popshopping 2 - more music from german commercials 1962-1977

Fancy a cosy night in with your loved one? Then why not invite them over and pop on another CD collection of German advertising music from the middle of the last century?

Dream of your idyllic future life together to the groovy score for a documentary about the exciting Krupp factory. (they produce ammunition)

Plan the perfect holiday together, to Schäfer, Richter and Hoffman's roving London Look, and then abandon it because this version of London sounds like it's populated by empty-headed zombies.

Lose yourselves in the needle crackle, narrow dynamic range and nostalgic distortion that is inherent in the recovery of some of these archive recordings from decomposing master tapes and biro-indented flexi discs.

But most of all, stay safe you kids, and pay close attention to the final advertising number for 1971's sex-educational magazine Jasmin. Or don't. Sure, "Da da da" probably just translates into English as "La la la", but in some parts of Europe it can mean "Yes yes yes", so maybe you'd best just switch off before you get to that one.

Other tracks of note include the time-dilating Zigarillo. Since I presented the full lyrics to Moulinex in my review of volume one, I'm tempted to provide the same service for this song, but I think you can guess them.

A more interesting one to examine closer is track 7 - Wenn der Teekessel singt. This is a cover-version of Cat Stevens' iconic Father and Son, yet here its title translates literally as If The Kettle Is Singing. So instead of "Find a girl, settle down" etc., we get

"Wenn der Teekessel singt,
Und der Gold Teefix duftet,
Hat manns gut,
Hat manns gut,
Ja dann hat manns wirklich gut."

According to Google Translate, this roughly means:

"If the kettle is singing,
And the Gold Teefix smells,
Has man's good,
Added man's good,
Yes it's really good."

Well I can't argue with that.

Another jammy translation is the lawyer-avoiding Der Mann met der goldenen Hand. Obviously a James Bond evocation, yet with much of it played on a distant horn, conjuring up the image of a single sombreroed Mexican enthusiastically performing Goldfinger atop a sandy hill somewhere in the desert.

Like the preceding volume, this indecipherable (unless you speak the obscure language of 'German') lounge collection offers an hour of optimistic joy. It's sublime, and transported me back to a time I don't remember in a place that I've never been to. I mean how can anyone not want to listen to a track that calls itself the "Shoe Shoe Twist"?

Highly recommended. And remember - Happy Meeting!

Track listing:

1. Olivin (Peter Schirmann,1969) - Olivin
2. Zigarillo (Botho Lucas / Ericht Becht, 1972) Interpret: Botho Lucas Singers und die Sound Masters - Dannemann
3. Exposition K'71 (Hermann Gehlen, 1971) Interpret: The Brass'n Beatmachine Hermann Gehlen - VHS Düsseldorf Kunststoffmesse K'71
4. Miss Fenjala (Claudio Szenkar, 1974) - Johnson & Johnson
5. Sorry Doc (Hartmut Kiesewetter, 1971) Interpret: Hardy's Jet Band - Wochenend
6. BMW - (Peter Schirmann, 1970) - BMW
7. Wenn der Teekessel singt (Cat Stevens, 1977) Interpret: Oliver Peters - Teekanne
8. Super-Nowa-Jingles (Charles Nowa, 1965-1975)
9. London Look (Schäfer / Richter / Hoffman, 1967) - Yardley
10. Wollsiegel Party (Max Meier-Maletz, 1970) Orchester Udo Gerlach - Wollsiegel
11. Die deutschen Bullen - die Kraft und der Fortschritt (unknown, 1969) - Magirus Deutz
12. Der Mann mit der goldenen Hand (Charles Nowa, 1970) - Trompete: Horst Fischer - Edeka
13. Edelkakao Cha Cha (Wolfgang Dauner, 1964) - Stollwerck
14. Frucade Hit (Hartmut Kiesewetter, 1971) Interpret: Hardy's Jet Band - Frucade Limonade
15. Das neue Haus - Hauptthema (Martin Böttcher, 1968) - Gerling-Konzern
16. Shoe Shoe twist (Fischer / Maltz, 1962) - Servas Schuhe
17. Opening (Johnny Teupen, 1972) - Olympiade 72
18. Sabaphon TK 125 (Wolfgang Dauner, 1964) - Saba
19. Olivin 2 (Peter Schirmann, 1969) - Olivin
20. Go to Rallye - (Harald Rosenstein / Claudio Szenkar, 1974) - Library Jingles
21. Widia Sound '70 (Martin Böttcher, 1970) - Krupp
22. The World's Over (Ralf Heninger, 1970) - International Partners
23. Happy Meeting (unknown, 1972) - Messe Frankfurt
24. Aral - den Fortschritt nutzen (Peter Thomas, 1971) - Aral
25. Island of my Dreams (Hartmut Kiesewetter, 1975) - Quelle
26. Lux International (Charles Nowa, 1968) - Lux
27. Jasmin (Peter Schirmann, 1971) - Jasmin

Available to sample here and buy here.