Album a Day: Berlin - 4Play

Legendary 80's new wave band Berlin probably never REALLY got their just due. Sure, there was the popular hit "Take My Breath Away" but instead of that becoming their breakthrough song the band somewhat faded into obscurity and were plagued by problems ultimately leading to their breakup, disputes over rights to the band name (which was eventually won by Terri Nunn), lineup changes, etc. that never really helped the legacy of the band. So it was nice to see Nunn's recent incarnation of the band at least artistically rebound with 2005's 4Play. This album (which at just over half an hour and mostly filled with covers and live tracks should be called an EP) is the first really solid release of newly recorded material in several years (also depending on whether or not you liked 2002's Voyeur). The album features two new songs with the heartfelt "Scream" and club-worthy "Down and Dirty". I really like both of these songs and they show off Berlin's ability to grow and progress being able to hang with more modern electropop bands likes Ladytron, Robots In Diguise, and Goldfrapp, but I think the "Scream" is the real standout of the two. The song is emotional, has great structure to it, really nice synth work by Mitchell Sigman (though all band members are credited on the writing of the song). The vast majority of the album are covers including less surprising covers of Peter Gabriel's "Big Time", Prince and The Revolution's "Erotic City", and David Bowie's "Fashion" with "Erotic City" really being the best of these more expected covers of other 80's artists. "Erotic City" is already a great song and perhaps one of the more underrated Prince and The Revolution songs. Berlin has this great ability with covers to stay true to the nature of the song while really owning it and changing something perhaps just by being themselves which I think helps draw in fans of the original songs while pleasing old Berlin fans and creating new ones. This is probably best displayed on another track on this album which is a cover of Marilyn Manson's "The Dope Show". I first heard this song when it was released on a Marilyn Manson tribute album titled Anonymous Messiah. I played this song for years in the Goth/Industrial club scene and there's just something so pleasing about this cover and I actually had another DJ turn to me and say, "Who's covering this?" When I mentioned it was Berlin the DJ did a double take with a smile growing on his face. Terri Nunn also has a solo cover of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" that I think is good but doesn't really do Nunn any favors for building a new audience. The other cover on the album is a live version of Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again" which is one of two live tracks on the album with the other being the classic Berlin song "No More Words" with the original line-up of the band from VH1's Bands Reunited. This is really great and anyone that is familiar with VH1 live tracks knows that the recording is great because you get a great mix of studio professional recording while still retaining a live feel that people want from a live track. The iTunes version of the album omits the "For What It's Worth" cover but includes an acoustic version of my favorite Berlin track, "The Metro". I really wish this had been included on the album as I can never get enough versions of "The Metro". The production on this album is really tight and I think 4Play is successful in offering something for the old fans and something to build new ones that I hope will eventually result in at least one more studio album. Favorite Tracks: Scream, Erotic City, The Dope Show, Down and Dirty, No More Words (Acoustic from VH1's Bands Reunited), and The Metro (Acoustic iTunes version)