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Rating: How strange: "Verdammt Wir Leben Noch" is a posthumous album. Luck may be blind, but misfortune sees all too well; I would say, bitterly noting how many artists particularly dear to me like Freddie Mercury, Kirsty MacColl, Rio Reiser, Jobriath, and indeed Falco, were taken prematurely from a life they nonetheless managed to make the most of with their art. In theory, this should be the classic attempt by the record label to scrape together a bit of money by exploiting the emotional impact of the recent passing of the Viennese musician, however, "Verdammt Wir Leben Noch" is so beautiful, so full of talent, life, and style that it is effectively the worthy musical conclusion to the wonderful career of Johannes "Falco" Holzel.
After his last successful album, the sparkling "Nachtflug" from 1992, an album that alone could serve as a greatest hits, Falco self-exiles in the Dominican Republic. When "Out Of The Dark (Into The Light)" finally sees the light of day, he is no longer among us. This album, released less than a month after that damned car accident, showcases Falco as a sly pop star with carefree, danceable, and sunny sounds. The refined Neue Welle Bowie-like style and his personal synth-hop are part of the past, but not the desire to experiment with new styles and write beautiful songs, ranging from techno to straightforward rap, including funky-disco sounds, summer-like reggae, and alluring and charming electronics. "Out Of The Dark" was still a good work, but many of the latest recordings, the most significant and interesting of Falco's later period, were still waiting to be released, and so the following year, in 1999, comes this collection titled "Verdammt Wir Leben Noch," meaning "damn, we're still alive" in Italian. It’s a title that, when you reflect on it a bit, brings a lump to your throat, but Falco was very much alive in these nine songs.
The title track starts, and there’s already a pleasant sense of deja vu: same voice, same female choruses, and same unmistakable style, but the sound has changed. There's a lot of electric guitar that transforms "Verdammt Wir Leben Noch" into a synth-rock with a particularly anthemic and compelling chorus. However, this "twilight" Falco does not just innovate his old stylisms but also manages to create new ones with ambitious songs like "Die Konigin Von Eschnapur", a crossover experiment that combines the ascetic atmospheres of the Far East with sharp guitars and distinct rap vocals, or the minimalism of the electronic beats in "Ecce Machina", a sort of slowed-down electronic R'n'B with elegant and seductive jazzy turns, and the evocative grandeur of the triumphant ballad "Europa", made theatrical and almost bombastic by the choir's opera-like chorus.
"Verdammt Wir Leben Noch" also presents an unreleased Falco in a Rio carnival version with the frenetic and hilarious samba of "Que Pasa Hombre", and it’s the cherry on top that gives that extra touch of campy liveliness to an album excellently completed by "We Live For The Night", which stands out for a beautiful flamenco-style acoustic guitar loop that adds a nice melancholic touch to this song, more reflective and deep than it might appear superficially, by the rock-rap-like, fun, varied, and contamination-rich "From The North To The South", by the electro-R'n'B duo "Fascinating Man"-"Poison", and by "Krise", his last recording and to be honest the least significant of this collection. It turns out to be a slightly more aggressive and less atmospheric copy of his last hit, "Mutter, Der Mann Mit Dem Koks Ist Da."
This album is a demonstration of how Falco still had so much to say and a rare ability to experiment and innovate his own style while still remaining true to himself. Highly recommended to anyone who thinks this artist is only "Der Kommissar," "Rock Me Amadeus," and "Jeanny," "Verdammt Wir Leben Noch" is indeed his "Made In Heaven," even better because, unlike the Queen's posthumous album, this record effectively adds value and new styles to Falco's work. It was a truly necessary and dutiful operation to bring to light some pearls from this brilliant artist that would otherwise have been lost.
Tracklist and Lyrics
05 Fascinating Man (04:00)
Hey, hey ya know what I am talking about
Er hieß Charles Darwin, und sie nannten ihn 'nen Freak
Keine Bibel, keine Offenbarung bremsten ihn ein
Denn seine Haltung hielt
Science and fiction griffen nach dem universe
Denn da ist more space in it
Darwin dachte dazu nur
Wir gehen auf-recht
And push it to the limit
Er war der Mann - he was a man
Genie und Partisan - a fascinating man
Sie sah ihn an - he was a man
Sie wusste, dass er - kann
A fascinating man
Hey, hey ya know what I am talking about
Er hieß Charles Darwin, und sie nannten ihn 'nen Freak
Keine Bibel, keine Offenbarung bremsten ihn ein
Denn seine Haltung hielt
Science and fiction griffen nach dem universe
Denn da ist more space in it
Darwin dachte dazu nur
Wir gehen auf-recht
And push it to the limit
Er war der Mann - he was a man
Genie und Partisan - a fascinating man
Sie sah ihn an - he was a man
Sie wusste, dass er - kann
A fascinating man
Er war der Mann - he was a man
Genie und Partisan - a fascinating man
Sie sah ihn an - he was a man
Sie wusste, dass er - kann
A fascinating man
Science und fiction...
Can you hear me Charles?
Er war der Mann - he was a man
Genie und Partisan - a fascinating man
Sie sah ihn an - he was a man
Sie wusste, dass er - kann
A fascinating man
06 Poison (04:24)
Kaiser, Fürsten und Monarchen,
Wie seid Ihr reich.
Schenkt Euch Länder, rühmt Euch Taten,
Kein Vergleich.
Nobody changes, unless to not change
It's too much running round
Wanna be pleased by tender touch.
Whatcha say, Ku cha cha -
Everybody is feeling the feeling
But everybody is breaking hearts
Whenever you go
Poisening the feeling
You shoot a million arrows
Into each other's hearts.
Complementary territories
Psychologic Space
I can't stand it anymore
Herzen, Herzensdamen
Running running, around around
They wanna read your mind
Wanna be pleased, that's for sure
Whatcha say, ku cha cha -
Everybody is feeling the feeling
But everybody is breaking hearts
Whenever you go
Poisening the feeling
You take the step by tearing
Yourself into a part.
Everybody is feeling the feeling
But everybody is breaking hearts
Whenever you go
Poisening the feeling
You shoot a million arrows
Into each other's hearts.
Everybody's running 'round
Wishing the heaven to the ground
Trying to find what's never found
But everything is going on,
That's all for sure
That's all for sure
And it's all for sure...
Hey!
Everybody is feeling the feeling
But everybody is breaking hearts
Whenever you go
Poisening the feeling
You shoot a million arrows
Into each other's hearts.
07 Ecce machina (05:32)
I've been here through the night
And I can smell a new dawn coming.
The elders of the solid state
It would be easy, could be fate.
You! With your empty arrogance,
you're something I must break
Your history's will to serve,
your the one to take.
Because I've gathered...
I've gathered the ash from last night's cigarettes,
I washed it down with stale champagne.
(I washed it down with stale champagne).
I've gathered the ash from last night's cigarettes,
and washed them down with stale champagne.
That's what I did -
I washed it down with stale champagne.
You you...
Ecce Machina
I bet you didn't think I had it in me.
I bet you thought you had me
All figured out, just because you made me!
I know what it means to be a machine
I know what it means to be a machine,
on my knees in the temple of code
on my knees in the temple of code.
I know what it means to be a machine,
on my knees in the temple of code
(rep lots)
Oh yeah, hit ït Tom!
09 Krise (03:46)
Paß auf:
Krise wie, Krise was? Krise
Krise wie, Krise was? Krise
Immer tiefer, imer tiefer,
Immer tiefer in die Krise
- Krise wie, Krise was -
Immer tiefer, imer tiefer,
Immer tiefer in die Krise
Immer tiefer, bis zur Unterlippe
Crisis is a killer,
You know Krise is a Killer
I'm not sure, is there a cure,
I'm not sure, is there a crisis
Crisis? What crisis?
If you look back on a crisis
(Krise wie)
From the ending to the start
(Krise was)
You'll always find the reason
Is a crisis of the heart (Krise)
If you look back on a crisis
(Krise wie)
From the ending to the start
(Krise was)
You'll always find the reason
Is a crisis of the heart (Krise)
Meckie Messer hat ein Messer
Und das trägt er im Gesicht.
Er sagt:
"Her legs have been so spreadable,
It simply was incredible
The stuff was quite alright, but
The action was forgettable."
Ist es die Brise, diese miese
Die die Stadt treibt in die Krise
Oder ist es bloß das Fehlen einer
Weiteren verwaltungsamtlichen
Expertise (Expertise wie,
Expertise was, Expertise wie)
If you look back on a crisis
(Krise wie)
From the ending to the start
(Krise was)
You'll always find the reason
Is a crisis of the heart (Krise)
If you look back on a crisis
(Krise wie)
From the ending to the start
(Krise was)
You'll always find the reason
Is a crisis of the heart (Krise)
What crisis? Crisis, what crisis?
What crisis?
- Crisis of the heart
Die Stadt tankt diese Krise
Immer tiefer in den Tank
(Krise wie, Krise was)
Und vom Gestank in diesem Tank wird
Noch die Sicherheitsbehörde krank
Krank?
If you look back...
If you look back...
Crisis of the heart...
Crisis of the heart...
If you look back...
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