Hinkley on keyboard. All others involved in the album were the Dutch session musicians: Lex Bolderdijk and Jan Hollestelle (bass), Gerbrand Westveen (saxophone), Lisa Boray (vocals), Ad van der Lee and Shell Schellekens (drums), as well as Ferdi Bolland and Rob Bolland (keyboard , Synth, percussion, acoustic guitar). This selection of musicians was the opposite of Chapman's previous practice of using only accompanying musicians as The Shortlist , who came from the rock scene or were members of well-known rock groups.
The cover is a photograph and shows Chapman in a dark environment, watching himself on a monitor. The light from his monitor image illuminates his face and gives the impression that he sees himself in a new light. The title Techno Prisoners implies that even Chapman cannot avoid the musical zeitgeist of techno, even though he had successfully defied the disco music, new wave and punk movement until then.
Chapman's singing style was also adapted to mainstream music tastes and produced less rock, but more FM radio-compatible, according to Feenstra (CD Inlay Text, 2003).
History of origin
After Chapman had separated from Whitehorn, he told the record company that he no longer wanted to produce his albums himself, as it was too burdensome for him. Polydor then hired the Bolland Brothers, who were very successful at the time. In 1985 they had their greatest success as a songwriter ( Rock Me Amadeus ) and producer for Falco. Even the rock band Status Quo covered the Bolland & Bolland song In the Army Now in 1986 , which reached top positions in the charts across Europe.
Chapman had already recorded a few songs for his next album and was hoping the Bolland brothers could compromise with him on their production techniques and musical styles. For him it was a meeting between two cultures ("... it was like the meeting of two different cultures") but also a temptation to dare something new. However, the well-known problems arose with this production too: the money and time were running out to finish all songs satisfactorily.
Techno Prisoners flopped. His fans resented his collaboration with Bolland & Bolland, which stood for pop, synthesizers, drum machines and danceable techno beats. In an interview with Pete Feenstra in 1992, Chapman admitted in drastic terms that he had made a big mistake and lost a lot of show business confidence. After all, he has a reputation as a “folk hero” who makes “real music” (“The biz came to mistrust me, because I was a folk hero in a sense, playing real music etc, and I quickly came to realize that I'd shit on somebody's doorstep seriously ”). He will never use drum machines again and only work with a real band ("'No more machines, I'm going to get a band.").
The promotional tour with 32 concerts from October 5 to November 21, 1987 was with the proven shortlist musicians Steve Simpsons (guitar / mandolin / background vocals), Boz Burrell (bass), Poli Palmer (synthesizer), Henry Spinetti (drums) and Ian Gibbons (keyboard) performed.
For his "disappointed" fans there was a new edition of the album in 2003 with five bonus tracks on which Alvin Lee and Tom Hinkley can be heard. These songs were mixed much more rock than when they were first released in 1987.
Track list
- The Drum (F. Bolland / R. Bolland) 4:36
- Wild Again (Chapman) 5:36
- Techno Prisoners (Chapman / Whitehorn / Hinkley) 6:00
- Black Forest (F. Bolland / R. Bolland) 6:24
- We Will Touch Again (Chapman) 4:24
- Run For Your Love (F. Bolland / R. Bolland) 4:41
- Slap Bang in the Middle (Chapman) 4:18
- Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (Wild Blood) (Chapman) 4:38
- Ball of Confusion (Whitfield) 8:07
Bonus tracks (all tracks with Alvin Lee & Tom Hinkley)
- Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (4:47)
- Slap Bang in the Middle (4:11)
- We Will Touch Again (4:07)
- Wild Again (5:17)
- Red Moon & New Shoes (4:01)
reception
The album fell through with its fans and could not place itself in the charts, although Chapman's sales were at their peak at the time of publication. Only the single Black Forest found a little favor with hardcore fans. The TAZ described Techno Prisoners as "slip-ups". The Great Rock Bible found the album "bewildered" (orig .: bewildered) and "exaggerated" ("ott", "over the top"), and Allmusic only got it 2½ stars out of 5. For the author of the Encyclopia of Popular Music , Colin Larkin, Chapman had simply left the Muse; Techno Prisoners is the low point of his career.
One of the few who found conciliatory words was music critic David Randall. He recalled that Chapman had always been eager to experiment. The fans should drop their prejudices about the album and enjoy the song Black Forest .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Roger Chapman - Techno-Prisoners at Discogs
- ↑ a b c Roger Chapman - Techno-Prisoners at Discogs
- ↑ StarinkWorld - Lex Bolderdijk. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ↑ January Hollestelle. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ↑ Gerbrand Westveen. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ↑ Lisa Boray. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ^ Shell Schellekens. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c 9. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d 3. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ^ Roger Chapman - The Drum. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ↑ wiglaf droste: A DEAR SLIDER . In: The daily newspaper: taz . June 27, 1989, ISSN 0931-9085 , p. 21 ( taz.de [accessed on August 31, 2019]).
- ↑ Roger CHAPMAN biography. In: The Great Rock Bible. Retrieved August 31, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ Techno Prisoners - Roger Chapman | Songs, reviews, credits. Retrieved August 31, 2019 (American English).
- ^ Colin Larkin: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music . Omnibus Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8 ( google.de [accessed on August 31, 2019]).
- ↑ Get Ready to ROCK! Review of CD album by Roger Chapman called Techno-Prisoners with bonus tracks featuring Alvin Lee and Tim Hinkley. Accessed August 31, 2019 .