Father (album)
| father | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Janus studio album | ||||
|
Publication |
1998 and 2006 respectively |
|||
| Label (s) | NovaTekk or self-distribution | |||
|
Format (s) |
CD |
|||
|
Title (number) |
7 or 11 |
|||
|
running time |
51 min 29 s or 65 min 03 s |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
Tobias Hahn, Dirk Riegert |
||||
|
Studio (s) |
Night shift studio |
|||
|
||||
Father is a concept album by the German band Janus , which deals with various father figures from literature, mythology and general world events. Only the title black widower breaks with this concept.
Artwork
The design of the CD, the cover and the book comes from Oliver Schlemmer based on a concept by the singer Dirk Riegert and Schlemmer himself. The booklet contains the texts for the seven named titles as well as computer-generated collages from alienated photos which are intended to support the content of the respective title.
The cover is dominated by a tree-like face with a mustach looking at the viewer, which takes up almost the entire left half of the picture. An ornamented frame occupies the background, vaguely reminiscent of old window frames or picture frames, in the center of the frame there is a concentric spiral.
The design of the re-release also follows the same concept, but, contrary to the very colorful design of the first release, it remains uniform in shades of yellow and is supplemented by clear allusions to Lovecraft's rhythmic myth . So show u. a. the newly added tape photo and the cardboard slipcase as well as the changed back of the CD case and the booklet drawings of water fossils, tentacles etc.
Contents 1998
Almost all titles deal with different father-child relationships in the broadest sense. The CD does not follow a coherent plot like the Sleeping Dog , which appeared later , but deals with the extreme emotional or psychological moments of such a relationship.
The first title Isaac deals with the near- sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22, 1-19) from the perspective of the young Isaac. The second piece, Black Widowers, is remotely based on the short story The Treasonous Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and deals with the remorse and its psychological consequences in a man who tries to come to terms with the murder of his wife. Thus this title is the only one that does not deal with a variant of a father-child relationship. However, Lolita takes up this part again and mainly varies the 22nd chapter of the book of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov . Shown here as a speech by the protagonist Humbert Humbert, who tries to convince Lolita of a life together. The piece Lolita hides the title bone house as a hidden track . The bone house, presented as a nursery rhyme, deals with a serial killer sequence that is reminiscent of John Wayne Gacy , who buried the bodies of his victims in the basement. In the title, the unnamed protagonist maintains a caring, almost fatherly relationship with the corpses.
Exodus takes up Adam Czerniaków's farewell letter and addresses the horror of sending his people's children from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp . Saitenspiel addresses the death of Gustav Mahler's daughter and Mahler's attempt to process it, which met with a procession in honor of fire fighters who died in a fire. The song The Whisperer in the Dark takes up the childhood story of the author HP Lovecraft . This was traumatized by the death of the father and the Victorian custom of saying goodbye to the point of delusions, a process that the play follows. The album concludes with The Thirteen Beasts , which can be seen more as an instrumental than a regular title; the short and heavily distorted four lines of text are repeated and are not related to the album concept.
Deluxe Edition 2006
The re-release not only includes the already known pieces, but also three other tracks that were previously only available on a few publications. The titles Wolken über Orgonon and Kafka were previously included on the Maxi-CD Isaak , whereas The Ballade by Jean Weiss was only included on the strictly limited father demo CD. The piece bone house was also mentioned as a track in 2006.
The ballad by Jean Weiss deals with the 'hosing down' of concentration camp prisoners in the German concentration camp by the SDG Josef Klehr . The text is based on an interview with a Jewish helper from Klehr, who had to assist Klehr in killing his own father. Clouds over Orgonon deals with the relationship between the psychologist Wilhelm Reich , who is slowly decaying insane, and his son Peter, who tries to get through to his father. In Kafka is about the same author , the song describes a scenario in which Kafka touches in the presence of Prague, still shaken from the relationship with his father. Janus also quote Kafka's letter to Oskar Pollak of October 20, 1902.
“Prague won't let go. [...] This little mother has claws. "
Musical classification
The album can best be assigned to the genre of New German Hardness , although styles such as pop (Kafka), chanson (clouds over orgonon), doors-heavy blues rock (bone house), among other styles, flow into the sound of the album.
Track list
- father
- Isaac - 6:02
- Black widower - 9:03
- Lolita - 10:35
- Exodus - 3:07
- String play - 6:28
- The Whisperer in the Dark - 9:39
- Thirteen Beasts - 5:35
- Father deluxe
- Isaac - 6:03
- Black widower - 9:05
- Lolita - 7:55
- Bone House - 2:47
- Exodus - 3:07
- The ballad by Jean Weiss - 6:39
- Clouds over Orgonon - 2:21
- String play - 6:29
- Kafka - 5:13
- The Whisperer in the Dark - 9:45
- The thirteen beasts - 5:37
criticism
The music press certified the album consistently complex depth and a successful overall concept.
- "Everything fits together perfectly and is of excellent quality, be it the arrangements as well as the production." (Thomas Sonder, Orkus 9/98)
- "Since in addition to the two titles mentioned, the remaining pieces are at most minimally" worse ", JANUS is therefore the avant-garde climber 98." (Markus Fürgut, Zillo 10/98)
- "With the help of various guest musicians, they have created a remarkable debut." (Sonja Angerer, Metal Hammer 11/98)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Max Brod (Ed.): Franz Kafka: Briefe 1902-1924. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-596-14300-4 , p. 14 f.