Nena
There is, in the larger historical perspective, some satisfying irony in the fact that a German rock group has had a hit single in the U.S. with an antiwar song. The title tune (which translated literally means "99 Air Balloons" but was turned into "99 Red Balloons" in the English version) has an eerie quality. But then, perhaps the background music for the end of the world will be technopop, after all. Except for the accent, this quintet could pass at times for Blondie or Men at Work. The band is warmer, in any case, than such compatriots as Kraftwerk or Nina Hagen's group. Lead singer Nena Kerner, who gave the band her name, or half of it, is appropriately detached, and New York session saxophonist David Sanborn, who gets extended solo time on two tracks on this LP, Let Me Be Your Pirate and?, sounds intriguingly plaintive, as if he is trying to get into a good enough mood to have the blues. One side of the album is in English, the other in German, including the German version of 99 Luftballons and Das Land der Elefanten (The Land of the Elephants). Nena isn't sufficiently expressive musically to communicate too much to English-speaking audiences; it is also nice, after all, to have some notion of what a song is supposed to be about. The group ought to have picked up enough loose change by now to be able to afford English lessons, and it ought to be encouraged to take them. (Epic)
Your Reaction
