Retro Spins: Falco - Emotional

I don't want to listen to anymore Elton John right now, so instead, I'm flipping back over to an artist I want to like more than I do, Falco.

Growing up, one of the cassettes which my brother, sister and I played frequently was Falco 3. For me, it was my first introduction to how the radio can play one version, while the album contains another. Still, these versions grew on me, and as a whole, it became one of my favorite albums.

Beyond that, Falco never really came back around for me. I never had an interest in any of his prior, or future albums. You know, kind of like everyone else outside of his native country. That is, until I started curating my massive CD collection. Even then, I didn't dive headlong in. Instead, I picked up his debut, Einzelhaft, for Der Kommissar. As a whole, it didn't resonate with me.

Taking to Youtube, 1988's Wiener Blut also made its way to my collection after hearing a few songs, and these tracks have become part of my steady rotation on my shuffle list. However, his other two 80's albums, Junge Roemer (1984), and Emotional (1986), didn't offer anything that left me chomping at the bit to grab them.

Fast forward several years later, and I would finally return back to the aforementioned missing releases. Mind you, this wasn't out of a sudden desire for the material itself, but rather to check that box I so often like to tick off - Owning every 80's album from the artist in question.

This all leads us to today's Retro Spin.

Emotional is the follow-up to Falco 3, and one which I felt would have to be the best. I mean, it's right at the pique of the singer's popularity, and produced by the same team. It has to be as equally amazing, right?

Well...

The title track launches everything off, and immediately let me unimpressed. You can't start an album with a ballad. I've said this before, and I'll always say it. Your opening track should be high energy, impactful, and grab the listener. You then work through a couple more tracks, gradually drifting into your ballad, if you have to, and then bring it back up to end on a high note. It's a roller coaster ride, and one which should feature the same thrills of up and down.

Things picked up with songs two and three, before getting into a very period locked Cowboyz And Indianz, which was all about Russia and the USA tensions from that time in history. Ironic how it's once again valid.

Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later), serves as a sequel to the highly popular, Jeanny, from Falco 3. However, it's inferior as a follow-up, and frankly leaves me wanting to instead just put on the "original".

Letting the album play out, I wouldn't say I necessarily hated it. In fact, that would be too harsh of an assessment. It just kind of disappointed. I was really expecting to hear a hidden gem. The massive follow up to Falco 3 that it was supposed to be. Instead, I got mediocracy. No hits. Nothing that left me saying, "Let me play that again." Hearing it, I can fully understand why Falco quickly faded out of popularity in the USA. What a pity.

To circle back to my opening paragraph, I really want to like Falco more than I do. Mainly, because I really love 3. I know he has the ability to deliver the hits. Emotional just doesn't have them.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
June 8, 1985

Retro Spins: Falco - Einzelhaft

Johann "Hans" Hölzel knew as a kid that he wanted to be a pop star. He showed signs of being a musical prodigy incredibly early in his young life. As a toddler, he was able to keep drum beat time with music he heard, and by the age of four received a grand piano as a birthday gift. A year later he would receive his first record player, giving him the ability to play albums from The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Cliff Richard.

He would attend Vienna Conservatoire at the age of sixteen, but grow frustrated with the experience, and drop out. He would then take a job at the Austrian employee pension insurance institute. However, this too would be short lived.

In the late 70's, Hölzel would envelope himself in the Viennese nightlife. It would be here that he would play bass guitar for a number of bands. Though unlike his fellow band mates, would stand out for his clean cut appearance, and pressed suits. He would also adopt the stage name, Falco. After one particular performance of Ganz Wien in 1981, he would be approached by Markus Spiegel, who would sign him.

Falco would begin writing and composing his own music, presenting the single, Helden von heute as his first release. However, it would be the B-side, Der Kommissar, which his manager, Horst Bork, would be interested in. Rap was relatively rare in Western Europe at the time, and this made the singer hesitant. Despite this reluctance, the song would become a major hit in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan, reaching number one in each country, while charting high in several others.

Unfortunately, the track would fail to pique interest in the US and UK. That is until it was loosely covered and released in 1983 by band, After The Fire. That same year, Laura Branigan would change the lyrics, and release a none single cover entitled, Deep In The Dark.

While we won't be visiting the more popular cover version today, we will go back to where it all began. Of course, I'm talking about Falco's 1982 debut, Einzelhaft.

As I played through it, I found myself having mixed feelings. On one hand, it was nice to hear Falco's voice, and more so, something "new" from him. However, this didn't necessarily make for a good album. Overall, the tracks had a very slow pace, and dated sound to them. Early synthpop, which didn't necessarily stand the test of time.

Truthfully, while I like the Der Kommissar, I favor the remake from ATF. It's one of those rare occasions where the cover is better than the original.

The overall poor impact that Einzelhaft had on me was probably heavily due in part by it being strictly in German. Unlike future releases, where the singer had his breakout in English speaking territories, and thus incorporated that language, the fact that I couldn't understand anything deterred me from being able to get into it. I didn't understand anything, and since the music wasn't catchy, it all just kind of fell flat.

Hearing Helden von heute, I can understand why Bork favorder Der Kommissar as the lead single. However, this could be bias, as ATF kind of already cemented by love for that song. I can't say as it would have been as good if it were the first time I was hearing the tune in general.

It was a shame really. Falco 3 is one of my favorite albums from the 80's, and I really want to like the singer more than I do. Alas, that just doesn't seem to happen.

Falco returned to the studio in 1983 to record his follow up, 1984's Junge Roemer, but has stated very openly that the pressures were on from the label to deliver the same success of his debut. This unfortunately didn't happen with the release. Though it would reach number one in Austria, it failed everywhere else in the world.

Perhaps this was for the best, as this led to the singer parting ways with his original production team, and beginning to experiment with different musical styles, including the English language. Falco 3 was released in 1985, and led by Rock Me Amadeus gave him the success he was looking for across the globe. While this would have paved the way for further albums produced in the US, as well as collaborations with other artists, his personal additions to drugs and alcohol impeded this from occurring.

Instead, Falco released his 1986 follow up, Emotional. The album would fail to chart in the US, and start a steady decline of his worldwide popularity. Specifically in English speaking countries. Sales declined even further with his 1988 album, Wiener Blut.

Falco would release two additional albums in the 90's, 1990's Data de Groove, and 1992's Nachtflug, but continued his trend of declining popularity. It wouldn't be until 1995 that he would return to the studio to work on his comeback album, 1998's Out of the Dark (Into the Light). Sadly the album would be released posthumously, as Johann Hölzel would unfortunately die in a car crash on February 6, 1998, just thirteen days before his 41st birthday.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
April 1, 1989

 

Retro Spins: Falco - Wiener Blut

Falco is one of those singers I really wish would have done better in the 80's than he did. He struck American shores hard with his hits Rock Me Amadeus and Vienna Calling, but then sadly couldn't recreated that success with any of his follow up albums. Even for me, his tunes are pretty hit or miss. I find they're either really good, or just bad.

Today, I'm taking a look at his 1988 album Wiener Blut, or Viennese Blood, as it translates to in English from German. At least I hope it's German, and not Dutch, because then it would translate to wiener broke.

Wiener Blut didn't produce any hits for the signer, and as a result he unfortunately continued to struggle with waning popularity, declining sales and as a result, personal issues. Falco wanted so badly to recreate the lightning in a bottle he found with Falco 3, but sadly never could.

Admittedly, and I'm sorry to say this, the album really isn't that good. In my listening session, I pulled three tracks for my shuffle. Whoever, with eleven songs in total, that's a pretty bad ratio of good to bad. Now, with that said, the three songs I did enjoy, I really enjoyed. They're up there with some of my favorites from "3" (the album). Those were, Wiener Blut, Untouchable and Garbo.

Hearing the record also made me want to dig a little deeper into the singer's past albums to see if those would be worth picking up too. Unfortunately, after a quick peruse on Youtube to see what I'd be getting myself into, I didn't hear anything that I enjoyed. As such, I passed.

You just kind of have to take it for what it is. Falco had his fifteen minutes of fame, which is more than most of us get, so you really just have to enjoy it for what it was. It would have been great if Falco was a break out artist who produced hit after hit, but he didn't. What more can you really say?

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Retro Spins: Falco - 3

Falco
3
1985

It's no easy task getting people in predominantly English speaking countries to listen to your music when it's of a foreign language. It's even more so difficult to hit the charts of said countries. Falco did both.

Despite his homeland hit, Der Kommissar, Falco was struggling to find the success and popularity he sought. As a result, he began broadening his music to incorporate English lyrics. His hope - To gain the audience of folks in the USA, UK and other such predominant English speaking countries. The result? A number one hit, fame, fortune and disappointment.

Falco released Falco 3 in October of 1985 and waited in anticipation to see the fruits of his labor pay off. In February of 1986, Rock Me Amadeus debuted on the charts at seventy-nine and from there the singer's life changed drastically. The song flew to number one in a matter of weeks and stayed there for three consecutive weeks.

As the song remained in the top ten during April of that same year, Vienna Calling made its debut at number seventy. The second single didn't fare as well, only making its way to number eighteen before drifting back down.

By July, Falco was off the charts the charts completely in the US and didn't return despite his every effort with follow up albums between 1986 and 1998. He never again found the success he originally had with Rock Me Amadeus.

While Falco unfortunately was killed in a car accident in February of 1998, he continues to have albums put out on his behalf posthumously. Sadly, none of those have found any commercial success outside of German speaking countries.

The album is a pretty good compilation of tracks. Rock Me Amadeus and Vienna Calling are far from the only hits you can find here. America, Jeanny and Manner Des Westens equally stand up to the level Amadeus set. In fact, they may even be better. Granted, I highly recommend not reading any of the translated lyrics for any of the songs as they certainly don't come across as interesting when you actually know what is being said. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

One of the things which was important for me when locating and buying this album was getting the specific version I owned as a kid. See, while the German release of the album includes all the same tracks (theoretically), the US versions of Rock Me Amadeus and Vienna Calling are different mixes. Because I was accustomed to hearing the Salieri mix of Amadeus and the Metternich Arrival mix for Vienna I definitely wanted to have these versions on the CD. At the time I was in the market for this CD this was actually proving to be a difficult task. However, these days the album seems more common.

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