Jetzt Geht's Ab [Import]

Die Fantastischen Vier | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 26, 1991)
• Original Release Date: 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000ASDM
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #603,500 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zehr gut!, July 16, 2001

By 

Alan Strang "chimero" (Salisbury, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jetzt Geht's Ab (Audio CD)

This disc is just sooooo funky. Who'd have thought that Germany could give us such a great rap group? Excellent cuts and scratches like the good old days of rap. The only reason this disc gets 4 not 5 stars, is that I have no idea whether the lyrics are any good! Try it, you just might like it! (It's great if only to hear Darth Vader sampled in German!)

3.0 out of 5 stars The Crazniness is there, but it's a little rough, September 5, 2003

By 

3rdeadly3rd (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jetzt Geht's Ab (Audio CD)

Die Fantastischen Vier are one of Germany's premier hip-hop acts. Over their career (more than a decade and still going strong), they've never failed to be inventive and push the boundaries of their medium and their language. "Jetzt Geht's Ab" is their debut release from 1991.

Listening to this release, it's possible to imagine that these four MCs (two of them full-time MCs, the other two primarily involved in the production side of things) were bound for greatness. What you can't see is exactly how great they would become on just their second album - the masterpiece of "Vier Gewinnt".

"Jetzt Geht's Ab" is a competent album, but only really an average performance at best. The performers clearly had talent even all the way back in '91 but they hadn't quite worked out how to use it. As a result, the album has flashes of brilliance but these aren't as frequent as they should be.
One clear standout track is the title track, the first single these guys released. Over a very old-school beat, Smudo and Thomas D introduce the band via a series of tongue-twisting lyrics.

Ultimately, however, there is too much "stuff" on the album. Lyrically, tracks like "Jetzt Passt Auf" are quite strong - and this comes from a German-speaker - but so many tracks are just interludes and little experiments that they pull the rest of the album down with them.

Another interesting pair of tracks are "Zerkratzt" (scratched) and "Mikrofonprofessor" (microphone professor - Smudo's alter ego). The first of these tracks is an interlude which begins with a sample bearing an uncanny resemblance to Booker T and the MGs' "Green Onions" only played on synthesisers. The sound jumps in and out and eventually a voice is heard declaring "Ich will diese Schalplatte nicht kaufen, sie ist zerkratzt." The translation of this line is "I will not buy this record, it is scratched" and it is at this point that the listener realises that it's a sample of the German "Monty Python" - specifically the "Hungarian Phrasebook" sketch.
"Mikrofonprofessor" then appears, delivered over the same beat only without the deliberate faults. Smudo uses a particularly odd rhyme pattern here, one which is worth a listen.

Overall, the only real reason to purchase this album is to see what Die Fantastischen Vier were like before they cracked the big time via their second album. Old school hip-hop fans might find it interesting in passing, but only very vaguely.