What I’ve Been Listening to: Niedeckens BAP/Live & Deutlich

I guess this is another post you can put in the one-thing-leads-to-another category. The latest installment of my Best of What’s New recurring feature included a new song by Niedeckens BAP, Ruhe Vor’m Sturm, which will be on the German rock band’s next album scheduled for September. After listening to that tune, I felt hungry for more music by what has been my favorite rock band singing in German for close to 40 years. When I checked my streaming music provider, Live & Deutlich (live & clear) popped up, a live double CD capturing a concert at Circus Krone in Munich, Germany on June 6, 2018, conducted as part of the band’s 2018 Live & Deutlich tour.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I think it’s a great album – otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing about it! Plus, as a longtime fan, I’m not unbiased here. Of course, I realize a rock band that not only sings in German but more specifically in Kölsch, a regional dialect spoken in the area of Cologne, may be a tough proposition to most of the blog’s readers who it’s safe to assume don’t speak German. That doesn’t discourage me. It’s also not the first time I’m writing about the band. I hope to those who don’t understand the lyrics – and trust me, not all people in Germany understand Kölsch either – the music, which I feel is an international language, will be enjoyable.

According to this review by Sounds & Books, Live & Deutlich marked the band’s first-ever tour that featured a full-blown horn section, including saxophone (Axel Müller), trombone (Franz Johannes Goltz) and trumpet (Christoph Moschberger). “That was a lot of fun for us, since the three horn players opened up new possibilities for the band,” commented Wolfgang Niedecken, who has led the band since it was founded in 1976 in Cologne and is the only remaining original member. “We had a ball on stage and enjoyed having songs in the set we had not played in a long time and playing other tunes for the first time with real horns.”

The 30 tracks feature a nice variety of songs spanning much of the band’s 40-plus-year catalog. There are classics, such as Verdamp lang her (it’s been a long time), Kristalnaach (night of broken glass), Du kanns zaubere (you can do magic) and Anna, as well as deeper cuts like Nem mich met (take me with you), Psycho-Rodeo and Ruut-wieß-blau querjestriefte Frau (red-white-blue horizontal striped lady). There is also a cover version of Bob Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere. Many of the tunes were rearranged, in part because of the horn section. Time to get to some music!

Let’s kick it off with Drei Wünsch frei (three free wishes), which is a nice introduction to the horn section. As usual for original tunes, the lyrics are written by Wolfgang Niedecken. The song first appeared on Zwesche Salzjebäck un Bier (between salt pretzels and beer) from May 1984, the fifth studio album by the band that between 1982 and 2014 was simply called BAP. On that record, the music was credited to the entire band.

Psycho-Rodeo has a cool Stonesy sound. I dig the slide guitar (I assume it’s played by lead guitarist Ulrich Rode) and again, the horn work is great. The band recorded this tune for their 11th studio album Comics & Pin-ups that appeared in January 1999. The song was co-written by Klaus Heuser, BAP’s guitarist from 1980 until 1999, and Niedecken. In fact, the two of them wrote most of the band’s songs during that time period.

Diss Naach ess alles drin (tonight, anything is possible) is another track from the aforementioned Zwesche Salzjebäck un Bier album. I had not heard that song in many years and feel it sounds really fresh. The horn work is a standout.

Time to slow it down. Here’s a beautiful ballad called Jupp, which is a male name. Originally, it appeared on BAP’s national breakthrough album Für usszeschnigge! (to cut out) from October 1981. The acoustic guitar part combined with the beautiful violin played by Anne de Wolff is the song’s highlight. The tune, another Heuser-Niedecken co-write, also has a nice build turning from an acoustic-focused to an electric power ballad.

After four German songs, I thought it might be a good idea to throw in an English tune, the aforementioned Dylan cover – well, sort of, it’s half English, half German, but, hey, at least it’s got some English! 🙂 Dylan wrote You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere in 1967 in Woodstock, N.Y. during his self-imposed exile from public appearances following his motorcycle accident earlier that year. The tune was first released in November 1971 on his second compilation Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II. For this version, the band is joined by two Bavarian artists, Werner Schmidbauer (guitar, backing vocals) und Hannes Ringlstetter (guitar, backing vocals). I just love this cover – dare I say it, even more so than the original! The Bavarian artists with their local dialect provide character. I also dig the warm rootsy sound of the music, which almost has a John Mellencamp flair to it.

Over the decades, Wolfgang Niedecken has repeatedly written songs with political themes. A recurring topic has been discrimination against immigrants. Here is one of his best, included on BAP’s fourth studio album Vun drinne noh drusse (from the inside to the outside) from August 1982, the above noted Kristallnaach (night of broken glass), another co-write with Heuser.

After such a serious song, I think it’s time for some reggae happiness. Aff un zo (every now and then) is the title track from BAP’s 13th studio album, released in June 2001. The song was co-written by Niedecken and Helmut Krumminga, who succeeded Heuser as lead guitarist in 1999 and was with the band until 2014. Just like Heuser, he became Niedecken’s key songwriting collaborator.

I’d like to highlight one more track, another ballad called Jraaduss (straight shooter). This tune is also from the previously mentioned album Für usszeschnigge! Yet another Heuser-Niedecken co-write, it’s one of my favorite BAP tunes, in part because of the lyrics. An excerpt: Stay where you are/hold on to something/and stay like you used to be/a straight shooter. 

“I’ve always liked live albums,” wrote Niedecken on the band’s website. “Because they authentically capture the sound of a band and are a time capsule. In the ideal case, live recordings document how a band sounds at a particular moment in time.” Speaking of the band, I’d like to acknowledge the other core members I haven’t mentioned yet: Marius Goldhammer (bass), Sönke Reich (drums) and Michael Nass (keyboards). I think I agree with Sounds & Books, which called Live & Deutlich “perhaps the best BAP live album with the most variety since Bess demnähx (see you soon).”

Sources: Wikipedia; Sounds & Books; Discogs; BAP website; YouTube