The influential German band Palais Schaumburg has reunited in the classic lineup. Since its release in 1981, their debut album has remained in a league of its own: fleet-footed and peculiar, abstract and pop, amateurish and savvy, it showed real alternatives to the then-pervasive crude search for identity found in the "New German Wave". The band, which consisted entirely of divergent personalities, has reunited in this formation to rediscover their common ground, further develop, and to perform live. Their few recent live concerts in Berlin, Cologne, and Tokyo were met with rapturous reception – and not only from those in their own age group. In this post-sampling era, with the current, dynamic changes in the creation and reception of music, their statement has lost none of its fascination. Anyone who sees and hears the combination of idiosyncratic bass riffs (Blunck), bizarre yet catchy rhythms (Hertwig, Blunck), Fehlmann's shrill horn and synthesizer fanfares, and Hiller's seemingly atonal staccato guitar work and oblique lyrical conglomerates, will immediately comprehend the influence of this band. Therefore, we are very pleased to reissue the important original works of Palais Schaumburg in an appropriate and extended format. What do we mean by that? Well, in addition to the actual album, this reissue includes a second CD/LP containing all the pieces that the band recorded prior to their debut album (all of them now for the first time on CD), and a previously unreleased recording of a concert in Holland. The limited edition 180 gram vinyl double LP additionally contains a single with four tracks from a concert in Hamburg where people from the audience – among them Andreas Dorau – perform their own versions accompanied by the band. A lavish booklet includes rare photographs and liner notes by Chris Bohn, editor of the British music magazine "The Wire".