The Best Of Berlin: 20th Century Masters - Millennium Collection [Original recording remastered]

Berlin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: November 15, 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B000000OQU
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,247 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #99 in Music > Music Deals > $8.99 and Under

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Like Blondie, Berlin is a female-fronted new wave band with a lead singer (Terri Nunn) who can really belt, although Nunn is more in-your-face than Debbie Harry. Their music is submerged new wave synth-pop that is varied most successfully by Nunn's agile vocal arrangements. In "No More Words," she first yells and then drops to a scathing whisper, only to attack again; it's scary enough to make any man cower. "Take My Breath Away" is a beautiful from-the-gut ballad, so large and deep in scope that it commands your full attention. In "The Metro" she puts you on a train, sullen and melancholy, going nowhere. --Beth Bessmer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Wave and Hard Rock Fire and Ice, March 7, 2005

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best Of Berlin: 20th Century Masters - Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

Terri Nunn kicked around Los Angeles in search of a film career for several years. Berlin was an interesting but unknown band that had a small following but nothing tangible to show for it. In 1979, however, Nunn and Berlin found each other--and the result would be one of the more interesting bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s "New Wave," and by the time Nunn and the members of Berlin called it a day around 1988 they had created not only a solid body of work but several truly memorable international hits.

Berlin's best known single would be "Take My Breath Away," a slow but musically intense piece with music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Tom Whitlock recorded for the film TOP GUN. (The song proved considerably more memorable than the film itself, picking up a 1986 Oscar for best song.) A runaway hit, the song nonetheless sowed the seeds of the band's destruction: band members were torn between their experimental roots and pop music success, and Berlin self-destructed less than two years later.

BEST OF BERLIN 1979-1988 collects the major recordings, including the famous "Take My Breath Away." Like all best of collections, one can argue over what should have been included and what should have been left, but by and large this collection does a very good job of gathering the major recordings, and it gives you a very good idea of what the band did. And what it did was contrast Nunn's unexpectedly powerful voice and flair for emotional dramatics against a increasingly pop-inflected New Wave sound to truly remarkable effect.

The earlier recordings like "The Metro" show the band at their edgy New Wave semi-punk best, a strange but intriguing mix of cold electronic sound and emotionally hot lyrics. "Sex (I'm A...)" was perhaps the band's highwater mark in this style, featuring Nunn reciting disconcertingly explicit lyrics against an icy yet sensual sound; it was enough to have the record banned from most radio stations. But it was with more pop-edged songs like "Now It's My Turn" that Berlin really began to make a widespread impression.

Terri Nunn has been frequently compared to Debbie Harry, but there is much less grounds for it than you might think: where Harry tended to work in a throw-away style, Nunn has a hardrock belter's voice more akin to the likes of Heart's Ann Wilson. It is directly into the microphone in a roundhouse punch, a sharp, at times strident voice that would have been perfectly at home in a heavy metal girl band with the likes of Lita Ford and Joan Jett. Songs like "Sky High" and "Like Flames" prove the point.

Berlin has lately reunited, and fans of the band--and I'm certainly among them--are hoping they can capture the same lightening all over again. They were a knock-out band and their recordings are presently very under appreciated; it would be a very good thing to see them at the top of the charts again.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beware the "new" Millennium Collection version, March 28, 2007

By 

Dan Robertson (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best Of Berlin: 20th Century Masters - Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

This CD was originally released in 1988, and was recently re-released as part of the Millennium Collection series. According to the heading here on Amazon, and the sticker on the front of the CD wrapper, this recording has been remastered. You could have fooled me.

The sound quality is mediocre at best. I hate it when I have to turn my stereo up to 12 before any punch is evident. I own a budget compilation CD from 1992 with The Metro on it, and it sounds much better there than on this new collection. Also, the liner notes do not say anything about remastering, which is unusual for these collections. I do not own a copy of the 1988 CD, but I can't imagine it sounded much worse than this.

Bottom line -- if you're just looking for a low-cost selection of Berlin songs, then this will do fine. All the hits are here. But if you were hoping for a sonic upgrade, then you will likely be disappointed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This album is a gem., October 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best Of Berlin: 20th Century Masters - Millennium Collection (Audio CD)

An excellant collection from one of the 80's most underrated bands.This cd contains a fine blend of ballads[Take My Breath Away],rockers[Blowin Sky High],and synth pop[Matter Of Time]to satisfy any musical taste.A must have for old fans and those who are tired of bland commercial groups[you know them!|that rule our airwaves today.Let Terri Nunn and co. into your ears,you wont be dissappointed.

t