Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
CD Description
A Zang Tuum Tumb compact compilation containing noise-shots from the records A Secret Wish, Wishful Thinking, Duel, Do Well, P:Machinery, the Nine Lives of Dr Mabuse and Propaganda s studio sessions during the years spent taping at Sarm Studios, 1983 to 1986.... In other words: The best of the highly influential Propaganda on ZTT; classics and rarities from a band once described as 'Abba from hell', although they are much more interesting than that rather glib tag implies. They were a Düsseldorf band, and with hindsight you can see them as the halfway point between the city s most famous sons, Kraftwerk, and the common European language of techno-pop that flourished in Ralf and Florian s wake. Ralf Dörper, a bank employee, music writer and member of Düsseldorf industrial-electronic band Die Krupps, founded Propaganda with part-time DJ Andreas Thein and jeweller-goldsmith Susanne Freytag. None was a musician in the conventional sense but they made a demo version of Discipline by Throbbing Gristle which found its way to NME writer Paul Morley (then in the process of setting up ZTT with Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair),who signed them. Horn discovered he had a great facility with Propaganda s mixture of beautiful and sinister, but by 1984 Frankie Goes To Hollywood were consuming all of his time. It was therefore decided that Propaganda (now expanded to include Michael Mertens and Claudia Brücken) would be produced by Horn s engineer Steve Lipson and with Lipson at the controls A Secret Wish became perhaps ZTT s best-realised album and one that has grown in stature ever since. 'I loved that album,' says Horn. 'And a lot of other people loved it too. ' Quincy Jones called Horn, wanting to license A Secret Wish for America. Horn kept him on the phone for an hour talking about Jones s work with Frank Sinatra. And if you listen to Michael Jackson around that time, Horn says, He started to sound a lot like Propaganda. A lot of industrial sounds...
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Caramba!
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the third Salvo release of Propaganda material, and at an incredibly good price it boasts nine previously unreleased tracks as well as a handful that have never made it to CD before. Titled as a 'compact introduction', it does that job very well as it mixes cuts from 'A Secret WIsh', 'Wishful Thinking' and the cassingle 'Do Well' along with rare 12" and 7" mixes, but for the fans this will be the opportunity to get closer to completion in collecting all of the enormous ZTT archive of this fantastic band's music from those brief years in the 80s.
The beautiful cover of Nico and Velvet Underground's 'Femme Fatale', originally the b-side to the Dr. Mabuse single, finally makes it onto CD in three different versions - the original mix, an instrumental, and an accapella outtake. Brucken's voice is perfect for this as she takes the tender and the tough moments easily in her stride. Probably Propaganda's most romantic recording.
More mixes of 'Mabuse' see the light of day including the video mix and the ninth life 12" mixes which most of us have wanted for a very long time. Great to hear these in crisp clarity on CD at last!
"Duel' is revealed as 'thirds' which is actually the 'Top of the Pops' mix which was used for their only appearance on that show, and it's basically a shortened and slightly remixed cut of the album version. But a nice cut to have nevertheless.
The majestic sturm und drang of 'P-machinery' is in its big beta form, but with the addition of a short but beguiling alpha mix which hints at an intriguing new direction the track could have explored. Perhaps there is more of this in the vaults and yet to come.
The CD is well sequenced and overall is a brilliant collection of material from one of the best bands of the 80s.... Read more ›
The beautiful cover of Nico and Velvet Underground's 'Femme Fatale', originally the b-side to the Dr. Mabuse single, finally makes it onto CD in three different versions - the original mix, an instrumental, and an accapella outtake. Brucken's voice is perfect for this as she takes the tender and the tough moments easily in her stride. Probably Propaganda's most romantic recording.
More mixes of 'Mabuse' see the light of day including the video mix and the ninth life 12" mixes which most of us have wanted for a very long time. Great to hear these in crisp clarity on CD at last!
"Duel' is revealed as 'thirds' which is actually the 'Top of the Pops' mix which was used for their only appearance on that show, and it's basically a shortened and slightly remixed cut of the album version. But a nice cut to have nevertheless.
The majestic sturm und drang of 'P-machinery' is in its big beta form, but with the addition of a short but beguiling alpha mix which hints at an intriguing new direction the track could have explored. Perhaps there is more of this in the vaults and yet to come.
The CD is well sequenced and overall is a brilliant collection of material from one of the best bands of the 80s.... Read more ›
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By Kraftwerker
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
For the record, I am a HUGE fan of Propaganda - they were one of the key groups of the 80s and their sole album (in the classic incarnation of Claudia Brucken, Suzanne Freytag, Ralf Dorper & Michael Mertens) "A Secret Wish" is one of the best albums ever in my opinion, not just in the synthpop genre. Seeing the core of the band reunited at Claudia's Scala gig last year (preserved on the excellent DVD/CD package "This Happened") was a massive thrill.
This collection of oddments & rareties, many on CD for the first time, is welcome. Someone commented on this review soon after I posted it and asked how different the tracks are from whats been released previously - I've added a track by track postcript to the review therefore. However, if someone new to Propaganda REALLY wanted to get to know the group, to understand why "A Secret Wish" is so highly regarded, I would point them directly to the double CD 25th remaster of that album, which costs as much to buy on Amazon (with supersaver delivery) as a digital download of this collection. For a start, you will get the original vinyl edition version of the masterly Dream Within A Dream on that CD (always my favourite version with that howling guitar break in the middle), as well as the longer original CD release version which is included here on "Noise and Girls..". And you'll discover other wonders such as "The Murder of Love" and their cover of Josef K's Sorry for Laughing.
What we get on "Noise and Girls.." is material distilled essentially from Propaganda's three singles, Dr Mabuse, Duel (and it's dark twin Jewel), and P:machinery. Lots of good things for the enthusiast, as the first reviewer of this album has pointed out.... Read more ›
This collection of oddments & rareties, many on CD for the first time, is welcome. Someone commented on this review soon after I posted it and asked how different the tracks are from whats been released previously - I've added a track by track postcript to the review therefore. However, if someone new to Propaganda REALLY wanted to get to know the group, to understand why "A Secret Wish" is so highly regarded, I would point them directly to the double CD 25th remaster of that album, which costs as much to buy on Amazon (with supersaver delivery) as a digital download of this collection. For a start, you will get the original vinyl edition version of the masterly Dream Within A Dream on that CD (always my favourite version with that howling guitar break in the middle), as well as the longer original CD release version which is included here on "Noise and Girls..". And you'll discover other wonders such as "The Murder of Love" and their cover of Josef K's Sorry for Laughing.
What we get on "Noise and Girls.." is material distilled essentially from Propaganda's three singles, Dr Mabuse, Duel (and it's dark twin Jewel), and P:machinery. Lots of good things for the enthusiast, as the first reviewer of this album has pointed out.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By David Tiberi
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
first off, I'm a huge admirer of Propaganda, and I have quite a selection of their cds, including the remasters that salvo has been releasing...this is a decent "Greatest Hits" package, but most of the tracks can be found on the two disc edition of Secret Wish...I personally think it would have been a better notion to re-release "Outside Word" and add the other quick tracks from this cd, and do a double edition....and I will place wagers that salvo is working on releasing a "remastered" edition of Outside World....while we wait with baited breath for the next release...Take This Break..And Dance!!!
By aging muso
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having last year bought the Claudia Brucken retrospective compilation, this reminded what a great band Propaganda were. This album was bought at an excellent price and covers all bases including numerous rarities and different mixes. This is highly recommended.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Mark
Format:Audio CD
Another introduction/best of/previously unreleased Propaganda compilation...
There is no doubt that the brilliant Propaganda made an important mark in the history of music, albeit very briefly in 1984/85. It is worth mentioning that the band recorded a total of 9 songs of which 2 were cover version and one a poem set to music.
While I must admit to feeling used (again) by ZTT and their endless marketing strategies (do you want to know how many versions of singles and albums I have of the forementioned 9 songs? No, well neither do I) - the Product sounds better than ever: The heavy basslines and synthesizer washes clouded in cathedral reverb sound as modern and fresh as they did when first released, and makes for the most powerful dark pop since....well since the last Propaganda re-release!
They also performed Throbbing Gristle's "Disclipline" which made an appearance on Propaganda's first appearance on The Tube. The bassline later cropped up on the remix album "Wishful Thinking" (and in fact surfaced on "M: The Secret Tapes Of Dr Mabuse", a limited print run CD issued privately by Andreas Thein, about the early days of Propaganda. It includes also some early versions of "Dr. Mabuse") - but there may well be a good reason for omitting it here.
Good to finally see "Femme Fatale" being included but for "Discipline"? Well, don't worry - there will be another compilation in a couple of years' time...
There is no doubt that the brilliant Propaganda made an important mark in the history of music, albeit very briefly in 1984/85. It is worth mentioning that the band recorded a total of 9 songs of which 2 were cover version and one a poem set to music.
While I must admit to feeling used (again) by ZTT and their endless marketing strategies (do you want to know how many versions of singles and albums I have of the forementioned 9 songs? No, well neither do I) - the Product sounds better than ever: The heavy basslines and synthesizer washes clouded in cathedral reverb sound as modern and fresh as they did when first released, and makes for the most powerful dark pop since....well since the last Propaganda re-release!
They also performed Throbbing Gristle's "Disclipline" which made an appearance on Propaganda's first appearance on The Tube. The bassline later cropped up on the remix album "Wishful Thinking" (and in fact surfaced on "M: The Secret Tapes Of Dr Mabuse", a limited print run CD issued privately by Andreas Thein, about the early days of Propaganda. It includes also some early versions of "Dr. Mabuse") - but there may well be a good reason for omitting it here.
Good to finally see "Femme Fatale" being included but for "Discipline"? Well, don't worry - there will be another compilation in a couple of years' time...
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see the review
5.0 out of 5 stars
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some things doesnt't improve with age
I loved them back in the 80's for there cool sound, and i bought the CD for some 80's revival. Unfortunatly some things doesn't survive time.
Published 3 months ago by Johan L
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nein!! Das ist gut!!!
Yes, plenty of unleashed tracks to keep us diehard fans of THE band of the eighties happy, this is a glorious tribute to the best of the decade! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Carl Hubbard
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great material, strong compilation
After the "Sex Mix" debacle I was a wee bit worried about the sound quality of this Salvo/ZTT release, but all tracks seem to have their stereo imagery present and correct! Read more
Published 8 months ago by M. B. Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just can't get enough
This CD is subtitled `A Compact Introduction to Propaganda' and I would agree that this is the best compilation of Propaganda so far. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Percival Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
All it's missing is...
Femme Fatale (The Woman with the Orchid) 12". Just ordered this and it's coming today. WOOT!
I wish they had followed through with the "Valley of the Machine Gods" full... Read more
I wish they had followed through with the "Valley of the Machine Gods" full... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Roho
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
