Fearless

Performer: Nina Hagen
Engineer: Dave Concors; Richard McKernan; Glen Feit; Brian Reeves
Producer: Giorgio Moroder; Keith Forsey; Keith Forse; Giorgio Moroder; Keith Forsey
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Personnel: Nina Hagen (vocals); Richie Zito (guitar); Gary Herbick (horns); Arthur Barrows, Phil Schanel, Karl Rucker (keyboards); Simmonds (drums); John Gilson (programming). Recording information: Hollywood, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Musicland West; Oasis; Soundfactory; Sunset sound; The Valley. Photographer: Julianna Grigorova. Unknown Contributor Role: Ian Underwood. Arranger: Karl Rucker. Fearless is a good adjective for German chanteuse Nina Hagen, whose bizarre, chirpy vocal style, penchant for colorful costumes, and devotion to both avant-garde sonics and catchy pop predated Bjork by more than a decade. This 1983 album was an even stranger venture for her than usual, in that she teamed up with disco master-producer Giorgio Moroder, perhaps in search of a hit, or just new juxtapositions for her angular approach to singing. The disco-funk backing bubbles along agreeably, while Hagen sings about flying saucers, universal love, and the dangers of drugs. Stand-out tracks include "What it Is," a proto-rap extolling the virtues of healthy living, and "Springtime In Paris," whose punky urgency sounds the most like vintage Hagen. With production shored up by Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey, Nina Hagen's Fearless is, overtly, a dance album. Red Hot Chili Peppers guest on "What It Is." In spite of some bombastic excesses, it's a neurotically humorous and somewhat enjoyable endeavor. ~ Bil Carpenter

A gifted opera student by the age of nine, East Berliner Nina Hagen fell under the artistic influence of her stepfather, radical singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann, and began to form the skewed and eccentric aesthetic that would inform her highly inventive avant-garde cabaret music. Besotted by punk, Hagen moved to London in the late 1970s, returning to Germany in the early '80s to form the Nina Hagen Band. She enjoyed some popularity in Europe, and amongst the musical intelligentsia of the U.S., with her cover of the Tubes' "White Punks on Dope." Her tart combination of punk, mysticism, dub, and noise--delivered in a highly theatrical manner that both incorporates and flouts her stunning physical beauty--placed her in her own context, and inspired a rabid cult following that remains, even as her recorded output has dwindled.

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