BCB 100 Songs: "Neurotic Reaction" - Die Anderen

[naughty boy]

Gash (yes, he's good for something) hipped me to this one about 18 months ago, and it quickly became an obsession. For a few weeks in late 2016 I ran to work through Budapest's seventh district on a Tuesday and Thursday evening with this blasting down my ear canals. Once I was actually stopped by a student (who'd obviously seen my wild eyes) who asked if I was OK. I was just pissed off I had to remove the headphones to answer...

Anyway. Germany's Die Anderen ("The Others") put this one out in 1968, and as far as I can gather, it's a one-off (there's an album but there's nothing quite as wild as this). It's very difficult to describe, it kind of exists out of time, and it's like nothing else I've ever heard.

You're first jolted by the sound - 25 seconds of a less-shambolic Swell Maps (can you hear two drummers?), but then the real magic starts when the fuzz drops out and the band settle into a kind of Teutonic funk groove. I don't honestly know how to describe the vocal. It's simultaneously laughable and wonderful, you can almost imagine the dude standing on a stage in some grotty dive bar dressed in satin, surrounded by neon, making preposterous hand gestures, 'ooh'-ing and 'aah'-ing like his life depended on it. He doesn't hold back. It's fucking amazing.

There's silliness here that might put people off. But this is no tossed-off piece of freakbeat. The howling backing vocals that enter towards the end of the first minute just bring more goosebumps.

And it always ends too soon...

[fange]

Yep, i loved this one too, i remember Gashy posting it. Its OTTness is its secret weapon, no doubt - the mad rock/funk drumming, the choppy fuzzed-up guitars, the wired vocals and not least of all the right in your face production, where everything seems so hot and enveloping around you.

I've never seen proper photos of the band, but i'll put good money on all of them having long hair and shaggy coats in their wardrobes; nobody with short hair would make this kind of noise. And i love the little vocal twist they put on 'neu-roh-tic' - it gives it an anywhereness that fits the sounds perfectly.

[toomanyhatz]

Anybody else hear a trace of the Sweet in this? The vocals particularly have that flavor.

I liked this a lot. I don't find anything silly about it, really. Eccentric, maybe. But I mostly hear them aiming for something - god knows what - that they just do so wrong that it comes out oh so right, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, thanks for posting it. And yeah, good to know Gash is good for something.

[naughty boy]

And i love the little vocal twist they put on 'neu-roh-tic'

Fuck yeah. I live for stuff like that!

Anybody else hear a trace of the Sweet in this? The vocals particularly have that flavor.

Especially with the shrill backing vocs (around 0:58) - in fact it reminds me of a specific Sweet song, but I'm damned if I can think which one.

[Bent Fabric]

Yeah, this is a glorious noise.

[clive gash]

Part of the mix I sent G the Mod ten years ago.

Still crazy after all these years

1. Solar Heat - Olympic Runners
2. Starvation - Golden Dawn
3. Always You - The Sundowners
4. You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else - The Jones Girls
5. Neurotic Reaction - Die Anderen
6. Funkadelic Sound - Little Beaver
7. Nursery Rhyme - Pleasure Fair
8. Not To Return - Sugar & Spice
9. Corista De Rock - Rita Lee
10. How Can I Get Next To You ? - George Jackson
11. Nobody Knows Why The Butterfly Died - My Kind Of People
12. Footsteps In The Dark - The Isley Brothers
13. Car On A Hill - Joni Mitchell
14. Everytime I See You I Go Wild - JJ Barnes
15. It Must Have Been The Wind - Fun And Games
16. Magic Garden - Dusty Springfield
17. Love For Granted - Phoenix
18. Willy 'O Winsbury - Pentangle
19. Egyptian Tomb - Mighty Baby
20. Distant Shores - Chad & Jeremy

[never/ever]

It sounds like Feargal Sharkey is channeling his inner James Brown whilst being constipated.
Yeah, indeed, a bit like a garage Sweet and pretty good. Would like to hear more at the end so that is a good sign.

[Rayge]

Yep, that was fun. The howling chorus reminded me of a specific song, too, but I'm not sure it was one by Sweet. Considering the release date, maybe we should be talking about Sweet channeling Die Anderen, rather than the other way round. I was also trying to see a way in which this is connected with Count Five's Psychotic Reaction, without luck

Incidentally, I also found this on yt, which doesn't help at all