Nina Hagen Band (album)
| Nina Hagen Band | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Nina Hagen Band | ||||
| Released | February 11, 1978 | |||
| Recorded |
1977–78 Hansa Tonstudio, Berlin | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:00 | |||
| Label | CBS | |||
| Producer |
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| Nina Hagen Band chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Nina Hagen Band | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Smash Hits | 8/10[1] |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
Nina Hagen Band is the debut studio album by Nina Hagen Band released on February 11, 1978 by CBS Records. It is the first album by Nina Hagen after her 1976 expatriation from East Germany. The album is produced by the band with additional production by Tom Müller and Ralf Nowy. The songs are mainly written by Hagen, "Pank" being the only song co-written by Ari Up of the band The Slits. It also features the song "TV-Glotzer", a German cover version of The Tubes' song "White Punks On Dope", which was released as a lead single. The song "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo", about the infamous Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station, was released as a promotional single.
Nina Hagen Band was a huge success in Germany with over 250,000 copies sold.[3] The music critics praised Hagen's theatrical vocals, different from her singing on her East German records.
The album was promoted by a European tour. Nina Hagen Band performed in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle on December 9, 1978. The show was broadcast live by the music television show Rockpalast.[4][5]
Background
After Hagen's stepfather Wolf Biermann was expatriated from East Germany in 1976, she first stood up for his re-entry, but after her request was denied, she followed him to Hamburg. In January 1977, he got her in touch with CBS Records. Hagen was invited to London by Juliana Grigorova, who cast her in the movie The Go-Blue Girl. Grigorova would later work with Hagen as a photographer. She shot the covers of her solo albums NunSexMonkRock (1982), Fearless (1983) and Nina Hagen in Ekstasy (1985). Hagen discovered new styles of music during her stay in London and got inspired mainly by punk. She met with Ari Up, the lead singer of the band The Slits and together they wrote the song "Pank", which later appeared on the album.
Inspired by the London music scene, Hagen returned to Berlin and met with the members of the band Lokomotive Kreuzberg, Manfred Praeker, Herwig Mitteregger and Bernhard Potschka. The three musicians were afterwards joined by Reinhold Heil and along with Hagen they created the Nina Hagen Band. In November 1977, the band signed a contract with CBS Records under the management of Jim Rakete.[6]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "TV-Glotzer (White Punks on Dope)" |
|
5:15 | |
| 2. | "Rangehn" |
|
3:27 | |
| 3. | "Unbeschreiblich weiblich" |
|
3:30 | |
| 4. | "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo" |
|
5:25 | |
| 5. | "Naturträne" |
|
4:05 | |
| 6. | "Superboy" |
|
4:01 | |
| 7. | "Heiß" |
|
4:11 | |
| 8. | "Fisch im Wasser" |
|
0:51 | |
| 9. | "Auf'm Friedhof" |
|
6:15 | |
| 10. | "Der Spinner" |
|
3:15 | |
| 11. | "Pank" |
|
1:45 | |
Total length: |
42:00 | |||
Credits and personnel
- Nina Hagen – vocals, songwriter
- Reinhold Heil – keyboards, songwriter
- Herwig Mitteregger – drums, songwriter, vibraphone
- Bernhard Potschka – guitar, songwriter, vocals
- Manfred Praeker – bass, songwriter, vocals
- Tom Müller – producer, engineer
- Ralph Nowy – co-producer, engineer
- Michael Zimmerling – technician
- Friedhelm Meinass – design
- Jim Rakete – photography
References
- ↑ Starr, Red. "Albums". Smash Hits (August 9–22, 1979): 25.
- ↑ Nina Hagen Band (album) at AllMusic
- ↑ Buhrdorf, Arne. "Biography", Nina Hagen Archiv
- ↑ Buhrdorf, Arne. "Biography", Nina Hagen Archiv
- ↑ "Nina Hagen Band 1978", Rockpalast Archiv, February 20, 2014.
- ↑ Buhrdorf, Arne. "Biography", Nina Hagen Archiv
External links
- Nina Hagen Band at Allmusic
- Nina Hagen Band (album) at Discogs (list of releases)