Niedeckens BAP Take Fans on Journey Back to Early ’80s

I realize writing about a rock band singing in German may be a bit of a tough proposition for most of my readers who it’s safe to assume don’t understand the language. But Niedeckens BAP aren’t just any group, plus when I started listening to English music as an eight-year-old back in Germany, I didn’t know or understand one word of English. All I was reacting to were melody, sound, groove and the quality of the vocals. To this day, these aspects remain more important to me than lyrics in most cases.

If you’ve been a more frequent visitor of the blog, chances are you’ve seen me gush about Niedeckens BAP, or simply BAP as they used to be called. Founded as Wolfgang Niedecken’s BAP in the west German city of Cologne in 1976, the group around singer-songwriter Wolfgang Niedecken became the first German-singing rock band I closely followed starting in 1980. More precisely, they perform their songs in Kölsch, the regional dialect spoken in the area of Cologne. Last Friday (April 26) saw the release of Zeitreise (Live im Sartory), a live album focused on the group’s music from the early ’80s.

As a longtime fan, Zeitreise is a pretty emotional experience to me, taking me back to Germany when I was 14 and, as noted above, discovered BAP. The material was captured during four shows the group played on December 7, 8, 9 and 10, 2023 at the so-called Sartory-Säle (Sartory Halls), one of the biggest entertainment venues in the center of Cologne. This place has special meaning to BAP. Between 1980 and 1984, they performed many gigs there.

Wolfgang Niedecken, the band’s frontman and only remaining original member

The idea to revisit BAP’s past with a series of concerts at Sartory emerged during their 2022/2023 tour in support of their most recent studio album Alles Fliesst (everything is groovy) from September 2020, which I covered here at the time. “It was during songs like ‘Zehnter Juni’ (June 10) or ‘Jupp’ (a German first name – CMM),” Wolfgang Niedecken told local German newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. “As I was scanning the audience, I noticed what these songs did to people. How they moved them.”

Shockingly, I can offer you more background on BAP. Perhaps the best overview is this post from February 2020. Now, I’d like to get to some music from Zeitreise, which by the way means something like journey back in time – sort of what I call ‘music time travel’ in my Sunday feature! While I wouldn’t necessarily go as far as characterizing the songs as reimaginations, they are new renditions of old tracks, which reflect the group’s different musical line-up.

I’d like to kick it off with Südstadt, verzäll nix (don’t give me BS, south city), a song criticizing what Niedecken felt was the commercialization of Südstadt, a part of Cologne. The song first appeared on Für usszeschnigge! (to cut out), BAP’s third studio album from October 1981, which became their national breakthrough in Germany. Typically, Niedecken writes all lyrics, while the music is credited to one or more of the band’s other members. During their first two decades, most of the music was provided by Klaus Heuser, the band’s guitarist from 1980 to 1999. As their de facto musical director, Heuser largely shaped BAP’s sound during his tenure.

Nit für Kooche (not even for cake) is a track from BAP’s album Vun drinne noh drusse (from the inside to the outside), the successor to Für usszeschnigge!, which was released in August 1982. The song is making fun of Karneval, a festive season between November 11 and Ash Wednesday, which is celebrated particularly in Cologne and the broader region of the Rhineland. During what is also known as the “fifth season of the year”, people costume and go to special events and parades. And, yes, lots of alcohol is involved as well. Some including Niedecken consider it as largely forced and superficial happiness.

A concert revisiting BAP’s music of the early ’80s cannot skip what I would call the band’s most popular song. In Verdamp lang her (It’s been a long time), another track from the Für usszeschnigge! album, Niedecken recalls what oftentimes were difficult conversations with his father where the two of them had a hard time connecting. It also includes the band’s namesake, “bap,” which means “dad” in Kölsch dialect.

I’d like to call out one additional track: a medley of Wahnsinn (madness)/Häng de Fahn eruss (get the flag out). Wahnsinn is a cover of Wild Thing, a song penned by Chip Taylor and first popularized in 1966 by British invasion outfit The Troggs, with completely re-written lyrics. It was included on the group’s November 1979 debut album Wolfgang Niedecken’s BAP rockt andere kölsche Leeder (Wolfgang Niedecken’s BAP rocks different Kölsch songs). Häng de Fahn eruss, a fun rock & roller, is an original song from Affjetaut (defrosted), which was the band’s second album that came out in 1980.

Long-running German TV music program Rockpalast produced a special broadcast that captures most of Niedeckens BAP’s concert at Sartory. It’s currently available on YouTube – not sure for how long. Needless to add I watched all of it and loved every minute. It may well be the closest for me to ever see the band live again!

As you might imagine, BAP have seen many changes over the decades. Co-founder and frontman Wolfgang Niedecken remains the only original member. While he has always been surrounded by great musicians, I think the band’s current line-up is their best. Apart from Niedecken (vocals, guitar), it features Ulrich Rode (guitar, banjo, mandolin, backing vocals), Michael Nass (keyboards, Hammond organ, backing vocals), Anne de Wolff (violin, cello, mandolin, lap steel, guitar, percussion, vocals), Werner Kopal (bass, backing vocals), Sönke Reich (drums), Axel Müller (saxophone, guitar), Benny Brown (trumpet) and Johannes Göltz (trombone).

Last but not least, if you like what you’ve heard, here’s a Spotify link to the album. As as BAP fan from Cologne might say, “dat ess affenjeil” (that’s frigging awesome)! 🙂

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and welcome to another installment of The Sunday Six. Once again, I’d like to invite you to join me on a trip into the amazing world of music. This time, there’s a little twist. All six stops are tunes by artists from Germany, including three sung in German. I hope this won’t deter you from boarding the time machine.

Klaus Graf Quartett/Nature Boy

Let’s kick off today’s trip with contemporary jazz by German alto saxophonist Klaus Graf and his band who are known as Klaus Graf Quartett. If you’re a frequent traveler on The Sunday Six, the name may ring a bell. I included them in a previous installment in October 2021. Borrowing from that post, according to Graf’s website, he started playing the clarinet at the age of 10 but soon thereafter switched to the alto saxophone. Graf found his true love for jazz as a 15-year-old after he had joined a youth music school big band. Following his studies of the saxophone at Cologne University of Music, he mainly played as a sideman in various German and international jazz bands. In 2002, he founded his own quartet and released his debut album Changes in Life. Klaus Graf Quartett is one of various music projects of Graf who also teaches jazz saxophone at Nuremberg University of Music. Nature Boy is a track off his 2007 album titled Moving On. At that time, his band featured Olaf Polziehn (piano), Uli Glaszmann (bass) and Meinhard Obi Jenne (drums). Ah, what a smooth sound!

Kraftwerk/Das Model

Our next stop is the first German-language tune: Das Model (the model) by electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk (power station). Admittedly, this type of music isn’t in my core wheelhouse, but given the group’s huge influence and significant popularity beyond Germany, I felt it was appropriate to include them. Kraftwerk were formed in Düsseldorf, West Germany in 1970 by Ralf Hütter (lead vocals, keyboards, various other instruments) and Florian Schneider (backing vocals, synthesizer, various other instruments). They began as part of West Germany’s experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines and vocoders. Das Model is a track off Kraftwerk’s seventh studio album Die Mensch-Maschine (the man-machine), released in May 1978. At that time, the band’s line-up apart from Hütter and Schneider also included Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür (both electronic drums). Kraftwerk still generates power to this day, with Hütter (now 76 years) remaining as the only original member. Schneider left in 2008 and passed away in April 2020 at the age of 73.

The Rattles/Come On And Sing

Time to pay a visit to the ’60s and, nope, it’s not Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand by The Beatles though it’s beat music, by The Rattles. They were formed in 1960 in Hamburg by Achim Reichel (vocals, guitar), Volker Reinhold (guitar, vocals), Herbert Hildebrandt (bass, vocals) and Dieter Sadlowsky (drums). In 1962, The Rattles on several occasions performed at the same venues in Hamburg as The Beatles, including the famous Star-Club. The band’s 1965 single La La La was their first to chart in Germany, reaching no. 19. The Witch, released in 1970, was their biggest hit, climbing to no. 4 in Germany, no. 8 in the UK and no. 20 in Austria. It even made the U.S. charts, reaching no. 79. The Rattles rattle to this day and still feature their original bassist Hildebrandt. They have various upcoming gigs in Germany in April, June and September. Here’s Come On And Sing, a tune they released in 1966 – not bad!

Niedeckens BAP/Mittlerweile Josephine

No post about German music artists can exclude my all-time favorite band singing in German, more precisely in Kölsch, the regional dialect spoken in the area of Cologne. Niedeckens BAP, formerly known as BAP, are a band around German singer-songwriter Wolfgang Niedecken, founded in Cologne in 1976. Since September 2014, following the departure of two longtime members, the band has performed as Niedeckens BAP. At the time, a seemingly somewhat frustrated Niedecken also declared the group would no longer have a standing line-up. That being said, the core members have remained the same since then: Ulrich Rode (lead guitar), Anne de Wolff (multi-instrumentalist), Werner Kopal (bass), Michael Nass (keyboards) and Sönke Reich (drums). Mittlerweile Josephine (now Josephine) is off the group’s 18th and most recent studio album Alles Fliesst (everything is groovy), which appeared in September 2020. In this ballad, Niedecken reminisces about one of his daughters, Josi, who has since become Josephine, a young woman. I love this tune!

Scorpions/Someone to Touch

Scorpions are among Germany’s bands who are also well known beyond their home country’s borders. This next tune takes us to September 1993 and the rock and pop metal band’s 12th studio album Face the Heat. At that time, Scorpions were in their 28th year since their founding by guitarist Rudolf Schenker in Hanover in 1965. The remaining lineup on the album featured Klaus Meine (lead vocals), Matthias Jabs (lead guitar), Ralph Rieckermann (bass) and Herman Rarebell (drums). After five non-charting albums, Scorpions broke through with Lovedrive in February 1979. They entered my radar screen with Love at First Sting, released in March 1984. Featuring multiple hits, such as Rock You Like a Hurricane, Still Loving You and Big City Nights, their ninth studio album became a major success in Germany (no. 6), as well as many other countries, including France (no. 4), Switzerland (no. 9), the UK (no. 17) and the U.S. (no. 6), among others. Someone to Touch, co-written by Schenker, Meine and Mark Hudson, is a track from the aforementioned Face the Heat. Scorpions continue to rock, with Schenker, Meine and Jabs remaining part of the present line-up.

Ideal/Blaue Augen

And once again, it’s time to wrap things up. Our last stop on this trip is the year 1980 and the eponymous debut album by Ideal, a band from West Berlin that was part of what became known in Germany as Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave). This music genre was a German version of punk and new wave that emerged during the second half of the ’70s. It reached peak popularity in the early ’80s when seemingly every day, new German music artists and bands seemed to pop up. Ideal were founded in the spring of 1980 by Annette Humpe (lead vocals, keyboards), Frank Jürgen Krüger (guitar, vocals), Ernst Ulrich Deuker (bass) and Hans-Joachim Behrendt (drums). After three years and three studio albums, Ideal called it quits. Here’s Blaue Augen (blue eyes), one of their best-known songs penned by Humpe. I always liked the tune’s cool grove, especially the bass part.

This post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist featuring the above tracks. As always, I hope there’s something that tickles your fancy.

Sources: Wikipedia; Klaus Graf website; YouTube; Spotify

German Rock Staple Niedeckens BAP Continue to Deliver on New Album Alles Fliesst

Every now and then, I like to feature German language rock and pop music, an acknowledgement of my German roots and the country where I was born and grew up. In this context, the act that always comes to my mind first are Niedeckens BAP. The band’s new studio album Alles Fliesst (everything is groovy), which was released yesterday, September 18, certainly provides a nice occasion to do another post on my favorite German band for now close to 4o years.

Simply known as BAP for most of their career, the band around singer-songwriter Wolfgang Niedecken was founded in the West German city of Cologne in 1976. While there have seen many line-up changes, as you’d expect over such a long period, two things have stayed the same: band leader Niedecken who remains their lyricist, lead vocalist and only original member, and the fact they perform their songs in Kölsch, the regional dialect spoken in the area of Cologne.

Niedeckens BAP at Castle Studios, Schloss Röhrsdorf, Dresden, Germany

Since September 2014, following the departure of two longtime members, the band has performed as Niedeckens BAP. At the time, a seemingly somewhat frustrated Niedecken also declared the group would not longer have a standing line-up. That being said, the core members have remained the same since then: Ulrich Rode (lead guitar), Anne de Wolff (multi-instrumentalist), Werner Kopal (bass), Michael Nass (keyboards) and Sönke Reich (drums). You can read more about their previous music here.

Alles Fliesst is Niedeckens BAP’s 20th studio album. While overall I think it’s fair to say it doesn’t break much new ground, that’s just fine with me. Sometimes you don’t want things to change that don’t need to change. A few songs had been released as singles leading up to the album. Two of these tracks, Volle Kraft voraus (full steam ahead) and Ruhe vor’m Sturm (calm before the storm), I already covered in previous installments of my Best of What’s New music feature here and here, so I’m going to skip them in this post. Let’s kick things off with the nice rocker Jeisterfahrer (ghost driver). The title is a symbol for populist politicians and demagogues spreading dangerous misinformation and ideas. Sadly, this sounds all too familiar.

One of my early favorites is the lovely ballad Mittlerweile Josephine (now Josephine). It’s named after one of Niedecken’s daughters he apparently used to call Josie when she was a young girl. “Actually, the song is for both of my daughters,” he told news agency Spot on News, as published by German regional paper Stuttgarter Zeitung. “But you have to decide how to name it. My younger one is called Joana-Josephine, and the older one is Isis-Maria. Our guitarist wrote the tune and sent me a demo. It included the name Rosie. As I was listening to it, I thought it could also be called Josie.” Here’s the official video.

Amelie, ab dofür (not quite sure how to translate this) is another nice rocker. The lyrics are about a guy who wants to get to Amelie but is stuck in traffic. More generally, the song deals with everyday stress life can throw at you – not sure it has any deeper meaning, but won’t get sleepless nights over it! Apart from bluesy guitar work, the great music features nice horn accents by Axel Müller (saxophone), Christoph Moschberger (trumpet) and Johannes Goltz (trombone).

Jenau jesaat: Op Odyssee (specifically put, an odyssey) looks back on the band’s 40-year-plus history from humble beginnings in local bars to playing the German Rockpalast music festival in the ’80s that was broadcast throughout Europe and put BAP on the map more broadly. “The song deals with our beginnings when we were surprised that suddenly we were supposed to play outside of Cologne,” Niedecken explained during the above interview…’They don’t speak Kölsch, how is this going to work?’…Specifically put, we didn’t go on tour but on an odyssey to unknown regions.” Things worked out quite well for BAP, though their popularity has largely remained confined to Germany and neighboring countries where folks understand German.

Let’s do one more: Huh die Jläser, huh die Tasse (let’s raise our glasses and cups), a song that had been written last last year, was released in connection with Niedecken’s 69th birthday on March 30. Initially, he had planned to throw a party on a boat to celebrate the happy occasion, but that didn’t happen because of COVID-19. Instead, in a surprising move, Niedeckens BAP put out this track to celebrate first responders and others who have helped keep things going during the pandemic. “Huh die Jläser, huh die Tasse is a happy reggae to express our gratitude to people who provide social services in a broader sense, as professionals or as volunteers, and who oftentimes are underpaid and under-recognized in our society,” Niedecken stated at the time, as reported by the German edition of Rolling Stone. “These are the same people who are now saving our butts.”

According to the band’s website, the first takes for the album were recorded live in studio at a facility close to the Eastern German town of Dresden. The album was completed in Hamburg. Alles Fliesst was co-produced by Rode and de Wolff who also composed most of the music. As always, all lyrics were written by Niedecken.

Alles Fliesst is available in standard CD and vinyl formats. There is also a deluxe edition, which apart from the 14 tracks on the standard version features a studio outtake and live versions of nine tracks that were not included on the band’s last live album Live & Deutlich (live and clear) from November 2018. I previously covered it here.

Apparently, in November 2018, Niedeckens BAP became the band with the most no. 1 hits in the German albums chart with the above noted Live & Deutlich. This broke the previous record that had been held by The Beatles.

Sources: Niedeckens BAP website; Spot On News/Stuttgarter Zeitung; Rolling Stone (German edition); YouTube

Best of What’s New

I suppose by now folks who frequently check out my blog won’t be surprised that another Friday brings another installment of Best of What’s New. For first-time visitors, the weekly recurring feature highlights new music I dig, which was released over the past two to three months. Since most of my blog focuses on the ’60s and ’70s, I try to include as many young artists in these posts as I can find. In most cases, it ends up being a mix of young and established acts.

This week’s batch includes a nice solo debut by a young female African-American artist you may know as the drummer of a great band from Memphis, as well as songs by my favorite German-singing rock band, one of “Nova Scotia’s busiest singer-songwriters” and somebody you may still remember from the ’80s, though he was performing under a different name back then. Let’s get cooking!

Tikyra Jackson/No More Fear

If you follow my blog, chances are you’ve seen some of my posts about Southern Avenue, a great band from Memphis, Tenn., blending traditional blues and soul with elements of contemporary R&B. Tikyra Jackson is the band’s drummer and backing vocalist. It turns out she’s also a pretty talented multi-instrumentalist who just released her solo debut single No More Fear on August 12. Apparently, the effort was driven by Jackson’s reflections on the recent murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Southern Avenue’s current pause from touring due to COVID-19. “I have a responsibility as a young, African-American and also as a woman to use my voice and platform to amplify the message that we are not going to tolerate inequality,” Jackson told American Songwriter. “I had a moment to breathe and be with myself,” she added. “Before Quarantine, it was just the road. But to be able to take a break and feel my emotions and cry has been a beautiful thing.” No word yet whether Jackon’s ultimate ambitions are an entire album. For now, here’s her funky debut single.

Niedeckens BAP/Volle Kraft voraus

Volle Kraft voraus (full steam ahead) is the fourth and latest upfront single from Alles Fliesst (everything is groovy), the new album by German rock band Niedeckens BAP’s, scheduled for September 18. Since about 1980, the group from Cologne around singer-songwriter Wolfgang Niedecken, founded in 1976 and for many years simply known as BAP, has been my favorite band singing in German. More specifically, they perform their songs in Kölsch, the regional dialect spoken in the area of Cologne. Not surprisingly, I’ve covered them here and on various other previous occasions. Released August 13, Volle Kraft voraus was written by the band’s guitarist Ulrich Rode with lyrics by Niedecken. The tune could work as a picker upper that’s badly needed in these corona times, writes Niedecken on the band’s website: “Try to remember what happiness feels like!” No nostalgia but more something like self-therapy.

Guy Paul Thibault/Shipwrecked

According to his website, Guy Paul Thibault is one of Nova Scotia’s busiest singer songwriters. He is loved by audiences for his marathon shows, his stories and his knowledge of the history behind the songs he performs. He performs both his originals and fan favourites from every genre and era…Guy Paul is proud to be able to write, record, mix, master and produce all his music from his hometown of Cole Harbour Nova Scotia. His album “The Road Between” was awarded International Album of the Year 2019 from the International Singer Songwriters Association (ISSA)…Guy Paul has continued his busy pace as a recording songwriter, releasing a continuous stream of singles and new songs in 2020. His most recent one is Shipwrecked, a nice ballad that came out on July 15.

Sananda Maitreya/The MadHouse

When I listened to The MadHouse for the first time earlier today, I immediately thought the voice of Sananda Maitreya sounds very similar to Terence Trent D’Arby whose 1987 debut album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby was a huge success in Germany and many other countries. That’s because Maitreya and D’Arby are one and the same person! Following his successful debut, D’Arby released three additional records that each performed poorer than their predecessor. By time his fifth album appeared in 2001, he had changed his stage name to Sananda Maitreya, though the record appeared under the name Terence Trent D’Arby/Sananda Maitreya – probably a deliberate transition move. Since 2005, all of his albums have been released under the name Sananda Maitreya. “Terence Trent D’Arby was dead,” Maitreya explained to The New Yorker in June 2013. “He watched his suffering as he died a noble death. After intense pain I meditated for a new spirit, a new will, a new identity.” This new identity continues to this day and his latest single The MadHouse, which came out on July 3. Frankly, D’Arby had completely fallen off my radar screen many moons ago, and I’ve no idea about any of his music he released between his debut and this latest song. But I know one thing: Maitreya’s voice still sounds pretty soulful and that tune’s got a nice funky groove!

Sources: Wikipedia; American Songwriter; BAP website; Guy Paul Thibault website; The New Yorker; YouTube

Clips & Pix: Niedeckens BAP/Halv Su Wild

These days, the U.S. is going through so much pain and despair. It truly feels like unprecedented times, at least to me. While it’s important to acknowledge the two epidemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism and hold those who call themselves leaders responsible, I also believe it’s critical never to lose hope. Never to give up.

One of the many beautiful things music can do is to help lift our spirits. Here’s a great picker upper from my favorite German rock band BAP or Niedeckens BAP, as they have been known since September 2014: Halv su wild (things aren’t as bad). The title track from their 16th studio album released in March 2011 has cheered me up more than once when I felt down.

Like all of the band’s lyrics, the words were written by founder Wolfgang Niedecken. The music of this particular tune was composed by him and his main songwriting partner at the time, former lead guitarist Helmut Krumminga.

The above clip is from a concert that was part of a tour to celebrate BAP’s 40th anniversary, which I was fortunate to attend during a visit to Germany in June 2016. The line-up featured Krumminga’s excellent successor Ulrich Rode.

Of course, I realize most readers don’t understand German – not to speak of Kölsch, the regional dialect in which Niedeckens performs the songs, and that is spoken in the area of Cologne. Following is a rough translation. Admittedly, it sounds much better in Kölsch, but I hope you get the point!

Hey what’s going on, don’t tell me you’ve given up.You’re right things are tough, but no matter what happens, the sun is rising, even though the night seems to be endless. Trust in what the new day brings before you’re consumed by self-doubt.

Things aren’t as bad, just wait and you will see. Definitely, things aren’t as bad, it’s gonna work out. Believe me, things aren’t as bad, no matter how much you despair. The world won’t come to an end. Things aren’t as bad.

Hey man, stop now, you will see land again. Don’t have doubts, you know what you can do. Don’t hide behind a wall, no, you have to get out. Sure, it’s a shitty situation, but, hey, shit happens!

Things aren’t as bad, just wait and you will see. Definitely, things aren’t as bad, it’s gonna work out. Believe me things aren’t as bad, no matter how much you despair. The world won’t come to an end. Things aren’t as bad.

The person who manages to take away our joy to live still needs to be born. It’s not a problem…no, it’s really not.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

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

My Playlist: BAP

While in the U.S. and other countries Rammstein, Scorpions and Kraftwerk may be the best known German bands, Germany has much more to offer. A great example is BAP, a band that has been popular there for 40-plus years but isn’t known much beyond Germany and some of its immediate neighbor countries. They also happen to be one of my long-time favorite German rock bands. BTW, I also like the Scorpions. Since unlike the English-singing German hard rockers BAP performs most of their songs in a German dialect, I’m under no illusion that winning over non-German speaking readers is likely going to be a long shot at best. Nevertheless, I decided to put together this post and playlist, if only to prove that German contemporary music is more than heavy rock and electronic music.

The origins of BAP go back to 1976, when singer-songwriter Wolfgang Niedecken formed an acoustic trio with guitarist Hans Heres and percussionist Afro Bauermann, and they started playing in the West German city of Cologne. Prior to that, Niedecken already had gained some local prominence as a solo artist performing Bob Dylan songs and as a painter. Dylan is one of his key music influences, along with Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. In fact, Niedecken is friends with the Boss who occasionally has invited him on stage to play a song during Springsteen gigs in Germany.

BAP in the early ’80s (from left): Wolfgang Boecker (drums), Manfred Boecker (percussion), Steve Borg (bass, cello), Wolfgang Niedecken (guitar, vocals), Klaus Heuser (guitar, vocals), Alexander Büchel (keyboards) and Hans Wollrath (sound engineer)

In November 1979, the band that by then had grown to a six-piece recorded their debut studio album Wolfgang Niedecken’s BAP rockt andere kölsche Leeder. In English this means something like “Wolfgang Niedecken’s BAP rocks other Kölsch songs.” The remainder of this post includes rough translations of song and album titles in parentheses. Kölsch is a German dialect spoken in the city of Cologne and surrounding areas. To this day, most BAP songs are performed in that dialect, with band leader and lead vocalist Niedecken remaining as the only original member. As somebody who grew up not far from Cologne, I can’t deny this dialect sounds charming to me and has a certain sentimental value.

Starting with their third studio album für usszeschnigge! (to cut out) from 1981, the band shortened their name from Wolfgang Niedecken’s BAP to just BAP. “Bap,” which is derived from the word “papa” (as in Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach) was the nickname for Niedecken, who used to call his father that way. The band, which went through various line-up changes over the decades, kept the name BAP until two long-time members Jürgen Zöller (drums) and Helmut Krumminga (lead guitar) left in September 2014. Following their departure, out what appears to be some frustration over yet another line-up change, Niedecken announced that going forward the band would perform under the name Niedeckens BAP and no longer have a standing line-up.

BAP in 2016 (from left): Wolfgang Niedecken (guitar, vocals), Werner Kopal (bass), Anne De Wolff (multi-instrumentalist), Ulrich Rode (lead guitar), Michael Nass (keyboards) and Sönke Reich (drums)

To date BAP have released 17 studio albums, seven live records and three compilations. With more than 5.9 million records sold and eleven no. 1 and 19 top 10 albums, BAP is one of the most successful German language rock bands. After their breakthrough album für usszeschnigge! from October 1981, BAP started touring throughout Germany. Eventually, they expanded to other European countries, including Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg. In October 1987, they even went to China, playing eight dates there. Niedecken who is politically active has also performed in Nicaragua and Mozambique. Yet BAP haven’t gained a footprint beyond the above European countries, which is likely due to the language barrier. Time for some music!

The first tune I’d like to highlight is Helfe Kann Dir Keiner (nobody can help you) from BAP’s second studio album Affjetaut (defrosted). Niedecken writes all of BAP’s lyrics. Sometimes, he has taken songs written by others, such as Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone or Death Of A Clown by The Kink’s Dave Davies and his brother Ray Davies, and translated/adapted them to Kölsch. The music is often written or co-written by other band members, in this case guitarist Klaus Heuser, who frequently assumed that role during his 19-year tenure with BAP.

Verdamp Lang Her (it’s been a long time) is one of BAP’s best known songs and remains a crowd pleaser during live shows to this day. Another Heuser/Niedecken co-write, the tune was first recorded by the band for their above mentioned studio release für usszeschnigge! The opening chord progression is the same as for Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. Given Dylan’s influence on Niedecken, this may not be a coincidence, though I don’t know.

Next up: Alexandra, Nit Nur Do (Alexandra, you’re not the only one). Credited to Niedecken (lyrics) and BAP (music), the tune appeared on the band’s fifth studio album Zwesche Salzjebäck un Bier (between salt pretzels and beer), which appeared in May 1983.

In August 1989, BAP released their seventh studio record Da Capo. It was the first with Jürgen Zöller who replaced Pete King on drums, following his untimely death from cancer in 1987. Here is the great opener Stadt Im Niemandsland (city in no man’s land), which was co-written by Niedecken and Heuser. Check out the nice double lead guitar lines, which are bit reminiscent of Boston.

Amerika (America), another Niedecken/Heuser co-write, is the title track of BAP’s 10th studio release from August 1996. The song describes the impressions of a child witnessing the liberation of Nazi Germany by the Americans after the end of World War II. To give you a flavor, here’s a translated excerpt: So that’s how they look/check it out, there’s also a black guy among them/Look at the fellow on the tank, he’s eighteen at the most, and he liberated us/They warned us about them/Why did we believe all this crap?/These guys have been through so much/walking through mines from the [English] Channel all the way to here/It’s now nighttime where they are coming from/They are still sleeping there across the ocean/They have buildings higher than the dome [of Cologne]/ There’s jazz on the radio all day long…

The follow-on album to Amerika was Comics & Pin-Ups from January 1990. Here is the official video of Lena, a song co-written by Jens Streifling (horns, guitar) and Niedecken.

By the time BAP released their 13th studio album Aff Un Zo (every now and then) in June 2001, long-time members Klaus Heuser (guitar) and Alexander Büchel (keyboards) had left and been replaced by Helmut Krumminga and Michael Nass, respectively. Especially the departure of Heuser, who had been instrumental in writing the music for many of the band’s best known songs, marked the end of an era. But his successor, who like Heuser is a talented guitarist, quickly established himself and helped shape BAP’s sound for the next 15 years. In case you didn’t think Germans could play reggae, here’s the record’s title track.

In May 2008, Radio Pandora appeared. BAP’s 16th studio album was a major release featuring a plugged and an unplugged version. Eight of the 14 tracks on each record were different versions of the same songs, while the remaining six tunes were entirely different. Here’s a cool blues rocker from the plugged edition called Diego Paz Wohr Nüngzehn (Diego Paz was nineteen). It would make a good ZZ Top tune!

Another title track I’d like to highlight is Halv Su Wild (not a big deal). Co-written by Krumminga and Niedecken, the song appeared on BAP’s 17th studio album, the last featuring the guitarist and the band’s long-time ace drummer Jürgen Zöller. Here’s a nice live clip of the catchy rock song.

The last tune I want to highlight is from the band’s most recent 18th studio album  Lebenslänglich, (sentenced to life), which came out in January 2016. Released as Niedeckens BAP, the record features Ulrich Rode as replacement for Krumminga.  Sönke Reich took over on drums for Zöller. As noted on BAP’s official website, the 35-year-old from the Northern German city of Hamburg is the only member who is younger than the band. Here’s a live clip of Dä Herrjott Meint Et Joot Met Mir (god has been good to me).

In March 2016, during a short trip to Germany, I had a chance to catch BAP in the Bavarian town of Neu-Ulm during their 40th anniversary tour. With the departure of Krumminga and Zöller, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a great show. BAP continues to rock on. Niedecken, who turned 67 in March, had a stroke in November 2011 from which he fully recovered. In addition to him, Rode and Reich, the band’s current line-up includes Werner Kopal (bass), Anne De Wolff (multi-instrumentalist) and Michael Nass (keyboards). The band is currently on a 2018 tour, which is mostly focused on Germany.

Sources: Wikipedia, BAP official website, YouTube