Nina Hagen

Although Columbia Records tried their best for the better part of a decade, Nina Hagen never did really break through in the United States. This EP was Columbia's first attempt at introducing the German spitfire to a stateside audience, putting two songs from each of her first two albums, 1978's Nina Hagen Band and 1979's Unbehagen, on a 10" record as part of their short-lived NuDisk experiment. The condensation actually helps put Hagen in her best light, ignoring the half-baked genre experiments that mar both albums in favor of the songs that put her one-of-a-kind voice through its paces. Hagen shrieks, growls, yodels, wails, and occasionally even sings, while her terrific band plays a muscular brand of guitar-heavy rock. Although the Nina Hagen Band is clearly affiliated with the new wave movement, they're also obviously fond of Rolling Stones-style hard rock, downplaying trendy synths in favor of piledriving guitars. "TV Glotzer," a blistering German-language remake of the Tubes' "White Punks on Dope," is at least as heavy as its source material, and "Wir Leben Immer Noch," a reworking of Lene Lovich's new wave classic "Lucky Number," makes the squealy original sound downright effete. Unfortunately, those two great tunes show up the Nina Hagen Band's fatal flaw: the two original tracks, "Superboy" and "African Reggae," are nowhere near as good. The latter track in particular stretches three minutes worth of interesting vocal gyrations over six minutes, without much payoff. "Superboy," a straightforward rocker that sounds oddly close to early Queen, is better, but it too pales compared to the more melodic and interesting covers. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide