For almost a year the band worked hard in their rehearsal room at the "Wrangel Kaserne", former
Prussian barracks that were transformed into numerous rehearsal rooms in West-Berlin's
Kreuzberg district, composing and arranging the tracks for their first and, as it turned out, only album. They signed a contract with the German record company Ariola (
BMG), and in winter 1973/74 they started recording in Munich's "Studio 70", which had been pointed out to them by their friends and colleagues
Agitation Free. They were supported by a small but brilliant classical ensemble, directed by Hartmut Westphal, well known German arranger and brother of the band’s bass player Michael. Clearly influenced by the music of bands like early
Genesis,
Soft Machine or
Van Der Graaf Generator, they experimented with 5/4, 7/4 or 11/4 rhythms and created a music that had symphonic, as well as psychedelic parts, jazzy influences combined with total free experimental sounds, driving-aggressive rock voices or folksong style harmony vocals, a pretty unusual mixture at that time. Their lyrics, written in English, were in general a criticism of the state of civilization and ecology, with occasional romantic influences. (The front cover of their album shows a seemingly intact landscape that gets threatened by a monster that develops out of polluted air). Shortly after album and single were released in early summer 1974 Ute Kannenberg and Helmut Binzer left the band. But Metropolis went on, playing concerts in Berlin and West-Germany (Germany was still divided) and working on a new programme. Based on the story "Kaleidoscope" of
Ray Bradbury's "Illustrated Man" they created a multi media show that had its premiere on Christmas Eve 1975 at Berlin's Kant Kino. The light show was created by Metropolis' roady and technician Alf Heuer with slides, liquid gel projections, film,
stroboscope, spot lights and fog machines. A so-called "scent show" with the help of electric cooking plates was added. Along with new compositions they also played their version of
Mr. Spaceman, the song already being recorded and meant to be their new single. But after a last open air concert in the summer of 1976 the band finally split. All members started different new projects. After the re-release of their first album in 2020 by Sony Music, the band finally released their version of "Mr. Spaceman" 48 years after the song had been recorded in the summer of 1975 by producer
Udo Arndt (
Nena,
Rio Reiser, Ton Steine Scherben or
Spliff). ==Trivia==