When MADE IN GERMANY published their eponymous album on Metronome (MLP 15.416) in 1971, this was the reward for their committed practising in grumpy rehearsal rooms for many years. All this began at Beethoven Gymnasium (College) in West Berlin. The West Berliners had started as a schoolboy band in order to play the hits of their protagonists. Under the name of "Cosmics" they still considered the "making of music" a hobby. Encouraged by the local success of competing schoolboy bands and highly infected by the general hysteria for the beat, they soon played in the 1st division. As of 1965 they caused a sensation under the name of "Take Five" in a Berlin youth club. In 1968 they won the first prize in an international beat festival together with the Chechen band "Atlantis". The bands became friends and saw each others. When the musicians of "Atlantis" split up, their guitarist (Stan Regal) stayed in Berlin, married and started to work in Audio recording studio. This was a favourable combination for the band to fulfil their dream to record their music material in a proper recording studio and to get a recording contract as they were technically well-experienced and sufficiently self-confident, too.

The musicians gave up the unpopular name of "Take Five" and called themselves MADE IN GERMANY now. Stan Regal provided them the possibility to professionally record in an audio recording studio. First of all, there was planned the recording of a single, an album should follow. A part of the recordings were already completed, when the boys got to know Rita Peuker. Rita was the singer in a local band and the boys had watched her appearing. They were enthusiastic about her and wooed away her at once. The titles were now adapted for Rita and newly produced. Rita became the front woman of MADE IN GERMANY.

First, "Don't forget the Time" was published a single recording of the album. A few months later followed an album newly recorded on a CD for the first time.

In this album MADE IN GERMANY linked positively pop and progressive rock elements. This is also shown in the duration of the individual titles lasting for within about 3 minutes and up to 9 minutes. The short titles demonstrate the ability of the musicians to compose compact, melodious songs having an unrecognisable value with high standard, in which the flute stands out as leading instrument. On the longer titles the musicians prove their talent for improvisation. They also worked in surprises in sound. In the case of "Man in History" the mag-nificent organ sounds in a church are shown. In that time, Wolfgang Schulz (guitar, vocals) studied electrical engineering and tried out a lot of technical fiddling. So he had developed a rotosizer, an equipment which is based on quadrophonic sounds. It sends sounds smoothly one after the other into 4 loudspeakers. By this, the listener gains the impression, the music is flowing around him. This effect can especially be heard to its advantage when the band appeared in live.

However, MADE IN GERMANY would not have been tied to a definitive music trend. "Our style is that we have none!", said Stephan Pade, the songwriter of the band, in a newspaper interview in 1971. "We produce our songs ourselves; presently we are somewhat progressive, but you never know what we will think over tomorrow".

It is not surprising that Rita Peuker, the attractive front woman and the singer of the band, drew the most attention of the media on herself. In an article about "rock and blues girls" in the "Stern" magazine in 1972 she was honoured besides Inga Rumpf, Chris Braun and Joy Fleming because of her beautiful clear voice and it was reported about her position as the "girl in a group".

Financially, the album only had an average success. The reputation of the well-known band was especially restricted to Berlin. Indeed, the move to West Germany was repeatedly con-sidered , but, in the end, the band still stayed in their home town, Berlin, where it rather felt isolated, however. The recording company didn't support them when performing an all-German tournament so that the band couldn't sufficiently promote the album in order achieve a good turnover of their record.

In 1972 as well as in 1973 one each single was recorded for BASF which are contained as bonus tracks. In preparation for a second LP in 1974, there were other songs which were recorded in a Hamburg studio as demo version with a slightly changed team (new drummer). How-ever, this LP could never be completed, as Rita left this group shortly after the recording. From this time, there are three titles that can be heard as bonus tracks on the CD. Unfortunately, their sound quality doesn't correspond to the justified expectations. They shall not be withheld from the listeners, however, as a contemporary document.

In changing teams MADE IN GERMANY continued to play for several years. "Just for fun" the band recorded a German-language single which, however, can be ignored.

Manfred Steinheuer, April 2002

Hans-Dieter Graber died in September 2000. This CD is dedicated to him! Thanks to Stephan Pade for his friendly support!