Call It What You Want

Album Review

Die Schlauberger's third album is essentially an extension of Total Kaos. Like that album, this contains a mix of traditional Alpine songs and band originals and on rare occasions flirts with the notion of German folk-rock as heard on "Du Sollst Nicht Weinen." "Fiddler's Polka" is an upbeat country-polka number featuring the fiddle playing of Frank Urbanovitch from the Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra. The title song and "Sweet Elizabeth" employ a heavier electric guitar sound, displaying this band at its best. "Gitarrenmückl" is an instrumental featuring the impressive picking of Thomas Staab in which he recalls both the countrypolitan style of Chet Atkins and the flash of Jeff Beck. While this album shifts gears on occasion, it's still the German and Austrian folk-pop that defines Die Schlauberger. Based on the potential that both this album and Total Kaos reveal, one gets the impression that this group could make a major splash in the ethnic folk-rock and world music markets if it simply abandoned the schmaltzy pop arrangements that it is so prone to utilize.