FANTASTEN

After the appalling DX7-laden mess that was KINDER + NARREN, the only way to go was up. With that foreknowledge, the group played down to our lowered expectations. The keyboard tones are still awfully DX7-y, but Thomas Waßkönig definitely has a more subtle, nuanced hand than Jürgen Cramer and his fortissimo synth-brass steamrolling all over everything.

Musically, there's some enjoyable, even proggy moments to be found here. The lengthy "Film im Kopf" and the rock oriented "Mauerblumen/Komm' und tanz'" are clearly the disc's highlights. Sadly, Toni Moff Mollo is relegated to backing vocals full-time at the expense of more strangulated lead vocals by Milla.

Grobschnitt 's production during the eighties is equally poor.

The recipe for this album is not very different : some German synth pop songs ("Fantasten") fully dispensable. If ever you would like to listen to a poor man's "Nena" ("99 Luftballons"), "Unser Himmel" will do the job. But unlike this very good and catchy number, what we have here is a flat and uninspired pop song (but the Palme D'Or is due to "Hallo Mama").

There will even be a rock instrumental : "Sous Le Tapis". Just bearable, but it last for less than two minutes...

The most syrupy maybe ? "Mein Leben" will do. Extremely weak again. I'm afraid that this album is not any better than its predecessors. It is their last studio album (thank god). One will have to wait for the "History Of Solar Fire" released in the new millennium to get the essence of this work while played on stage and get better impression of the band than during these last studio albums.

The electro beat sounds of "Mauerblumen" (instrumental) are melting into the popish "Komm' Und Tanz". It features a frenetic beat but it is difficult to find it attractive. German lyrics don't help either, but the band decided to do so since Razzia.

Some joyful and optimistic mood for "Film Im Kopf" is welcome but if this song sounds average, it is mainly due to the other poor songs; nothing else. Ambient mood for the closing number : "Der Weg Nach Haus" is a melancholic and tranquil song. An au-revoir, I guess. Good sax play in this ambient piece of music. My preferred number of the whole.

It is very difficult to rate this album with more than one star. Three out of ten maybe, since it is better than "Razzia" and "Kinder Und Narren".

This once very good German band is best experienced with their releases from the seventies.