Deine Lakaien. XXX. The 30 Years Retrospective (4CD)

DEINE LAKAIEN released ten studio recordings within the three decades of the band’s history. During this time they accomplished the feat to make music solely for the sake of making music. DEINE LAKAIEN might have been claimed to belong to one or the other scene, but until today Alexander Veljanov and Ernst Horn cannot be assigned a genre, since they create their own. Within their core, Deine Lakaien are just one thing: fearlessly experimental. “Our aim was always to lead an independent life as musicians. We can live from our music and do not depend on market strategists and media-related embarrassments. Of course, a musician wants to earn money. However, literally every artist has this craving for something that is not to be underrated: recognition. From people who love music more than the surrounding fuss, appreciation from fellow musicians, and appreciation from people, who like Schubert as much as Radiohead. We are not to be as easily consumed as an entertaining band, we are crossing boundaries.”

After live-shows that range from acoustic concerts through performances with classical instruments and an extended collection of synthesizers to extensive tours with orchestra, Deine Lakaien celebrate their 30iest anniversary with a unique selection taken from the archives of the avant-garde duo. The extreme personal editions of the “XXX – The 30 Years Retrospective” are released on October 21st with almost 60 partially unpublished songs, secret hits, rare tracks and unpublished live-material from the years 1992-2015, which sound documents have been unavailable so far. “Charlatanism is not our thing. If something is no good, we have no fun with it. The breaks between the albums and the numerous releases with other projects reinforce honesty in our self-assessment: The moment we cannot surprise each other anymore will be our last.”, Horn and Veljanov state about their last studio album. This attitude is of course the same for the high-quality collection of releases put together with loving attention for the 30iest anniversary: “XXX – The 30 Years Retrospective” shows aspects of their work hidden so far and makes the hearts of fans as well as of collectors beat faster.

CD1 collects the 15 perhaps most successful songs of the band. Chronologically ordered, the first disc of the double album includes the best-known singles from all studio albums. The second CD presents the “secret hits” of the duo in chronological order as well as three highly interesting remixes of “Colour-ize”, the very first song of the band, of their maybe most successful track “Love Me To The End”, and of “Kasmodiah” from the album with the same name. Horn comments: “The songs were not just newly arranged for the remixes but also sequences of harmonies were reshaped, and “Kasmodiah” even got a new chorus. This is the reason why the remixes – with the exception of “Love Me To The End” that got the additional title “Romeo and Juliet” - have the addition “2nd version. For us, remixes are equivalent alternative versions.” 

Besides the two CDs of the “Best Of” double album the box set contains two additional CDs – real treasure troves not only for fans. CD3 required a lot of work in the archives and deserves particular attention: “Luckily, I still have got the old equipment – an eight-track tape machine from ’83, more tape machines and DAT-recorders, Commodore, Atari, and Apple computers – so that the old bands could be saved and the copying worked with a lot of luck and cleaning agents. The songs were partially remixed or mixed for the first time.” CD3 includes 10 unreleased songs, 2 remixes and two rare tracks that have not been officially published, yet. The songs are violent (“The Joint of God”), experimental (“Travelling Through The Dark”), poetic (“One By One”), political statements (“Revolution”), and with Dylan’s “It’s Alright, Ma” the first recorded cover song of Deine Lakaien is presented. CD4 provides unreleased live-material from the years 1992-2015 with different line-ups, including recordings of “Acoustic” tours and of the “Kasmodiah” tour, the sound documents of which were unavailable so far. The box set contains extensive artwork and a booklet with all lyrics.

https://www.deine-lakaien.com/en

CD 1 (2CD-Digi & 4CD-BOX) - "Best-of"

Colour-ize (Album "Deine Lakaien")
Love Me To The End ("1987")
Reincarnation ("1987")
Dark Star ("Dark Star")
Lonely ( Mini Album "2nd star")
Mindmachine ("Forest Enter Exit")
Away ( "Winter Fish Testosterone")
Return ("Kasmodiah")
Into My Arms ("Kasmodiah")
Where You Are ("White Lies")
Over And Done ("April Skies")
One Night ("Indicator")
Gone ("Indicator")
Farewell ("Crystal Palace")
Where The Winds Don't Blow („Chrystal Palace“)

CD 2 (2CD-Digi & 4CD-BOX) - "Best-of"

Wasted Years ( „Deine Lakaien“)
Forest („Forest Enter Exit“)
Follow Me („Forest Enter Exit“)
Madiel ( Single „Mindmachine“)
2nd Sun ( Sampler „Five Years of Zillo“)
Fighting The Green („Winter Fish Testosterone“)
Manastir Baroue („Winter Fish Testosterone“)
The Game („Kasmodiah“)
Generators („White Lies“)
Wunderbar („White Lies“)
Vivre („April Skies“)
Nevermore („Crystal Palace“)
Colouri-ze, 2nd Version [Remix]
Kasmodiah, 2nd Version [Remix]
Love Me To The End (Romeo And Juliet) [Remix]

CD-3 (4CD-BOX only): 12 previously unreleased songs/re-mixes, 2 „rare tracks“

It’s Alright, Ma (Bob Dylan/Cover, 1999)
Revolution (unreleased, 2002)
What’s On Your Mind (unreleased, 2014)
Black Cat (unreleased, 2014)
Night Of Love, 2nd Version [Remix, 1991]
Robots (unreleased, 2004)
The Joint Of God (unreleased, 1992)
In The Land Of („Indicator Special EP“, Sonic Seducer, 2010)
Along Our Road, 2nd Version [Remix]
On Your Stage Again, 2nd Version (Remix, „Indicator Special EP“, Sonic Seducer, 2010)
Frozen Screams (unreleased, 2013)
Syndicate (unreleased,2014)
One By One (unreleased, 2014)
Travelling Through The Dark (unreleased)

CD-4 (4CD-BOX only): Live, with band and "acoustic", mostly previously unreleased

Fight (Kiel, MAX, 1999)
Cupid’s Disease (München, Muffathalle, 1999)
Gone (Warsaw, Progresja Music Zone, 2015)
Europe (Warsaw, Progresja Music Zone, 2015)
Lass Mich (Kiel, MAX, 1999)
Lonely (Hamburg, Markthalle, 1992)
Where The Winds Don’t Blow (Warsaw, Progresja Music Zone 2015)
Pilgrim (Leipzig, Werk2-Kulturfabrik, 2015)
Generators, acoustic (Berlin, Lukaskirche 2001)
Cupid’s Disease, acoustic (Berlin, SFB Sendesaal, 2010)
Frühlingstraum, acoustic (Ludwigsburg, Scala, 1995)
Reincarnation, acoustic (Bremen, Schauburg, 1992)
Days Gone By, acoustic (München, Prinzregententheater, 1992)
On The Way To Narmada (München, Prinzregententheater, 1992)
Bells Of Another Land (Berlin, Volksbühne, 1992)