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Thomas Anders – Pures Leben (2017)

Music album review: Thomas Anders Pures Leben (Warner Music Group, 2017)

  1. Der beste Tag meines Lebens (3:25)
  2. Sternenregen (3:42)
  3. Das Lied das Leben heißt (3:56)
  4. Feuerwerk (3:32)
  5. Sie und ich und du (4:38)
  6. Unendlich (3:26)
  7. Schwerelos (4:08)
  8. Traumtänzer (3:30)
  9. Zurück zu dir (3:41)
  10. Träume (3:29)
  11. Ein Augenblick, der alles dreht (3:17)
  12. Odyssee (3:39)
  13. Fliegen (3:38)

Despite having a music career going back to a year or so before I was born Thomas Anders has never actually released an album in his native language. Sure, he started out recording singles in German, but before Modern Talking there were no albums. Modern Talking released a number of albums, all in English, and his solo work in-between and after Modern Talking were also in English (aside from the one in Spanish, but they were just Spanish-speaking covers of songs he’d previously released in English). Pures Leben is therefore his first album singing in German.

I love the old German singles, so there is that, but the latest album (HIStory, 2016) was a bit meh. It was just a bunch of Modern Talking songs re-recorded with a slightly different musical arrangement and it felt pointless. Why mess with something that was perfect as it was, only to make it slightly less good? There were two new songs on it, written in a Modern Talking style but not by Dieter Bohlen, and one of those songs, Ein Augenblick, der alles dreht, has made it onto Pures Leben. Not sure which version I prefer.

In many ways you could liken this to a Modern Talking album: upbeat songs with some ballads interspersed (3, 5, 7) and a bit of mid-tempo (9) thrown in as well. There’s also no denying there are songs with sounds echoing those of Modern Talking, e.g. Das Lied das Leben heißt, Sie und ich und do and Schwerelos vs Why Does It Always Rain In My Heart, for instance. Ein Augenblick, der alles dreht sounds very much like a Modern Talking track, but you could argue that’s definitely deliberate. There’s Odyssee and that guitar bit that seems oddly familiar. Invoking fond memories of Modern Talking totally works for me, though.

In fact, the whole album works for me. Sure, I don’t understand the lyrics perfectly yet (DuoLingo claims I’m now 30% fluent in German – I beg to differ! Had to look up “schwerelos” because it was used so much, and apparently it means “weightless”), but it’s nice to hear Thomas Anders sing in his native language again, especially when the songs are this good. They fill up my energy levels and make me happy, and that’s one of the reasons I love it. As to particular favourites, probably the ear-wormy Unendlich followed by Sternenregen, but I like them all. Even the ballads, except after a number of listens I now tend to skip Sie und ich und du because it just wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t have at least one ballad on the album I didn’t care for. 😉

I thought I liked Anders | Fahrenkrog’s Two. Pures Leben is even better. Is it too much to hope for a follow-up, also in German?

5 out of 5 best days of my life.

Traxy

An easily distracted and over-excited introvert who never learns to go to bed at a reasonable time. Enjoys traveling (when there's not a plague on), and taking photos of European architecture. Cares for cats, good coffee and Boardwalk Empire. A child of her time, she did media studies in school and still can't decide what she wants to be when she grows up.

One thought on “Thomas Anders – Pures Leben (2017)

  1. Ein Augenblick, der alles dreht is the german version of Lunatic girl on History

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