Achim Reichel
Dat Shanty Alb'm

Rolling home to good ol' Hamburg, rolling home across the sea - Achim Reichel's Retrospective - Chapter I

Time to start a nice monograph, a series of reviews dedicated to a great character whom I had the fortune of getting to know a short while ago: Achim Reichel, whom I already introduced on these shores a few months back, and for a general presentation, I refer you to that review. Unfortunately, it will be an incomplete journey, many stops will be missed, but the goal is to talk about Achim Reichel, his style, what makes him unique rather than drafting an encyclopedic treatise. As far as I am personally concerned, his merit #1 is the following: finding music with a nautical/piratical mood without having to resort to metal has been a "whim" I've carried for years; it was probably Gordon Lightfoot who planted this bug in my ear, and thanks to him, I have finally satisfied it.

But why did this gentleman move from the "vanguard" to the "rearguard"? I might have a hypothesis: he is from Hamburg, Hanseatic city, a city of the sea, therefore a port city, hence a city of sailors...thus a pirate city, at least in other times, and obviously a crossroads of trade and cultures. So, why not exploit this background and create a dimension of his own? "Dat Shanty Alb'm" from 1976, with its unmistakable title and cover, represents the start of this journey, defining the foundations of a personal style on which all the subsequent releases by the artist would be modeled, up to the very recent "Raureif". Equally divided between original productions and rearranged traditional songs, "Dat Shanty Alb'm" has a classic rock backbone based on electric guitar and already shows the eclecticism, attention to detail, and interpretive charisma that make me love Achim Reichel so much. The Hamburg artist also tackles what is probably the most famous "sea shanty" of all, "Oh Shenandoah", ennobling it with a masterful interpretation, with slightly twilight tones, stately yet very modestly, enhancing the melody's beauty with extensive instrumental inserts. Placed at the end of the original side A of the LP, "Oh Shenandoah" serves as a reference point in an album that generally travels at more upbeat rhythms, such as those of another iconic track like "Rolling Home", reread in a very groovy, almost funk-rock style or "Die Duvel An Bord", lively country-rockabilly with a nice honky-tonk piano highlighted.

But mostly we talk about folk rhythms, alcohol-based, popular, and easy listening melodies in a manner almost blatant like in the case of "Das Lied Von Der Hochseekuh", an adorable waltz for banjo, piano, and harmonica and "Drunken Sailor", which would not have looked out of place in "Rum, Sodomy & The Lash" by the Pogues, or a bit more refined like "Es Ging Langsam Vorang", bizarre and intriguing in its alternation of a dense and pasty riffing, a'la Deep Purple, and synth interludes with the pompous tone of a military march. "Pest An Board" is the darkest and most epic track of the album, a slow and paced narrative on a midtempo 70's rock base that highlights the great storytelling skills of the artist, accompanied by choruses that for the occasion echo the lugubrious solemnity of a Gregorian chant; at the stylistic antipodes, we find the adorable (and a bit merry) easy-listening with a vaudeville aftertaste of "Johnny, Johnny" and "Hamborger Veermaster", another great pillar of the album: a ramshackle banjo line, anthemic melody, and that splendid baritone voice singing accompanied and followed by male choruses, creating a chant-mantra effect. Simply put, pure, emotional.

"Dat Shanty Alb'm" is the ideal start for the unique path of this charismatic and fascinating artist, where the overall mood is dominated by yankee-pioneering reminiscences, but there are already various ideas and different cues, making it an engaging listen in every sense; from there, in two years, the level would rise with the wonderful and more sophisticated "Regenballade," but that does not detract from the "popular" beauty of this "debut," let's call it that even if technically it wouldn't be correct.