''Don't Give Me Names'' is the second studio album by the German band
Guano Apes, released in 2000. It includes the hit
single "
Big in Japan" (a
cover of the
Alphaville song), which peaked at #9 on the German charts and remains one of Guano Apes' most popular songs.
The album was certified
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
in Germany and in Switzerland.
Background
After the success of their debut album ''
Proud Like a God'', the members of Guano Apes felt pressed to come up with a new album that could hold its own against its predecessor, and spent a lot of time on writing and demoing new songs. According to Dennis Poschwatta in the 2005 documentary ''Planet of the Apes'', the band was determined "not to let anybody trick
hem
A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...
The album had to be awesome. It had to be out of sight.”
Recording for ''Don’t Give Me Names'' began in October 1999 and was done at three different studios: Horus Studio in
Hannover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
, Vox Klangstudio in
Bendestorf, and Galaxy Studios in
Mol,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. Wanting to achieve maximum result, the band tried to handle as much tasks as possible themselves, with the working process soon becoming chaotic, costly and time-consuming. Henning Rümenapp related how, eventually, producers Fabio Trentini and Wolfgang Stach were instrumental in “
ettingus all into the groove, bringing four oddballs together and focusing our ideas.”
A number of songs featured on ''Don't Give Me Names'', including “Innocent Greed”, “I Want It” and “Dödel Up”, had already been performed live by the band by the time they were recorded, with a few of them dating back to the period before the release of ''Proud Like a God''. "
Big in Japan", the first single, was initially recorded for a compilation album called ''Pop 2000'', released to celebrate 50 years of German pop and rock music.
The band originally intended to include “
Don't You Turn Your Back on Me” (released as a standalone single in March 1999) on the album as well, but eventually decided against it due to the song's low chart ratings and overall fan feedback.
Four tracks from ''Don’t Give Me Names'' were released as singles: “Big in Japan”, ”
No Speech", "
Living in a Lie" and "
Dödel Up".
Track listing
* European and Japanese editions contain "Big in Japan" music video
Personnel
*
Sandra Nasić – vocals
* Henning Rümenapp – guitars
* Stefan Ude – bass
* Dennis Poschwatta – drums, vocals
Additional musicians
* Marc Steylaerts - violin
* Veronique Gilis - violin
* Marc Tooten - viola
* Hans Vandaele - cello
* Alberto Manzanedo Alvarez - flamenco guitar, palmas (on "Mine All Mine")
* Michael Wolpers - percussion
* Dra Diarra - percussion (on "Dodel Up")
* Dirk Riegner - samples, programming
* Christian Wolff - string arrangements
* Markus Stollenwerk - string conductor
Other staff
* Gert Jacobs – Engineer, Mixing, Mixing Assistant
* Bob Ludwig – Mastering
* Clemens Matznick – Engineer
* Friedel Muders – Artwork, Mastering, Design Coordinator
*
Ronald Prent – Mixing
* Dirk Riegner – Programming, Sampling
* Dirk Schelpmeier – Photography
* Wolfgang Stach – Producer, Engineer
* Fabio Trentini – Producer
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
2000 albums
Guano Apes albums
GUN Records albums