When it was played on modern rock radio stations in 1988, Camouflage had everybody duped with "The Great Commandment." With its chilly synths, robotic percussion, and gloomy vocals, the song was a Depeche Mode doppelganger.
Similarly, Camouflage's debut album Voices & Images is the sound of young men who couldn't stop playing Depeche Mode's Black Celebration in their tape decks.
However, they are somewhat talented plagiarists.
The icy, computerized rhythms in the anti-racism track "Neighbours" and "Helpless Helpless" have toe-tapping appeal, and "Winner Takes Nothing" regurgitates Duran Duran as new romantic cyborgs with Marcus Meyn's Simon Le Bon-esque singing.
Meyn enunciates every word in his songs with a heavy seriousness, as if lyrics such as "we had fun while we played/hide and seek" have profound meaning.
The dancey synthesizers of keyboardists/programmers Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig Xerox the eerily seductive high-tech boogie of mid-'80s Depeche Mode, but they're nowhere near as inventive or edgy.
Voices & Images should've been an EP.
Once the sixth track, "Winner Takes Nothing," is finished, Camouflage's Depeche Mode infatuation loses its novelty.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | That Smiling FaceMarcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 2 | Helpless HelplessHeiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 05:07 | 11 MB | 28 MB |
| 3 | NeighboursHeiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 4 | The Great CommandmentOliver Kreyssig, Heiko Maile, Hieko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | Winner Takes NothingHeiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 06:00 | 13 MB | 37 MB |
| 6 | Strangers ThoughtsHeiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 04:47 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 7 | From Ay to BeeHeiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 04:41 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | Where Has the Childhood GoneHeiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 9 | Music for BallerinasHeiko Maile | Camouflage | Play | 04:32 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 10 | I Once Had a DreamOliver Kreyssig, Heiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 05:00 | 11 MB | 26 MB |
| 11 | They Catch SecretsHeiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 03:31 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 12 | PompejiOliver Kreyssig, Heiko Maile, Marcus Meyn | Camouflage | Play | 03:29 | 7 MB | 18 MB |
| 54 mins | 123 MB | |||||
| 54 mins | 323 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Camilla | Choir/Chorus |
| 2 | Camouflage | Primary Artist, Producer |
| 3 | Cláudia | Choir/Chorus |
| 4 | Eva | Choir/Chorus |
| 5 | Axel Henninger | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 6 | Heike Higendorff | Photography |
| 7 | Ivonne | Choir/Chorus |
| 8 | Oliver Kreyssig | Artwork, Composer, Keyboards, Layout Design, Programming, Typography |
| 9 | Heiko Maile | Artwork, Composer, Keyboards, Layout Design, Producer, Programming, Typography |
| 10 | Hieko Maile | Composer |
| 11 | Melanie | Choir/Chorus |
| 12 | Marcus Meyn | Composer, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |