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Arno Steffen – Schlager
Arno Steffen
Schlager
Label: WEA
Catalog Number: 24-0296-1
Released: 1983
A selection from Chee Shimizu’s Organic Music record shop, Schlager is the debut experimental electronic “Neue Deutsche Welle” album from Cologne-based artist Arno Steffen (formerly of Zeltinger). Co-produced by krautrock legend Conny Plank, the album was created entirely on the EMU Emulator II and features samples “recorded in the Cologne Zoo, at the Deutsche Bundesbahn in factories, and on the streets of Cologne.” Plank was among the first users of the EMU in Germany, alongside Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk and Kurt Dahlke aka Pyrolator. Most of the album is quite chaotic and experimental, but our favorite of the bunch B1 “Somewhere” hits a somber, but surprisingly serene note featuring lush, digital synth pads alongside a field recording of seagulls and waves crashing along a pier. Steffen croons: “Somewhere a place for us, peace and quiet, and open air… We’ll find a new way of living, we’ll find a way of forgiving.”
Recommended – B1 Somewhere
Tags: Experimental / Field recording / Industrial / New Wave
Tracklist:
A1 Hörprobe
A2 Schlager
A3 Berg In Flammen
A4 Säubert Das Reich
A5 Pearl Harbour
B1 Somewhere
B2 Supergut (Ne?)
B3 Ba Ba
B4 Tanz Du Wanz
B5 Partykeller
Credits:
Compiled By, Edited By, Mixed By – Michael Zähl
Illustration [Zeichnungen] – Jürgen Klauke
Photography By – Susanne Salber
Producer – Arno Steffen, Conny Plank
Recorded By [Mit Hilfe Von] – René Tinner
Vocals – Christa Fast (tracks: A1, A2, A5), Jürgen Klauke (tracks: A5)
Vocals [Die Partykellertochter] – Mascha Ohlow (tracks: B5)
Vocals [Gesang] – Arno Steffen, Cay Wolf
Vocals [Tiefe Stimmen] – Conny Plank
Written-By – Arno Steffen (tracks: A1 to A5, B2 to B5), Conny Plank (tracks: A1, A3 to A5, B3 to B4), Leonard Bernstein (tracks: B1), Stephen Sondheim (tracks: B1)
