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G. G. Anderson – Wenn In Santa Maria

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

G.G. Anderson - Wenn In Santa Maria

G.G. Anderson - Wenn In Santa Maria
3.4

Rating

 3.4/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • 17 tracks and one hour playtime
  • Some good tracks

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Rather monotonous
  • Sometimes, too thin

G.G. Anderson is one of the most well-known German schlager artists since the early 1980’s. 30th December 2021, he is releasing his new album Wenn in Santa Maria. I was curious how Anderson is sounding nowadays.

 

G.G. Anderson – About The Artist

G.G. Anderson was born on 4th December 1949 in Eschwege in Hesse, Germany. His civil name is Günter Grabowski. He started to be active in music in the mid-1960’s as a band member of The Rackets. In the 1970’s, he was part of the band of Michael Holm, one of the biggest schlager artists of that time, before he turned solo in 1973. He initially published as Alexander Marco, later as Tony Bell. He became successful as G.G. Anderson, the artist name, which he is using since 1980. His career as a writer is huge – but he has also been very successful on the artist side. Already one of his first singles as G.G. Anderson, Mama Lorraine was a Top 10 chart placement in Germany. His biggest hit was likely the 1985 Sommernacht in Rom. Interestingly, his best album chart placements have been his recent relases. The 2018 Summerlove was a fifth place in Germany and Top 20 in Switzerland and Austria, for example.

 

G.G. Anderson – Wenn In Santa Maria – Track by Track

The 17 song album lasts one hour.

1. Manana

The album starts with Manana (in the Spanish pronunciation), which has also been one of G.G. Anderson’s single releases. A song about sunshine, unlucky love and the touch of Spain. Maybe not always the most sensible lyrics ever written (Manana – das kann schon morgen sein – “Manana, that may already be tomorrow”), but at least that kind of lyrics where any schlager fan finds some identification with. Just what a song of this genre should be alike.

2. Wenn In Santa Maria

The melody of the title track is not that far away from the opener. Funny that there is a reference to that Santa Maria location – does he really mean the Azores island? Good song to dance, but again: don’t get too deeply into the lyrics of this one.

3. Das Macht Uns Doch Keiner Nach

Seventeen new songs on this album – and only two single releases. Buying Wenn in Santa Maria is definitely a good value for money. The vocal performance by the schlager legend is a bit weaker, but the song is indeed entertaining.

Da macht uns doch keiner nach
Wir sind “Simply the best”
Macht uns keiner nach
Daran halten wir fest
Wir gehen voran,
egal was auch passiert.

(“Nobody will be able to copy that
We are Simply the Best
Nobody will copy it
We hold on to it.
We are going forward
No matter what is happening”)

4. Ganz Genau Wie Du

Ganz genau wie Du (“Exactly like you”) is a song which is so far most strongly reminding me of G.G. Anderson’s most successful era. A very traditional signature style – even though the lyrics changed within these more-than-thirty years. There are even mobile phones in his songs now.

5. Gina

Gina, braune Haut auf weißem Sand (“Gina, brown skin on white sand”) is a song thinking about a long-ago love affair. I feel that this is one of the hidden gems of G.G. Anderson’s 2021 album. Good story and nice songwriting.

6. Ich Lass Dein Herz Nie Los

If you go for seventeen songs in a genre like schlager (which may in general be rather narrow in regards of the range of topics), it needs quite a lot discipline to create a versatile and entertaining album. This sixth track has a new way of writing about – but overall, it feels thin and does not add really new aspects to this song collection. We just made a third of the songs so far. Hope there are some better songs soon.

7. Alles Was Ich Brauche

Alles Was Ich Brauche is definitely one of the most characteristic songs of the album. It has a nice summer vibe. I partially struggle with Anderson’s vocal performance, which feels too whiny to me here and there. Nonetheless, it is one of the best songs of this album to me.

8. Ich Schenk Dir Den Himmel

Ich Schenk Dir Den Himmel (“I give the sky to you”) is just what you would call a highly stereotyped schlager song. Discofox, electronic vibes, a song far too full of love and emotions. I am sure that die-hard schlager songs put it on the top of their lists – to me, the song is rather on the bottom of my ranking.

9. Sommersprossen

The uniformity of the songs on this album can also be illustrated by a look at the individual song durations: none of the songs is shorter than three minutes – but, vice versa, only two make it to over four minutes. Sommersprossen is thereby the longest one (4:43 minutes). The song has a classic schlager plot – unfortunately, the chorus too strongly reminds me of the good old Neue Deutsche Welle track Sommersprossen by UKW. That Berlin band definitely did better.

10. Manchmal

German music with adjacent rhymes like at Andreas Dorau songs. This song is just by far too much for me. Too many emotions, too many stereotypes, too predictable – and too thin. The difference between Dorau and G.G. Anderson is that one of them knows how to do a cool pop song with that style of music.

11. Sommerregennacht

Just a small step forward to a better style of music. This song spreads a nice touch of summer.

12. Saint Tropez und heiße Nächte

I more and more get the feeling that I am listening to the same song with different lyrics. Some are better, some are worse. There is no ballad, there is too few variation. This hot trip to France (“Saint Tropez and hot nights”) is rather on the average side. At least the song some stays in your mind after listening. Other recordings feel much more random.

13. Tausche Freundschaft gegen Liebe

In this track, Anderson proposes “to exchange friendship for love”. Not always sure if that’s a good deal. He is also stating that he knew from the very first moment that he did not really want friendship from the very first moment. Feels like the story of my favorite musical Rock of Ages. I feel happy that this song is not on the set list of that stage play.

14. Wenn du mich brauchst

So good to have a bit of a different song. Not a ballad, but significantly slower and than other songs of the album. Unfortunately, I again struggle with Anderson’s vocal performance here and there in the song. Nonetheless, I highly appreciate this listen.

15. Wettlauf mit der Zeit

The fifteenth song of the album is named “Race against time”. Another song which feels like a trip back to the 1980’s to me. Not too bad – I liked him much more during that decade than while listening to his 2021 album.

16. Max, der Baum

In the second last song, there is the first proper ballad. The song is about Max – who is a very special family member: G:G. Anderson is writing about a tree, which he shared so many memories of his life with. Reads a bit of kitschy, but it is one of my favorite songs of the album.

17. Ich würd es wieder tun

The final track of the album is definitely a good farewell. More energetic and a very own character. Still traditional schlager, but one of the better songs of the album.

 

G.G. Anderson – Wenn In Santa Maria – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

G.G. Anderson – Wenn In Santa Maria – My View

G. G. Anderson definitely shows that he is still having good schlager songwriting and producing skills. Nonetheless, the album is not more than better average too me. There are too many monotonous and thin episodes. 17 tracks is a great gift to his fans, but to me, the album rather sounds like an eight to ten track release… Too many similarities.

 

 

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