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Mike Leon Grosch – Wenn wir uns wiedersehen

Mike Leon Grosch - Wenn wir uns wiedersehen

2.6

Rating

2.6/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Great voice
  • Overall, well produced album

Flyctory.com Cons

  • The album is very stereotype and boring
  • Too few songs which add a different character

Despite Mike Leon Grosch had a huge success in Germany in 2006, his career had quite a hit shortly thereafter. The more, I was happy that fifteen years after his debut album, he is back with a new longer publication. The second album of his career is called Wenn wir uns wiedersehen (“When we will meet again”), it will be released on 30th April 2021.

 

Mike Leon Grosch – About The Artist

Mike Leon Grosch was born on 2nd November 1976 in Wuppertal in the Rhein-Ruhr region, Germany. In 2006, he finished second at Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of the TV talent show American Idol. This lead to two singles and his debut album Absolute (2006). Especially the single Don’t Let It Go Down was a massive success, leading the German charts and having very good placements in Switzerland in Austria. The album was a second placed release in Germany as well. Later in the year, his record deal has been canceled. He worked as a radio moderator and did not release music between 2008 and 2016. Since 2016, he released songs in German. However, there have been no more albums or EPs since 2006.

 

Mike Leon Grosch – Wenn wir uns wiedersehen – Track by Track

The fourteen songs of the album last 47 minutes.

1. Nicht mal eine Stunde

I haven’t been in touch with Mike Leon Grosch music for more than fifteen years now. I love these moments listening to new tunes of artist I know from previous parts of my life. Grosch did soft rock / emotional pop songs in the past – but this opener Nicht mal eine Stunde is a die-hard German schlager track. Disco Fox, electronic keyboard chords, a song about love. Not what I expected, but I love to listen to his voice. At least the opener made me curious about the thirteen following pieces of his new album.

2. Tausend Melodien

Better safe than sorry: Wenn wir uns wiedersehen starts with two songs, which have been released as a single beforehand. The song starts promising – Grosch’s raspy voice is accompanied by an acoustic guitar and the first verse comes with a quite nice touch. With the chorus, the song is back to the Disco Fox-schlager style… Unfortunately, the lyrics are a bit too stereotype… Meaning: too thin.

Wir sind tausend Melodien, die für unsere Liebe spielen
Wir sind wie millionenfach in jeder Nacht verliebt
Wir sind tausend Melodien, die für unsere Liebe spielen
Wir sind wie millionenfach in jeder Nacht Musik

(“We are a thousand melodies, which play for our love,
We are like in love a million times in every night
We are a thousand melodies, which play for our love,
We are a million times music in every night.”)

3. Dann geht es dir genau wie mir

Dann geht es Dir genau wie mir
Aus einem kleinen Traum wird ein großes Wir
Dann geht es Dir genau wie mir
Dann sind wir beide schon zwei mehr dafür.

(“Then you feel exactly like I do
A small dream becomes a large We
Then you feel exactly like I do
Thus we are already two more in favor of it”)

The third song makes me a bit of nervous already. Three songs which are melodically and rhythmically very close to each other. Good for a schlager party, but I hope that Grosch offers some stronger variation in the remaining songs.

4. Du

I did not expect a hard rock anthem as the following track when I was asking for variation – but Du (“You”) is definitely a different type of song. Very direct and personal touch, which is also much more arranged towards the outstanding voice of the artist. Why did they have to do these electronic background sounds in the chorus – and the ladies choir singing a slimy aah-aah-aah at two points of the song? Spoils my positive thoughts a bit.

5. Glaub mir

I more and more believe this could be hard work to review the album. I do like schlager, but this song is again very stereotype. The electronic / rhythmic samples feel very monotonous. Such a shame – as some parts of Glaub mir (“Believe in me”) again give this certain flash of genius vocals by Mike Leon Grosch again.

6. Alles wird schon irgendwie gehn

The arrangement of the sixth song is the same procedure as every song. The way Mike Leon Grosch is roaring the chorus is at least promising for his next concert shows – the fans will love to sing the track with him.

7. Wunderschön

I would not state that Wunderschön (“Gorgeous”) is revolutionary, but the previous single release has an individual touch, at least. Still, it feels a bit too plushy.

8. Die Welt solls wissen (feat. K-Fly)

And when monotony has already made me tired, there is Die Welt solls wissen. The song has a nice Spanish music groove and feels like a sunshine. No electronic samples, which are just put on top of the whole melodies. The duet with the German rapper K-Fly gives a very pop-ish and modern touch after the very traditional party tunes. The song has a lot of party potential.

9. Gläsernes Herz

The keyboard chords are not as disturbing as in other songs of the album – but finally, Gläsernes Herz (“Heart of Glass”) is going back to the schlager tune of the song.

10. Wenn wir uns wiedersehen

There is a magic figure in this album: 3:26 minutes. Three of the first four songs have that duration (the fourth one is one second longer, by the way). According to the platform I am able to pre-listen to this album, this is overall the fourth song of that duration. Wenn wir uns wiedersehen comes with that schlager touch, but it has a touch of shanty and party pop as well. There is that schlager rhythm and melody background music, but overall I would have loved to listen to more tracks like this one. Even though I feel that the vocal performance is stronger in other songs. La-la-la-la-la-la-la 🙂

11. Zwei Herzen, eine Seele

The press kit I received explicitly stated the special atmosphere of this song, Zwei Herzen, eine Seele (“Two hearts, one soul”). Indeed, the song is quiet, intimate and comes with a rather decent instrumental background (even though it later in the song comes with strings and a wider arrangement). This song is for sure a candidate for the best song of the album.

12. Piraten

With Piraten, we are at least sailing very few nautical miles away from the Wenn wir uns wiedersehen same old story ocean. Quite a catchy song with a nice sing-a-long potential.

13. Ich nenn es Liebe

Spürt Du es auch schon – ich nenn es Liebe (“Are you feeling it already – I call it love”) – the lyrics are really thin in here. Bad luck, the melodic style is not that bad, the song has a nice vibe. I finally cannot relate to this song.

14. Liebe ist

Has there been a single song on the album which is not dealing with love? Thus, it suits well to close the album with a love song as well.  No surprise. One of the slightly better tracks, though.

 

Mike Leon Grosch – Wenn wir uns wiedersehen – Spotify

Here is Wenn wir uns wiedersehen on Spotify:

 

Mike Leon Grosch – Wenn wir uns wiedersehen – My View

I very often hear that country is the schlager of the USA (or vice versa: schlager is the German country). Too often, I am critical with Nashville recordings as they are too streamlined and similar, too stereotype. Unfortunately, Wenn wir uns wiedersehen is a perfect for the same phenomenon on the German schlager side. The album has very rare moments which illustrate the great potential of this artist. But on the other hand, you receive seven, eight songs, which are extremely close to another. This album is not album dancing girls, cold beer, boots and trucks – but just about love. I keep my fingers crossed that Mike Leon Grosch is able to grow his fan base with this album. At least you can dance and party to it. In my point of view, it is rather disappointing.

 

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