|
Powerful and strange synth-orientated pop group of the early eighties.
Patrick Marina Nebel debuted with a 4-track solo single under his own name. The debut with Nacht und Nebel came one year later with "Movoco Syntaca" and an EP full of nervous and funky songs. Roland Beelen (founder of Antler Records) recalls his first impressions : "We discovered Nacht und Nebel in the studio, when we were working with 2 Belgen. We all were fascinated by Patrick Nebel. That was something out of the ordinary. Patrick was a very exuberant figure".
"Nacht und Nebel" is a term that comes from the policy Hitler issued in 1941, where he allowed for prisoners from the resistance in occupied territory to "vanish without a trace, and no information was given as to their whereabouts or their fate." Suspected underground agents and others would vanish therefore into the "night and fog". In 1955 Alain Resnais made a powerful documentary about the horror of the concentration camps with the same title (nuit et brouillard).
The debut album "Casablanca" contained six personal, simple and naïve songs backed by a powerful beat. And just as personal, simple, naïve and powerful were the concerts of the group, during which the imposing Nebel disguised himself in a decadent nightlife outfit, sweating like hell and hurrying between the front of the stage and a percussion set.
"Beats of love" from the album "Beats of Love" becomes a big hit in 1984 in a remix by John Tilly and guitars by Chris Whitley (who was in Belgium at the time with A Noh Rodeo). In Belgium and France 150.000 copies are sold.
Patrick Nebel (a small heart in a big fat unhealthy body) had to enjoy the success from out of a Swiss sanitarium. When he came back, he was slimmer, full of confidence and had a good girlfriend. "Ready to dance" and "Victoria 2000" from the consequent album "Victoria 2000" make it to the hitparades.
Then it starts to go wrong again with Patrick Nebel. Booze, pills and a fatal heart disease in 1986, which meant the end of the group.
|
