. Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
One
of the things I have always been intrigued with is the wonderful
innovations record producers utilize in the design of record albums.
Record album covers are an art unto itself; link to a limited choice of books on the subject of album cover art that only scratches the surface.
Welch Ein Land! - Was Für Männer: (in 3-D) used a stereogram to set it aside from other albums with excellent effect. I was attracted to the album (which turned out to be mostly punk rock music) because of the 3-D cover. Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics or 3D imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word stereoscopy derives from Greek στερεός (stereos), meaning "firm, solid", and σκοπέω (skopeō), meaning "to look, to see". Any stereoscopic image is called a stereogram (link to more info below). Originally, stereogram referred to a pair of stereo images which could be viewed using a stereoscope.
Of the many techniques to produce a 3-D effect that they had to choose from, they settled on the Color anaglyph system; a double image, one green, one orange (link to more info below).
Welch Ein Land! - Was Für Männer: (in 3-D) used a stereogram to set it aside from other albums with excellent effect. I was attracted to the album (which turned out to be mostly punk rock music) because of the 3-D cover. Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics or 3D imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word stereoscopy derives from Greek στερεός (stereos), meaning "firm, solid", and σκοπέω (skopeō), meaning "to look, to see". Any stereoscopic image is called a stereogram (link to more info below). Originally, stereogram referred to a pair of stereo images which could be viewed using a stereoscope.
Of the many techniques to produce a 3-D effect that they had to choose from, they settled on the Color anaglyph system; a double image, one green, one orange (link to more info below).
3-D (three dimension) cover detail
cover photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
detail photo by Styrous®
cover photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
detail photo by Styrous®
the back cover is in 3-D as well
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
3-D (three dimension) back cover
photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
photo of back cover by Styrous® photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
3-D (three dimension) back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
detail photo by Styrous®
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
But it was necessary to have a stereoscope
to see the 3-D effect, so, one was graciously supplied with the album. It is a
cardboard with two "eyes" covered with a tinted film, each a different
color, one green, one orange.
Extrabreit ~Welch Ein Land! stereoscope
WAY kool! Snaps me back to 3-D movies of the fifties (link to list below), headaches, nausea, disorientation ’n all! Reason: there are two primary effects of 3D film that are unnatural for human
vision - crosstalk between the eyes, caused by imperfect image
separation, and the mismatch between convergence and accommodation,
caused by the difference between an object's perceived position in front
of or behind the screen and the real origin of that light on the
screen. Anyway, it's great fun.
INSIDE
The liner notes
are on the inner sleeve of the album, printed on a vibrant orange-red
that makes your eyes cross, augmenting the visual disorientation of the
cover. YIKES!
inner sleeve
photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
photo of inner sleeve by Styrous® photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
inner sleeve lyrics
photo of inner sleeve by Styrous®
photo of inner sleeve by Styrous®
Extrabreit
Extrabreit is a German band established in Hagen, Germany in 1978. The band was one of the most successful exponents of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement of the 1980s. Their music is not typical of the NDW genre. It was influenced heavily by punk rock music,
and their lyrics were often critical of politics and society. The
members viewed themselves as punks, whose only association with the NDW
was that they appeared at the same time. As testament to that, they
wrote on their Homepage (link below): "Ja
wir haben den Scheiß eben mitgemacht!
(Yeah, we went along with that shit!)." The height of their career was
from 1981 until 1983. I discovered them sometime in 1982.
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
inner sleeve detail
photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
photo by Karl-Ludwig Lange/Technische Beratung
detail photo by Styrous®
Extrabreit
took punk, pop, and German schlager, and mashed them together with tons
of attitude. The name Extrabreit (Extra wide) was inspired by a fat
permanent marker that was
lying around in their rehearsal studio. The band sang in German (the reason the album appealed to me), which was highly unusual at the
time and won the band some attention.
Like a lot of punk bands of the era, Extrabreit chose to adopt stage names,
turning Schlasse into "Kai Havaii" and Klein into "Kleinkrieg" (Guerilla
Warfare).
In early 1981, Extrabreit returned to the studio to record, Welch ein Land! -- Was für Männer: (What a Country! What Great Men:). Polizisten
immediately turned into the band's first hit, gaining strength when the
Bavarian government banned the song for openly insulting the country's
police force.
By 1982, the album was established in
Germany's Top Five album chart -- and against all odds Extrabreit had
turned into Germany's most successful band of the year.
Ok, now, about the music!
As with all record albums, I have a favorite cut. Polizisten (Policemen),
is it for me on this one; it is Neue Deutsche Welle
(German new wave) at its very best.
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
inner sleeve detail
detail photo by Styrous®
detail photo by Styrous®
Slow, precise and clear, it moves
slowly with an intensity that is sinister and purposeful. It tells of
"the Police being afraid of terrorists; that if you are eating ice cream
or in the line at McDonalds,
they are watching you; day and night they will be with you." It also
talks about shooting cops. Strange, the lyrics are as pertinent today as
it was in 1981.
~
My next favorite song is Der Praesident ist tot
which starts out with an electronic, spacey effect that goes into a
driving, deliberate, moderately slow march beat for about two minutes
until the lyrics begin.
The lyrics announce, " . . . mein Gott, sie haben ihn erwischt. Was ist das für ein Land? Der Präsident ist tot... " (. . . my God, they got him. What is a country? The President is dead . . ."
The rest of the music on the album is pretty standard punk rock.
The lyrics announce, " . . . mein Gott, sie haben ihn erwischt. Was ist das für ein Land? Der Präsident ist tot... " (. . . my God, they got him. What is a country? The President is dead . . ."
~
The rest of the music on the album is pretty standard punk rock.
Extrabreit played their 1000th concert on August 27, 2005, to several thousand fans in Hengsteysee in Hagen, Germany. The band was presented with their first Platinum record for their first major success in 1980.
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land ! - Was Für Männer:
Track Listing:
Side One:
• 1 - 3-D 2:14
• 2 - Hol Uns Hier Raus, Mama! 3:43
• 3 - Wir Leben Im Westen. 3:03
• 4 - Polizisten. 5:22
• 5 - Glück & Geld 3:57
• 1 - 3-D 2:14
• 2 - Hol Uns Hier Raus, Mama! 3:43
• 3 - Wir Leben Im Westen. 3:03
• 4 - Polizisten. 5:22
• 5 - Glück & Geld 3:57
Side Two:
• 1 - Der Präsident Ist Tot. 6:24
• 2 - Tanz Mit Mir. 4:17
• 3 - Der Führer Schenkt Den Klonen Eine Stadt ... 3:03
• 4 - Salomé 2:34
• 5 - Allegro Für Annemarie 2:02
Credits:
Arranged By [Strings] - Hunter, Manfred Neuner
Cover - Jörg A. Hoppe, Kai Schlasse
Engineer - Manfred Neuner
Noises [Synthetic] - Thomas Hermann
Performer [Extrabreit] - Gabi Lappen & Die Buscheypfeifen, Hunter, Kai Havaii, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Public, Rolf Möller, Stefan Kleinkrieg, Thomas Hermann
Photography By - Karl-Ludwig Lange
Photography By [Technische Beratung + Realisation] - Robert D. Jänsch
Producer - Extrabreit, Manfred Neuner
Written-By - Wolfgang Jäger (Tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B3)
• 1 - Der Präsident Ist Tot. 6:24
• 2 - Tanz Mit Mir. 4:17
• 3 - Der Führer Schenkt Den Klonen Eine Stadt ... 3:03
• 4 - Salomé 2:34
• 5 - Allegro Für Annemarie 2:02
Credits:
Arranged By [Strings] - Hunter, Manfred Neuner
Cover - Jörg A. Hoppe, Kai Schlasse
Engineer - Manfred Neuner
Noises [Synthetic] - Thomas Hermann
Performer [Extrabreit] - Gabi Lappen & Die Buscheypfeifen, Hunter, Kai Havaii, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Public, Rolf Möller, Stefan Kleinkrieg, Thomas Hermann
Photography By - Karl-Ludwig Lange
Photography By [Technische Beratung + Realisation] - Robert D. Jänsch
Producer - Extrabreit, Manfred Neuner
Written-By - Wolfgang Jäger (Tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B3)
Identifiers:
Label Code: LC 6782
Rights Society: GEMA
Matrix / RunoutLabel side A: 0704.171 S 1
Matrix / RunoutLabel side B: 0704.171 S 2
Label: Reflektor Z – 0060.431
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Germany
Released: 1981
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave
Stereoscopy
Color anaglyph system
1950’s 3-D films
Extrabreit songs on YouTube:
Polizisten
Der Praesident ist tot
Color anaglyph system
1950’s 3-D films
Extrabreit songs on YouTube:
Polizisten
Der Praesident ist tot
Deutsch punk, hurra!
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