It's really all Tangerine Dreams' fault. Kraftwerk later went a long way toward bringing some "fun" back into German pop but the damage had already been done when Tangerine Dream took the idea of synthesizer rock and turned it into the aural equivalent of a brain tumour, sometimes walking offstage in mid-song while their pre-sequenced banks of keyboards continued playing.

A generation of German rockers had been negatively influenced and while groups like Einsturzende Neubarten (Collapsing New Buildings), Can, Faust and Neu, among others, are recognised as important and influential, we must not forget that the major German contribution to the pop charts these past few years was Trio with 'Da Da Da'.

With the "Neu-wave of Euro-pop" upon us, it seems that France, with Air and Daft Punk in midfield, could reproduce their World Cup triumph on the music front. Germany, by comparison, have the population, efficiency and skill but still have, as is evidenced by this new Da Hool CD, no good "chewns".

"Here Comes Da Hool" does feature the recent hit singles 'Bora Bora' and the truly infectious ' Meet Her At The Loveparade'. But the rest of this album is an annoying series of blips, beeps and nn-chucks that may sound relevant sneaked in among some other electronica in a club at three in the morning but which is turgid and tortuous any other time. Avoid.

Stephen "Sugar" Segerman

others in the REVIEWS

Any thoughts, requests, problems, complaints, praise or interesting and relevant SA music news, please email it immediately to: sugar@cd.co.za