Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten… (''"When the night is at its darkest…"'') is the third album released by

Ton Steine Scherben Ton Steine Scherben () was one of the first and most influential German language rock bands of the 1970s and early 1980s. Well known for the highly political and emotional lyrics of vocalist Rio Reiser, they became a musical mouthpiece of ...

, and is the last one released before their six-year break from recording. It shows the first signs of a change in genre: moving away from '' Macht kaputt, was euch kaputt macht'' (''"Destroy what destroys you"'') towards ''Halt dich an deiner Liebe fest'' (''"Hang on to your love"'').

History

From 1973 to 1974, the band's interest steadily declined in being the "political musicbox" of the leftist scene. This was compounded by the problem that one could at most request an entrance fee as "contribution of solidarity" from the audience, which was difficult to live on. As such, the band slowly distanced itself from the slogans of the leftist squatting scene, even if they remained faithful to the ideology. Financial problems led to a breakup of the band in 1973. The band soon reunited, but without the bassist Kai Sichtermann. He was replaced by Gino Götz, who had already collaborated with the band on the children's radio play ''Teufel hast du Wind''. Aside from that, the band still lacked a steady percussionist. (On the album

Keine Macht für Niemand ''Keine Macht für Niemand'' (“No power for nobody”) is the name of both the second album and best-known song by the German rock band Ton Steine Scherben. The double album, released in 1972, is also sometimes called “die Weiße” (“the w ...

, the percussion was primarily played by Olaf Lietzau. He would have been suitable, but was still underaged and could not go on tour with the band.) The drummer that the band decided on—

Funky K. Götzner Funk is a music genre that originated in African Americans, 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 A ...

—remained with the group from that point onwards. With this lineup, the decision was made to produce a new LP.

The songs

*''Samstagnachmittag'' (''"Saturday Afternoon"'') was used (without music) in a play by the ''Roten Steine''. The new accompaniment contains musical appropriations from '' Macht kaputt, was euch kaputt macht''. *''Durch die Wüste'' (''"Through the desert"'') is a science fiction piece. The title is borrowed from a novel by Karl May. Every album since

("Menschenjäger") has a song with a title borrowed from a Karl May novel. *''Nimm den Hammer'' (''"Take the hammer"'') is an adaption of the skiffle song ''" Take This Hammer"''. *''Ich geh weg'' (''"I'm leaving"'') was written in Ireland during a vacation. *''Land in Sicht'' (''"Land in sight"'') originally had English lyrics. As of release, it was already three years old. *''Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten…'' (''"When the night is at its darkest…"'') is also from the same period. *''Steig ein'' (''"Get in"'') is the longest song by the Scherben (over 20 minutes). It consists of three portions: a long intro in which Rio tells the story of a dream, the song itself, followed by a jam to the end. The jam incorporates elements from both old (''Der Kampf geht weiter'' and ''Allein machen sie dich ein'') as well as new (''Heut' Nacht'' und ''Nimm den Hammer'') songs.

Track listing

First LP

#''Heut Nacht'' (

Ralph Möbius Ralph Christian Möbius (9 January 1950 – 20 August 1996), known professionally as Rio Reiser, was a German musician and the singer of rock group Ton Steine Scherben. He supported squatting in the early 1970s and later the green political part ...

, ) – 6:15 #''Samstag Nachmittag'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 5:01 #''Guten Morgen'' (Nikel Pallat, Möbius) – 4:16 #''Durch die Wüste'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 4:59 #''Nimm den Hammer'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 5:22 #''Ich geh weg'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 3:23 #''Halt dich an deiner Liebe fest'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 6:58 #''Wir sind im Licht'' (Pallat, Lanrue) – 5:31

Second LP

#''Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten…'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 3:31 #''Land in Sicht'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 7:11 #''Komm an Bord'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 9:14 #''Steig ein'' (Möbius, Lanrue) – 20:50

Lineup

– Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards * – Guitar, Backup vocals *Funky K. Götzner – Drums *Werner "Gino" Götz – Bass, saxophone *Nikel Pallat – Vocals *Jörg Schlotterer –

Flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

*Jako Benz – Guitar *Vegas von Trantor – Percussion *Angie Olbrich – Backup vocals * Britta Neander – Backup vocals *Marcus Zeltner – Backup vocals *Gaby Borowski – Backup vocals *Richard Borowski – Sound

Miscellaneous

*On pseudonyms: R. P. S. Lanrue is Ralph Peter Steitz; the "K" in Funky K. Götzner stands for "Klaus". (The nickname "Funky" stems from a classified ad he posted looking for a funk band.) Vegas von Trantor (a name from a science fiction novel) was born as "Uli Hammer". Ralph Möbius used the name "Rio Reiser" from the following album onwards. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten... 1975 albums Ton Steine Scherben albums German-language albums