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#104426
I had to edit the title as my intended title did not fit.

DEEP CUT MAVERICK EDITION #2: 'Das Unsichtbare Visier' by Walter Kubiczeck

First again thanks to the brilliant podcast El Diabolik's World of Psychotronic Soundtracks for introducing me to this soundtrack.

Where to start with this? 'Das Unsichtbare Visier' translates as 'The Invisible Visor'. It was a East German (GDR) spy series consisting of 16 episodes made from 1973 to 1979. I read somewhere it resembled a socialist James Bond.

Intro:


Walter Kubiczeck was born in Berlin on October 7 1931. He died on 21 January 2009.
At the age of 8 he took music lessons and at 17 he was a pianist in various big bands and combos.
From 1958 to 1963 he is the head of the Departmant of Dance Music at the radio station “Radio DDR”
In 1965 he founded the “Studio-Orchestra Walter Kubiczeck” at Berliner Rundfunk.
He is the winner of the Art Prize of the GDR.



Kubiczeck's musical output was very large and very broad:

- 500 titles in the genres pop songs, chansons, schlager, children’s songs and choral songs
- 300 titles of orchestral music
- Opening credits for well-known television broadcasts (well known in Germany of course)
- 50 film score titles for television movies and DEFA

According to Kubiczeck it was a deep wish of him even as a young composer to write film music.
Some of his scores:
„Tod eines Millionärs“, TV movie 1971
„Gefährliche Reise“, TV series 1972
„Das Licht der schwarzen Kerze“, TV Movie in three parts, 1972
„Das unsichtbare Visier“, 1973-79
"Liebesfallen", DEFA-movie, 1976
"Feuerdrachen", TV Movie in two parts, 1981
"Familienbande", DEFA-movie, 1982
"Heiße Ware in Berlin", Fernsehfilm, 1982
"Der Lude, DEFA-Spielfilm", 1984
"Die Leute von Züderow", Fernsehserie, 1985
"Varieté", Fernsehfilm, 1985
"Der Hut des Brigadiers", DEFA-Film, 1986



Visier director Peter Hagen used Kubiczeck’s music as an equal means of expression for directing in addition to the photography, scenery, the acting, the dialogue and the noise.
At times, I let the music even lead the action. This concerns courses of action in which moods and feelings of acting persons are to be emotionally relived by the spectator or where dynamic action is to be developed dynamically. That is, the music supports something that is already present in the act objectively, however, it can also represent psychological and emotional processes of the acting persons, which are not readable from the outside events. The sound characteristic of Kubiczeck's film music decisively shaped the character and success of the film series.
From a german fan site (translating courtesy of Google):

What is this "characteristic sound"?
As a typical stylistic device, Walter Kubiczeck names polyrhythmic as opposed to linear melodic; instead of the traditional rhythm group, percussion instruments are used extensively; conventional percussion is replaced by Latin American instruments. The composer uses a "set of" solid musical motifs, which are arranged differently and adapted to the respective scene. The main theme ("Tentakel") returns again and again in different variations, thus emphasizing the unity of the story.

Already at the "Licht der schwarzen Kerze", where the musical task was to portray the exertion and hardship in a desert landscape, Kubiczeck developed the typical "moaning bass" (smear technique). If these are then cleverly mixed with human voices, remarkable pieces of music may emerge that may have been unfamiliar at first hearings, but have become a great success with filmmakers and the public. Even today, after more than 30 years, it is often enough only to have a short echo of a Kubiczeck title in order to clearly assign it to the creator and the film genre. The repertoire remains popular and up-to-date; a music that is film music in the best sense of the word.




The catchy score by Walter Kubiczeck was so successful that it was released in the GDR on two LPs ("The Invisible Visor", 1979, "Hot Track", 1984) and four singles on the record label AMIGA. The versions used on the records are different from the earlier versions used in the film for instance through reinforced brass parts and a background choir.
Most of the titles released on the two LPs were recorded by the orchestra Walter Kubiczeck. The orchestra Lothar Stuckart plays several pieces, among them the new versions of "Tentakel" and "Maskentanz". Furthermore, some well-known singers can be heard on several tracks with vocals, for example Gerda Gabriel and Gerti Möller.



The record I have is Das Unsichtbare Visier (Original Filmmusik)

The release called Heisse Spur (Original Filmmusik) is a compilation album containing another 5 tracks from Das Unsichtbare Visier.

Next to these 2 albums I found 4 singles:
https://www.discogs.com/Milena-Orcheste ... ase/562899
https://www.discogs.com/Orchester-Walte ... se/1907347
https://www.discogs.com/Orchester-Lotha ... ase/902577
https://www.discogs.com/Orchester-Walte ... er/1129515

For the ones interested I made a rip of my copy for you to get here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vws3t60cl9sz ... famea?dl=0

If there any issue, please let me know.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
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#104437
Good call, I love that record. Thank you, Bez!

Friends who grew up in Eastern Germany have told me that "Das unbekannte Visier" was indeed big in the GDR, the kind of cultural artefact almost everybody would know, watch and talk about. It's also interesting that Kubiczek was a dignitary in the Komittee für Unterhaltungskunst, which was appointed by the government. After 1989, his prolific career (with more than 130 writing&arrangement entries to his name on discogs) hit a wall - there was nothing whatsoever afterwards, even though he lived well into the 2000s. Definitely a figure I would like to know more about.
#104443
Thanks for the comments. It really is a very good and funky score.
As TheWayStation points out is was a very popular show. I was thinking of including more info about the show but there is so much I couldn't figure out what would be interesting and what not.
deafmetal wrote:moaning bass! Digging the sounds. Thanks for posting, Bez.
stöhnenden Bässe in German :-)
#104444
Bezulsqy wrote:Thanks for the comments. It really is a very good and funky score.
As TheWayStation points out is was a very popular show. I was thinking of including more info about the show but there is so much I couldn't figure out what would be interesting and what not.
deafmetal wrote:moaning bass! Digging the sounds. Thanks for posting, Bez.
stöhnenden Bässe in German :-)
Deep-diving into this DC:ME post right now, excellent info @Bez. Oh and needless to say, I'm all over a VG+ copy from the Cogs ;)
#104445
Thanks @ScoJo!

Next to the promo there are two main releases. The one with the burgundy label and the one with a dark blue label. I did some research on what version would be best and stumbled on a thread in German somewhere about the Amiga label. Because it is an East German label there is the misconception that the quality would be inferior to West German or other European pressings. That is not the case for releases up to the beginning of the 80's. According to people in the know the burgundy label is the older followed by the dark blue. Both version are of similar (and good) quality. In the beginning of the 80's releases with a light blue (helblau?) label were released. The quality of those releases is described as not very good.

However for this specific release it is no issue as both version should be good. My vinyl was NM with a VG+ cover. It sounds very good to my ears. As you can hear in the rips I made sound quality is fine. Only some surface noise during some of the quieter sections.

Comment from Discogs:
From an East German spy TV-series (feat. Armin Müller-Stahl) that put together James Bond elements with a socialist message. 'King-Kong' is a great 'hard-core' disco track. Some musical elements on the album are reminiscent of JOHNNY PATE’s 'Shaft in Africa' soundtrack. The unique afro-drenched track 'Tentakel' was covered by the West German Afro-Jazz band MOMBASA on their ‘Ode to Kalahari’ album.