A stunning piece of pop, one of a few great and really hip sounding tracks Hildegard Knef recorded around this time. This sounds like a Bacharach song made even cooler, stripped down to its essentials. Knef�s smoky, detached vocals add to the effect to make this a real winner.

Although this track is not my favorite from Berlin's Jazzanova, I think it best represents the best bits of of their own work and their remixes for others. This track is a few years old but has been newly remixed by Japan's Fukutomi. Jazzanova are at the forefront of the nu jazz scene in the dance world. Beginning with a soulful piano introduction, the tune breaks into a heavy bass driven uptempo beat, sprinkled with a bit of a jazz scat, and a sample of a very haunting and seductive flute solo that sounds as if it has been lifted from an old soundtrack. The song however is not as simple as this review and must be listened to carefully to appreciate all that it offers.

The Teutonic funky drummer? Herr Thomas and his inimitable Sound Orchester turn in this terrific theme song to some long-lost detective show from German television. Shows that Thomas was as great a tv/film composer as Schifrin, Mancini, Barry, Budd or Jones.

"Don't you know that my hate is everlasting, baby?" The story of the Monks is the story of rock & roll...in an alternate reality, perhaps. Take a bunch of bored US servicemen stationed in Germany about to be discharged, put them in a band, and have them decide to freak out the establishment by dressing in black capes, shaving their heads into monk's tonsures and wearing nooses as neckties. Perhaps not so shocking in these days after punk rock, but this was 1965. Oh, and don't forget the electric banjo. What began as a fairly standard surf/beat combo called the Torquays mutated into this band, churning out some of the most nihilistic music you've ever heard, even by German standards.

Great cut with angular piano and brushed drums. Bongos provide an excellent percussive counterpoint on the breakdowns. A very well-crafted version of the Sid Ramin lounge classic.