Among incredibly strange records, outsider records or whatever you want to call them, religious records have a special place. First because they are not made for commercial reasons they are the most “hardcore” independent releases. And second because very few of them are good. I buy these kind of records out of curiosity. If I don`t know an artist or label my interest is sparked. And for 50 Cents I give a record a chance. Of course a lot of these records are “bad”. That`s why the serious collectors of any genre, who pick through everything before i do, left these records behind. Defining what is “good” or “bad” is a scientific question but the fact is, most religious records are dead boring.
I picked up this record by Günter Tesch before I found his book “Hinter den Kulissen”(Behind the Scenes). On the record there is some slight rocking backing the preaching, but nothing that reveals, that Tesch played in a Beat band.
That`s basically the story of the book. He doesn`t say what his group was called but he describes the Beat scene in Hamburg, the Reeperbahn, the Star Club and the Top Ten in the 60s quite nicely. Of course he focuses on the highlights: “Rhythm! Ecstasy! Colourful impressions of the world of the stage. Swinging and full of suspense. In the language of our times. Free of Illusions and realistic. Meeting celebrated idols, loose girls, tough guys and drug dealers. And then he meets Jesus Christ…”
In the end he sells his Beat outfit, cuts his hair short and destroys all of his records to be free for god. Following Cliff Richard and Little Richard this was a German rocker who converted to god. The result is rather tame but compared to the majority of German religious music of the time this was way ahead.
GÜNTER TESCH, Meinst du wirklich?, 1970
Tags: Cliff Richard, Jesus, Little Richard, Reeperbahn, Star Club, Top Ten
October 18, 2008 at 7:21 am
Lieber Günter habe unlängst alte Lieder Texte von Dir gefunden aber leider ohne Noten. Da wir Evangelisieren gehen würden mich Deine Lieder im allgemeinen Intressieren hab aber natürlich keinen Plattenspieler mehr gibt es eine CD von Dir oder Cassetten von Dir im besonderen intressiert mich das Lied Argern und reizen
Kennst du den Mann der Schmerzen. Für die Straßeneinsätze. Kannst Du mir es wenn es auf keinen der beiden Tonträger verfügbar ist auf eine Cassette mit Gittarre singen und mir die Noten dazu schicken . Bezahle es natürlich.
In der Liebe Jesu
Ilka Adresse ILKA RUPP Skraupstrasse 24/23/8 Wien 1210 Tel 0676 46 45 48 1
July 23, 2009 at 2:35 pm
As children my brothers and I got a lot of enjoyment out of his gospel album “Günter Tesch Singt Seine Besten Songs & Spirituals”. We knew a lot of German because our parents are German, and this album still brings a smile to my face as I listen to it now for the first time in over 20 years.
August 6, 2009 at 4:24 am
Unfortunately, he turned bad… ended up in jail for fraud.
August 6, 2009 at 4:46 am
How do you know that? You know the guy? Please elaborate, I know absolutely nothing about Guenter Tesch.