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Recommend a rock/pop album that's NOT in English


Rooster_Ties

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I've long had this idea that there's a whole world of rock/pop/alternative music out there (both literally and figuratively), that we here in the U.S. are never exposed to --- because the lyrics are not in English!!!

My interest stems from a Tribute disc that I have, to the band "The Police" - recorded by all Latin American bands, and all the covers are in Spanish. And there's another disc of Spanish-language covers of tunes by "The Cure" too, that I've also been looking for (also by Latin-American rock/alternative bands).

But what I'm REALLY looking for are interesting alternative/rock/pop albums that are sung in German!! (Or maybe some other guttural language – perhaps Russian?? Dutch might be interesting too. Oh gosh, what about Japanese??) I've already got both of Peter Gabriel's albums on CD, that he recorded in German (PG3 and PG4), and I really love them both.

I mean, there's got to be bands out there that as just as good (or better!!) than Radiohead, or U2, or Matthew Sweet, or [take your pick] -- that just happen to sing in some non-English language.

Or maybe some other cool "Tribute" type albums, with familiar tunes (that we all know in their regular English versions), except done in other languages. (An all German-language Police tribute would be cool, come to think of it.)

Any suggestions??? Links with audio-clips would be much appreciated. Couw???

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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Here's that Spanish-language tribute to "The Police" that I just mentioned...

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Outlandos D'Americas: A Rock en Español Tribute to The Police

Audio-samples at BN.com

Not all of the tracks will change your life, but I really like about half of them, and the rest are not half bad. Check out track #7: Almas (Spirits in the Material World) B)

The cover of "Walking on the Moon" takes the chorus the way of the Mariachi (although, unfortunately, the audio-clip doesn't have this part, drat).

Fun disc -- well worth picking up, if you happen to find it used, or otherwise on sale.

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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PG3: Ein Deutsches Album (AMG audio-clips)

PG4: Deutsches Album (AMG audio-clips)

AMG Review for PG4 follows, but it includes an explaination about both of PG's German albums...

Why Peter Gabriel chose to release two of his solo albums — his 1980 release and its 1982 follow-up (also known as Security) — in versions with all-German lyrics can only be explained by his notorious quirkiness and desire to make his music as universal as possible. After being dropped by Atlantic in 1979, he decided to focus his energies on Europe and consequently resolved to make multilingual versions of all of his albums for his European fans. He then approached the international divisions of his record labels and offered to redo the vocals of his albums in all European languages. Only the Germans agreed, and as a result, both his third and fourth solo albums were released that way. What's significant about Deutsches Album, the German version of his fourth album, is that although the backing tracks are similar, the sequencing and mixes are different. Granted, the differences are slight (mainly emphasizing different vocal and synthesizer tracks), but they do make this a different listening experience for fans who are very familiar with this album. The biggest difference, however, will be in the way that the German language sounds when matched with the music. Some songs, especially "San Jacinto" and "Mundzumundbeatmung" ("Mouth-to-Mouth Respiration," or "The Kiss of Life") actually work very well in German. The translation of "Wallflower" ("Nicht die Erde Hat Dich Verschluckt," or "The Earth Has Not Swallowed You"), by contrast, actually detracts from the mood of the song, since the harsher German words fit poorly with the music. Similarly, "Schock den Affen" ("Shock the Monkey") not only sounds clumsy with its different German lyrics, but in order to fit the rhyme scheme, Gabriel and his translator, Horst Konigstein, were forced to make the lyrics even more nonsensical than the English version, which does violence to the song's meaning. Deutsches Album can be an interesting listen for Peter Gabriel completists or German-speaking listeners, but casual fans can pass it by. — Victor W. Valdivia

I really like 'em both. B)

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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For German artists singing in German, I used to hear a semi-rap/rock group called the "Fantastischen Vier" quite a bit on German radio and MTV. Not sure if it's in the style you're looking for, but they seemed pretty popular.

Maybe the Bohse Onkelz are more your taste? :wacko:

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German rap is really very good. It's a completely different kind of rap than the usual gansta rap or soul stuff out there. Most of it is much more like the hippy hop of the late eighties that evolved around Dela Soul and Tribe Quest and such, but: big difference, all in German. Very laid back, nice poetic lyrics, no aggression, no bitterness, but a lot of fun instead (although the more recent stuff is getting a bit more in the face)

Besides Fanta vier (www.diefantastischenvier.de), there's the even more relaxed group Fettes Brot, that's Fat Bread (www.fettesbrot.de), which had a hit with "Ma'Sehn" ('ll See), and the now defunct & completely WACK duo Der Tobi und das Bo (they hide in some of these groups I believe), these two weirdos did songs like Mitdemfischanderwandindenputz (withthefishonthewallintheplaster).

Other way relaxed german rap bands include Fünf Sterne De Luxe and Absolute Beginner

Check amazon.de for online samples.

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Here's one I'm constantly confronted with when meeting friends: Winson, "Wovon lebt eigentlich Peter?"

rather crappy isn't it? they're still your friends?

;)

Good question.

  Herbst in Peking - Jesus im Schnee (4.1 Mb mp3)

rather minimal german lazy rock with quite cool lyrics.

don't know what this is doing on a satanic website, but who cares really.

Sounds just like Heino.

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