“Who’s in a bad mood here?” Max Raabe poses this rather rhetorical question on his new album. Because, of course, no one should be moping. Especially not Raabe, who has several reasons to be in the best of moods.
One cannot help but describe Max Raabe as an institution. It’s been 36 years since he founded his Palast Orchester with friends in 1986, only to release his first album two years later. He has always remained true to his concept of telling small, amusing anecdotes in the chanson style of the 20s and 30s with his gentle baritone voice. In doing so, he not only created his own musical niche in this country. He also made himself and his orchestra distinctive. As soon as you hear the first note, everyone knows: This is Max Raabe.
In just under two months, the Lünen-born singer with the eternal aura of a rascal in a tailor-made suit will actually be 60 years old. But before that, Raabe has other reasons to be in the best of spirits. Well, it’s been three years since he was voted Germany’s “most bicycle-friendly personality”. The videos for “Der Sommer” and “Who’s in a bad mood here”, in which he happily pedals, show that he can still bear the title with pride.
Both songs come from his new album, with which Raabe is giving himself an early birthday present this Friday. The long player is also titled with the rhetorical phrase “Who’s in a bad mood here” and marks the 22nd studio album of the state-certified opera singer. And that despite the fact that five years have passed since Raabe’s last regular album to date, “The perfect moment… will be overslept today”.
The fact that – apart from an “MTV Unplugged” album and a few isolated song collaborations – there was radio silence for so long has something to do with Raabe, like so many others, with Corona. “This time of standstill was hard for everyone,” the singer explains to ntv.de and adds: “After a certain phase of lethargy, I met my pop experts and slowly began to write the pieces for this album.”
The “pop experts” once again included long-standing supporters such as Annette Humpe, Ulf Sommer, Peter Plate and Achim Hagemann. “We meet, drink coffee and at some point the first thoughts fly, like a game of ping-pong,” Raabe explains the process of creating the songs. “We have fun, it’s always relaxed, even if we can’t think of anything for hours.”
In the end, however, the team came up with 13 new songs in the typical Max Raabe style, even if some of them rest on a foundation of electronic rhythms for the first time. After all, staying true to yourself doesn’t mean not changing. And so Raabe opens another new chapter with the song “Ein Tag wie Gold” – the chapter “Babylon Berlin”.
“(Director) Tom Tykwer likes the pieces that I wrote with Annette Humpe. Last spring he asked if we could write something for the new season,” explains Raabe, how it came about that he just wrote the title song launched fourth season of the successful series. He was not only happy about that, he adds. He also “told Tykwer right away that I had to justify myself in every third interview for not having taken part in ‘Babylon Berlin'”.
As an expert on the sound and look of the 1920s, the series finally seems to fit him like a glove. “Babylon Berlin” not only has “incredibly strong aesthetics” and “captivating action,” is his expert judgment. Everything is just as “precise and in love with detail, every prop, every vehicle, everything is right”.
Nevertheless, Raabe is unlikely to make a major switch to acting in the series, even if he has had some film and television experience in the past. “‘A day like gold’ runs through the season, even Meret Becker sings it,” he substantiates his “Babylon Berlin” role. And further: “In my short appearances I portray a singer, I can portray singers.”
Probably true. And especially sing. The only question left is what actually puts Raabe in a bad mood. “I might get in a bad mood when I get on the train in the morning and I’m told in the dining car that the coffee machine is out of order. But maybe it’s not a bad mood, but sheer bewilderment,” he flirts.
When in doubt, however, he simply prefers to get on his bike instead of taking the train. “As soon as the wind blows around my ears, I get good thoughts,” he explains. Just like others when they put on his new album.
