release date: Jan. 4, 1983
format: cd (2010 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: Reinhold Heil, Manfred Praeker
label: Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music - nationality: Germany
Track highlights: 1. "Kino" - 3. "Vollmond" - 4. "Nur Geträumt" (4 / 5) - 6. "99 Luftballons" (4 / 5) - 8. "Einmal ist keinmal" - 9. "Leuchtturm"
Studio debut album by German band Nena consisting of Gabriele Susanne 'Nena' Kerner on lead vocals, Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen on keyboard, Carlo Karges on guitar, Jürgen Dehmel on bass, and with Rolf Brendel on drums. The band plays German pop / rock in a mix of synthpop and new wave, which may be labelled as Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW) or new German wave, but with its focus on a pop and synthpop sound with less focus on the punk rock element (art punk, post-punk) and political or cultural criticism like Ideal, D.A.F., Nina Hagen, and Spliff. The producer-duo Reinhold Heil and Manfred Praeker were both members of Nina Hagen Band and later in Spliff (which was formed by the former members of Nina Hagen Band as she pursued her solo career) as keyboardist and bassist / vocalist, respectively, and Heil in particular has become regarded as one of the leading forces to the style of NDW with his contributions to the music of Nina Hagen Band, Spliff, and Nena.
Unfortunately, Nena's hit single "99 Luftballons" became more of a burden as the band soon were labelled "one-hit-wonders" and were only associated with that particular song. However, Nena is much more, and this debut contains several fine songs to prove that. Both "Nur Geträumt" and "Leuchtturm" were well-received in Germany but failed as international singles, perhaps because most songs except "99..." have a more dominant and special style of NDW, which didn't succeed that well outside Germany. The album is a bit of an anachronism. The sound and the production are restricted to a specific time, and the band comes out as a German blend of Blondie, Pretenders, and... Pat Benatar. The album contains fine songs but also lesser compositions, which makes it a difficult listen.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]
