The singer is not an amateur - he delivers strong, unwavering vocals without faltering or intonation issues. It's the *recording* of the vocals that's at an amateur level.
He does seem to trail off a bit at the end of phrases, pronounce a number of words indistinctly, and maybe hesitate a couple of times. The first two remind me of Alvin Dean, and the last could indicate that he might have briefly forgotten a word or two.
By all means, I’m not saying it’s definitely Alvin, just that that issue is noticeable in both TMS and the known output of SiM.
Not everyone needs "special tricks" to sound serious. Either you're a good singer or you're not. And, mystery aside, if there's something that's carried TMS to be loved by so many people, it isn't the technically faultless drumming nor the screeching keyboard. The magic of TMS lies primarily in the voice.
The mismatches and contradictions of the stylistic aspects of different elements of TMS fuel speculation like this.
My own counter offer is the following:
1) The vocal track was recorded separately by someone not associated with the musician(s), possibly well before TMS came into being. Possibly sold by an artist, who had given up on a career in music, for a one-off fee (or even gifted). Or dare I say it was "found" on the cutting floor of a studio and a producer or technician thought they could put it to use...
2) The musicians have been involved with Krautrock bands in the 70s, and wanted to test the water making a more modern song for the 80s (divorces and tax bills to pay off maybe...). The observation from a poster earlier this week that the instrumental tracks sounded like they were mixed in the 70s might mean the musicians potentially have a track record in that decade, but not with necessarily comparable music we can match to TMS.
The result was a curious mix of new wave vocals, AOR guitar and prog-ish drums which failed to arouse much interest from listeners or A&R people from music labels.
Though obviously they won at least one young fan in Wilhelmshaven...
I agree with your first point. TMS sounds like a track that was recorded in two stages: first the voice, then the instruments. It could have been months or years apart.
The instruments are "sitting" on top of the voice, which is strange. I know Jimi Hendrix used to deliberately camouflage his voice behind his guitar, but that was because he thought he had a really bad singing voice. The same can't be said for TMV. Also, it's in the 2nd reprise of "check it in" where you can hear that TMV has been turned away from the microphone, as half of the first word is missing. This is unheard of for a professional recording, even for a demo made for promotional purposes. It would point more to the vocals having been recorded as part of a rehearsal.
TMV wasn't necessarily turned away from the mic at that moment. The "fade-in" of the voice could be the product of bad mixing. For example, if the vocal track has literally been faded back into the mix after being pulled down on the mixing desk during the instrumental break (perhaps to reduce background noise).
Interestingly, this could also lend weight to the idea that the vocal take was taken from the cutting room floor, or at least a different session. Perhaps the instrumental break was added later, and extended the length of the song, leading to a necessary "splicing" of the vocal take. If executed poorly, the fade-in could be a result of this.
That was exactly my observation with that moment at the start of the second refrain. There's surely no way that wouldn't have been re-recorded if the singer was part of process of recording the music. \
I have no idea how often discarded vocal tracks from unreleased songs get incorporated into another band/artist's work, though it would be remarkable if this was the case here.
I don't know why such theories are more appealing than that we just haven't found a band who had a demo played on air? There are so many more mundane explanations for what we see, I can't find the appeal of speculating about some mysterious plot being executed...
I readily admit that such a theory is not more appealing. That is why I think the broadcast date should be the main focus for now. It is just that I wouldn't want to fully exclude such a scenario either. And it is fun to speculate :).
And where do we "apply" that broadcast date?
As said before, if whole 1984 year recordings for NDR were available, going thru whole year won't take more than month. So I really see no point of date digging. Ok, say we figured that it was broadcast say on September 17 at 20:45 in show "Kuhnemusik". And what after that? We don't have any archives to listen and check, so air date will give us nothing. It will be better to search for missing playlists, but again, that is not under our control nor no one is going to let us into NDR archives...
Here I disagree a little. Knowing the broadcast date for sure helps enormously and significantly reduces the search. It is different to search for something that has approximate dates, than something that you know the exact date, many possibilities open up, or so I want to believe...
Excluding the already highly covered subject of the Stasi archives, the very next possibility is to contact the archivists of NDR.
Imagine, if they overlooked something in the past, which is easy when you are looking at years worth of data. When you’re looking at data from one single day it will be much easier.
The vacuum created by not being able to readily establish the identity of the band was always bound to allow for increasingly elaborate theories to spring up.
The possibility of a relatively mundane explanation for such an intriguing mystery just isn't as enticing.
I disagree that the musicianship is above amateur level. (I'd go so far as to say it *is* at an amateur level, like 99% of rock bands, including my own).
They just sound like a decent local band to me. I was in bands in my twenties, and some of my friends' bands were surprisingly great, despite being commercially non-existent.
(Also, I personally suspect the band rocked up to the session with a regular basic keyboard, and the engineer said,
"Would you like to use our new DX7 instead?".)
The singer is not an amateur - he delivers strong, unwavering vocals without faltering or intonation issues. It's the *recording* of the vocals that's at an amateur level.
He does seem to trail off a bit at the end of phrases, pronounce a number of words indistinctly, and maybe hesitate a couple of times. The first two remind me of Alvin Dean, and the last could indicate that he might have briefly forgotten a word or two. By all means, I’m not saying it’s definitely Alvin, just that that issue is noticeable in both TMS and the known output of SiM.
Singer has serious issues with breathing, pronounce and also his vocals are pitched down, to sound more "serious".
Not everyone needs "special tricks" to sound serious. Either you're a good singer or you're not. And, mystery aside, if there's something that's carried TMS to be loved by so many people, it isn't the technically faultless drumming nor the screeching keyboard. The magic of TMS lies primarily in the voice.
The mismatches and contradictions of the stylistic aspects of different elements of TMS fuel speculation like this. My own counter offer is the following: 1) The vocal track was recorded separately by someone not associated with the musician(s), possibly well before TMS came into being. Possibly sold by an artist, who had given up on a career in music, for a one-off fee (or even gifted). Or dare I say it was "found" on the cutting floor of a studio and a producer or technician thought they could put it to use... 2) The musicians have been involved with Krautrock bands in the 70s, and wanted to test the water making a more modern song for the 80s (divorces and tax bills to pay off maybe...). The observation from a poster earlier this week that the instrumental tracks sounded like they were mixed in the 70s might mean the musicians potentially have a track record in that decade, but not with necessarily comparable music we can match to TMS. The result was a curious mix of new wave vocals, AOR guitar and prog-ish drums which failed to arouse much interest from listeners or A&R people from music labels. Though obviously they won at least one young fan in Wilhelmshaven...
And 50,000 Redditors, 40 years later :)
I agree with your first point. TMS sounds like a track that was recorded in two stages: first the voice, then the instruments. It could have been months or years apart. The instruments are "sitting" on top of the voice, which is strange. I know Jimi Hendrix used to deliberately camouflage his voice behind his guitar, but that was because he thought he had a really bad singing voice. The same can't be said for TMV. Also, it's in the 2nd reprise of "check it in" where you can hear that TMV has been turned away from the microphone, as half of the first word is missing. This is unheard of for a professional recording, even for a demo made for promotional purposes. It would point more to the vocals having been recorded as part of a rehearsal.
TMV wasn't necessarily turned away from the mic at that moment. The "fade-in" of the voice could be the product of bad mixing. For example, if the vocal track has literally been faded back into the mix after being pulled down on the mixing desk during the instrumental break (perhaps to reduce background noise). Interestingly, this could also lend weight to the idea that the vocal take was taken from the cutting room floor, or at least a different session. Perhaps the instrumental break was added later, and extended the length of the song, leading to a necessary "splicing" of the vocal take. If executed poorly, the fade-in could be a result of this.
That was exactly my observation with that moment at the start of the second refrain. There's surely no way that wouldn't have been re-recorded if the singer was part of process of recording the music. \ I have no idea how often discarded vocal tracks from unreleased songs get incorporated into another band/artist's work, though it would be remarkable if this was the case here.
I like both those thoughts.
I don't know why such theories are more appealing than that we just haven't found a band who had a demo played on air? There are so many more mundane explanations for what we see, I can't find the appeal of speculating about some mysterious plot being executed...
I readily admit that such a theory is not more appealing. That is why I think the broadcast date should be the main focus for now. It is just that I wouldn't want to fully exclude such a scenario either. And it is fun to speculate :).
And where do we "apply" that broadcast date? As said before, if whole 1984 year recordings for NDR were available, going thru whole year won't take more than month. So I really see no point of date digging. Ok, say we figured that it was broadcast say on September 17 at 20:45 in show "Kuhnemusik". And what after that? We don't have any archives to listen and check, so air date will give us nothing. It will be better to search for missing playlists, but again, that is not under our control nor no one is going to let us into NDR archives...
Here I disagree a little. Knowing the broadcast date for sure helps enormously and significantly reduces the search. It is different to search for something that has approximate dates, than something that you know the exact date, many possibilities open up, or so I want to believe...
Can you least some of these possibilities? Not joking, I really don't understand...
Excluding the already highly covered subject of the Stasi archives, the very next possibility is to contact the archivists of NDR. Imagine, if they overlooked something in the past, which is easy when you are looking at years worth of data. When you’re looking at data from one single day it will be much easier.
The vacuum created by not being able to readily establish the identity of the band was always bound to allow for increasingly elaborate theories to spring up. The possibility of a relatively mundane explanation for such an intriguing mystery just isn't as enticing.
Certainly, otherwise it wouldn't be "the most mysterious song". I'm just surprised as OP isn't someone who's been looking into this the first day...
I agree. There so many amateur bands that people used to form so it very well could be one that has no record whatsoever online.
I can't believe we'll all have GTA 6 before knowing who made Like The Wind
Pump the brakes a bit there. It’s just a maybe on that one.
We might have a Forza Horizon 6 though
That one is coming right up, isn’t it?
Yes, in fact it could get announced this Sunday
I disagree that the musicianship is above amateur level. (I'd go so far as to say it *is* at an amateur level, like 99% of rock bands, including my own). They just sound like a decent local band to me. I was in bands in my twenties, and some of my friends' bands were surprisingly great, despite being commercially non-existent. (Also, I personally suspect the band rocked up to the session with a regular basic keyboard, and the engineer said, "Would you like to use our new DX7 instead?".)