Germany’s goofy punks present a concept record: five songs, each one pretending to be a different band from a different country—a US surf band, a UK metal band, Mexican mariachis, etc. Good idea, terrible results.
Basically, this German group mines that same lode that EDDIE & THE HOT RODS did years ago. Still, with the hard-charging guitars and nifty melodies you might find yourself singing along to these full-throttle rockers. This band has a simple but good formula on this record that works.
A remarkably enjoyable X-mas 7″ from DIE TOTEN HOSEN. The title cut has a silly spoken intro before breaking into their well-known brand of melodic funnypunk; “Willi’s Weisse Weihnacht” is slower and not particularly impressive. But “Knecht Rubrect’s Fahrt” is the really outstanding track here, with its clean, heavy instrumentation, indefatigable sing-along choruses, and hilarious theme.
A pop-punk classic, especially “Reisefieber,” which sorta sounds like a male of LILLIPUT’s “Die Matrosen,” with its unbelieveably catchy melody punctuated by whistling. And dig those bagpipes! The flip is almost as enjoyable and memorable, so look for this.
This falls into a pop-punk category. There’s poppy back-up vocals and hand claps, cut the basics are all solid older-style punk. I like it a lot.
