''Alles ist gut'' (''Everything Is Fine'') is the third album by German
electropunk band
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. It was released in 1981 and was the band's first album on the
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...
label. It includes the hit single "Der Mussolini". The album was a massive hit in Germany, where it charted for 46 weeks.
The album was reissued by
Mute Records in 1998.
Recording
The album was the first recorded with the band reduced to the duo of
Gabi Delgado
Gabi or GABI may refer to:
People
* Gabi (footballer, born 1981) or Gabriel José Pinto Couto, Portuguese footballer
* Gabi (footballer, born 1983) or Gabriel Fernández Arenas, Spanish footballer
* Gabi Ashkenazi (born 1954), Israeli general and ...
and
Robert Görl.
Commercial performance
''Alles ist gut'' was on the German charts for 46 weeks, peaking at No. 15, and the Austrian charts for eight weeks, peaking at No. 16. It received the
Schallplattenpreis award from the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, an association of the German recording industry.
Critical reception
Reviewing the album for ''
NME'',
Paul Morley characterised ''Alles ist gut'' as "slimy, steamy sex music", an evocation of "the rubbing, juices, pounding, striving, belching, stickiness ... the smells, the rhythms, the passions, the secretions, the darkness, the tears of S.E.X."
It was ranked the eighth best album of 1981 by ''NME''.
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on musi ...
, in ''
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984'' (2006), notes the influence the album had on Morley's later marketing and image for
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guit ...
, a band signed to Morley's label
ZTT Records.
In the ''
All Music Guide to Electronica'', Ned Raggett describes how ''Alles ist gut'' worked musically: "...keeping the
electronic brutality that characterized them, but stripped down to nothing but Görl's massive drumming, electronic bass and synth tones, and Delgado's deep, commanding singing." ''
Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...
'' observed that "typical
funk rhythms are replaced by
industrial pulses (trains, etc.)" and noted the more
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
-oriented vocal styles on the album.
Track listing
Side 1
#"Sato-Sato"
("Sato-Sato") – 2:43
#"Der Mussolini"
("The Mussolini") – 3:50
#"Rote Lippen"
("Red lips") – 2:41
#"Mein Herz macht Bum"
("My heart goes boom") – 4:26
#"Der Räuber und der Prinz"
("The robber and the prince") – 3:27
Side 2
#"Ich und die Wirklichkeit"
("Me and the reality") – 3:05
#"Als wär's das letzte Mal"
("As if it were the last time") – 3:24
#"Verlier' nicht den Kopf"
("Don't lose your head") – 3:17
#"Alle gegen Alle"
("Everyone against everyone") – 3:55
#"Alles ist gut"
("Everything is fine") – 3:25
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
External links
''Alles ist gut''at robert-goerl.de
{{Authority control
1981 albums
Albums produced by Conny Plank
Virgin Records albums
Mute Records albums
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft albums