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CLAUS GRABKE - Dead Hippies - Sad Robot (Noisolution)

Damn! Claus Grabke, hero of mine in the eighties, when he was considered Germany's number one skateboard pro, and later still respected for his bands called Eight Dayz and Thumb. Then, when becoming internationally successful with his Alternative Allstars, my interest in his works diminished, and so I somehow forgot Mr. Grabke. Now he's back with a new band and new ideas. A lot of new ideas. This is a double album, as the title might let assume. And as oppositional Hippies and Robots are as oppositional are the Songs on the respective discs. The first part is rock music. Rawk music, to become more specific, without splendor and glamour, just three instruments and lots of shouting. Everclear did something similar a few years ago, but not as dirty and with more melody. This is pretty slow-acting and a little bit boring after a while, because there's not so much happening around guitar, bass, drums and voice. To be honest: if I want to have it fast and dirty I listen to some of my old punk records. There comes disc number two and after listening to the first one it's like engaging the reverse gear at 100 mph on the motorway. This time the songs
are very calm, very leisure and kinda distressed instead of pissed-off. Instead the music is arranged ostentatiously, forbearing drums to a large extent. Both sides of the album are very equable in their own way. Maybe that's why this double album won't kick my personal ass. Perhaps it would have been better to mix the songs of both sides to make the album seem to be more diversified.