Showtime

Nitzer Ebb | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 7, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Gold Line Sp.
• ASIN: B000000OZJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,853 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #32 in Music > Alternative Rock > Goth & Industrial > Industrial > Industrial Dance

Track Listings

1. Getting Closer

2. Nobody Knows

3. One Man's Burden

4. All Over

5. My Heart

6. Lightning Man

7. Rope

8. Hold On

9. Fun to Be Had

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Muscle and want, April 25, 2000

By 

loteq (Regensburg/Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Showtime (Audio CD)

A transitional album from the downtempo torture of "Belief" to the electro-rock of "Ebbhead", "Showtime" builds on the relentless machine beats of NE's earlier work while the slick production rounds off NE's legendary hard edge. Although it starts with the much promising, aggressive "Getting closer" (one of my favorite NE tracks), this album is a bit tame and laid back. It's truly NE's most accessible and moderate album, but sometimes it becomes rather dull and sounds like Depeche Mode without melody. However, Douglas' best vocal performance ever enlivenes the fiercely minimalistic arrangements and makes the whole affair surprisingly listenable. Other interesting tracks apart from the great "Getting closer" are "My heart", "Lightning man" with its strange oboe refrain, and the single "Fun to be had". "Showtime" is a good introduction to NE's work for the unexperienced listener, but "Ebbhead" offers a greater variety of styles and "That total age" is more original and powerful.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ebb's Most Popular Effort, March 3, 2004

By 

SandmanVI (Glen Allen, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Showtime (Audio CD)

This was the pinnacle for Nitzer Ebb coming at the end of the 80's. They had received underground hype from the past album and this would be their breakout with 3 singles that had reasonable success in the alternative scene... enough success that they were invited to tour with Depeche Mode in fact.

The album leads off with the best & hardest song they ever wrote, the aggro "Getting Closer". It started with bleeps and noises growing into an all-out assault with a super fast tempo, shouted vox and hammering drum machine beats. It contained the anti-conformist chant, "I know what you buy... and I'm not selling!" The next single was the highly original "Lightning Man", maybe the most interesting song they ever did. LM was basically straight EBM at its heart but it left behind the shouting for mostly spoken vocals and it featured a bassoon melody (or maybe it's an oboe) than is very foreign in industrial or any rock music for that matter - very cool effect for sure. "Fun to Be Had" was the 3rd and final single fitting more into the basic EBM category. The funny thing is that there is a 12" that has multiple mixes of all 3 of these songs; rare to find something like this that contains all of the main songs from an album... good luck finding it.

The downside of this recording is that some of the non-singles are filler material. However, the high points make it more than worth owning. Is it essential industrial music? It might be. Strongly recommend Cubanate for all Ebb fans.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Nitzer Ebb CD, October 23, 2003

By 

S. Benson "Neve2004" (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Showtime (Audio CD)

This was the first NE release that I felt they were stepping outside themselves and growing as a band and it showed with great songs like "Getting Closer", "Lightning Man" and "Fun to be Had".

This CD may only have three big dance floor hits (listed above) but on a personal level I really enjoyed this release with other great songs like "Rope", "Nobody Knows" and "My Heart".

As usual McCarthy does great on vocals, with his trademark NE sound. For those not familiar with Nitzer Ebb I think this CD might be the most accessible and if you like this one I would highly recommend you also check out "Belief" and "That Total Age".

As a DJ this is another must have...