Propaganda – Propaganda

Nachdem Claudia Brücken und Susanne Freytag mit xPropaganda vor zwei Jahren vorgemacht haben, wie innovativ das Propaganda-Konzept fortgesetzt werden kann, zogen Michael Mertens und Ralf Dörper nun nach und demonstrieren mit diesem Album anschaulich, wie man scheitern kann.

I was a bit dubious since Claudia Brucken is not on board, but no worries now, it’s an excellent album. Hope there will be more.

Hmmm. I bought this as soon as I read about it. Then I listened to it on Spotify - I would not have bothered had I listened to it first. Anyway, I'm pretty underwhelmed - it does not distinguish itself from literally thousands of other tracks and artists in the genre. Yes it was 40 years or so ago, but its missing the grandeur, the drama, the elegance and futurism of A Secret Wish - things I thought would have been stylistic hallmarks of these two chaps. XPropaganda's 'The Heart Is Strange' album has the DNA intact, and hearing that I wondered what it would have been like with Mertens and Dorper fully in the picture, as it is an amazing album anyway, I thought possibly even as paradigm shifting as their earlier works if they'd been involved.

Solid album. Dörper & Mertens are the real Propaganda. Long wait since 1990.

I actually love this album. Was hesitant at first but took the plunge and have played it multiple times already. Lots of Propaganda DNA in there if you give it a chance. Of course it’s not A Secret Wish but what is? All I can say is that I’m glad we get to have two versions of Propaganda!

2024 has blessed us with a lot of new albums so far. A lot of bands from back in the day have been releasing new stuff lately and Propaganda seems to be among those bands.

First of all I've got to say that if you're holding onto the releases from the 80s, then you probably won't get much enjoyment if any out of this new album. Try to let go of the nostalgia for a second, otherwise it will disappoint you. The golden era is now 40 years in the past. If you're willing to accept the fact that artists go through new experiences in life, get older etc. and change, then I guess you should give it a try.

The problem I'm seeing here is that it's being labelled as Propaganda, although it has not much if anything but the name in common. This might confuse certain people, but at the same time, it's probably the most logical thing to do from a commercial perspective, so I can't really blame them that much. I just think that it would've been better if this album released under a new project name instead of trying to cash in on the nostalgia that people have from the 80s, but that's just my opinion.

All things considered, I don't think it's a mindblowing album or anything, but it has it's moments. 5/10

Oh my. What a terrible album. Singer is just generic and the music doubly so. Back to xPropaganda for me!!