I used their hit “Der Kommisar” recently in a story I wrote about my time in a Communist Youth group (Young Pioneers) while living with my Oma in East Germany.
Do any of you have that album/cd and could you give me a mini-review? I ask because so many times back then, all you got was the hit and 11 tunes of garbage.
Thanks
Q
Their biggest hit was a cover of a Falco song. Their version is I think better than the original. A little more menacing, whereas Falco’s original has him faffing about on a green screen supposedly fleeing ol’ Komissar.
According to Wikipedia, the album “Der Komissar” was released on was a compilation of older songs from previous albums.
Looking now to see if I can find any reviews for you.
Alas, nothing I’ve checked that might have a review goes back quite that far.
FWIW, Allmusic gives the group’s studio albums 2 stars each, but gives ATF 4 1/2 stars. There isn’t much of a review, but they say “the album makes for pleasant, if dated, techno power pop of the late '70s/early '80s.”
Thanks, everyone. I think Falco (Rock Me, Amadeus) wrote that song as well and died not long afterward. For those who may be wondering about the short speech in the song, it means, 'Everything clear (or better phrased “okay?”) Mr. Komissar?"
Q
I just listened to the song again. That acoustic guitar wasn’t in the original single and sounds very cool. I haven’t bought a cd in ages, but I’m going to look for it or download it.
Quasi
That is damning with extraordinarily faint praise if I ever heard it, considering that we’re talking about the heyday of Cheap Trick, the Cars, Squeeze, and the Knack.
God, this song is for me the very definition of ‘guilty pleasure’! As a fan of mostly AOR radio and hard rock liking a techno-dance neo-disco song like this was, conflicting. And yes, the acoustic guitar bridge in the middle (as well as some extra choruses) was not in the shorter 45 edit (nor the music video). I remember being disappointed that it wasn’t and going out and buying the LP instead.
For those looking for it: I found this song on a compilation CD called **Rock of the 80’s Volume 4 **(©1993 Priority Records cat# 4992-53684-2). It contains the LP edit.
Apropos of very little, I recall hearing *three *versions of that song on the radio all around the same time: Falco, ATF, and an all-girl version. Don’t recall the chick band’s name, but it was amusing too.
I think it was Laura Branigan (“Gloria”) who did the ‘chick’ version. She changed the title/chorus to “Deep in the Dark”, overall it was a pretty awful version…