Immediate Reaction: Hubert Kah, "The Picture"

GAH.

First off, my terrible insomnia problem strikes yet again. After spending nearly an hour trying to fall asleep, I took out my iPod and picked a random song to listen to. Having loaded up the RetroActive 5 compilation because of its Seona Dancing, Strange Advance, Blancmange, and Psychedelic Furs remix components, I was surprised to find my iPod start to play one of the songs off the compilation I had never heard before: "The Picture" by Hubert Kah. I had never even heard of Hubert Kah before, but it sounded European so I figured, eh, it should be good for a trial.

This is one of those kinds of songs I obsess over. It happens every now and again -- one of the more recent and memorable occasions happened when I latched so strongly onto "Alles Klar" by Ultravox that I could not get enough of it, even after playing it some 25 times in a row on two separate occasions, in as many days. I committed myself to learning every nuance, every corner, ever nook and cranny of that wonderful, haunting instrumental. Eventually I got my fill, but not without playing it some 100 times in a one-week span. "The Picture" has that very quality.

First off, I will admit to having my weak points. Icy cold synth lines? Check. Minimalist bass sound? Check. Delicate yet highly urgent staccato rhythm that evokes a sort of Italo disco influence/sound? Check. Very Continental European breathy synth-dance male vocals? Check. "The Picture" has all of the above. "The Picture" evokes nearly all of my weaknesses. It even makes good use of a church bell sound effect that also evokes a cold Europeanness to the track's overall atmosphere, that makes it even that much more appealing to me. Even the rock guitar solo toward the middle of the song, something I don't generally go for, has a sort of detached passivity in its very being that makes it not so much a macho act but rather something that helps drive the song along.

I was roused enough by this song to jump out of bed and do a quick Google search for more information, where I found my European suspicious confirmed. Hubert Kah were apparently a German synth group that existed as recently as the late '90s, though I didn't really check too close to see when their latest recordings were released. The band released the original track from whence "The Picture" sprung forth, "Wenn Der Mond Die Sonne", in 1984, and I imagine "The Picture" was released not long after that. And -- oh, the shame -- it (the English-language version of the song) even appeared on the soundtrack of the critically-panned (for good reason, I've been reliably told) mid '80s flick Once Bitten. What is it with crap mid '80s movies and great songs therein? No one can honestly say that the Rodney Dangerfield vehicle Back To School was good even as a "so bad it's brilliant" type movie, yet its soundtrack featured the utterly breathtakingly great "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo.

As of yet I still really don't know all that much about Hubert Kah except that the band members were German, their producer and "arranger" (don't know what exactly that means) was from Bucharest, Romania (yay Romanians!), they wrote songs for other people, presumably German pop stars, and the great majority of their output was written in German, as befit their target demographic and largest audience. Unlike their fellow Germans in Alphaville, they apparently either had no real designs for the international, English-speaking marketplace, or their music (this would be sad if it were true) didn't take off and they ended up retreating back to their German roots.

Oh well then. The damage has been done. I am swooningly in love with YET ANOTHER SONG and I will have to play this song at least 100 times this week before I get my fill, I'm sure. And now I know I can't sleep. I have to listen to this song some more. It's gripping me so very tightly and pulling me away from my slumber and into its hypnotic vortex. This is how it all gets started, people.

Edit: OH MY GOD this track features the LINN DRUM. THE LINN DRUM, people, the synth drum that delivered that oh-so-'80s percussion sound that I ADORE. And the rhythm isn't so much staccato-ish on the surface as it is, um, restrained. But there IS a rhythmic synth sound that lays sorta in the background that IS staccato-ish, that does provide the track with some of its danceable drive and energy. But -- THE LINN DRUM! I wonder now if the synths on this track are Fairlights. They could be. OMG what if they are?? Especially if the synths were Fairlight CMIs. Then I'd know for sure it was destiny that I fell in love with this track. Either that or that I was awfully predictable. Heh.