Naïve is the fifth album by industrial rock group KMFDM. It was released on November 15, 1990. It was recorded in Hamburg, Germany upon KMFDM's return from their first visit to America and subsequent tour with Ministry.[3] It was also the first record that they released after signing directly to Wax Trax! Records.
The album was out of print for over a decade due to copyright infringement: the seventh track, "Liebeslied", used unauthorized samples from a recording of "O Fortuna", from Carl Orff's 1930s cantataCarmina Burana. The album was recalled approximately three years after being released. Copies today are rare and considered collector's items.[4] In addition to this, "Godlike" samples "Angel of Death" by Slayer and "Go To Hell" uses the same riff as Metallica's "Metal Militia", although re-performed (and possibly just a coincidence given how simple the riff is).
All of the tracks on the album, except for the original mixes of "Die Now-Live Later", "Liebeslied" and "Go to Hell" were subsequently available on other discs. The album was re-released as Naïve/Hell to Go, with some songs remixed, in 1994. A digitally remastered reissue of Naïve was released on November 21, 2006, along with Money and Angst. It was reissued with an edited version of the track "Liebeslied" without the offending sample. It also features the remixes that initially appeared on Naïve/Hell to Go.
Naïve received excellent reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Naïve "one of [KMFDM's] strongest releases."[5] Ned Raggett of Allmusic began his review by saying, "KMFDM brought it all together on the brilliant Naïve", doing "everything from four-to-the-floor beats to Wagnerian epic metal and back again".[1] He went on to call it "one of industrial/electronic body music's key albums", and said that KMFDM was a band "so ridiculously good that everything they touch pretty much turns to gold".[1] He also said that while the title track was "fantastic", the "total standout" of the album was "Liebeslied":
Outrageously interpolating Carl Orff's noted vocal piece Carmina Burana into a bombastic explosion of mechanical rhythms, orchestral hits, and an increasing amount of hero guitar feedback slabs, not to mention the husked, desperate lead vocals, it's a jawdropping masterpiece that demands and gets total surrender.[1]
Naïve/Hell to Go is a modified and remixed version of Naïve, with five of the original songs re-recorded, including "Liebeslied", which contained an unlicensed sample of "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's cantataCarmina Burana.[7] After Orff's publisher threatened the band with legal action,[8] the original album was recalled.
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