CHALLENGE (your stories)
I´d like to start with song number THREE on THIRTEEN STORIES and ask you what the story is like that you have in your mind when you listen to CHALLENGE…
I´d like to start with song number THREE on THIRTEEN STORIES and ask you what the story is like that you have in your mind when you listen to CHALLENGE…
17. March 2009 at 17:39
holidays..
tropical beach (the calm parts) - wild motorboat/jetski ride (th harder parts) - beautiful sunset (in the end)
btw: thank you rolf for another great record!
17. March 2009 at 17:54
strange…. The same like Hor80 wrote…..
For me I am lying at the beach with a coctail in my hand. It is late afternoon, the sun goes down and I am waiting for beachparty. The faster song song is going on, the more people are coming to beach and having party in the dark at the beach disco…
Sorry for my bad english *lol*
PS: Waiting for answer on myspace about the “deal”
17. March 2009 at 18:03
I had the image of a space shuttle lift-off on my mind, a spaceship setting off on a trip to explore space. Not sure if that’s because of the title though…
Nevertheless, “Challenge” is one of my favorites on the album.
17. March 2009 at 18:24
CHALLENGE bekräftigt mich auf meinem weg musik zu machen. ich bin jetzt mittlerweile 33 und manchmal frag ich mich schon: wozu? hat das nen sinn? wird das was? dann gesellt sich auch noch n tinnitus dazu…
und finanziell isses auch herausfordernd zur zeit.
aber wenn ich dann CHALLENGE anhöre,
weiss ich… das is nun mal die “herausforderung”, und alles wird gut.
17. March 2009 at 20:31
For me its something like an investigation. the melody is mysterious, while the faster parts are like a chase. it goes nicely with THE CUBE, which continues the story for me perfectly.
17. March 2009 at 20:57
hey, no, they are 13 stories not sequels or series
17. March 2009 at 21:43
18. March 2009 at 00:35
Lustig, daß ich genau mal wieder auf dem Blog bzw dem Eintrag lande, wo ich doch gerade JETZT die CD höre und bei Track 3 bin … Zufall !
War bzw bin schon immer ziemlich nachdenklich bei Deiner (damals Eurer) Musik, Rolf.
Gerade bei Track 3 muß ich doch irgendwie an meine Ex denken … die Anfänge noch schön und entspannt, die “dramatischen” Passagen eher mit Streß und abhauen verbunden …
Der Song bringt mich auf viele Ideen und/oder Gedanken.
Was letztlich zählt:
Einfach gute Musik, Rolf. Danke!!
18. March 2009 at 07:21
Traveling with a space ship…
18. March 2009 at 08:04
I didn’t really have a picture in my mind the first times.
)
But the intro and the break sound a bit like a desert storm, and when the guitar starts, there could appear a man, maybe a cowboy or a nomad on a horse. But what could the main part be in that story? Maybe the desert storm reaches the man, and he has to fight against it and to escape from it with his horse. Let’s hope he finds a place to hide.
At the end the storm is over, and the sun shines through. (But this is not really a happy end when the sun is shining in the desert.
18. March 2009 at 08:40
Mich lässt es irgentwie.. an so eine Resie quer durch die welt erinnern, bei der man überlall auf der Welt nen kurzen stop macht um mit den Leuten dort was zu erleben.
Beglitet werd ich bei dieser Story von einer Person, die ich sehr mag (Bester Kumpel, Freundin), ich hab also ne Reisbegleitung, mit der ich mal alles mögliche mach, Snowboarden in den Alpen, Surfen in Florida, Chillen am Strand von Hawai, Sushi futtern in Hong Kong, in Vegas ein auf dicken Geldbeutel machen etc….
Die zweite möglichkeit, was mir auch oft einfält, sind die ersten Tage des Verliebt seins, wenn man jemand neues kennengelernt hat und man (ähnlich wie bei der ersten geschichte) mit demjenigen die erste schöne Zeit genießt und unternehmungen macht.
Gr33Z Chris
18. March 2009 at 13:08
Well, for me, this song would fit perfect for a storm, kind of like D.Machine said. Yet, I feel it’s a typical middle-European autumn-storm, when you sit inside your house/flat/room…
I know this is not a whole story, more kind of a feeling. Yet, if I had to make a music video, it would be one with parts that are fast-forwarded, like for example DJ Sammy - Sunlight.
18. March 2009 at 14:08
Traveling in the galaxy into the unknown:)
18. March 2009 at 16:37
I didn’t read any other interpretations before I wrote mine (now I will though, must be interesting!). There we go:
In the beginning, someone is contemplating a decision that would transform him/her into something else, that is represented by the higher lead melody at 0:30 and he/she makes that decision at 1:30.
Then reality and implications of that decision kick in, I can hear excitement and anticipation (Vorfreude). At 2:03 the plan is put in action. I can hear people clapping, so it seems to work.
However, during the slow phase from 3:10, our old self comes back in and we revise whether the decision was actually a good one. But we’re not ready to give up yet, still the higher lead melody. But it’s like the decision has consequences we can’t control, something’s suppressing or bothering us. There are too many bad sides to it.
Our old self tries to resurface and mixes with the high melody, we’re fighting to get our old self back, and from 5:10 onwards we succeed.
Very abstract I know. We took on a challenge and lost ourselves in the process of dealing with it / or it takes on dynamics itself, that we can’t control anymore. Sometimes it’s better to acknowledge a mistake and reverse it (and learn from the experience) than live with the mistake forever. To admit that we’re wrong can be very big challenge.
18. March 2009 at 17:50
@ lilacfairy
Wow, that sounds really cool.. and strange
18. March 2009 at 18:13
@lilacfairy
imho best interpretation so far
18. March 2009 at 18:57
Let’s see… I will write the concepts that appear in my mind while I listen to the music piece -in order of appearance-:
First seconds:
· Sit down
· Loneliness
· Cold
· Top of a mountain
· Sunset
Summary: I’m lonely, in the top of a mountain (watching all above), in a cold sunset.
The “snare” gives me enough strength to stand up, and the kick adds light. Maybe it wasn’t sunset, maybe it was a sunrise, but it was melancholic.
The castanets (or similar) in the kick position, and the “singing bass”, add a perfect mix of digital and pure analog sound, very interesting. This combination makes me think in white colour.
Sorry, my english is bad. I express myself so much better in catalan or spanish, so there are some things that i cannot express…
18. March 2009 at 20:13
Macht nachdenklich, der Gitarren Bass erzeugt Gänsehaut und das Piano gibt Hoffnung!!!
18. March 2009 at 21:12
great interpretation/stories that you tell about
end of week ill write the background of my choices…
19. March 2009 at 07:37
In the first listening sessions I couldn’t really tell whats on my mind, I only wanted to enjoy the music and hat no story in my mind…
After that:
It is like a storm is coming. When I here the beginning of challenge I had the pictures of the end of Terminator 1 in my mind (the scene when she droves inton the storm)…
The second part is the story of the hard fight against the storm (or whatever it is, but it is a terrible thing…) and to endure it, but with a loss…
19. March 2009 at 09:00
So I am not the only one with the story about surviving in a storm.
As I already wrote in my “Second Impressions”, I liked the heavy e-guitar that this song had some months ago as a snippet.
But that would have been a completely different story…
19. March 2009 at 16:35
What do you mean? A hurricane?
19. March 2009 at 23:29
i see there a beautiful woman in forest. she is sad. looking to the ground. and thinking, that all is gone. wind is waving her long braun hair. a tear is falling down from her face. suddenly a ray of light falls on her face.
she raises her head with the feeling of hope, makes first steps. in each step grows fresh green grass. she starts to run towards that ray of light. the trees are everywhere around. above her is heavy sky. she is running for her life.
hoping not to die in the middle of nowhere. suddendly she falls out of the forest and a bright sun shines to her face. now, you can see all her beauty. she is feeling big redemption.
or maybe i am just drinking too much whisky
anyway great track..
20. March 2009 at 11:17
Oh no, you don’t drink too much, I’m also seeing beautiful women everywhere all the time
Well, but maybe you still drink too much.
20. March 2009 at 11:33
I meant that the heavy e-guitar wouldn’t support the idea of survival fight, because it sounds too cool. So the result would be some guys with harleys driving though the storm or something like that.
20. March 2009 at 13:06
The man standing close to the highway, we first hear some cars… Next there is a silence which means what is now in his mind.
Next he is going by the edge of the highway, the cars are still going close to him but he is looking at the sky and trees…
He stands for a while…
But then again he is going to nowhere, dynamic vision of riding cars around him but he walks lonely… To nowhere… But at the end of the song he turns his steps to the forest and disappear in the shadows of the trees.
23. March 2009 at 04:35
mich erinnert dieses lied an einen mix zwischen ruhe und hektik.
ich bin mit dem mp3player durch die großstadt von peking gelaufen. links und rechts die hektik der leute, die menschenmassen, die leuchtreklame, die autos und busse. die bassline des liedes unterstreicht das, was ich sehe, aber die klaviermelodie spielt die melodie der ruhe, dich ich selber in mir trage und mir zeigt, dass ich selber nicht im sog der massen untergehe, sondern meinen prioritäten und plänen treu bleiben kann in einer welt, in der deine zukunft oft von den einflüssen der umwelt, der meinungen, der medien, etc…, beinflusst wird.
zwar gelingt es den klauen der von allen seiten eindringenden hektik öfters mal von mir besitzt zu ergreifen (3:52min, nur bassline, kein klavier), aber wie am anfang und am ende des liedes nur das klavier spielt, ist es auch die ruhe in mir, die letztendlich gewinnt
11. April 2009 at 10:35
Good song!!!I like the Piano very much…
08. August 2009 at 10:23
i find n fettes video für challenge wär n boxkampf. oder n zweikampf….
als metapher fürs leben…
der ruhige teil dient der mentalen vorbereitung,
und wenns lied dann abzieht, dann die auseinandersetzung.
sprang mir grad so in den kopf.