A1 Du bist heute wie neu (You seem like someone else today)
A2 Alles vorbei (All over)
A3 Verdammt (Damn it)
A4 Sie (You)

B1 Als der Opa von uns ging (When Grandpa passed away)
B2 Damals, weißt du noch (Back then, do you remember)
B3 Wenn der Urlaub kommt (When Holiday is coming)
B4 In einem Regen (In a rain)
B5 Das geht mir ans Herz (That’s moving my hard)

(play all tracks)

with Manfred Krug, Günther Fischer (he is the left one on the cover, btw), Christiane Wunder, the Gerd-Michaelis-Choir, Gerhard Pabst, Friedrich Schlegel, Heinz Becker, Joachim Graswurm, Hubert Katzenbeier, Freddy Lehmann, Horst Schmidt, Götz Geitner, Werner Schmidt, Helmut Wenzel, Klaus Smesny, the string-orchestra Otto-Karl Beck

Okay, so let’s have the last one and I can call it a night.

This is the fourth and final record of Manfred Krug and Günther Fischer, one year after the release of this record Manfred Krug left the GDR for good.

The music on this one is (ofcourse) great and again (as on most other Günther Fischer records) greatly due to one man : Wolfgang “Zicke” Schneider. He was the drummer in (as far as I know) every Günther-Fischer-Band and his drumstyle is really amazing and if you are into making music you probably even know him although you never heard his name because his drumming got sampled quite some time. More on that later.

As I wrote he was the drummer on most Günther Fischer records (for example also on both Uschi Brüning records (1, 2) I posted so far) and he got recognized for it up to a point that beat-diggers actually started collecting specifically his records. Which is probably the reason why he got his own Discogs-Page. And actually he his still playing in a band called “Jazzin the Blues”, you can try to make some sense of this automatic translation of his bio on their webpage.

And one final funny sidenote on all records: the labels say “lyrics written by Clemens Kerber” which is actually a pseudonym for Manfred Krug himself. As is “Isa Karfunkelstein”, the interviewer on the backside of this record.

But off to the tracks :

A1 Du bist heute wie neu (You seem like someone else today) is yet another bomb. Say what you want, but Günther Fischer got the concept of a great opener nailed. The song is about a guy not realizing that it’s the anniversary day with his wife, despite all her efforts. The buildup of the song is great, an amazing mix of disco, funk and pop. Also it is a great example of the progress Krug made, compare that to the first record, he actually got a tight rhythm and really starts to express his voice. And that amazing sax-solo by Günther Fischer in the middlepart just fits.

A4 Sie (You) is a song about him helping a woman with her lovesickness, and no, not that way. Great ballad, but really listen to the drumming, blows me away totally.

B3 Wenn der Urlaub kommt (When Holiday is coming) contains the drumloop which is for example part of the dnbmassive collection and a few commercial sample-cds possibly known to some people. The song is about the problem planning a holiday (with the special problems of east-germans regarding that matter) with the conclusion of just staying at home. The music is just a wild ride, again with a sax-solo (they were coming back in popular music in the late 70s).

B4 In einem Regen (In a rain) is a song about him and his wife which he first met in a rain long ago and about them still loving to go for a walk when it rains. Just listen to that guitar funking off at the side, the amazing drumming or his vocals. Great track aswell.

Check this records discogs-entry here.

And again the links to the CD-ReIssues: This record (together with the unposted third LP) is avaiable on CD at Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, the other CD with the first and second LP here : Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. Or try gemm for the vinyl.

This concludes the series of Manfred Krug as I don’t have any other vinyl from him. But I do have one other, last gem that will appear some time later.
But there is more Günther Fischer in my crates, although the next records will most probably be some hungarian funk or some czech or russian jazz.

A1 Wenn’s draußen grün wird (When it gets green outside)
A2 Laß mich nicht gehn (Don’t let me go)
A3 Komm und spiel mit mir (Come and play with me)
A4 Schau nicht hin (Don’t look there)

B1 Jeder Mann, der dich sah (Every man that saw you)
B2 Kalt und weiß (Cold and white)
B3 Sonntag (Sunday)
B4 Danke für den Abend (Thank you for the Evening)
B5 Baden gehn (Going for a swim)

(play all tracks)

with Manfred Krug, Günther Fischer, Reinhard Lakomy, Fred Baumert, Wolfgang “Eddie” Greiser, Wolfgang “Zicke” Schneider, Wolfgang “Büchse” Winkler, Matthias Schmidt, Hermann Wolfframm, Reinhard-Lakomy-Choir, String-Ensemble Otto-Karl Beck

Back with the second album of Manfred Krug. Nearly the same personell as on the first record with one big exception : Reinhard Lakomy on the organ.
Reinhard Lakomy was another great composer and singer who did stay in the GDR until it’s end. He started with doing pop music, later in the 80s he mainly did really great records for kids because he was fed up with pop, aswell as some amazing electronic records with a modular moog he bought from Tangerine Dream in the 80s and still owns (one of three worldwide). Records from him will pop up here eventually.
Anyway, as said both had a “professional” relationship in the beginning, later started becoming something like rivals (altough Lakomy states in his autobiography that he was simply not “interested in him”) and after Krug left the GDR Lakomy outright hated him and even went so far to avoid him during a meeting in the 90s (after Germany got united and they could have met again.)

But let’s put those things aside and let’s concentrate on the music, written again by Günther Fischer. The tracks :

A1 Wenn’s draußen grün wird (When it gets green outside) is simply the bomb. An intro which sounds like Love Unlimited Orchestras “Bring it on up” but was actually released three years earlier than “Music Maestro Please” instantly grabs your attention and paves the floor for a real smasher about the coming of spring and love. This is a track I play in about every single one of my sets, no matter what season it is.

B2 Kalt und weiß (Cold and white) a song about the search for a specific woman again (this record is mainly about women and seasons) that starts rather folky (?!) but picks up tempo after a while. Great again the conversation in the song, he meets the woman he dreams about finally in a shop where she is buying a dress with another guy for their wedding. Tough luck.

B3 Sonntag (Sunday) is a song about the first Sunday after the end of winter, just a great “easy-going” song about the time when winter is gone and spring finally arrives.

B5 Baden gehn (Going for a swim) is another great “easy-going” song about going to the beach and all the things you can do and see there… I guess you know what.

One more link for today, someone made a “Manfred Krug”-tributeprofile on myspace, so you can be friends with him. I am ofcourse.

Again the links to his two CD-ReIssues : Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com for the CD containing this and the first record from and you can get the second ReIssue of the third and fourth LP also on Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. Or try gemm for the vinyl.

As a note, I won’t post about his third record. The reason is not that it’s bad or not worth it, but rather that it’s filled with jazzed/funked and easy-listening covers of songs like “Greensleeves” or “Que sera”. It’s good aswell, but the idea of this page is to inform you about really original music which means I am not going to post any of the countless eastern records with cover-versions of western songs. So the fourth one from him will be next.

Tracklist :

A1 – O cyzm marza zakochani (what the lovers dream of)
A2 – Walc katarynek (barrel-organ waltz)
A3 – Gdzie szumiace topole (two rustling poplars)
A4 – Listki brzozy polnej (leaves of a birch-tree)
A5 – Jada wozy kolorow (painted wagons are coming)

B1 – Zapiszemy nasza milosc (we shall write down our love)
B2 – Nie zmogla go kula (bullet couldn’t fell him)
B3 – Dialog o polnocy (midnight dialogue)
B4 – Kwiat jedney nocy (flower of one night)
B5 – Plasy pod pegazem (dancing in the pegasus bar)

(play all tracks)

with Janusz Hojan, Waclaw Lesicki, Jan Kuzio and “Zespol Instrumentalny Jerzego Miliana” (his band, presumably), songs by Jerzy Milian, Pjotr Figiel, Wladimir Nahorny, S. Rembowski, Katarzyna Gärtner, J. Loranc

Anyone looking into polish jazz will very soon stumble over Jerzy Milian. His amazing style playing the vibraphone (vibes) and the fact the he recorded loads of records (classics like “Bazaar”, “Ashkabad Girl” or his record with the Katowiche Orchestra) made him one of the most known jazz-musicians from poland, even back in times of the cold war.

This record is a very rare one which I didn’t even know about until I found it at the closing-sale of a local record-shop. The great thing is that this record is extremely versatile, you get anything from slow, easy songs to incredibly fast and energetic bursts of music, but each song containing the amazing vibes (or xylophone) from Jerzy Milian.

There is a (home-?) page for Jerzy Milian in polish which contains an extensive discography, but as always you can also search on google.

Links :
Jerzy Milian – Amazon.de | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | gemm | discogs