German rock at its greatest! (Don't Call Me Names - Guano Apes)

Name: drown_doll

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Product:	Don't Call Me Names - Guano Apes
Date:	02/03/04 (116 review reads)
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For those of you who don't already know, Guano Apes are one of the most successful and talented German bands of the last few years, which is probably not something that's difficult to achieve. What competition have they got? Well, Rammstein I guess. They have harsh songs with disgusting lyrics, but most of these songs have been banned completely - not that the majority of Brits would understand them anyway, as they sing in German. Guano Apes on the other hand write about things which are not so controversial and they sing in English and are therefore a lot more open to the English audience.

They are:

Sandra Nasic - singer
Dennis Poschwatte - drums
Stefan Ude - bass
Henning Rümenapp - guitar

Don't Give Me Names was released in May last year in Europe and immediately received a great response from most countries. This is their follow-up to Proud Like A God from 1997 (German release) and 1999 in US. There are two versions of this album, track listings as follows:

Album Version:

01. Innocent Greed
02. No Speech
03. Big In Japan
04. Money & Milk
05. Living In A Lie
06. Dödel Up
07. I Want It
08. Heaven
09. Mine All Mine
10. Too Close To Leave
11. Gogan
12. Anne Claire

Special Digi-pack Version also includes:

13. Ain't Got Time
14. Living In A Lie unplugged
15. Anne Claire unplugged

There are also multimedia sections featured on the CDs.

All of the tracks have strong, powerful lyrics. This album, according to music critics, has a Skunk Anansie. My thoughts on this is that they say this because Sandra sings. She has a strong voice like Skin and the music is quite heavy in comparison to most other female-fronted bands. It's a good comparison to be honest, although not very true. In my opinion, Skin has one of the best voices I have ever heard, except for Sandra's. Live she is still able to reac
h high notes and keep in tune whilst jumping around everywhere and getting hot and sweaty.

One of the standout tracks on the album is 'Big In Japan' which is actually written and released by Alphaville - 80's pop sensations. Guano Apes have made the song tolerable, which says a lot as the original is terrible! They have added great riffs and Sandra manages to merge her voice and the lyrics to achieve something almost perfect. This could be said for most of the other songs on the album.

Innocent Greed is an excellent opener - great riffs, great lyrics and it makes you want to carry on listening and obviously that is exactly what they want to do. No Speech carries on the feeling of this need and desire for the Guano Apes; the lyrics are full of feeling 'Too late to defend, I?m buried - insane'. It is followed by Big In Japan.

Anyway, I really hope that this review has somewhat persuaded you to go out and buy the album. Proud Like A God is available in shops over here now too. It's been very difficult to write this opinion, as summing them up in so few words is near impossible. Without hearing them it is with real difficulty that anyone can understand how amazing they are, hence the fact that I will end this opinion here. No Speech.

I wrote this review a while ago for Ciao (as Vikstar), but have now decided to put it on here to share it with you all. They have unfortunately now split up and so you will not get the chance to see them live...but buy the album, it's the next best thing!!!


Thanks for reading xxx

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