Error In The System
	Produced by Peter Schilling and Armin Sabol
	Released on 1982
	US CHART POSITION #61
	Find it at GEMM
60265-1 cover [high resolution photo]

R obots were our future. Space would be home. It was the eve of 1984, the end of the world was near and I felt fine. When “Major Tom (Coming Home)” came out, Schilling’s (sort of) happy ending to Bowie’s stranded spaceman told us that everything was going to be okay (and reassuringly familiar) in the brave new world of tomorrow. Of course, like other German new wave artists, Schilling’s new world was simply the old world of rock & roll with a new coat of spaceage polymer paint. What was left to say after Kraftwerk and Nina Hagen anyway? The musical apocalypse had already arrived and we’d survived, so Schilling’s science fiction fancies about robots, spaceships and the earth’s destruction smacked more of pulp than pulpit. However, dismissing Peter Schilling as a lucky one-hit wonder would be a mistake. Like Pete Shelley or Lene Lovich, Schilling writes modern music that for all its emphasis on impersonality is pretty warm and catchy. “The Noah Plan,” “Only Dreams,” “Error in the System,” even the dub reggae of “Lifetime Guarantee” (shades of The Clash) caught my ear as potential, supporting singles. However, American audiences tend to regard German vocalists as novelties (Nena, Falco); even Scorpions’ Klaus Meine is an acquired taste. In its original German (and the entire record was recorded in German as Fehler Im System), Schilling may be more menacing. In English, he’s too cuddly to be so gloomy all the time. And Error’s vision of the future is like Buck Rogers in the 25th Century with an edge (if you can imagine Dr. Theopolis as a polygon). I’m not saying that’s a bad thing; I have a certain nostalgia for both.

60265-1 back cover	60265-1 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. ONLY DREAMS    (music: Peter Schilling, original lyrics: Peter Schilling, English lyrics: David Lodge)    3:22
2. LIFETIME GUARANTEE    (music: Armin Sabol, original lyrics: Peter Schilling, English lyircs: David Lodge)    6:20
3. THE NOAH PLAN    (music: Peter Schilling, original lyrics: Peter Schilling, English lyrics: David Lodge)    4:21
4. ERROR IN THE SYSTEM    (music: Peter Schilling, original lyrics: Peter Schilling, English lyrics: Matthew Garey)    3:35
5. MAJOR TOM (COMING HOME)    (music: Peter Schilling, original lyrics: Peter Schilling, English lyrics: David Lodge)    3:57
6. MAJOR TOM, PART II    (music: Armin Sabol)    3:33
7. (LET'S PLAY) U.S.A.    (music: Armin Sabol, original lyrics: Peter Schilling, English lyrics: Matthew Garey)    3:18
8. I HAVE NO DESIRE    (music: Peter Schilling, original lyrics: Peter Schilling, English lyrics: Matthew Garey)    3:32
9. STILLE NACHT, HEILIGE NACHT (SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT)    (music: traditional, newly arr. by Armin Sabol/new lyrics: Peter Schilling)    3:26

CREDITS

PETER SCHILLING -- all vocals, recording engineer
FRANK HIEBER -- keyboards
ROLF KERSTING -- bass
ARMIN SABOL -- all guitars, bass on (9)
DICKY TARRACH -- drums
Gonzo Bishop -- keyboards (5)
Curt Cress -- drums (5)
Günter Gebauer -- bass (5)
Mickie Stickdorn -- drums (3)
Lars Hidde -- recording engineer
Manfred Lohse -- recording engineer
Holger J. Magnussen -- mix
Geoff Peacy -- recording engineer
Frank Reinke -- recording engineer, mix
Peter Schmidt -- recording engineer
Bob Defrin -- art direction
Gesine Potter -- front cover photo
Job Crogier -- back cover photo

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