An outcry of indignation went through Switzerland in the summer of 1977: on 31 July of all days, on the eve of the Swiss National Day, the musical "Tell!" premiered in Zurich - a modern, rocky version of the story about the national hero of the Swiss Confederates. After only one month, Tell Musical AG - Udo Jürgens was one of the shareholders - had to pull out all the stops: The negative press response was too much, the audience stayed away. What the media in the alpine state got excited about is now easy to relive: The original LP version of the musical, which was produced by Dieter Dierks, is now available for the first time on CD; it comes in a double pack with demo recordings for the piece, which were already made in 1975.
The story about Wilhelm Tell of modern times was invented by the Swiss author Beat Hirt, co-founder of the cult magazine "Pop": "After I had seen 'Man of La Mancha' on stage in Vienna in 1968 and 'Hair' in New York in the same year, it was clear to me: Wilhelm Tell is ready for a rock musical. The electric guitar is the crossbow!" The music was provided by Tommy Fortmann, who had released two LPs worth listening to with his progressive band Demon Thor in the early seventies. The two brought Udo Lindenberg on board: "Tommy and I visited Udo in his hotel room at a concert in Zurich and played the demo tapes to him. We had intended him for the role of the guitarist, the actual playmaker who skillfully provokes Tell again and again. Udo accepted immediately."
