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Claudia Koreck – Perlentaucherin

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Claudia Koreck - Perlentaucherin

Claudia Koreck - Perlentaucherin
3.7

Rating

 3.7/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Great voice
  • Nice arrangement of songs
  • Quite entertaining 38 minutes

Flyctory.com Cons

  • A few covers are failures in my point of view

Twelve cover songs of German music legends – when I recently reviewed a similar concept, #Schlager by Stereoact, my rather was rather disappointed. However, when I listened to the first tunes of Perlentaucherin (“Pearl diver”) by the Southern German artist Claudia Koreck, I felt from the very beginning that her concept is more promising. The album will be released on 7th May 2021. Here is my review.

 

Claudia Koreck – About The Artist

Claudia Koreck was born on 28th May 1986 in Traunstein in Germany, right at the border to Austria and close to Salzburg. She is playing keyboard and guitar, the singer-songwriter is releasing songs in Bavarian German as well as in English. She already won regional competions in teenage years. She started to study in Munich, but stopped after a few months. However, the Bavarian state radio station Bayern 3 got into her sing Fliang (“Flying”). Due to that support, the single just made it into the German charts, but the equivalently titled album climbed up to the fifteenth spot in the German album charts in 2007. In Bavaria, however, it was the most frequently sold record of that time.

Boosted by a German music TV show, the Bundesvision Song Contest, where she represented Bavaria in a ESC-alike format, Koreck’s second album Barfuß um die Welt (“Barefoot around the world”) even became her only Top 10 placement so far. She released nine albums so far (and some compilations and re-releases). A couple of them had reasonable placements in the German album charts.

 

Claudia Koreck – Perlentaucherin – Track by Track

The twelve track album lasts 38 minutes.

1. Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann

The album starts with three songs, which Koreck’s fans could already listen to before the album release. The opener is the classic by Nena. Koreck does the song in a soft version, a touch of folk music. I feel it is a really nice fit. A very own character, but still a nice match to the message of the original. Promising start.

2. Ein Kompliment

Ein Kompliment has been a hit for Sportfreunde Stiller. The song published in 2002 stayed in the German charts for over a year and reached a platinum record. Like in practically the whole album, Koreck is slowing down the song, using limited acoustic arrangements. For this song, it works surprisingly well.

3. Ohne dich

Unfortunately not the song by Münchener Freiheit, but a Rammstein original. What I really like about these three songs is that the artist is trying to get in touch with so many different genres. In this softening musical adventure, she is even bringing hard rock down to her style. The song is again a good arrangement, I love the way she works with her voice here very. Koreck is managing to still keep up a dramatic spirit in this song. This makes Ohne Dich (“Without you”) work out much better than you might expect at first sight.

4. Rock Me Amadeus

It is just a short walk from Traunstein to Austria. Covering the Falco originally is maybe the coolest experience on the whole album. The new version is having a touch of funk – and even though Koreck is keeping up her limited set of acoustic instrument, this song feels like dancing. Great vocal performance again.

5. Mensch

I am not too much into the music of Herbert Grönemeyer – thus, I struggle to relate to this song. Nonetheless, I feel that she is doing a nice job in this track. I feel the transformation she did in other songs is bigger though.

6. Du trägst keine Liebe in dir

The 1999 song Du trägst keine Liebe in Dir (“You don’t carry love inside you”) by Echt is a rock ballad already in its original. Thus, the song suits to this album and the way songs are interpreted. Koreck has an easy time with that song.

7. Schrei nach Liebe

I have to admit that I hate the original song by Die Ärzte, one of the most popular bands in Germany. To make it worse, Koreck is covering the old lyrics, which are typically no longer used in live shows. I also don’t see the hate and aggression, which is in the original song. To me, this is overall the worst song on the album.

8. Ich will alles

Back to the ’80s again. This song (“I want it all”) was a song originally performed by the Danish singer Gitte Haenning. I have to admit that I don’t like that version that much. I feel this time, Koreck is failing between creating her own sound and still not being out of the spirit of the original. I have to admit that I feel that this song is quite a challenge – but finally, the singer-songwriter accepted it.

9. Du erinnerst mich an Liebe

The songwriter behind that song is Annette Humpe, she wrote the song for her pop project Ich + Ich with Adel Tawil. Koreck chooses here one of the most energetic arrangements of the whole album. Indeed, this leads to a great sound and makes this 2021 version sound better and more unique.

10. Wieder hier

The tenth song is a cover of one of my German rock favorites, Westernhagen. Koreck tries to add a lot of feelings and warmth to this song. It feels a bit too much to me. Not a fail, really, but maybe another song which just hasn’t been a good selection.

11. Immer wieder geht die Sonne auf

Another Austrian artist – this song has been written by legendary Udo Jürgens. While I struggled with a couple the songs before on the album, this one is a nice one. Of course, the original arrangement is not that far away from what Koreck is doing in this song.

12. Gute Nacht Freunde

Gute Nacht Freunde is a classic by one of the best German singer-songwriters, Reinhard Mey. Just a beautiful and suitable (“Good Night Friends”) farewell song from this album.

 

Claudia Koreck – Perlentaucherin – Spotify

Here is Perlentaucherin on Spotify:

 

Claudia Koreck – Perlentaucherin – My View

You are very often tempted to feel that cover albums are easier to produce. You don’t have to write new songs – and if you chose popular tracks, people can relate to your new recordings very quickly. I feel really good cover albums are hard work, though. You need to re-interpret the songs in a way that people feel you do a straight and honest job. You also cannot simply put your own style into every cover – the album will be very boring.

Even though the methods and tools Claudia Koreck uses to re-record her twelve Perlentaucherin songs are that narrow, the album is significantly less tiring than you may expect it to be. She really did a great job to find an entertaining sound for 38 minutes. Unfortunately, a few covers are not ideal song selections or even failures in my point of view. This is maybe a very subjective thought, but I feel that some songs are really disturbing and just do not support the story of the song any more. It is still a good album, but top ratings are out of sight for this release.

 

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