Ja Soa Schmarrn (Elke Skelter)
Date: Thu Jul 6 19:36:02 1995
I just got Elke's single the other day, and here is a quick review. The
title of the piece is Ja Soa Schmarrn, performed by "the one woman
orchestra: 'Vegetarian Bavarian in Exile' " Elke's name does not appear
anywhere, but she is the Bavarian in question.
on the box is also written "A melancholic climate in the Heimat. The
look is really great, a big mountain in the middle of the record, with
little plastic folk milling about it. There are also little cars, boats,
animals, and bicycles, depending on which one you get. (everyone of the
hundred is slightly different.) One of the two that I have has a funny
little "biking accident" at the bottem of the mountain. One bad part:
The little green grass from the mountain tends to get all over during
shipping. But it's pretty easy to clean off.
I have to say that between the cakebox packaging, and the creative nature
of the record, this is a real collector's item. The whole this is kind
of like an artpiece. The number out of 100 is clearly marked inside.
I would also have to say that out of all of the rare records I've bought,
this one is the first that would probably appeal to someone even if they
weren't a fan of the particular type of music.
A record collector friend of mine who has no idea who the pink dots are,
or any idea about interesting music, thought it was one of the coolest
things he'd seen in a long time.
So, yeah, it's expensive, but it cetainly has more resale potential than
something like Dance China Doll, simply because it could also appeal to
non-fans. Of course, that's assuming anyone would want to sell it...
The Music: It's a little hard to describe. There are no vocals, but
there's some sampled yodelling in the background and such. The music
changes quite a bit. I'm not good at describing this sort of thing, but
picture what the Pink Dots might play at an Octoberfest and you might get
the idea. Of course, the whole thing is more than music. The music
wouldn't sound quite as good if there weren't little people spinning
around and around on a mountain top, appearing to wave at you while you
listen.
It's a real fun experience. I made a tape of it on the nice turntable
at the university and drew a small crowd. I don't know if Rene has any
left, but you collector types may want to pounce on this one.
I'll be selling one of my two copies in my upcoming auction, but more on
that later.
-Jared.
jared@sfsu.edu
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