"AM/PM, pyramid, roxy, mudd club, danceteria / the newest club is opening up"
This week's hottest reissue has to be Nina Hagen's 1983 classic "Fearless", coming to CD for the very first time. "Classic" in the sense that very few other batshit crazy, UFO-believing, Teutonic punk-rock goddesses have matched it.
"Fearless" was Nina's second full-length English album, this one produced by Giorgio Moroder and Billy Idol/Simple Minds producer Keith Forsey. Wrapping Hagen's alternately hiccup-y and operatic vocals with early hip-hop and dance beats did the trick quite nicely, as single "New York New York" got Miss Freak on MTV and in hipper dance clubs everywhere. The video was even more deliciously insane as Hagen performed a completely live vocal, matching and surpassing all the studio phrasing:
While nothing else quite matches the sanitarium awesomeness of "New York", the rest of the album isn't too shabby, particulary "What It Is", written and performed by a not-quite-famous-yet Red Hot Chili Peppers, and "Zarah", which has to be heard to be believed.
"You have disturbed me almost to the point of insanity. There...I am insane now."
"Fearless" came out on Tuesday, and you can buy it at Amazon. Highly recommended! Now if we could just get her final English album "Nina Hagen in Ekstacy", featuring her other dance hit, "Universal Radio", I'd be a happy Hagen-ite.
"New York New York" peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot Club Play Dance Chart in 1983. "Universal Radio" peaked at #39 on the same chart in 1985.
* All songs are for sampling purposes only. If the album is currently in print, you'll see an Amazon link to purchase it. Supporting artists is a good thing, since labels are run by soulless whores. I KEED! Sorta. Look, if you like it, and it's in print, support 'em. If you're the artist or copyright holder, a quick e-mail to me will bring the song down ASAP. But compliment my writing first.
* Don't e-mail me asking me to repost dead links or to send you a song you can't find. Believe it or not, I have a life outside my blogging. I KEED! But don't do it.
* One more, and this is a biggie -- do NOT hotlink directly to my audio files and post them on your site, big shot. That's just disrespectful, rude, and a theft of my hard-earned bandwith.
Now, get readin', get downloadiN', and play nice. I loves me some comments. Bring it!