''Alles ist gut'' (''Everything Is Fine'') is the third album by German

electropunk Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...

band

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft } Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (; "German-American Friendship"), or D.A.F., is an influential German electropunk/Neue Deutsche Welle band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López (vocals), Robert Görl (drum ...

. 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 worldwid ...

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 Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

in 1998.

Recording

The album was the first recorded with the band reduced to the duo of Gabi Delgado and

Robert Görl Robert Görl (born 15 June 1955 in Munich) is a German musician, best known for his work with Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (D.A.F.) and for his solo recordings, particularly ''Night Full Of Tension'' and "Darling Don't Leave Me" (together ...

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 ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'',

Paul Morley Paul Robert Morley is an English music journalist. He wrote for the ''New Musical Express'' from 1977 to 1983 and has since written for a wide range of publications as well as writing his own books. He was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Re ...

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 music ...

, 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 ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by record producer Trevor Horn, Horn's wife and businesswoman Jill Sinclair, and ''New Musical Express'' (NME) journalist Paul Morley. The label's name was also stylised as ZANG TUMB TUUM and ...

. In the '' All Music Guide to Electronica'', Ned Raggett describes how ''Alles ist gut'' worked musically: "...keeping the

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

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 to ...

'' observed that "typical

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

rhythms are replaced by

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

pulses (trains, etc.)" and noted the more pop-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