Tank Battles

this is quintessentially German. And, unfortunately, not very good.

Was actually looking forward to this a bit since most (not Kid Rock) of the lowest-rated albums on this site are actually excellent and this was one I hadn't heard anything about before. Well, sadly, this doesn't really do much for me. I can see why a more normie listener would find this "weird" – which, more often than not, just means it's something they're not accustomed to hearing – but I felt it could've been even more experimental than it actually is. From what I gathered, these are interpretations of songs written around 1920s or so, which probably is what doesn't quite click with me. I could imagine looking more into the concept of this album I could perhaps get into it, but for now, I can't really go higher than 2 stars. I applaud them for including something like this on the list though. As I said in my Einstürzende Neubauten review, this is the kind of stuff this list SHOULD be for.

😧 what?!?

Musical Theatre kids would probably love this stuff... I do not. 1.5 stars for ruining every moment is was starting to get good by introducing something bad.

Nice

This was not for me. I feel like if I saw this performed like in a musical I could maybe get more appreciation of it, but just listening to it was a struggle. There were 1 or 2 tracks I felt were ok, but overall not particularly enjoyable. 1.5/5

I'll give this a 2 for now until I hear it all on YouTube.

To edit

This was not for me

4 out of 10

Only available to listen to on YouTube. Favourite comment: Suffering thru this shit as I work my way through 1001 Albums to Hear Before You die. Should have saved this one for last because it will probably kill me to hear it all. Too much on the musical theatre trip for me.

Should it be on the list? No. Should it be 7th worst rated on this list? Not even close, it’s fine.

3/10… chanson / ballad / *1988

Who is writing this book?

ew

It's giving German drama kid performing a one woman show about the horrors of war at her local community theatre (complimentary)

I actually liked this quite a lot

I love to support weird women ❤️

I had to find the album on Youtube. She's a very clear singer and reminds me of musical albums. I wouldn't listen to the album again and it's very marching / triumphant music that isn't really my style but I'm glad I got to hear it.

Comically bad.

I couldn’t actually find this anywhere but could listen to a few tracks on YouTube. Definitely not to my taste, but I can also see why there’d be a market for it.

Fine, I guess? Not my style of singing, but I get the idea.

Honestly, I don't know why Tank Battles gets so much hate, it was actually a really good album. This is yet another entry to the bottom 20 on both the site and the discord server but it 100% is far from my bottom 20. Because of this album's bad reputation, i just assumed it was gonna be a noisy jazz album but i got more of this musical style album even if it has no accompanying musical. The music was handled really well by some very talented musicians and Krause's voice and the lyrics of each song were very smart. It's not perfect, There are points where the album feels like it's overstaying it's welcome a bit but overall, I actually really enjoyed this one. Best Song: Song of a German Mother Worst Song: Mother Beinleim

Certainly, one of the albums of all time. 2.5 bumped up to 3.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump up to a 4. I think I understand the 2.15 on the site; it’s a hassle to find it on YouTube, there’s practically no lyrics online, it’s quirky Baroque music, and it’s a German lady singing English translations of tracks written about Germany between World War I & World War II. It’s a lot. To top it all off, I think it just doesn’t make a great impression through its first 4 tracks, and with this being 22 tracks long, if nearly a fifth of the album already feels iffy, it’s probably very easy to give up and ignore the rest. This album finds a bit more of its footing with “Ballad of the Sackslingers” being loosely about telling the working class of farmers being pimped around from country to country to make profits to rise up & burn the system down that’s oppressing them. It’s a mistake to follow that up with something as unappealing as “Mother Beimelin”, but for me, it recovered again by “The Rat Men - Nightmare”. I dunno, it just felt funny to me. From that point onward, a lot of the tracks just have something more present to them that’s easier to sink one’s teeth into, including more engaging soundscapes & lyrics. “Song of a German Mother” is where this album solidifies itself more, and after that, it’s honestly a pretty good listen. If you’ve gotten that far, you’re more used to the awkward cadence of her translated vocals, but there is a bit more melody & structure to everything. It’s a lot easier to feel the plight of Germany during that time, especially if you already have some knowledge of the economic failings that led to the rise of Hitler. These tracks feel humanizing towards those who suffered. Hanns Eisler, a remarkably prolific composer, is the brainchild behind all of these tracks, and I’d say he captured the anti-Hitler opposition of the period well. This album came out 43 years after WW2 ended, and here we are 38 years later. It’s so strange that a lot of these tracks still feel kinda relevant. Yes, it’s a long album, yes, some tracks could’ve been cut, but at the end of the day, I think there’s something here, especially if you can see it as a time capsule. I wish it were on streaming with proper lyrics, as it would probably have a slightly higher rating. It’s definitely not one of the worst 10 albums on the list, not by a long shot. To me, it’s a 3.5 bumped up to a 4, and I’m glad it’s here.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this one. It was definitely unique. Not something I’ll listen to again but I didn’t hate it.

I appreciate the quality of ver voice and the music. Will I listen to it ever again? Nope!

Heard before?:❌️ Will listen again?:✔️

Huh?

Nykäriä. Otti paljon kantaa 2. maailmansotaan. Ei oo mun musaa mutta arvostan silti.

This wasn't on Spotify, but found the full album on YouTube. All I can say is at least it was short.

Like everyone else, I'm listening to this on youtube since it doesn't seem to exist anywhere else. It's weird but a solid listen. Not something you'd throw on at a party or anything but I dig it enough. Songs are mostly really short. I like her voice a lot.

Listening to this album was a weird, but interesting experience. None of these songs will go on my playlist, but I view this more as an historical document pieced together with interesting arrangements. A tribute to the past, if you will. A theme I noticed was the loss of innocence (or life) after being sent off to war - pretty sad, whatever side you are on.

1- I don't like this kind of music 2- all streaming services can't be wrong (nowhere hosted) 3- why on this list

This is the type of weird shit I signed up for. German interbellum songs sung by someone out of the weirdest of weird Prog Rock bands. It's unlike anything else and I really like that about it. The songs can be a bit of a slog at times, but a lot of other times they really pulled me in and were interesting to listen. The instrumentation manages to be updated without making it sound corny and still has that 20's and 30's angst to it. Bizarre thing, not sure I'd quickly listen relisten but I found it fascinating. Like listening to some 80 year old radio play.

I have not heard this before, and in fact I’ve never heard of Dagmar Krause before much less any of her music. So this will be fun to hear something entirely new to me. This was a really difficult to find album, with nothing on spotify or apple music and a lot of youtube videos missing half the tracks or with other things added. The music was difficult as well; I am not a fan of cabaret music, even when it is avant-garde Weimar era German cabaret music with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht. I can appreciate and respect what she was doing here, and if I had listened to this maybe 25 years ago when I was really into experimental and weird music I might have loved it. I didn’t like cabaret music back then either so maybe not. I liked Berlin 1919 and The Rat Men and a third one that I think was Change The World - It Needs It, but it might have been a different one. The rest of it I just could not get into.

Really not my thing, but that's not really the point. It's interesting and the type of thing lots of my favorite artists would do and either succeed or fail spectacularly. I will never listen to this again, but I'm glad I listened once and happy to have a bold album I didn't enjoy rather than some of the horribly bland stuff that exists here

This was certainly a change of pace on this list. Don't know how I feel about it honestly. Another reviewer said its a better album about war than the PJ Harvey one. I would have to agree there. It's a soundtrack for looking at pictures by Otto Dix. I was very distracted by work when I listened but my gut says 3.

🪖

I really didn’t like this and had a hard time finishing this album. Almost all of the songs on here end before they seem to have begun, and as such this doesn’t really go anywhere. It doesn’t help that this is a genre I totally do not enjoy, and if there is anything special in the lyrics, I didn’t catch it because of the screaming voice. So yeah, not for me.

This is another one of those surprising records for me. It's musical theatre packed into a record. I enjoyed the melancholic tracks near the end. Favourite Track(s): The Trenches, Song of a German Mother, Change the World-It Needs It Least Favourite Track(s): Mother Beimlein, The Rat Men Nightmare

Not my kind of tank, real ones know

It was a fun little ride

Second one this week that I can't find anywhere. Strong chance wouldn't like it anyway

This will make you feel like Hitler, in that you’ll want to put a bullet through your brain after listening.

Album #170: Tank Battles - Dagmar Krause Genre (W): Cabaret, jazz, avant-garde No singles. I have not listened to this album before. Thoughts?: This is an… album. I like the compositions more than I thought I would, and I enjoy the production. I also like Krause’s vocals, however, the whole album sounds a little insane, A lot of the songs dragged on me and immediately left my mind. Favorite tracks: Song of the Whitewash, You Have to Pay, The Ballad of the Sackslingers, Lied von der Belebenden Wirkung des Geldes,

Curious partly because most of the music predates the rest of this list (though I guess some of the country and sparse blues also plays older tracks). I don't think anything is gained from translation into English, and rather it loses something of its original Berlin cabaret feel. On the positive side, nice to have something a bit different. 2.8*

man, i couldn’t even make it through a single track—and i tried about half of them before giving up

This album has a clear picture of what it wants so sound like and it does that extremely well. Her voice is great and they set a mood from the first to the last note. That being said though. An early 1900s album focused around army songs isn't something for me it turns out.

Autant poser les choses d’emblée, sans fard et sans pincettes : nous sommes ici à des années-lumière de mon ADN musical et l’écoute de l'album de Dagmar Krause s’est révélée être une expérience profondément étrange, déroutante, presque martiale par moments. Attention, ce n’est pas un disque mauvais en soi, loin de là, mais ce fut... compliqué. Pour contextualiser un peu le projet, Dagmar Krause n’est pas une débutante parachutée par hasard dans ce répertoire musical. D'ailleurs la chanteuse allemande traîne derrière elle une solide réputation d’égérie avant-gardiste au sein de formations culte comme Slapp Happy, Henry Cow ou Art Bears. Une habituée du rock progressif le plus rugueux, de la déconstruction atonale et de l’expérimentation politique sans concession. En 1986, elle s’était déjà attaquée au tandem Bertolt Brecht / Kurt Weill avec son disque Supply and Demand. Deux ans plus tard, elle pousse le vice encore plus loin en s'attaquant au compositeur Hanns Eisler, figure majeure et pourtant souvent occultée de la musique révolutionnaire allemande, grand camarade d’exil de Brecht qui a fini par composer l'hymne de la RDA après avoir été chassé des États-Unis par le maccarthysme. Sur le papier, Tank Battles se veut donc une exploration rigoureuse et viscérale des grandes œuvres du cabaret berlinois des années vingt et trente. Le résultat sonore, lui, est une anomalie totale dans le paysage de la fin des eighties. Tandis que le monde découvrait le hair metal ou la house de Chicago, Dagmar Krause s’enfermait avec un piano dépouillé, des cuivres austères, des cordes acérées et un sens du drame théâtral d'une rigueur absolue. Elle a d’ailleurs sorti l'album en deux versions intégrales : une en anglais pour le marché international et une en allemand sous le titre Panzerschlachten, histoire de pousser l'authenticité jusqu'au bout du gouffre. Dès l'ouverture, on est plongé dans un cabaret sombre, enfumé, mais dénué de tout glamour hollywoodien. Pas de paillettes à la Liza Minnelli ici ; c'est un réalisme socialiste froid, une poésie de combat ouvrier, des portraits de la Grande Dépression, de la montée du fascisme et des exils forcés. Les orchestrations martèlent des rythmiques syncopées, des contretemps acides, alternant marches quasi militaires et mélancolies dépouillées. Le contraste avec la pop de l'époque est si violent qu'on a l'impression d'écouter un signal radio clandestin diffusé depuis le fond d'une cave de 1932. Le véritable champ de bataille du disque réside dans la voix de Krause elle-même, son timbre est tranchant, habité, d’une intensité dramatique qui frôle parfois l'hystérie contrôlée ou la déclamation politique la plus pure. Dagmar n'interprète pas simplement des textes : elle les déclame, les vitupère, les articule avec une diction hyper-précise qui tient plus du Sprechgesang expressionniste que du chant de variété classique. Si vous cherchez un refrain accrocheur à siffler sous la douche, passez votre chemin ; ici, chaque mot est un pavé jeté à travers une vitrine idéologique. C’est précisément ce jusqu’au-boutisme qui désarçonne. D'un côté, il est impossible de nier la maestria technique, l’audace intellectuelle et le respect immense avec lequel l’artiste dépoussière l’héritage complexe d'Eisler. La démarche est noble, le jeu d’ensemble impeccable, et le disque transpire une honnêteté intellectuelle qu'on trouve rarement dans l'industrie musicale. Il y a une véritable grandeur dans ces miniatures théâtrales qui refusent la facilité commerciale. D'un autre côté, le plaisir d'écoute pur en prend un sacré coup si l'on n'est pas déjà converti à l'art dramatique brechtien ou aux dissonances du modernisme européen. Au final, je me retrouve devant cette œuvre comme une poule devant un couteau, partagé entre le respect poli pour le travail accompli et une franche distance émotionnelle. Je lui accorde un beau 3 sur 5, une note mi-figue, mi-raisin qui capture parfaitement la dualité de mon ressenti. Une note équilibrée pour un disque qui ne l'est pas du tout, coincé entre la rigueur historique et l’âpreté artistique. Si vous voulez sortir de votre zone de confort et tester vos limites, allez-y ; pour ma part, l'expérience fut aussi fascinante qu'inconfortable.

To me the point of this exercise is to open your mind and see what you'll enjoy. I'm seeing that lots of people aren't doing that and that's why this is rated so low. It's a theatrical album and you can easily find the English translation on YouTube. Her voice is interesting, the instrumentation is fantastic, and the lyrical content is pointed and I'm sure a bit easier to follow in German.

This sounded like a musical, but as someone who loves musicals... not one I'd want to see

A new discovery for me, interesting artist.

Theatrical, dramatical... a bit off realy.

She was talking about some real shit on here but I can't get over the deeply unserious music behind it. For being such a serious people, the Germans really are responsible for a considerable amount of unserious music.

Not available on Spotify

Day 45 Maybe I'd give a better review if there was actually a way to fucking listen to it. Oh well. I'll re-review it once I do

This album wasn't available on Spotify. I listened to some of her other stuff and didn't dig.

A bit samey. Would improve if sung in the original language.

DNF

feels like a political opera put on by first year students at Trent poly

Ik kon dit album niet op spotify vinden dus heb wat andere nummers van deze artiest geluisterd, weird maar wel leuk weird ig

Very interesting

very short album, maybe its sweet (i was just looking at the first half turns out) 1. very angsty is all i have to describe this song 2. is this all gonna be in minor chords? 3. bro you dont got time for drum fills rn. oh man this really isnt my kind of music. all these songs sound so incomplete, they barely start and then they're over 4. was that it? 5. well at least this was a full song 6. bro fuck no. this fucking sucks 7. perhaps you can shut the fuck up B1. this ones alright, still not for me tho 9. another unfinished song 10. can we please finish a song? i mean its not like im gonna listen anyways so nvm 11. ok 12. great its over. oh no wait this is only half of it god damnit. ok i need a break 13. back on that bullshit, i just wanna listen to my latin music bro B2. when i said i wanted full songs i did not mean 7 minutes long smh 16. bro im seriously listening to this bullshit over paying attention in class rn 17. actually this sounds pretty nice, a breath of fresh air fr 18. ugh........................................ B3. alright 19. how is this from the late 80s B4. im running out of dismissal words very quickly 14. nothing burger 15. actually kinda nice, but not fully realized 8. man 20. idk 21. its fine 22. oh my god im free (turns out the videos i used were out of order and included the bonus tracks but im not gonna reorder it) that was a chore to get through. if i had known at the start that this was 20+ songs idk how i wouldve stuck it out. ive since learned that this was made from the perspective of a girl growing up in a post-nazi germany and the dark era that ensued from that, so i feel a little bad for shitting on this so much, but i just gotta be honest that i really just didnt like this. the instrumentation, singing, everything about the music was just too weird for my taste. unfortunately giving this a 3

Interesting and weird and intense. I would say it’s almost impossible to rate this one as it’s very very different from anything else I’ve ever heard.

Can’t really say I “enjoyed” this, but I’m not mad it’s on the list. It is music of a genre and of an era that I would never have heard otherwise. Some of it is very moving - “In the Trenches” in particular. I don’t think I’ll ever seek this out but agree it deserved a listen.

Den västtyska new waven "Neue welle" ska inte blandas ihop för intimt med den brittiska. Dom har helt olika utgångspunkt och uttryck. Så när en västtyskt Neue welle-sångerska tolkar Weil och Brecht är det både logiskt och med en självklarhet. Det påminner om hur Thåström tolkade Taube och Bellman (och för den delen Brecht i "Surabaya Johnny", fast det var snarare Pughs version han tolkade där) med Imperiet. Det blir storvulet och dramatiskt och faktisk intressant och bra. I många fall tycker jag Dagmar gör det bättre än Scott Walker som ju också gav sig denna repertoar på ett bra sätt. Visst det är för många låtar så det blir mastigt. Men hade du skalat ner det till en tio spår här hade du haft ett kanonalbum. Det är något med de här Weimarsångerna som överlever trots, eller kanske tack vare, sin teatrala men också starka karaktär, och dom låter sig tolkas igen och igen. Weil och Brecht är så starka berättare precis som Taube att deras sånger låter sig djungas oavsett uttryck. Det får bli en stabil trea

Får högre poäng på intressant-skalan än på njutningsskalan. Ett par-tre låtar är spännande att höra. Men sedan blir det lite mycket av same-same. Hade nog hellre sett det som musikal, operett eller vilken form det nu var som gällde när låtarna skrevs.

Krasses tolkningar väl främst ses som ett slags historiedokument över Europas och främst Tysklands mörka första halva av 1900-talet. Eisler ska ha skrivit DDRs nationalsång och var vi befinner oss på höger-vänster-skalan råder det ingen tvekan om. Det finns en tydlig antikrigsretorik (stämmer väl kanske sådär med kommunistiska regimer) vars budskap kanske mer relevant än på länge. Framförandet känns tidstypiskt (för när kompositionerna skrevs) och ödesmättade. Blir emellertid lite väl mycket vibrato. Hade nog funkat bättre som föreställning än album.

Oavsett temat så har jag väldigt svårt för att lyssna på den här musikteatern. Det hade säkert varit skillnad att uppleva det live, men på skiva blir det bara långtråkigt. Det är åtminstone väldigt annorlunda mot mycket annat i boken.

Dagmar Krause's singing is an acquired taste that I failed to acquire.

I like this. It reminds me of Lili von Shtupp in Blazing saddles!

An interesting album with excellent musicianship and great vocals from Dagmar. This album captures the dark sides of Germany post WWI. The music is easy listening with Dagmar's deeper toned voice weaving the atmosphere.

I want to like this concept album. I just can't. It's interesting and wildly different but it isn't scratching anything I have an itch for.

omg why was this so hard to find

not on spotify for a reason

This is a strange one. Very theatrical, like an actual score with vocals delivered by a German lady with an heavy accent. She has great vocal range though. Very uniquely weird album. 2.6/5.0

Shaky first side but I was totally hooked for the last two thirds

Very cool album. I never heard something like it. Tragic at times.

Not possible to review without Youtube premium. Gave the impression to be a musical theater piece without visual.

I'm not sure what to say about this one. Re-interpreted early 1900s German songs. The 2nd half is stronger than the first half featuring more melodic songs. Still, it's really not something I could see myself listening to outside of curiosity. It comes across as technically very competent especially with Dagmar Krause clearly being an accomplished singer.

Certainly an experience, though I'm not sure to what end. Some very interesting songs that I feel like need a visual production to really appreciate. Opera without the opera. Points for the absolutely massive sounding production and exciting arrangements, but not something I see myself coming back to anytime soon.

wake up babe the new Hitler album just dropped

Interesting timing. The US is dipping its toes to fascism and the German political party AfD is gaining power again. This album is intense but great.

A German musical? Not for me, thanks

I can’t find the album but based on Dagmar’s other stuff I was more annoyed than anything listening to this.

Album 306. Tank Battles — Dagmar Krause (1988) It was afwul and pointless 1/5 No liked songs

Vaguely martial-sounding, lots of horns in the background under female vocals

Triggered about 8 forms of misphonia

Feels like I’m in Nazi-Occupied France. Either way, I really liked this, it’s bizarre but also very melodic and passionate.

Favorite Song: Bankenlied Least Favorite: Mother Beimleim

Not really interesting. Maybe if this was in German it'd have more appeal, but the English lyrics are very awkward, like there was no attempt to fit the words to the music. Kind of ruins the whole experience.

Ute Lemper is terug, nu onder de naam van Dagmar dingetje. Meer afschuwelijke Cruella De Vil-muziek, die ik deze keer nog minder trek. Ja ja, je bent slecht en je wilt hondjes doodmaken om een bontmantel van te maken, nou weten we het wel. Het zal wel bij je opvoeding horen om kennis te maken met het werk van Bertold Brecht, maar dan ben ik nu wel volledig op de hoogte, en er helemaal klaar mee. Als er nou nog Mack the knife of Whiskey Bar tussen had gezeten, maar nee. Ik lees trouwens dat componist Hans Eisler ook het oude volkslied van de DDR heeft gemaakt, kijk dát vind ik wel een mooie melodie, ironisch genoeg. Auferstanden aus Ruinen, yeah! Maar ook die staat hier natuurlijk niet op.

Ik geef hier wel eens wat af op de categorie 'kunst, omdat het moet'. En het mag duidelijk zijn. Dit past heel makkelijk in dat hokje. Het album is behoorlijk theatraal / gemaakt en voelt ouderwets. Tegelijk is het voor Dagmar, in tegenstelling tot anderen in het hokje, geen keuze tussen die kunst en de muziek. De muziek blijft een hoofdrol houden. Een uitzondering daargelaten zingt Dagmar bijzonder, maar kleurt ze niet teveel buiten de lijntjes. Helemaal mijn smaak is dit niet. Maar binnen de categorie 'kunst, omdat dit moet' is dit een prima vertegenwoordiger.

"As a vocalist, Krause has been described by some as an acquired taste." Als dit vermeld wordt op een wiki, dan weet je dat je een zware dobber gaat krijgen. Nondeju, dit is alsof ik naar een musical van Allo Allo aan het luisteren ben. Ik vind het op zich niet eens zo verschrikkelijk, maar wel verschrikkelijk genoeg om het na een nummer of 7 uit te zetten. Dit is ongelooflijk NSFW, ik kan nog beter snoeiharde metal opzetten. Niet dat dat een argument moet zijn, maar dit is ckv-huiswerk dat ik niet wil maken. Ik heb een idee wat voor muziek het is en dat is voldoende om lekker 1 ster te geven.

poah, schwer. teilweise mega geil, teilweise viel zu goofy. bin aber doch immer mehr reingekommen

엥노래가없어…

incredibly interesting to listen to

What an interesting inclusion. Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht didn't create this music for aesthetic purposes. It was something for the affected people to gird their hearts against a fascist and authoritarian regime, and while we are sadly in similar circumstances today in the U.S., the delivery is not as resonant. I think the intent of Dagmar Krause was to keep this history alive for posterity's sake, devoting two albums to this sort of music, and I can respect that even if I don't enjoy necessarily listening to it. The more rousing numbers are fun, and in contrast with the rest of the albums on this list, it's at least an interesting change of pace. This did lead me down the rabbit hole to Slapp Happy, a trio she was part of that played some very vibrant baroque music with clever lyrics. Their self-titled album (sometimes called Casablanca Moon) is an absolute delight.

Strange and very avant-garde. Interesting conceptually, but not pleasant to listen to