Customer Reviews

Baader Meinhof

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the intent of the Amazon reviewer is in the right place, his lyrical analysis is a bit off. "Happy Birthday Anna, you're 29 years old" is not a reference to a delusinal terrorist, but the actual inscription on the cake of a flight attendant during the notorious Mogadishu hi-jacking.

Finally, singer/songwriter Luke Haines has found a good reason to sound angry. I never beleived he was as p****d as he pretended to be on The Auteurs 3rd album, After Murder Park, especially considering how lighthearted and whimsical those first two Auteurs albums were. With Baader Meinhoff, however, skilled songwriter Haines has some concrete subject matter to sink his teeth into. The songs, roughly based on that infamous German terrorist organization, are downright creepy. The use of traditional Middle-Eastern instrumentation combined with electric guitar, funky keyboards, and raspy vocals make this a wonderfully disturbing rock album.

Although Luke Haines got a name for himself with his albums with the Auteurs, this record is totally distinct in its sound. While containing Haines' usual malevolence, here it is surrounded by wailing shots of noise, clattering percussion, menacing strings and funked-up bass, combined with buzzing electro synths, all nevertheless very sparse, making the sudden interjections of instruments even more invasive. Although the album milks pretty much the same sound all the way through, it's such an inventive and unique one that this works. Treading the line with his lyrics about terrorism between mocking and almost condoning, it's Haines at his most provocative.

Every track is consistent, with strong melodies and lyrics, but the album's highlight is probably 'There's Gonna Be An Accident', which is the closest the album gets to an upbeat, accessible track, with its groove-based sound and menacing lyrics ('driving around on vodka and aspirin/you're gonna wake up in casualty'). Also excellent are both versions of the title track: the first angular and disjointed, the second more rhythmic and acoustic; the brief but incendiary 'Burn Warehouse Burn', and the interesting 'Back On The Farm', which shifts finds a strange wistfulness in its aching chord progression without losing any of the album's trademark intensity. The lyrical references are all incredibly obscure, but you have to hand it to Haines: it's pretty clever, as total provocatism goes.

This was the my album of the year when it came out in '97. Now, seven years later, it's equally as impressive. In fact, it might just be the best album of the last seven years. It's both sinister and seductive, and that tension makes it utterly listenable.

Twisted, dark but brilliant. Most people will hate this but its a damn fine record. Not as good as an Auteurs record, but good nevertheless.

Just buy it comrades! It will rock you like an earthquake =

This is a great album.. I like it better than any of the Auteurs stuff. It does the Baader Meinhof Group justice... It's cool yet dangerous sounding. "there's going to be an accident" is my favorite song.. the title tracks (both of them) are excellent too. It's a little too short but that's what makes it never boring... Haynes did an excellent job! "...We got to get armed and we got to get wise...."

It's universal knowledge by all pretentious critics that Luke Haines is a clever songwriter. The Autuers and Black Box Recorder are highly justifible evidence of his inginuity and refreshing lyricism. But a concept album??? Those are always hard to pull off. But if any candidate was qualified for the job, Luke Haines gets my support. What? A concept geared toward educating us innocent bystanders about the protest movement against marxism in 1960's Germany? Well this I gotta see!

So here's the deal. Baader Meinhof is not your average fanfare. It's an intoxicating blend of fuzz, cheese, and persnickityness, all wrapped up in a groove that floats accross a 1/2 an hour soundscape with little falter. It's hard to explain. There's something I love about this album. Perhaps the instrumental structure tells a story within itself. The cheezy sounds of garage funk reprezents the oppressed protesters, whereas the elegant strings that accompany many of the songs reprezents the snooty demeanor of the marxist movement. Is Luke Haines suggesting that the two could easily live in harmony such as the songs on this album? Or is he recreating the conflict of interest in 1960's Germany with a musical endeavor seldom concocted and never duplicated? Or am I needlessly disecting into this? Can someone say choice 3? Will you enjoy this? Only if your not afraid of what your friends think. Screw them anyway! You always had better taste than them!