Propaganda - Present The Nine Lives of Dr. Mabuse (1984)

The third ZTT release, Propaganda Present the Nine Lives of Dr. Mabuse by the Dusseldorf group Propaganda, represented the next stage in this master plan of raiding the (early, European) twentieth century. "The children of Fritz Lang and Giorgio Moroder" is how NME's Chris Bohn tagged Propaganda. Inspired by Lang's expressionist trilogy of movies about a shadowy master criminal, "Dr. Mabuse" was epic Eurodisco, for which Horn and engineer Steve Lipson constructed a monumental edifice of arching synths and percussion as imposing as marble colonnades.

Propaganda's conceptualist, Ralf Dorper, justified this "very bombastic sound" to ZigZag. "The character Mabuse was symbolizing something extraordinary, something more or less unreal, so we had to have an unreal production." Formerly in metal-bashing pioneers Die Krupps, Dorper was a fanatic cinephile who preferred movies to music. "Cinema is much more inspirational to me," he declared. "It's much more multi-leveled: you have to have a storyline, a setting, a soundtrack."


Present The Nine Lives of Dr. Mabuse
PROPAGANDA
1984
Bit rate: 320kbps

TRACK LISTING

A. Das Testament Des Mabuse
B1. Femme Fatale (The Woman With The Orchid)
B2. (The Ninth Life Of...) Dr. Mabuse

FEMME FATALE LYRICS

Wenn wir entweder ob wir es so d’rauf lassen
Oder ob wir direkt mit dem Stück
Bis reinkommt... mit dem ersten Takt anfangen

[If we either… If we leave it so…
Or shall we directly with the track…
Until it comes in… Start with the first beat]

Before you start you already bleed
Before you start you already bleed
Before you start...


Here she comes
You better watch your step
She’s going to break your heart in two
Oh it’s true

It’s not hard to realize
Just look into her ice-colored eyes
She builds you up just to put you down
What a clown

‘cause everybody knows
(She’s a femme fatale)
The things she does to please
(She’s a femme fatale)
Oh she’s just a little tease
(She’s a femme fatale)
See the way she walks
And hear the way she talks

You’re written in her book
You’re number sixty-seven have a look
She’s going to play you for a fool
Oh it’s true

Little boy she’s from the street
Before you start you already bleed
She’s going to play you for a fool
Oh it’s true

‘cause everybody knows
(She’s a femme fatale)
The things she does to please
(She’s a femme fatale)
Oh she’s just a little tease
(She’s a femme fatale)
See the way she walks
And hear the way she talks

Before you start you already bleed
Before you start you already bleed
Before you start you already bleed
(She’s a femme fatale)
Before you start you already bleed
(She’s a femme fatale)
(She’s a femme fatale)

Photos

Notes

TELLING THE TRUTH
FOR ZANG TUMB TUUM
PROPAGANDA

"the discovery of truth is prevented most effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice opinion, by prejudice, which as a pseudo a priori stands in the path of truth and is then like a contrary wind driving a ship away from land, so that sail and rudder labour in vain."

dance and crime: the nine lives of dr. mabuse, presented, prevented and presumed by propaganda.

the third and fourth side
1. DAS TESTAMENTS DES MABUSE
2. FEMME FATALE (The Woman With The Orchid)
3. (the ninth life of...) DR. MABUSE

"every general truth is related to specific truths as gold is to silver, inasmuch as it can be converted into a considerable number of specific truths which follow from it in the same way as a gold coin can be converted into small change."

Propaganda: noise and girls come out to play. NOISE: ralf dörper andreas thein. GIRLS: claudia brüchen suzanne freytag. BEHIND THE SCENES: michael mertens. BEHIND THE SCREENS: (...play) : michael wertz.

TREVOR HORN produced the nine lives of Dr Mabuse. ANTON CORBIJN photographed the group and painted the hand. XL and ZTT made up the sleeve. the first and second side are obtainable as ZTAS 2: a seven inch. the first, second, third and fourth side of the story make up number two in zanf tuum tumb's bold action series. "Viva muchos anos!"

recorded at sar, west eleven. dr. mabuse visual: ZTIS 107. help from arthur scho[enhauer and maurice ravel, from a to b; aphorism to bolero, artist to beekeeper. further information about propaganda and all other zang tuum tumb lies is available from ZTT Records, The ZTT Building, 8-10 Basing St. London West Eleven. Enclose s.a.e. and hope. The next propaganda single is 'Duel'

"not the least of the torments which plague our existence is the constant pressure of time, which never lets us so much as draw breath but pursues us all like a taskmaster with a whip. it ceases to persecute only him it has delivered over to boredom.

Credits

Artwork By [Hand Painted By] – Anton Corbijn
Artwork By [Sleeve Made Up By] – XL and ZTT
Photography [Group] – Anton Corbijn
Written-By – Thein* (tracks: A, B2), Mertens* (tracks: A, B2), Dorper* (tracks: A, B2)