 Created by EnigmaMusic.com |
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Created by EnigmaMusic.com |
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1983 |
Michael Cretu produced the album
"Ein Neuer Morgen" for Mireille Mathieu, the
French diva who sang in several languages including German.
The album included "Die Liebe zu Dir" ( a German song set to
Vangelis
"Chariots of Fire" with lyrics by Michael Kunze
of Münchener Freiheit who also wrote lyrics for such
singers as Juliane Werding and
Mike Oldfield's ex-wife singer
Maggie Reilly.
"Traumzeit" - another song on the album - was a German version of
Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Memory"
( best known versions in English were sang by Elaine Page
and Barbara Streisand ).
Cretu also wrote
"Vai Colomba Bianca", ( a song that later appeared on the CD
"Die Welt is Schön Milord", BMG Ariola Express,
1994 ) and "Unsere Kleine
Stadt".
Cretu wrote and produced material for the
German drag duo Mary and Gordy that later
appeared on the CD "Meistens ist Gar Nichts Dahinter" ( Electrola, Bavaria Sonor Musik
verlag 1983 CDP 538-1 59875 2 ).
Titles include "Es ist nicht Leicht, ein Clown zu sein";
"Was ist schon dran an einem Mann"; "Vom festen Grundsatz zum lockeren Mädchen"; and
"Mir fehlen noch einige Streicheleinheiten".
All in all the songs are funny in sound and content, and the singing is more enjoyable as
expressive performance than it would be for vocal quality.
However, those songs present a pleasant opportunity for Cretu
fans to take a peak at Cretu's
sense of the dramatic in a humorous way ( e.g. "Vom festen…" is set to a tango
beat with an orchestral sound in the background that gives it a sound that reminds of lounge music. )
In the same year Cretu produced the album
"Fata Morgana" by
Peter Cornelius ( appeared on CD in 1983
Ariola Eurodisc GmbH 610044-222 ) after having produced
"Reif für die Insel" in 1981
( CD Philips 512 853-2 ). Two songs on that album
( "Reif…") had music-breaks that were distinctly of
Michael Cretu :
"Ein Diamant Verbrennt" and "Träumer, Tramps und Clowns".
"Fata Morgana" was
Cornelius's most
electronic-sounding work to date. A precursor to the electric sound had been in one song of
1982's "Streicheleinheiten" -
( CD Philips 814 949-2Q ) entitled "Es ist alles in Butter" ( -mit dem Computer ).
The album "Legionäre" was different from anything else on which
Michael Cretu had worked to date.
The album was reported to have taken three years in the making and finally was released on
Virgin Records in German and English versions. Musically, the album revolved
around a melody that was repeatedly used in "Spiel auf Zeit", "Goldene Jahre"
and "Der Planet der verlorenen Zeit" in a variety of renditions and tempos.
The sound of the album is very crisply electronic and bombastic.
However, the generous layering of sounds set the album aside from the electronic minimalism
still in fashion giving the sound a warm and powerfully romantic effect. The work was not
about simplicity or minimalism. Although I would hesitate before assuming that
Cretu extrapolated the grandeur of stadium-rock onto an
electronic landscape; listening to "Legionäre" I sensed an ambitious and grand work
of quasi-symphonic dance composition.
His later productions till the end of the decade were an evolution of that premise; in the works
that he produced under his name ( "Samurai", "Gambit" ) as well
as Sandra's
( "I'll Never Be - Maria Magdalena", "Don't Cry - The Breakup of the World" ), and
Peter Schilling - ("The Different Story - World of Lust"
and"Crime" ). At any characterization, the album was a precursor for
what was to follow in more a direct way than his previous works that were more varied in nature and non-directional.|
Micahel Cretu ~ "And thank God above, he gave
me enough ideas that I can afford it not to copy myself." |