List | S | Stahlwerk 91 | 'Reconnected!' CDR 1998

'Live Luleå 940505'

Track:	Name:	Time:
1.	New Life Depeche Mode	3:36
2.	Das Model Kraftwerk	3:48
3.	Big In Japan Alphaville	3:53
4.	Don't Go Yazoo	5:21
	Axel F Harold Faltemeyer
5.	New Song Howard Jones	4:08
6.	Pop Corn Hot Butter	2:35
7.	Sweet Dreams Eurythmics	3:31
8.	Diamanter Lustans Lakejer	3:59
9.	Blinkar Blå Adolphson & Falk	6:01
10.	Tainted Love Soft Cell	2:28
11.	P-Machinery Propaganda	3:48
12.	Das Boot / Germaniac U96 / Die Krupps	5:19
13.	See You Depeche Mode	3:51
14.	Don't You Want Me Human League	3:58
15.	Medley:	9:29
	Do Or Die Human League
	Lies Thompson Twins
	Einstein A Go-Go Landscape
	Master And Servant Depeche Mode
	Blue Monday New Order
	Living On Video Trans-X
16.	Rendez-Vous 4 Jean-Michel Jarre	7:57
	Just Can't Get Enough Depeche Mode
	Total	73:55

Comments:

In 1993 (if I recall correctly), the first annual Luleå Rock Festival (LuRF) was held at the Luleå University of Technology. It had a whole bunch of pretty uninteresting rock bands, so I never bothered to get a ticket. However, it also had Stahlwerk 91. Still to this day I sometimes hit myself over the head for not seeing their appearence at this festival.

Their appearence was a great success, so great infact that they were later convinced to return to play as main (and only) act at the student's union house (club & pub) Kåren. This time I would not miss them for the world. I was there, I saw them, and they were great. Truly one of the best shows I can remember ever playing there. This recording is from that very show.

As you might have guessed by reading the above tracklist, Stahlwerk 91 was a cover band, playing mainly old '80:s synthpop tunes. They may not have had the best singers, or the best keyboard players, or the best sound quality, or the best lighting, but the utter coolness of the idea (all dressed in the stereotypical black suit and tie, with sunglasses as an added bonus) and the energy of the show made it something to remember. Not to mention the sheer nostalgia factor. And not to forget, they also had a few custom built synthesizers with beer caps for knobs. The fact that they had both male and female singers were also something pretty neat; when the guy was singing, the girls did backing vocals and vice versa.

By chance, in 1997 I happened to subscribe to the same analogue synth mailing list (S@S) as Herr Doktor Doktor Synthprofessor Wolf (Ricard Wolf), former band member and maintainer of the official Stahlwerk 91 homepage. Once I understood this mysterious mr. Wolf, who frequently commented on the list regarding control voltages and certain circuits preference over others, was in fact a former member of this true cult band, I began nagging relentlessly for recorded material. Eventually, he grew tired of my whining and directed me to the man responsible for archiving recorded Stahlwerk 91 material, Master Bation (a.k.a The Artist Formerly Known As Mats Orbation, which is the name he used while in SW91). After some more annoying nagging, begging, and outright shameless demanding, he agreed to trade me this CD for some other interesting stuff.

So, how's the recording? Well, for one thing, it sure makes me nostalgic as hell, especially since it's from the very same show I saw with them. Personal memories aside, it's really, as mr. Master claimed, in rather poor sound quality. It sounds like a live bootleg, and it sounds a bit like it was recorded in a tin can, with a quite high noise level. In some places the vocals are out of tune and/or sync, and sometimes the keyboard player misses a few notes or accidently hits some unintended ones. This doesn't matter much to me though, since it's really great to relive this ancient experience. I'll just have to contact all my old mates from that era and ask if they want tape copies :-)

I'll have to say that some songs are actually better than the originals, like 'Diamanter' for instance, and 'Blinkar Blå' is after the initial slow and somewhat whiney start also quite remade and interesting. The audience is really in on it too, singing along to almost every single song. I can distinctly remember being one the the very few who recognized the somewhat subtle Die Krupps reference, though. A little funny detail is that at the end of the last track, the singer translates the chorus into "jag kan inte få nog" instead. Another funny one in 'P-Machinery' is that instead of shouting "Propaganda!" in the intro, one of the guys shout "Stahlwerk!" with a heavy fake German accent. I also remember this being one of the absolutely best tracks at the show, and this CD doesn't disappoint either.

In conclusion, Stahlwerk 91 were nothing less than the Blues Brothers of synthpop, and did a damn fine job of it. Will there be a Stahlwerk 2000? The interested reader can find some Stahlwerk 91 soundfiles here.

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