Every year again...
Is it already Christmas?
Not quite yet, but we are moving with big, heavy boots towards the place where the apartments smell of gingerbread and cookies. Where the scent of mulled wine wafts through the streets and one becomes drunk, uh, contemplative.
So far, during this period, commonly referred to as the Christmas season, there have been the songs that play in constant rotation in every shopping center, which by the time of Nikolaus already caused moderate panic attacks.
As an alternative program, there is the Christmas album by Die Roten Rosen, aka Die Toten Hosen, a mini-album that addresses the Christmas season with themes of hate, a Christmas album by The Yobs and...?
A Christmas album by BROILERS!
The band from Düsseldorf seems to be very big Christmas fans. They also seem to revere the great classics of history so much that they have set out to cover them.
A big challenge!
The band from Düsseldorf has tackled the following songs among others:
Driving Home for Christmas
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Fairytale of New York
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)
Since these songs have been available in well-known original versions for ages and have been deemed good, very good, or unique for years, one wonders, what do the BROILERS want to do with them? What do they want to do differently?
The BROILERS had a lot of fun with the recordings. This can be determined simply by the fact that the styles offered here can hardly be counted on one hand. Big band sound, punk, stadium-ready rock, ska, pop music that couldn't be better, contemplative piano music, and so on...
This makes the album not only a concept or "outburst" album in terms of song selection. "Santa Claus" is thus also proof that the BROILERS can do a lot, well, almost everything.
So how are the songs? Compared to the originals, I would like to hold back.
No one sings "Fairytale of New York" as well as Shane MacGowan, and can one seriously take on The Ramones with "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)?"
For such...let's say skeptics...like me, there are also two new songs, one of which, namely "Grauer Schnee," has already been released as a single. Let's see if the second new song "Vor Mitternacht" will also be released. If you were to ask me, "Vor Mitternacht" deserves it. A very impactful, longing song, with Sammy's perfectly placed voice.
What one should think of this album must be decided by each person for themselves.
BROILERS have fulfilled a dream according to their own statement. Can there be a better Christmas gift than a dream that one was able to fulfill?
