Reise, Reise, Rammstein's fourth studio album, was released on 27 September2004 in Germany, followed shortly by its release in the rest of Europe. It was released in North America on 16 November of the same year. It has been in the Top 10 in several European charts and a number 1 hit in Germany. The album ranked at #67 for Top 100 Albums of 2004 by Rate Your Music.
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As used in Reise, Reise aufstehen! Kommt hoch nach alter Seemannsart, the album name is an old sailor's expression to wake or rise other sailors. Hence the translation of the title would be Arise, Arise, as seen in the song of the same name. Given Rammstein's propensity to use puns, a double meaning could well be intended, in which case the title would also translate to 'Journey, Journey'.
Album Art
The case cover shows a damaged airplane blackbox (which are painted orange to enable quick ___location among crash debris) depicted on the front and back covers. Its caption ("Flugrekorder//nicht öffnen") means "Flight recorder//do not open". The inner part of the Digipak edition case shows a picture of the six members in suits wielding suitcases and weapons leaving from a crashed airplane.
The CD itself has a silver matte/reflective relief surface which depicts a radar. All versions include a booklet with the lyrics.
The whole cover art is an allusion to the song Dalai Lama, which deals with an airplane accident. It is also suggestive of the overarching 'travelling' theme of the album.
The airplane accident on which the album is based occurred on the 12 August 1985, very nearly 20 years ago exactly. A Boeing 747, Japan Airlines flight 123 took off from Hadena aiport, Tokyo, and about 30 minutes later, crashed into the side of a mountain. 520 out of the 524 passengers and crew died, and it is still the worst single aircraft disaster in history.
Track listing
- "Reise, Reise" ("Arise, arise")
- "Mein Teil" ("My part")
- "Dalai Lama"
- "Keine Lust" ("No desire")
- "Los" ("(Let's) go" or "-less")
- "Amerika" ("America")
- "Moskau" ("Moscow")
- "Morgenstern" ("Morning star")
- "Stein um Stein" ("Stone by stone")
- "Ohne dich" ("Without you")
- "Amour" ("French for Love")
1"Teil" means "part" or "piece", but it is also a slang word for penis, similar to the english word "thing".
Easter egg: If the CD is rewound back 38 seconds into negative time at the beginning (right before Reise, Reise) and then played, a fragment of the flight recorder of the aforementioned aircraft disaster can be heard. (This can only be done on the European version of the album. The American version has this "hidden" track on the beginning of the album with no rewinding involved.)
Mein Teil
Mein Teil ("My part", German slang for "my penis") was inspired by the 2001 Armin Meiwes cannibalism case. It was written after one of the band brought a newspaper with the story to a rehearsal. Mein Teil attracted considerable controversy in Germany, with the media dubbing it the "Kannibalensong", and this helped to boost it to second place in the German music charts after its release in early August 2004. The song has also been remixed by Arthur Baker and Pet Shop Boys (these are included on the CD single).
In live performance, Till Lindemann appears dressed as a blood-stained chef holding a microphone with a large butcher's knife attached to the end. He pulls out a giant cooking pot with a portable keyboard attached to one side. Keyboardist Christian "Flake" Lorenz appears in the pot, with metal cylinders attached to his arms and legs, and plays the keyboard during the song. After the second chorus, Till takes a flamethrower and roasts the bottom of the pot, "cooking" Flake. Flake escapes from the pot and starts running around the stage with flames erupting from his arms and legs, while chased by a knife-wielding Till.
The video shows Till eating and copulating with an angel; Flake performing ballet; Richard wrestling his twin, Oliver writhing on the floor in a spasm; the whole band fighting in a mudpit; and five of the band members crawling out of a Berlin U-Bahn (subway) station while held on leashes carried by "Frau" Christoph Schneider, who is dressed as a woman. This content led to its airing on TV being restricted to after 11pm.
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama is an adaptation of der Erlkönig, a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in 1782 and subsequently set to music by many composers, including Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) in 1815. The band apparently considered calling the song "Erlkönig" in homage to Goethe's poem. "Flugangst" ("fear of flying", or more loosely "flight fright") was also considered as a name before Rammstein settled on "Dalai Lama" in reference to the current Dalai Lama's well-publicised dislike of air travel. Other than this somewhat oblique reference, the song does not have anything to do with Tibetan Buddhism or the Dalai Lama.
The song replaces Goethe's travelling man and child on horseback with a man and child on an aircraft, and the Erlkönig himself with the "king of all the winds". As in the poem, the travellers are menaced by a mysterious spirit which "invites" the child to join him (though only the child can hear the spirit's invitation). Rammstein's version differs markedly from Goethe's original in describing the fate of the child. In the poem, the child cries out that the Erlkönig is abducting it. The alarmed father rides for help, holding the child in his arms, only to find that his son is dead; Rammstein replaces this with a typically morbid twist: after running into a storm sent by the "king of all the winds" which threatens all the passengers, the terrified father suffocates the child by holding him too tightly and the child's soul joins its "brothers" in the winds.
Keine Lust
Keine Lust, also released as a single, digipack and two-track, describes the band's disaffection with fame and money. The video, filmed in January of 2005 and released a month later, portrays a visibly aged and fat future version of the band, playing a reunion of sorts. Flake appears in a motorized wheelchair. At the end of the video, the rest of the band abandons Flake, after he arrives late. The Video was up for a nomination for the MTV European Music Awards in November 2005.
On the video "The Making of Keine Lust", guitarist Richard Kruspe-Bernstein discussed the meaning of the song and video.
- "You know, after all of these years we're full-up! Fame, success, money. We don't want to do anything anymore! Nothing! That's the idea in the song. We've returned to the starting point again. We just want to make music again. We don't want all the circus that goes with it anymore. So, we meet up again, one more time, for one more performance- just to make music together. The fact that we are fat is just symbolic for excess. It's really just about returning to the beginning."
Los
Los is almost complete acoustic, featuring a bluesy electric guitar solo and harmonica. It was due to be released as the fifth single from "Reise, Reise" but it was cancelled following the release of the first single, Benzin, from the next album, Rosenrot.
Amerika
"Amerika" was the second single released from Reise Reise. It deals with the worldwide dominance of the culture of the United States of America. It is sung largely in German with a chorus partly in English: We're all living in Amerika, Amerika ist wunderbar, We're all living in Amerika, Amerika, Amerika. It has received mixed reviews: some perceive it as anti-American, others as being opposed to globalization. The band view it as a satirical commentary on Cocacolonization
The video shows the band in Apollo-era space suits on the Moon with shots of other cultures acting like Americans. The end of the video shows that the band have actually been in a fake Moon set in a studio, complete with film crew, as a reference to Apollo moon landing hoax accusations. Till Lindemann, Rammstein's lead singer, wears a space suit with the name "Armstrong" on it - an obvious reference to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon.
During live performances of this song, Flake is often seen riding around on a Segway HT; confetti cannons, with red, white and blue confetti in them, are also used. This parodies the ticker-tape parade. During a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 30, 2005, Till Lindemann suffered a knee injury when Flake accidentally ran into him with the Segway. This caused concerts scheduled in Asia to be canceled.
Moskau
Rumored to have originally been intended as a duet with Julia Volkova of Russian pop duo T.A.T.u., it instead features the vocals of Viktoria Fersh, whose voice bears a strong resemblance to Volkova's. The song refers to the Russian capital of Moscow and features two perspectives on the city: its beauty and culture, and the undercurrents of corruption.
Stein um Stein
The song is a slow and brooding monologue of someone building a little house to entomb his victim alive - a possible interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado.
Ohne dich
The song is seen as expressing mourning over the loss of a loved person. It was released as a the third single from the album on 22 November 2004 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Other countries' releases followed up from that date. It follows a slow, even romantic balladic style. The central motif is Without you, I cannot be, without you..., With you, I am also alone, without you...
The single includes as its 6th track the so-called beta version of what should have been part of Mutter. Indeed, Ohne dich was planned for Mutter, but then dismissed. Both versions, the current and the beta version, are very similar. Much of the instrumentation is the same for both versions, and Lindemann's voice is softer in the current version.
The video was filmed in the Kaun Valley and on the Pitz Valley glacier in Tyrol, Austria. It shows the band members climbing and hiking.
The lines Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein [...], mit dir bin ich auch allein... and Ohne dich zähl' ich die Stunden [...], mit dir stehen die Sekunden, lohnen nicht... translate as following: Without you I can not be [...] with you I am lonely too ... and Without you I count the hours [...] with you the seconds remain/stay, they are not worthwhile.
The statement With you I am lonely too and the addition They are not worthwhile could suggest that the person who tells his story in the song is somehow indifferent if he would like it better if his former love returned or not. Maybe With you I am lonely too means, that he claims to be a unity with her, therefore only one person who is alone. They are not worthwhile could mean that time has no value to their relationship, because it's timeless or time stops for them.
Amour
Amour has a rather mellow beat and lyrics that deal with love and the pain that goes with it. In fact, the strongest metaphor in the song is the camparison of love to a wild animal that many try and fail to tame.
USA Edition
On this release, the easter egg fragment is placed at the beginning of "Reise, Reise" in normal playback and not hidden.
Japanese Edition
In May 2005 Rammstein released a special Japanese version of Reise, Reise. It has two bonus tracks, a bonus DVD and different cover art. The reason why Rammstein came out with a different version for the Japanese has not been specified, but it may have been to avoid offending the Japanese audience by removing any Japan Airlines Flight 123 allusions.
The cover art uses the same source image as that of Rosenrot.
Bonus Tracks
- 1. Mein Teil (You Are What You Eat Edit) Remix by Pet Shop Boys
- 2. Amerika (Digital Hardcore Mix) Remix by Alex EmpireT
Singles
External links
- Unprofessional Reviews (German, Amazon.de)
- Lyrics & Translations