Feuer und Flamme

Album review

After experiencing two solid years of absolute hero worship, Nena and her band assumed that their third album would be eagerly awaited. Their plan was to meet those expectations by raising their own ambitions. The resulting album, however, was hampered by just that. The songs suffered from a loss of warmth, the results feeling to cool and constructed when compared to the previous two albums. Actual trouble set in for the band when, inexplicably, about half of their fan base failed to turn up for the ensuing tour, contrasting sharply with the obvious pride and self belief on show in their new elaborate stage set. The album could hardly be to blame, as it was neither an outright commercial failure nor was it weak in substance. Although the songs do tend toward a more mechanical feel, they do not stray far from the usual winning formula. There was however one change in the team: Manne Praeker left Reinhold Heil to do the production without him on that occasion, but it's unclear if that was decisive for the album's overall atmosphere. In any case, the albums closing song, the towering all-time Nena classic "Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann" had been recorded the previous year (produced by Heil and Praeker), and had been a successful single. However, it highlights the shift in feeling between the previous productions and the 1985 album sessions. With German audiences suddenly giving shallow retro disco acts strong preference, the many attempts at releasing singles from the album met with increasing (but nevertheless undeserved) indifference. The effort on Nena's part to record a complete English version of the album ("It's All in the Game." with lyrics by Canadian singer Lisa Dalbello) also found little interest in the U.S. and U.K.

© Alan Severa /TiVo