Alles ohne Strom is a live album from the German punk-rock band Die Toten Hosen. It features recordings from two unplugged concerts on July 13 and July 14, 2019, which were titled "Mit Pauken und Trompeten" and were given at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. The album was released on October 25, 2019[1] by the label JKP. The songs 1000 gute Gründe, Ohne dich und Feiern im Regen had been released as downloads before as a teaser. On November 22, 2019, a video movie with 10 additional titles was released also.
The album contains 21 songs, which according to Campino are arranged in big-band-style. In addition to the five members of Die Toten Hosen, 11 concert musicians had guest performances on the album.[2] From the 21 songs, 14 older songs of the band had been rearranged for acoustic instruments and mostly changed in rhythm and style. 3 cover versions of songs from other artists and 4 new tracks are also on the album. Another previously unreleased song is Politische Lieder, written and composed by Dutch singer/songwriter Funny van Dannen.
Cover
The cover shows the first acoustic guitar of Andreas von Holst, the guitarist of the band, from 1975. Flowers and naked female bodies are drawn on the guitars body. An orange star can be seen and red paint like blood flows down the guitar. Stickers of the bands The Boys and ZK are shown.
Background
In 2013, The Toten Hosen were cooperating with the symphonic orchestra of the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf for several concerts. Recordings of these concerts were released in 2015[3] on the album "Entartete Musik – Willkommen in Deutschland". In addition to that, the on-and-off cooperation with Gerhard Polt and the Biermösl Blosn since 1986 led the band to the idea to rearrange their old songs with new instruments, different rhythms and a big-band-sound. Arrangements for the orchestra and the band were created by Dietmar Mensinger und Hans Steingen, which had already written and composed for the band in the past. As preparation for the two concerts, Campino took singing lessons from professor Ludwig Grabmeier at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf.[4]
The band invited the public to an open rehearsal at July 12, 2019 and played two acoustic concerts on the following days in the Tonhalle Düsseldorf under the motto Mit Pauken und Trompeten.[5] The concerts had been recorded by sound technician Stefan Holtz and were mixed and remastered by Vincent Sorg at the Principal Studios in Senden.[2]
Personnel
During the recording of Alles ohne Strom, the band consisted of:
In his review on laut.de, Philipp Krause wrote that the album left "a distinctive, strong impression" with him. The album would "tire to the end, but on the way through the tracks" one would find "numerous highlights which prove the creative force of this german punk-band." Krause summarizes that Die Toten Hosen would "polish their old songs to a new shine" and would "integrate new songs cleverly". The new album is "not really thrilling, but nice".[9]
On Musiktipp, a broadcast from WDR 2, it is mentioned that the question "Is this still punkrock?" is moot when it comes to Die Toten Hosen. Alles ohne Strom but is "a great piece of acoustic art", where the band showed their whole musical talent. And this is "in 2019 obviously more than just punkrock.".[10]
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