Peter Baumann – Repeat Repeat (1981) Review | Orange Yellow Orchestra, Anyone?
Kronomyth 3: Tangerine drone.
I bought this album when it was released in the U.S. and was horrified to find that Peter Baumann had attached himself to the synthesizer pop movement popularized by Gary Numan, Sparks, Kraftwerk, Wall of Voodoo et al. Okay, horrified is probably a strong word. Let’s just say I was disappointed. Up to that point, I had associated Baumann only with the work of Tangerine Dream, which was heady and progressive stuff. Repeat Repeat is mechanical blips and beeps and beats and Baumann’s robotic voice singing insipid things in English. At least, that was my initial impression. Listening to it today, there’s a certain nostalgia to hearing this mechanical music pump out of the speakers. Sure, it’s stiff, but Baumann was obviously going after the whole man-machine image that Kraftwerk and Gary Numan were successfully peddling. Deccadance, Realtimes, Brain Damage and Daytime Logic are all fine examples of early 80s synthesizer music. I would imagine the album had some success on the continent, where Baumann’s German accent was less of a barrier. The album got very limited airplay in the US; heck, even I couldn’t bring myself to play it on my college radio station. If you’re a connoisseur of early 80s synthesizer pop (and I’m pretty sure such an animal exists), Repeat Repeat is more than competent. Baumann obviously knows his way around a synthesizer and proves to be a capable producer (joined here by Robert Palmer during his new wave phase). The followup, Strangers in the Night, more or less repeated the synth pop experiment, after which Baumann shifted his energies to production and running his Private Music label. Repeat Repeat is not nearly as high-minded as Vienna, The Golden Age of Wireless or Telekon, but it’s Kraftwerkian reduction of the human experience into simple beats and emotionless observations is not without its charm.
The Product
A1. Repeat Repeat (4:10)
A2. Home Sweet Home (3:45)
A3. Deccadance (3:11)
A4. Realtimes (3:35)
A5. M.A.N. Series Two (3:36)
B1. Brain Damage (5:17)
B2. Kinky Dinky (3:24)
B3. Daytime Logic (Peter Baumann/Carstein Bohn) (3:27)
B4. Playland Pleasure (3:30)
B5. What Is Your Use? (2:46)
All songs written by Peter Baumann unless noted. (The Portrait elpee labels erroneously attribute B3/B4 to Baumann and everything else to Baumann and Bohn.)
The Players
Peter Baumann (keyboards, synthesizers, computer synthesizer programming and vocals), Carstein Bohn (drums on A3/A5 and keyboards), Linda Kay Brynan (backing vocals), Mike Dawe (drums), Ritchie Fliegler (guitar), John Tropea (rhythm guitar). Produced by Robert Palmer and Peter Baumann; engineered by Peter Baumann, Jan Hammer, Jack Nuber; additional recording and mix by Jack Douglas.
The Pictures
Art direction and design by Harriet Bauersax. Photography by Nick Samardge.
The Plastic
Released on elpee in October 1981 in Germany (Virgin, 204 014) and the UK (Virgin, V 2214) and in 1982 in the US (Portrait, ARR 38059).
- Re-issued on compact disc in the UK (Virgin, CDV 2214).
