After presenting a Swiss group (Young Gods) I felt like staying in the Alpine region and present an Austrian one. Geographically very close to each other, but musically very far: Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" was a huge dance hit in the mid-80's and, like other disco classics, the source of guilty pleasure for current 40-year olds who, back in the day, pretended to despise disco. But it's not the reason I picked this CD out from a box full of €1 special offers. The real reason was "Jeanny", an excellent ballad with dramatic synths and mixed language vocal (German rap, English chorus). Somehow the German narration -although incomprehensible- makes Jeanny's story even sadder, to me. The song was banned from radio because of its subject matter (prostitution) and the allusion that the narrator may be a rapist/murderer. No such controversy for "Rock Me Amadeus", which went to no.1 in many countries. It was inspired by watching the Oscar-winning film "Amadeus" and it is an irresistible dance track with new wave synths, disco beat and a half-rapped half-sung vocal in a combination of German and English. Second single "Vienna Calling" is of similar style and, with its catchy chorus, justifiably another hit. "Männer des Westens" is another new wave/rap/funk/classical hybrid worth mentioning and "Tango The Night" a super-camp number mixing disco and tango with cries of "Ole!". The rest of the songs are also in new wave/dance mode, with a dash of David Bowie. They are mostly originals created with the help of Dutch producers Bolland & Bolland. "Munich Girls" is a cover of the Cars song "Looking for Love" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" a Dylan composition performed in a jazzy, mock-Brian Ferry manner. Thanks mostly to this album, Falco (a.k.a. Johann (Hans) Hölzel) became the biggest-selling Austrian singer of all time. He perished tragically in a car accident in the Dominican Republic, only a few days before his 41st birthday. Remember him as he looked in the "Amadeus" video clip, here: An absurdly cool individual.
**** for Rock Me Amadeus, Jeanny
*** for Tango the Night, Vienna Calling, Männer des Westens-Any Kind of Land, It's All over Now, Baby Blue
** for America, Munich Girls, Nothing Sweeter Than Arabia, Macho Macho
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