My Amazon Reviews: Berlin "The Best Of Berlin: 20th Century Masters - Millennium Collection"

From Bowie to Benatar in Three Easy Lessons  
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Starting out life as a Euro-Sleaze novelty hit and ending up as 80's Woman Rock band, Berlin have one of the stranger career arcs of 80's hit makers. Teen Actor Terri Nunn joined up with John Crawford and keyboard player David Diamond (and eventually drummer Rob Brill) to record the New Wave porn-tease "Sex (I'm A...). The EP "Pleasure Victim" made noise in New Wave circles and the band found themselves on Geffen, with the EP going gold. The EP was an intriguing mix of Ultravox/Bowie synth drama, best spotlit by "The Metro" and "Masquerade."

Given the sudden success, Berlin delivered the poppier "Love Life" within the year. Three of the top current new wave/synth pop masters did various production duties, with Richie Zito, Mike Howlett and Georgio Moroder each controlling the knobs at some point during the album's creation. That gave the band a hit with the dance-happy "No More Words." Nun was also getting better as a vocalist, with her alto becoming richer. Not that the sexual innuendo had disappeared completely, but the songs that tilted in that direction are thankfully not included here. (Unfortunately, neither is the Moroder produced "Dancing In Berlin.")

Moroder then plucked Nunn and Berlin as the voice of "Top Gun," and the band hit their commercial peak with "Take My Breath Away." The single became a worldwide number one, and the album "Count Three and Pray" left the band in a trap. Nunn was already trying to move the band into more mainstream turf, which brought producer Bob Ezrin in for the rest of the new album's production. Suddenly, the band who was making breathy, sexually laced records with Kraftwerky-ish backing was belting like Pat Benatar and featuring Ted Nugent and David Gilmour as guest players. The songs remained showcases for Nunn's voice, and the best, like the dramatic "Like Flames," were really good. The chugging "Will I ever Understand You" also makes the cut for this best of, but the album was a commercial stiff.

That led to the band's demise, with a mere two albums and EP as discography. This best of does a good job of culling the best of each recording onto one disc, with "Blowin' Sky High" the obligatory unreleased track (which sounds like a leftover from "Count Three"). Nunn is a better singer than she is likely remembered, and like so many 80's techno-pop groups, Berlin was a terrific singles band. This is probably all you'll need from them, although the original CD's are getting harder to find.