The project to take the best songs from
Udo Lindenberg's German masterpiece trilogy
Alles Klar auf der Andrea Doria,
Ball Pompös, and
Votan Wahnwitz, translate them to English, and try to conquer the Anglo-Saxon market was conceived in 1975 after the release of
Votan Wahnwitz, but the actual record
No Panic, the fruit of these attempts, was only released in 1977 in the U.S. and the U.K. Apart from the fact that it was a flop in both countries (
Lindenberg's strength was his German lyrical backbone), it also divided his huge fan community in Germany. Some regarded this record as embarrassing and tasteless; others thought it was as exceptional and authentic as
Lindenberg's other work. Be that as it may, this record is a quirky attempt to get a foot into a market
Lindenberg wasn't destined for, and after decades it pays off to listen to these English songs and compare them with their German counterparts. Unlike the releases
No Panic was based on, however, it is not a must-have in an album collection of German rock. For people interested in translation, it is definitely informative to see how
Udo Lindenberg's relentlessly funny word games were transposed to English, and the record drew the attention of a limited English-speaking audience to this German rock icon. ~ Frank Eisenhuth