Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten...

Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten… ("When the night is at its darkest…") is the third album released by Ton Steine Scherben, and is the last one released before their six-year break from recording. It shows the first signs of a change in genre: moving away from Macht kaputt was euch kaputt macht ("Destroy what destroys you") towards Halt dich an deiner Liebe fest ("Hang on to your love").

History

From 1973-1974, the band's interest steadily declined in being the "political musicbox" of the leftist scene. This was compounded by the problem that one could at most request an entrance fee as "contribution of solidarity" from the audience, which was difficult to live on. As such, the band slowly distanced itself from the slogans of the leftist squatting scene, even if they remained faithful to the ideology. Financial problems led to a breakup of the band in 1973. The band soon reunited, but without the bassist Kai Sichtermann. He was replaced by Gino Götz, who had already collaborated with the band on the children's radio play Teufel hast du Wind. Aside from that, the band still lacked a steady percussionist. (On the album Keine Macht für Niemand, the percussion was primarily played by Olaf Lietzau. He would have been suitable, but was still underaged and could not go on tour with the band.) The drummer that the band decided on—Funky K. Götzner—remained with the group from that point onwards. With this lineup, the decision was made to produce a new LP.

The songs

Samstagnachmittag ("Saturday Afternoon") was used (without music) in a play by the Roten Steine. The new accompaniment contains musical appropriations from Macht kaputt, was euch kaputt macht.
Durch die Wüste ("Through the desert") is a science fiction piece. The title is borrowed from a novel by Karl May. Every album since Keine Macht für Niemand ("Menschenjäger") has a song with a title borrowed from a Karl May novel.
Nimm den Hammer ("Take the hammer") is an adaption of the skiffle song "Take This Hammer".
Ich geh weg ("I'm leaving") was written in Ireland during a vacation.
Land in Sicht ("Land in sight") originally had English lyrics. As of release, it was already three years old.
Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten… ("When the night is at its darkest…") is also from the same period.
Steig ein ("Get in") is the longest song by the Scherben (over 20 minutes). It consists of three portions: a long intro in which Rio tells the story of a dream, the song itself, followed by a jam to the end. The jam incorporates elements from both old (Der Kampf geht weiter and Allein machen sie dich ein) as well as new (Heut' Nacht und Nimm den Hammer) songs.

Track listing

First LP

Heut Nacht (Ralph Möbius, R.P.S. Lanrue) - 6:15
Samstag Nachmittag (Möbius, Lanrue) - 5:01
Guten Morgen (Nikel Pallat, Möbius) - 4:16
Durch die Wüste (Möbius, Lanrue) - 4:59
Nimm den Hammer (Möbius, Lanrue) - 5:22
Ich geh weg (Möbius, Lanrue) - 3:23
Halt dich an deiner Liebe fest (Möbius, Lanrue) - 6:58
Wir sind im Licht (Pallat, Lanrue) - 5:31

Second LP

Wenn die Nacht am tiefsten… (Möbius, Lanrue) - 3:31
Land in Sicht (Möbius, Lanrue) - 7:11
Komm an Bord (Möbius, Lanrue) - 9:14
Steig ein (Möbius, Lanrue) - 20:50

Lineup

Ralph Möbius - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
R.P.S. Lanrue - Guitar, Backup vocals
Funky K. Götzner - Drums
Werner "Gino" Götz - Bass, saxophone
Nikel Pallat - Vocals
Jörg Schlotterer - Flute
Jako Benz - Guitar
Vegas von Trantor - Percussion
Angie Olbrich - Backup vocals
Britta Neander - Backup vocals
Gaby Borowski - Backup vocals
Richard Borowski - Sound

Miscellaneous

On pseudonyms: R.P.S. Lanrue is Ralph Peter Steitz; the "K" in Funky K. Götzner stands for "Klaus". (The nickname "Funky" stems from a classified ad he posted looking for a funk band.) Vegas von Trantor (a name from a science fiction novel) was born as "Uli Hammer". Ralph Möbius used the name "Rio Reiser" from the following album onwards.

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