As I'm sure everyone knows the XXI Olympiad was in 1976 in Montreal, so of course that's what you'd expect Australia's Black Cab to be obsessing about as they were the last games where the Aussies failed to win a gold medal. The chemically-enhanced East Germans did very well at hose same games and this concept album takes us through a typical Olympian itinerary.
First off the rank is the Opening ceremony with a suitably pompous speech from some functionary or other. It is backed by some very Kraftwerk-style synths, so it feel a bit Fanfare for the Modern Man but without making me want to chuck up like that tune would. There again, if you chuck up in my black cab you're straight out the door and being fined for the privilege, so bear that in mind.
Next is Supermadchen which has a real Trans Europe Express feel to it like it was made for the long drive down an autobahn rather than the 400 metres hurdles. Even if it's actually about the East German swimmers. Victorious started off with a deep note that could almost be played on a didgeridoo before the Moog and percussion come in to help welcome the medallists to the podium. It has nicely swelling beats to help make everyone swell with pride and forget that the droshky is stuck in traffic again.
Performance Center Obertauren opens with some samples of various German-sounding voices as the sounds of thunder intertwine with the Moog and it has something of the feel of Neukoln by David Bowie. It feels like the kipper season has arrived and you're searching high and low for any crumbs of comfort. It's quite downbeat and foreboding which is in stark contrast to the upbeat feel of Kornelia Ender. This one could almost be an old Yello tune and it celebrates her four world record-winning gold medal performances in the pool before they found out about all the steroids and working double shifts to pay the drugs bill.
Go Slow feels like you're stuck in the roadworks again. It gets those handclaps going like there are only another 5 laps left of the 10000 metres and no one has started to wind up the pace for the sprint finish yet. Problem Child really feels like glacial synth-pop of the highest order no matter what the problem child who won't give in is up to. They're probably like the ones I encountered yesterday who just wouldn't stop screaming for no good reason. I was so glad when they got out of the cab. It builds nicely to a fine peak and sounds a tiny bit like the Pet Shop Boys but with deeper vocals.
"Combat Boots" is repeated over to ensure you have your combat boots on over Shags Chamberlain's Moog rumblings although I'm not sure what they need the boots are for at an Olympics. Little Blue Ones are (I guess) the pills being popped and not fivers sitting in my money bag. It sounds like there are some backwards keyboards going on over a slightly off-key pulsing sound.
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My War seems a touch overly dramatic as a title for an album about the Olympics but then the commentaries often use such analogies and this works well over a dance floor smash of a tune at the danciest end of the Kraftwerk oeuvre. The sort of job it's worth cleaning the cab for.
How many tunes can you name about Sexy Polizei? Not many I guess but this is a cool one about how said sexy polizei are closing in on the drugs cheats over cool beats. It's almost like listening to Lola Dutronic but with male voices rather than Steffi's Germanic vocals.
State Plan 14.25 I assume is the name of the East Germans' drug programme and isn't 14.25 minutes long but a far easier to handle 5.07 of slow Moog and synth atmospheres over which a woman reads out a statement in German. I guess she's trying to explain why they did what they did and how their athletes became super human. Well at least no one was throwing bottles of urine in their faces or arguing about the route you've chosen to take.
As you'd expect, the album closes with Closing Ceremon which wraps up the games for another 4 years with some slow synths and Moog. They are filled with the sadness of the Australians not winning any Golds, the poor loves. Of course, there's also the bitterness that the drug-fuelled East Germans were second in the medal table. This is a fitting closing tune with that feel of getting a job home just as you get your money.
This is a pretty cool album and if you like old school synths and Moog-driven pop will be right up you street. Find out more at Remote Control Records online
Or Interstate 40 Music online
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