Songs (Click the -icons for some small realaudio-samples)

1.The One
2. Such a day
3. Baby of Gold
4. A Naked Girl
5. The Love Program
6. Forever
7. Rosie
8. Ordinary Sunset
9. Sing Song
10. True
11. All For Love
97. The Little Boy
98. Electronica for Lovers
99. Tonight

Songs : Das Pop

Musicians :
- Bent Van Looy
- Tom Kestens
- Niek Meul
- Lieven Moors
- Reinard Vanbergen
and also :
- Mark & Karel Steylaerts, Véronique Gilis, Marc Tooten (strings), gedirigeerd door Herbert Lanckhorst
- Frederik Heirman (trombone)

Produced by Phil Vinall
Recorded at Chapel Studio's, South Thoresby (UK) & videos Studio, Gent

Artwork : Bent Van Looy & Klaas Ruysschaert
Photo's : Bert Houbrechts, Carl Bruyndonckx

My opinion (the 100th album review!)

Anecdote : The band Das Pop had a gig in the Belgian town of Eeklo a little while ago (if you don't know Das Pop, read this here bio. And if you don't know Eeklo, follow directions to "Nowhere" and turn right just before you get there). Unfortunately, there was something wrong with the electrical installation, so the band was given the choice either to perform with a terrible sound, or without the light-show. Das Pop chose something else: they went home.
Arrogance or healthy self-respect? Perfectionism or Das Posh? Fact is that Das Pop is quickly gathering both a loyal following and a number of anti-Das Pop's. Slick - as all pop music - they certainly are, or is it the olive oil of the video for The One or from the pictures from the very nice booklet to the cd that gave me that impression?
All in all, "I " is thé album of the year, but maybe also thé flop of the year.
For it is a really amazingly catchy bunch of songs, highly amusing also, with not a bad track in sight and not a single moment to get bored. With the finest English accent since the invention of belpop, and with a reïncarnation of the young Bowie as the drummer/singer. Doomed is the one that's got to pick singles from this lot .. I wouldn't know which one to pick, as my favourites vary all the time, with the most constant being "forever", "a naked girl" and certainly "true".
But, as I was saying, it's also a bit of a flop. For "the world has kept on turning as it did before the release", they have already noticed, and gathering of girls with "I " t-shirts are also few and far between. The Das Pop sound is made up of echo's, of Blur and Bowie, of Pink Floyd and XTC, of Pulp and the Beatles, and is so stuffed to the rim with cheezy synth sounds & effects that even a collector of cheezy synth sounds & effects would quickly grow weary of them. Das Pop is more British than Britpop, and who the heck is waiting for that, except for a few people at NME & Q who are always on the lookout for the newest hypable hypeworthy hype. And, as my last argument, that the best song on "I " is "the little boy", and that one dates from last year and is only in the bonus tracks (from which they even omitted "A different beat", their 1st single, go figure)
So, Das Pop has sadly enough not made a world class album (yet), but certainly one that can travel round the world without blushing.

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

This Album in the Press

- PDW in Humo : "... at their most corny (as on the frail song ‘Rosie’) they do sound a bit like Das Bob, but they never become Das Boot, nor is this a case of Das Flop. Au contraire: I is a debut album that can be adressed with 'roger me silly but what a truly fantastic debut album!'. Unless you'd want to show off more, in which case I would speak about a first-class chef d’oeuvre-ette on which these young chums from Ghent have reinvented pop music all over again, and even in such a way that can frankly can be singled out as fresh. Highlights aplenty ..."
- Bert Leijsen voor Uptomusic : "You have to wait until the bitter end, till the beautiful "Sing Song" - miles ahead of the other songs on this 'I Love', and 'True' which could easily figure on Bowies 'hours'. ... Despite these shortlived flickers... this 'I Love' is drowing in an abundance of ideas and unnecessary frills that sadly cannot camouflage a lack of sufficiently strong songs."
- WV in Rif-Raf : "Het langverwachte langspeeldebuut van Das Pop is er. Het heet en toont een band die verliefd is op muziek en op de liefde. ... De plaat is strak geproducet en zit vol auditieve grapjes. Melodieën worden optimaal tegenover elkaar geplaatst, zonder dat het rommelig wordt. Onverwachte wendingen liggen even goed in het gehoor als de nieuwste van de Backstreet Boys. Das Pop bewijst dat een paradox geen probleem hoeft te zijn."
- Oor, november 2000 : "Das Pop is een vijftal uit Gent dat naam maakte door in '98 Humo's Rock Rally te winnen en vervolgens enkele opvallende en bij onze zuiderburen veelgedraaide singles (waaronder Rubettes-klassieker Tonight) uit te brengen. Dat die naam alleen nog maar groter gaat worden, wisten ze in België natuurlijk al. Dankzij dit ongewoon knappe debuut weten wij 't nu ook.... Das Pop jat namelijk met verve en heeft bovendien klasse genoeg om er mee weg te komen. De Belgen flikken 't weer."
- Tim Coene voor (het inmiddels ter ziele gegane) Café Belge : "... Soms nadert de bombast, maar nergens krijgt die vrij spel, want hun passie voor muziek zet hen steeds weer op het juiste pad, een weg vol motorolie overigens. Herinner u de magische begeestering toen u voor de eerste keer op een kermis rondliep. Das Pop speelt orter, retro maar dan omgedraaid, alsof er een antiek raketje uit de toekomst op je af komt. ..."
- MAD (Le Soir) : "Comme le précise très justement la biographie de ces cinq Gantois, leur côté touche-à-tout et leurs influences brouillent les pistes. Et des influences, il y en a, dans ce "I love". Ce titre lui-même, tout d'abord, avec son gros coeur rouge, rappelle ces autocollants à la mode dans les années 70. Côté musique, les seventies s'y retrouvent également, mais aussi les sixties, les eighties et la décennie qui vient de s'écouler, les Beat- les tout comme Bowie, Pink Floyd, Telex et quelques fleurons de la britpop"

Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell me about it !

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on December 17, 2000, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

Shop	Price of the CD	Shipping + other expenses	Total	Direct Link
Frontstage	679	0	679 Bef.	Frontstage
Azur	784	0	784 Bef.
Proxis	671	0	671 Bef.	Proxis
Atrecordings	---	3$	---
Netbeat	14,99 euro	2,77 euro	715 Bef.

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

More about this group :

- Das-Pop.com, the official site that was brilliantly flash'ed by Das Pascals (nu Group94)
- Das Pop bio and more in the Belgian Pop & Rock Archives
- Das Pop @ Pias dot com
- Good Das Pop fansite carrying the name "I Love Das Pop"...
- Interview with Bent & Co about this cd at Surf-Inn
 

Other recent CD's
Do you want to announce your record here? It's easy (and free) ! Click here for the conditions.