Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

For those who remember the 80's group Propaganda, their new (scrapped) album can be found all over the internet. This is of course the "reunion" album, featuring Claudia Brucken again. I have no idea why they ditched the new album. I've heard it in it's entirety and it is excellent. Very 80's sounding, and yet fresh. Hard to explain. But a mystery why a completed project (or damn near close) was just tossed aside. Very sad.

I had a 12" single of one of their songs when I was in Jr. High, back in '85. I kind of liked them but I had no idea that they had any sort of following.

I think the following review of the album "Secret Wish" that I found on Amazon.co.uk sums up my thoughts on Propaganda 100%:

Here's a much forgotten secret from the mid eighties, Propaganda's Secret Wish is one of the best albums from this period of golden pop. The album was produced by one of the UK's best known and most successful producer's Trevor Horn, who was also the driving force behind the trend setting debuts of ABC and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Horn's love of complex string arrangements are used to good effect giving Propaganda's well constructed songs an added dimension that starker electronic albums could sometimes lack. Propaganda proved they were on equal terms with fellow German innovators Kraftwerk by releasing an album where every track is a gem. Clever use of synth sequencing and analogue layers give many of the tracks a definite edge, and the album still sounds superb by today's techno standards some 15 years after it was released. This sort of music is always helped by a strong vocalist, and the enigmatic Claudia Brucken with her distinctive German voice is as important to the success of this album as Alison Moyet was to Yazoo. Brucken's vocals easily generate pure emotion against the harsh, industrial sequencing of some of the tracks. On Jewel she provides a manic performance that I really haven't heard from any female vocalist since. It's very difficult to pick highlight tracks as favourites, because they are all so good, but Duel remains as one of the best pop songs from this period. It's a perfect mix of classical interludes and melodic synths, something Horn was to revisit on the PSB classic Left To My Own Devices from 1988. Heaven 17's Glenn Gregory helps out on the vocals for the single P-Machinery, a song that has one of the catchiest synth leads I have ever heard. Japan's David Sylvian also provided the bleeps in the intro. Sorry For Laughing is a touching change of pace and something of a classic. Huge heaps of melancholy and another memorable pop tune. If I'm pushed, I'd say that Dr Mabuse is the highlight purely for it's complexity and change of pace halfway through into a pure killer of a bassline (I bet Adamski liked this one before recording his track Killer!). A dramatic song like most of the album and it was no surprise to hear tracks from this album used for endless UK TV theme tunes and car adverts. Secret Wish easily makes my own personal top ten along with the Human League's Dare and Depeche Mode's Black Celebration. Sadly, I own the original 1985 CD release of this album so I don't have the extra tracks, but I can recommend the remix album Wishful Thinking. Buy Secret Wish and you'll love it. Trust me.

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

Any tips on how to find it?

Their "Das Testaments Des Mabuse" 12" version is still among one of my 80's faves.... gotta find this 'scrapped' album.... but where to look ?

I have Secret Wish on CD. I also still have my 12" vinyl of Duel. They were awesome.

"P - Machinery" is still one of my all-time favorite songs from the 80's.

I thought that you were talking about a live U2 album that I happen to have. It is really cool, and was recorded in May and March of 1987. You aren't talking about that though... Nope, never heard of Propaganda. Sorry.

-CM-

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

Bumping this thread because Claudia's amazing one off show is now finally available to watch on YouTube. It had been posted over the years but taken down for copyright reasons. Had I known about this show in advance, I would have paid top dollar and flown over to London to see it.


And here are some of the tracks from their last unreleased album.

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

I don't remember Propaganda, but I recently stumbled across some of their hit songs from back in the day.
I like the Dr. Mabuse song and two other songs.
It's a pretty weird song to be a mainstream hit, but I like it.

I didn't know about any scrapped album so this is a good thread bump. I'll check out the videos later, thanks.

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

same.... :(

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

This thread made me go digging through my old CDs, and it turns out I have their biggest hit album "Secret Wish" - listened to it on my commute this morning, and wow, so much nostalgia rushing in.
P Machinery is so great!

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

that's so weird that they never released that album.

I'm listening to those songs, and they sound great.

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

Right? Not only weird, but crazy. The album was almost complete. All that work for nothing. BTW, that's Martin Gore playing guitar on "Cloud 9".

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

Just learned that Claudia Brucken and Suzanne Freytag toured the U.K. November and December 2018 as "X-Propaganda". With Heaven 17 opening. Why can't we ever get shows like this in the U.S.? Sadly I've never seen Propaganda in any form.

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag of Propaganda have played occasionally the past few years in Europe under the name xPropaganda. I'm friends with Claudia on Facebook and she's made a few posts recently including the following pictures and a teaser from an upcoming xPropaganda album. Fingers crossed it's 1/4 as good as "A Secret Wish". But without Ralf Dorper and Michael Mertens, I have my doubts. Still, it's pretty exciting these two are releasing new music.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...b1176bdc05.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...9ce7e03d67.jpg

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

For those who are interested.

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/...qTp_BEUBjUfYlI

And a promising new track off the album.

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

Wasn't expecting a proper video, but here you go. Getting very excited about this new album.

Re: Does anyone remember Propaganda?
 

New album out. And it's fantastic!