February 13, 2021

20,000 vinyl LPs 274: Peter Gabriel ~ Deutsches Album

~        
 
 vinyl LP front cover detail
artwork: David Gardner, Malcolm Poynter, Peter Gabriel   
detail photo of album cover by Styrous® 
 
 
Today is the birthday of Peter Gabriel. I will never forget seeing the video on MTV of his single, Shock the Monkey, from his fourth self-titled album, which was issued in the US under the title Security. All songs were written by Gabriel with "Texte" (lyrics) by Gabriel and Horst Königstein. The song peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Monkey was Gabriel's first Top 40 hit in the US. In the UK, the song charted at number 58. According to AllMusic:    
, " . . . the song has a "relentlessly repeated hook" that "sounded nothing like anything else on the radio at the time".  
And that's true; even though I was familiar with his previous albums and his work with Genesis, I had never heard anything like it ANYWHERE. Of course, I immediately ran out and bought the album!    
 

 vinyl LP back cover detail
artwork: David Gardner, Malcolm Poynter, Peter Gabriel   
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®

 
However, Monkey turned out to be the tip of the iceberg; each and every song on the album is completely unique, fascinating and brilliant and I fell head over heels in love with it. Then, a while later, I was rummaging around in a record store and, lo and behold, I discovered it had been recorded in German! My eyes popped out and I snapped it up immediately!!!     


 vinyl LP front cover
artwork: David Gardner, Malcolm Poynter, Peter Gabriel   
photo of album cover by Styrous®


Deutsches Album (1982) is Gabriel's German-language adaptation of his fourth album. It was released simultaneously with the international edition in Germany. In contrast, Deutsches Album differs from its international release in several ways. As stated above, it was issued in the US under the title Security.  
            
The album boasts a different running order: San Jacinto is transposed with The Family and the Fishing Net (here, Das Fischernetz).       

Some of the songs are substantially remixed and are, for instance, 15–30 seconds longer or shorter than their international versions.            
 
Track eight, Mundzumundbeatmung (Kiss Of Life), gains a final coda not found on the English version, while track seven has an earlier instrumental fade. The background vocals are redone in German.    
 
In the third track, Kon Takt! (I Have The Touch), a shouted nonsense refrain has been added with an echoey voice end. The Security version just comes to a SUDDEN stop. I like both. 
       

 vinyl LP back cover
artwork: David Gardner, Malcolm Poynter, Peter Gabriel   
photo of album back cover by Styrous®


Tony Levin performs on the album with electric bass and Chapman Stick; he has worked with Gabriel since 1977. I saw Levin at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California (link below), when he was here with King Crimson; it was an amazing concert.   
     

 vinyl LP back cover detail
artwork: David Gardner, Malcolm Poynter, Peter Gabriel   
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®


Larry Fast performs on synthesizer and he is fantastic. He is best known for his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums (Synergy) and for his contributions to a number of popular music acts, including  Foreigner, Nektar, Bonnie Tyler, and Hall & Oates.         
 
David Lord also plays synthesizer on the album. He is an English composer and record producer, known for his work with Gabriel as well as The Pretenders, The Korgis and XTC.      


 vinyl LP record sleeve
photo of record sleeve by Styrous®


John Ellis sings backup as well as plays guitar on the album. Ellis was a co-founder of the pub rock band Bazooka Joe in 1970 and a founding member of the punk rock band The Vibrators. Between late 1990 and 2000, Ellis was a member of the punk rock band The Stranglers, starting with the album Stranglers in the Night.           
 
Also singing backup on some of the cuts is Peter Hammill. He is an English singer-songwriter and a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. In 1991 he wrote the opera, The Fall of the House of Usher, based on the 1839 short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which starred new wave singer, Lene Lovich, playing Madeline Usher.  
 
 

 vinyl LP record sleeve details
detail photos of record sleeve by Styrous®


 
In 1997, I used the song, Der Rhythmus der Hitze (The Rhythm Of The Heat) in the last fashion show I produced for the art to wear boutique, Obiko (link below).     
        
           
 vinyl LP record sleeve
photo of record sleeve by Styrous®


Peter Gabriel was born on  February 13, 1950, in Chobham, Surrey, in South East England. He is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched a successful solo career with Solsbury Hill as his first single. His 1986 album, So, is his best-selling release and is certified triple platinum in the UK and five times platinum in the U.S. The album's most successful single, Sledgehammer, won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards and, according to a report in 2011, it was the most played music video on MTV of all time.   
    


 vinyl LP record sleeve details
detail photos of record sleeve by Styrous®



Gabriel remarked of his early influences, "Hymns played quite a large part. They were the closest I came to soul music before I discovered soul music. There are certain hymns that you can scream your lungs out on, and I used to love that. It was great when you used to get the old shivers down the back." At age 12, Gabriel wrote his first song, Sammy the Slug. Around this time, an aunt gave him money for professional singing lessons, but he used it to buy the Beatles' first album Please Please Me. In September 1963, he started at Charterhouse, a public school in Godalming, Surrey. There, he was a drummer and vocalist for his first band: the trad jazz outfit the Milords (or M'Lords). This was followed by a holiday band called the Spoken Word.         
 
In 1965, Gabriel formed Garden Wall with school friends Tony Banks on piano and Chris Stewart on drums. Banks had started at Charterhouse at the same time as Gabriel; the two were uninterested in school activities but bonded over music and started to write songs. At a final concert before they split, Gabriel, dressed in a kaftan and beads, showered the audience with petals he had picked from neighbouring gardens.      

 
 vinyl LP record sleeve detail
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®


 vinyl LP record sleeve detail
detail photo of record sleeve by Styrous®







 vinyl LP record, side 1
photos by Styrous®






 vinyl LP record, side 2
photos by Styrous®




Track listing

 

Side One

  1. "Der Rhythmus der Hitze" (The Rhythm Of The Heat) – 5:36
  2. "Das Fischernetz" (The Fishing Net) – 6:45
  3. "Kon Takt!" (I Have The Touch) – 4:31
  4. "San Jacinto" – 6:13

Side two

  1. "Schock den Affen" (Shock The Monkey) – 5:43
  2. "Handauflegen" (Lay Your Hands On Me) – 6:02
  3. "Nicht die Erde hat dich verschluckt" (Wallflower) – 5:59
  4. "Mundzumundbeatmung" (Kiss Of Life) – 4:54
Personnel:
Companies, etc.

    Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Phonogram International
    Mixed At – Crescent Studios
    Lacquer Cut at – PRS Hannover

Credits:

    •    Engineer [Sound Assistant] – Neil Perry
    •    Lyrics By – Horst Königstein
    •    Producer – Peter Gabriel
    •    Producer, Engineer [Sound] – David Lord
    •    Written-By – Peter Gabriel

Notes:

 On labels:
℗ 1982
Made in West Germany
 
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Label side B): AA 6302 221.2 Y
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side A, stamped): 6302 221 1Y 320 O 1
    Matrix / Runout (Runout side B, stamped): 6302 221 2Y 320 L 1
    Rights Society: GEMA
    Label Code: LC 1409
 
Peter Gabriel – Deutsches Album
Label: Charisma – 6302 221
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Germany
Released: Sep 7, 1982
Genre: Rock
Style: Art Rock    
        
         
Viewfinder links:        
         
Tony Banks        
all things Beatles            
John Ellis         
Larry Fast         
Foreigner        
Peter Gabriel         
Genesis       
King Crimson           
Hall & Oats          
The Hearst Greek Theater         
The Korgis        
Tony Levin       
Lene Lovich        
Nektar        
Edgar Allen Poe         
The Pretenders           
Chris Stewart        
The Stranglers          
Bonnie Tyler        
Van der Graaf Generator         
The Vibrators        
XTC       
        
Net links:         
          
Dangerous Minds ~ Peter Gabriel’s German albums         
Peter Gabriel ~ deutsches album        
        
YouTube links:        
         Kon Takt! (I Have The Touch)         
Schock den Affen (Shock The Monkey)        
         
        
        
         
        
        
Styrous® ~ Saturday, February 13, 2021       
       
















No comments:

Post a Comment

PLEASE NOTE: comments are moderated BEFORE they are posted so DO NOT appear immediately.

Thank you.