Sehr Gut Kommt Sehr Gut

Here a release that I guess has confused a music lover or two over the years.

By appearance, this is a compilation featuring tracks by some of the greatest german electronic/ndw bands from 1980 and around. There's a Mittagspause track, and songs by Der Plan, Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft, Kraftwerk and others. But no, it's all one man's work, a man with - as it appears - tons of studio time. That man is Xao Seffcheque (whom we have previously mentioned here). And his "Sehr gut kommt sehr gut" is basically a critical parody of the german hits compilations of the time.

Seffcheque has mixed his own, very well performed, impersonations of more or less know bands with some made up artists and his own, real project Xao & Die Pest, who'se "Fortschrittsträume" here basically is some kind of funky new wave/ska interpretation of DAF's "Kebab-träume" (or it's predecessors, Mittagspause's and Fehlfarben's "Militürk", perhaps), with "Wir sind die Türken von morgen" (we are the turks of tomorrow) replaced by "Wir sind die hippies von morgen" (we are the hippies of tomorrow). And there are more musical references. Die Lemminge's "Why we Hate The Residents" is more or less a weird version of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby". And the same goes for fake band Not Mean Themselves' "Wrong Colours". "Eleanor Rigby" again.

When I got the album a few years ago, it took me a while to locate the fake Kraftwerk songs, "Stalagmit" 1-12. They are listed as being the last songs on each side, but there's just nothing there. But when listening through the album, I noticed notice some short beeps or sweeps between each song - lasting about a second or two each. Well, it turns out these short signals are the "Kraftwerk" contributions. Excellent.

Tracklist, A-side:

1 Die Geldschweine - Sehr gut kommt sehr gut

2 Xao + Die Pest - Fortschrittsträume

3 Vielleichtors - Bring deinen körper auf die party

4 Mittagspause - Es hat keine disco hier

5 Sternhagel - King Kong

6 Not Mean Themselves - Wrong Colours

7 Kraftwerk - Stalagmit 1-5

B-side:

1 The Wirtschaftswunder - Hinweise zum neuen klang

2 Der Plan - Fehlplan (Wir sind so müde)

3 Siluetes 61 - Mannesmann

4 Die Lemminge - Why we hate the Residents

5 Die Nachdenklichen Wehrpflichtigen - Ist Free-Jazz Heilbar?

6 Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Sample & Hold

7 Residenz - Alles

8 Der KFC - Endlösung

9 O.R.a.V. - Punk Supermarkt

10 Kraftwerk - Stalagmit 6-12

Xao Seffcheque - "Der Plan - Fehlplan (wir sind so müde)":

Xao Seffcheque - "Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Sample & Hold":