release date: Jun. 24, 1985
format: vinyl (26 546) / cd ( 2010 reissue)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,82]
producer: Reinhold Heil
label: CBS Records / Sony Music - nationality: Germany
Track highlights: 1. "Utopia" (English version) - 2. "Haus der drei Sonnen" - 3. "Jung wie du" - 8. "Du kennst die Liebe nicht" - 10. "Irgendwie, irgendwo Irgendwann"
3rd studio album by Nena. With this the band makes no big differences from its first two albums. Perhaps there's a tendency to introduce a stronger funk rock rhythm section, which doesn't improve things. Uwe-Fahrenkrog's keyboard and Jürgen Dehmel's bass feel too dominant, perhaps much as usual with music from this period, but it turns out as a more anachronistic release than its too predecessors - there's simply too much Level 42 about this to my liking. The album was simultaneously released in an English version as It's All in the Game, with the same track list, only translated. The band previously made an attempt with the English-versioned album 99 Luftballons released shortly after their second album consisting of an A-side with tracks from the debut and a B-side with tracks from the second album. That is basically a compilation but in any case it was released to promote the band outside Germany. However, this was to be the last attempt to conquer the English-speaking countries 'cause (t)here they remained one-hit wonders. Nena was a German band singing and playing in German.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]
