This time I thought I would do something just a little different and give an album view for the German pop/rock sensation known around the world as Tokio Hotel.
Notice that is album VIEW and not an album REVIEW. There are 19 songs here and not enough blog space to contain my enthusiasm for each one. So I'll just give an overview of the whole thing. Ready?
They are officially the biggest German band ever and they have released several studio albums so far: Schrei, Schrei--so laut du kannst and Zimmer 483 are all in German. The next album Scream is in English and was released outside of the United States as Room 483. Their recent album Humanoid was released in both German and English.
On July 20th however eager fans were finally able to get their hands on the latest release by their favorite German sensation. Humanoid City LIVE, as the title suggests, is a live album that was recorded during the band's concert in Milan, Italy. Anyone who thinks today's song artists can't sing and just have voices that are like nails on a chalk board have evidently never heard Bill Kaulitz sing live. Now you can simply download this album from iTunes or whichever site you prefer, but the actual CD comes packaged with a special DVD showing the entire concert.
The CD + DVD combo pack is a must have for any fan of this band, for a person who's decided to take a look at the band for the first time, or someone wanting to see some of their new music. The song list is as follows:
1. Noise
2. Human Connect to Human
3. Break Away
4. Pain of Love
5. World Behind My Wall
6. Hey You
7. Alien
8. Ready, Set, Go!
9. Humanoid (German version)
10. Phantomrider
11. Dogs Unleashed
12. Love & Death
13. In Your Shadow I Can Shine
14. Automatic
15. Screamin'
16. Darkside of the Sun
17. Zoom Into Me
18. Monsoon
19. Forever Now
Some songs such as Pain of Love are rearranged slightly and others such as Humanoid are completely changed and done in a more acoustic style. Most of them, however, are the same as fans remember.
This album and DVD gives you a real feel for what it would be like to be in such a massive crowd listening to Tokio Hotel play their hearts out. The cheering and screaming of the fans, the pauses as singer Bill Kaulitz holds up the microphone to let the crowd sing along with him, even Bill thanking all of the fans and then asking them to shut off their camera's and cell phones (excuse me that's "mobile phones" as he says it) and just enjoy the next song as they get ready to perform Phantomrider. Even the flash of fire at the end of Darkside of the Sun although you might not realize what it is until you see the DVD.
It also helps you appreciate just how loud concerts can be. Don't forget to protect your ears everyone! Especially if you are close to the stage!
I was actually wondering how well Bill would do on some of those high notes and falsetto's such as in the chorus of Automatic, but he pulls them all off flawlessly and admirably. Now Bill's voice might sound a bit restrained on some parts of different songs and it certainly does to me at times; kind of like he's not singing as loud or as hard as he could be. That's just might impression and it could be completely wrong.
If it's true then you can't really blame him. He's only 20 years old and he has already had surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords once because of constant inflammation and the rigorous schedule they were on. However, even if he is holding back just a tiny bit he still has an astounding voice that few others can compete with. These guys are taking a break after their European tour but they still have a lot of concerts afterwards so its good to see them going on vacation no matter how short that may be.
Let's get back to the album though. Noise has a noticeably longer intro and is the perfect song to open the concert. It easily gets the crowd pumped up and excited for what is to come it has. Slightly older favorites such as Break Away and Ready, Set, Go! off their album Scream are included as well and help you appreciate just how far these four Germans have come since then.
The lyrics to World Behind My Wall are filled with depth and emotion while Dogs Unleashed, actually written about Bill and Tom's own pet dogs, is a great track and helps show the love they have for all animals. So much so that the twins have turned vegetarian and all the outfits that you see Bill wearing during the concert on the DVD are made from fake leather.
Next up you have a powerful beat and lyrics that no one can resist. Yes, I'm talking about Darkside of the Sun with Sonnensystem being its German counterpart. This is my favorite song off the recent Humanoid album besides World Behind My Wall and I was so happy that they made it their latest single as you can see by this video here.
A song I really looked forward to listening to is In Your Shadow I Can Shine. This song was only available when you purchased the Humanoid (English) CD from Hot Topic stores. If you are like me and did not get one of those CD's then this is your chance to hear it in all its glory. This is a beautiful song and Bill's vocal are soft, sweet, powerful, and touching. This is a song right up there with World Behind My Wall and it really helps highlight their song writing skills. People can say what they want about these, but listen to these lyrics and there is no denying that every song Tokio Hotel performs has meaning and depth to the lyrics and words.
Closing out the Humanoid City LIVE album is Forever Now and is the perfect song to close the concert just as Noise was the perfect song to open. Bill sings like never before and thanks the crowd and the fans for coming out before jumping right back into the song again. One verse says that "I will never let you down" and we can all be sure that Tokio Hotel will continue to put out great music and put on amazing, heart stopping, tear jerking performances for all of us.
All of this doesn't accurately describe just how good this LIVE album is however. I've never been one for LIVE CD's or tracks, but this one has certainly turned my opinion around.
So what's my favorite song? Well, I can't name a single one, but rather In Your Shadow I Can Shine, Darkside of The Sun, Pain of Love, and Forever Now really stand out to me and are my personal preferences.
For die hard fans such as myself there is no question as to whether or not you are getting this album. However, if you've only seen or heard of Tokio Hotel in passing then this is certainly the place to start if your looking to get your feet wet. If you weren't thrilled by their previous music (although I can't imagine why you wouldn't be) then you'll most certainly be impressed by the different and more electronic/rock sound that most of these new songs offer.
Humanoid City LIVE is the album and you can find it in stores around the world. So if Tokio Hotel comes to a city near you then buy yourself a ticket to the show because it is one band and one sound that you will most certainly never forget.
Notice that is album VIEW and not an album REVIEW. There are 19 songs here and not enough blog space to contain my enthusiasm for each one. So I'll just give an overview of the whole thing. Ready?
They are officially the biggest German band ever and they have released several studio albums so far: Schrei, Schrei--so laut du kannst and Zimmer 483 are all in German. The next album Scream is in English and was released outside of the United States as Room 483. Their recent album Humanoid was released in both German and English.
On July 20th however eager fans were finally able to get their hands on the latest release by their favorite German sensation. Humanoid City LIVE, as the title suggests, is a live album that was recorded during the band's concert in Milan, Italy. Anyone who thinks today's song artists can't sing and just have voices that are like nails on a chalk board have evidently never heard Bill Kaulitz sing live. Now you can simply download this album from iTunes or whichever site you prefer, but the actual CD comes packaged with a special DVD showing the entire concert.
It features a special Tokio Hotel TV episode showing what it takes to prepare that massive stage and special display.
Are you ready for an incomparable LIVE experience?
The CD + DVD combo pack is a must have for any fan of this band, for a person who's decided to take a look at the band for the first time, or someone wanting to see some of their new music. The song list is as follows:
1. Noise
2. Human Connect to Human
3. Break Away
4. Pain of Love
5. World Behind My Wall
6. Hey You
7. Alien
8. Ready, Set, Go!
9. Humanoid (German version)
10. Phantomrider
11. Dogs Unleashed
12. Love & Death
13. In Your Shadow I Can Shine
14. Automatic
15. Screamin'
16. Darkside of the Sun
17. Zoom Into Me
18. Monsoon
19. Forever Now
Some songs such as Pain of Love are rearranged slightly and others such as Humanoid are completely changed and done in a more acoustic style. Most of them, however, are the same as fans remember.
This album and DVD gives you a real feel for what it would be like to be in such a massive crowd listening to Tokio Hotel play their hearts out. The cheering and screaming of the fans, the pauses as singer Bill Kaulitz holds up the microphone to let the crowd sing along with him, even Bill thanking all of the fans and then asking them to shut off their camera's and cell phones (excuse me that's "mobile phones" as he says it) and just enjoy the next song as they get ready to perform Phantomrider. Even the flash of fire at the end of Darkside of the Sun although you might not realize what it is until you see the DVD.
It also helps you appreciate just how loud concerts can be. Don't forget to protect your ears everyone! Especially if you are close to the stage!
I was actually wondering how well Bill would do on some of those high notes and falsetto's such as in the chorus of Automatic, but he pulls them all off flawlessly and admirably. Now Bill's voice might sound a bit restrained on some parts of different songs and it certainly does to me at times; kind of like he's not singing as loud or as hard as he could be. That's just might impression and it could be completely wrong.
If it's true then you can't really blame him. He's only 20 years old and he has already had surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords once because of constant inflammation and the rigorous schedule they were on. However, even if he is holding back just a tiny bit he still has an astounding voice that few others can compete with. These guys are taking a break after their European tour but they still have a lot of concerts afterwards so its good to see them going on vacation no matter how short that may be.
Let's get back to the album though. Noise has a noticeably longer intro and is the perfect song to open the concert. It easily gets the crowd pumped up and excited for what is to come it has. Slightly older favorites such as Break Away and Ready, Set, Go! off their album Scream are included as well and help you appreciate just how far these four Germans have come since then.
The lyrics to World Behind My Wall are filled with depth and emotion while Dogs Unleashed, actually written about Bill and Tom's own pet dogs, is a great track and helps show the love they have for all animals. So much so that the twins have turned vegetarian and all the outfits that you see Bill wearing during the concert on the DVD are made from fake leather.
Next up you have a powerful beat and lyrics that no one can resist. Yes, I'm talking about Darkside of the Sun with Sonnensystem being its German counterpart. This is my favorite song off the recent Humanoid album besides World Behind My Wall and I was so happy that they made it their latest single as you can see by this video here.
A song I really looked forward to listening to is In Your Shadow I Can Shine. This song was only available when you purchased the Humanoid (English) CD from Hot Topic stores. If you are like me and did not get one of those CD's then this is your chance to hear it in all its glory. This is a beautiful song and Bill's vocal are soft, sweet, powerful, and touching. This is a song right up there with World Behind My Wall and it really helps highlight their song writing skills. People can say what they want about these, but listen to these lyrics and there is no denying that every song Tokio Hotel performs has meaning and depth to the lyrics and words.
Closing out the Humanoid City LIVE album is Forever Now and is the perfect song to close the concert just as Noise was the perfect song to open. Bill sings like never before and thanks the crowd and the fans for coming out before jumping right back into the song again. One verse says that "I will never let you down" and we can all be sure that Tokio Hotel will continue to put out great music and put on amazing, heart stopping, tear jerking performances for all of us.
All of this doesn't accurately describe just how good this LIVE album is however. I've never been one for LIVE CD's or tracks, but this one has certainly turned my opinion around.
So what's my favorite song? Well, I can't name a single one, but rather In Your Shadow I Can Shine, Darkside of The Sun, Pain of Love, and Forever Now really stand out to me and are my personal preferences.
For die hard fans such as myself there is no question as to whether or not you are getting this album. However, if you've only seen or heard of Tokio Hotel in passing then this is certainly the place to start if your looking to get your feet wet. If you weren't thrilled by their previous music (although I can't imagine why you wouldn't be) then you'll most certainly be impressed by the different and more electronic/rock sound that most of these new songs offer.
Humanoid City LIVE is the album and you can find it in stores around the world. So if Tokio Hotel comes to a city near you then buy yourself a ticket to the show because it is one band and one sound that you will most certainly never forget.
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