Johann 'Falco' Hoelzl was undoubtedly the most successful

white male rapper of the 20th century. Not bad for an Austrian

singing in a strange Anglo-German mixture, in a time when rap

was considered to be more or less ghetto music and only

a few white pop stars dared to approach this new music idiom

(BLONDIE-Rapture, CLASH-The Magnificent 7, ADAM ANT-Ant rap,

WHAM-Wham rap and CAPTAIN SENSIBLE, MODERN ROMANCE,

NINA HAGEN & others). But Falco made a big mistake:

with songs like Ganz Wien or even European smash hit

Der Kommissar he made a lot of enemies in his hometown

Vienna, people who didn't like a native son of theirs

giving worldwide the impression their city was a drug antre.

Since then Falco was never welcome at home, which I

believe was a burden to heavy for him to handle, leading

him to his tragic death back in 1998 in a mysterious car accident in the Dominican Republic where he lived

auto exiled the last years of his life.

Though non of this LP's songs were US or UK hits,

English cover version of Der Kommissar, by British

band AFTER THE FIRE, hit US #5 (& UK #47) in 1983.

Falco enjoyed the success he was seeking in 1986 when his

all time classic hit Rock Me Amadeus topped both UK & US

charts and ballad Jeanny was a smash hit all over Europe.

Falco's songs are exceptional, his interpretation unique

and beyond comparison. Rap music may owe a lot of things

to German myth KRAFTWERK for helping them in creating their

music forms, but they owe equally to this descendant of Mozart

for opening their way to the top of the charts and the Land of

Loadsamoney. Beware though: the rating refers only to

German speaking Amazon friends, though you never really know

what language that crazy son of a gun is rapping in!

Even if you do not know a word of German, you'll have a lot of fun with this cd, easily Falco's best. Being an import, it is a little pricy, but it's definitely worth every cent that you spend. The finest cd from Falco...what more can I say?

This album is a must have for Falco fans! The remastering makes the album come alive like never before and the bouns tracks are icing on the cake! Completely satisfied with the purchase!

THE FIRST AND BEST VERSION OF DER KOMISSAR REMINDS ME OF THE OLD VIDEO OF FALCONER HIMSELF BEING CHASED BY A POLICE CAR THROUGH THE STREETS OF VIENNA. GANZ WIEN IS A TRULY,TRAINSPOTTINGLY LOOK AT THE COUNTER CULTURE IN VIENNA FROM HEAVY METAL TO PUNK TO DRUGGIES TO THE RAPSTERS. THIS CD IS TRULY A CLASSIC.

Hey, I've been listening to this for almost 30 years, obviously I am a fan. And the CD is definately a step up from my old cassette, which I have mislayed. My favorite is "Nie mehr Schule" and "Zu viel Hitze", "Der Kommissar" is over rated but virtually no English speaker will even get the reference to the television series.