1 	Universal Radio 	
2 	Gods Of Aquarius 	
3 	Russian Reggae 	
4 	My Way
5 	1985 Ekstasy Drive 	
6 	Prima Nina In Ekstasy
7 	Spirit In The Sky
8 	Atomic Flash Deluxe 	
9 	The Lord's Prayer 	
10 	Gott In Himmel 	
11 	Universal Radio (Dance Mix)

Bass, Keyboards, Drums, Arranged By – Karl Rucker 
Drums – Alex Laroque, Peter Krause 
Grand Piano – Balis Jiouraitis
Guitar – Billy Liesegang
Keyboards – Roger Craig
Keyboards, Arranged By [Horn Arrangements] – Michael McEboy 
Saxophone – Alan Guillard
Trumpet – Eric Le Lane
Vocals – Nina Hagen
Vocals [Duetting] – Africa Bambaata, The Soul Sonic Force (tracks: 6), Shango (tracks: 6) 
Backing Vocals – Paul Eknes (tracks: 7) 
 

This isn't the best Nina has ever done, and I'd give it something less than five stars, but closer to five than four, hence the rating. A bit too abrasive, a bit too reaching for the lowest apple. I expected more of Nina, but it is hard to follow up too outstanding albums (Nunsexmonkrock and Fearless), so a bit of a let down seems inevitable. Curiously, I find the German language version less compelling than the English - perhaps because I listened to the latter so often before hearing the former.

As always, singularly Nina, which is a good thing. There has never been an artist quite like Nina, and while she is an acquired taste, she should always be appreciated for her originality and amazing vocals. In a side note, a few years after this album came out, when Ken Griffey, jr. was at his peak (before he went to Cincinnati) he was in a commercial that used the opening to "The Lord's Prayer". I only saw it once, so I believe some advertising exec snuck it in before the higher ups realized who and what it was. I wonder if that was the end of his career? ---Forrest Phelps, amazon.com

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01. God’s Radar 04:02 
02. I’ll Live Again 02:50 
03. Personal Jesus 04:03 
04. Nobody’s Fault But Mine 04:03 
05. Down At The Cross 03:16 
06. Just A Little Talk With Jesus 03:52 
07. Mean Old World 03:06 
08. Help Me 02:36 
09. Take Jesus With You 03:13 
10. On The Battlefield 03:44 
11. Run On 02:30 
12. All You Fascists Bound To Lose 01:44 
13. Sometimes I Ring Up Heaven 04:13

German punk icon Nina Hagen’s first collection of new music in nearly four years features 13 faith-based tracks that dutifully blend rock, blues, soul, and gospel into a sound that’s distinctly hers. ---James Christopher Monger, AllMusic Review

Nina Hagen is a German singer from Berlin, Germany with her mother being an actress and realistic singer. She studies the traditional song and begins her musical career in 1972 with a group of blues Polish. She plays then with two groups and makes the turn of the clubs until December 9, 1976, date on which she is made expel of East Germany, for antisocial attitude. She emigrates towards London, where she attends Sex Pistols, Slits and of another group of the punk scene. Their short collaboration inspires Nina who of return in Germany assembles her own group and records its first album “Nina Hagen Band” in 1978. The album does not leave indifferent, between lyricism and hysterical barkings, the public discovers an explosive young woman with the removed from rim voice. The following year leaves its second album “Unbehagen” which, are the little brother of the precedent and recoit a good reception the public thanks to the tube “African Reggae”. Nina dissoud her group and leaves for New York. In 1981 nait his/her daughter, Cosma-Shiva and in 1982 its third album in a register completely different from leaves what it had done until there: Nunsexmonkrock. “Nina Hagen In Ekstacy” in 1985 is her last true success before her return towards the end of the Nineties. Nina remains one of the singers most innovating of the era of punk and undoubtedly the largest artist of the German rock’n’roll.

Her 24th album is called “Personal Jesus” including the Derpeche Mode cover as title track. One of the amazing things about Nina Hagen is, you never know what she will do next. From punk to gospel, classic and folk to indian music, Nina Hagen does it all. And she does it with all her heart and soul. Nina got baptised a few years ago, so it was about time to release a religious album about Jesus and God. And here it is called “Personal Jesus”. 13 songs about her love to God and how he loves her back captured on this long player. The musical style on this album varies between soul, jazz, country and gospel. Nina Hagen sings with an awesome jazzy voice that is very strong and powerful. You can tell that she is totally standing behind what she is singing. You can hear and feel the passion she puts into it and the power she gets from that. The album layout is black and white with nice portraits of Nina Hagen as well as the lyrics. This is a wonderful and deeply emotional album, you should definitely give it a try, even if you usually don’t like her. ---Nina Mende, tempelores.com

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1 	Prima Nina In Ekstasy 	4:28
2 	Wir Leben Immer...Noch (Lucky Number) 	4:53
3 	UFO 	4:52
4 	TV-Glotzer (White Punks On Dope) 	5:15
5 	Superboy (Mit Nina Hagen Band) 	4:01
6 	Unbeschreiblich Weiblich 	3:36
7 	Zarah 	4:37
8 	Russian Reggae 	4:35
9 	New York, New York 	5:15
10 	My Way 	4:25
11 	The Lord's Prayer 	3:21
12 	Gott Im Himmel 	3:39
13 	Cosma Shiva 	3:17
14 	Auf'm Friedhof 	6:15
15 	Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo (Mit Nina Hagen Band) 	5:25
16 	African Reggae 	6:17
17 	Smack Jack 	5:15

Born in East Germany, Nina Hagen had already gained a reputation as a flamboyant rock singer by the time she emigrated to the West in 1976, where she formed a band, signed to CBS Germany, and released the debut album Nina Hagen Band in 1978. It was followed in 1980 by Unbehagen. Hagen's first U.S. release, Nina Hagen Band EP (1980), was a four-song EP consisting of songs drawn from her two German releases. She moved to New York and made her first English-language LP, Nunsexmonkrock, in 1982. That and its follow-up, the Giorgio Moroder-produced Fearless (1983), charted briefly, and "New York New York" was a Top Ten dance club hit. But Hagen left CBS after Nina Hagen in Ekstacy (1985). In 1988, she celebrated her marriage with the EP Punk Wedding, released in Canada, and in 1989 she returned to the German market with Nina Hagen. In 2010, Hagen released Personal Jesus, which featured 13 faith-based tracks that dutifully blend rock, blues, soul, and gospel into a sound that’s distinctly hers. ---William Ruhlmann, allmusic.com

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1 Return Of The Mother	 4:36
2 Der Wind Hat Mir Ein Lied Erzählt	 3:49
3 Schachmatt	 5:07
4 Frequenzkontrolle	 4:57
5 Poetenklub	 5:03
6 Höllenzug	 3:22
7 Schüttel Mich		 3:51
8 Yes Sir	 4:05
9 Handgrenade		 4:31
10 He Shive Shankara	 5:47

It had indeed been a few years since Nina Hagen's last regular album ("Freud Euch" and its English version "Bee Happy" in 1995), so there was reason enough to be curious about what the title of the new album, Return of the Mother, might portend. It turns out that the whole album is devoted to balancing the ambivalence contained in that title: the possible sinister undercurrent as well as the advent of sheltering care. The mother figure of the title track is revealed to mean a kind of caring divine principal, not bound to any one religion but common to all. Throughout the album (mostly sung in German but with English interjections) lots of well meaning good advice to humanity gets contrasted with none too clear warnings, all set on a musical backdrop of often sinisterly weighty and elaborate dance/rock arrangements. Early on, "Schachmatt" concentrates the combination of apocalyptic outlook and plea for change, but a number of songs veer off to scenarios of their own. Two of them are covers of songs from the repertoire of Zarah Leander, transposing them from pre-war Berlin to the dancefloors of the 21st century. "Poetenclub" is a unique kind of tribute to Austrian singer Falco who died in 1998: using samples of his voice we get a sort of dialogue between Nina Hagen and him, to underscore how souls live on. It's more of a meditation than a song, and that points to what has to be said that the album lacks: tunes. As usual with Nina Hagen, her energy is all over the place, she remains a unique, ever-changing vocal powerhouse, but melodic content just isn't a strength of this particular album. Even so, "Schüttel Mich," a fun and funky song of seduction, has hit quality, and when the electronics make way for a non-synthetic percussive backing on the Hindu chant of the closing "He Shiva Shankara," the album finds a distinctly melodic ending. --- Alan Severa, allmusic.com

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01. TV-Glotzer (White Punks on Dope) (Michael Evans, Bill Spooner, Roger Steen) — 5:13
02. Rangehn (Bernhard Potschka) — 3:25
03. Unbeschreiblich weiblich (Manfred Praeker) — 3:30
04. Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo (Manfred Praeker, Reinhold Heil) — 5:24
05. Naturträne (Nina Hagen) — 4:05
06. Superboy (Herwig Mitteregger) — 4:01
07. Heiß (Manfred Praeker, Bernhard Potschka, Reinhold Heil, Herwig Mitteregger) — 4:07
08. Fisch im Wasser (Nina Hagen) — 0:55
09. Auf'm Friedhof (Bernhard Potschka, Herwig Mitteregger) — 6:13
10. Der Spinner (Herwig Mitteregger) — 3:15
11. Pank (Ariane Forster) — 1:44

Personnel:
- Nina Hagen - lead female vocals
- Manfred Praeker - bass, vocals
- Bernhard Potschka - guitar, vocals
- Herwig Mitteregger - drums, vibraphone
- Reinhold Heil – keyboards

Nina Hagen Band, the album, was recorded in 1978 in West Berlin (if I'm not mistaken - reliable info on Nina Hagen is hard to come by on the Web), shortly after Nina Hagen's emigration to the rotten stagnating capitalist part of the world, and the band here includes expressive rotten stagnating capitalist guitarist Bernard Potschka, skilful rotten stagnating capitalist keyboardist Reinhold Heil and, uh, others I could name but I'm not sure if that should form part of our game. So much for trivia. Now I know I have sort of an unholy fetish about giving out unusually high ratings to "raw" debut albums, but at least it beats stealing lingerie. After all, in a perfect world unmarred by useless complifications, people would understand and accept such a crude binary approach: either you cut it right out there from the beginning, or you simply just don't cut it at all. No great band has ever released a completely worthless debut album (despite what they'd have you believe about From Genesis To Revelation), and quite a few great artists came into the open already fully equipped. Not that the songs on this album were Nina Hagen's first recordings, actually (apparently, some of the earlier material which she recorded while still in East Germany can be found floating around - see more details in the reader comments section), but it was her first coherent, cohesive LP, and this certainly qualifies as a debut.

Alas, like pretty much every "limited" European release, Nina Hagen Band is not very well known to the world's audiences. As far as my opinion is concerned, it should be. Why? For quite a simple reason: it's one of the best, one of the most quintessential "art-punk" albums ever released. Most quintessential, because in this particular case, "art-punk" does not decode as "deconstructed punk music" a la Wire or someone of that rank; here, it decodes as "punk music effectively crossed with elements of classical art", and God forbid you from flashing visions of the Electric Light Orchestra through your head in response. (Nothing against ELO, but these guys were always at their best when they just stuck to cello-driven pop).

But more than that, Nina Hagen Band is one of the most personality-filled albums of its epoch I know of. Now it's true that the late Seventies have produced quite a few female performers of merit, from Kate Bush to Siouxsie Sioux and so on. However, in terms of diversity, dedication, adventurousness and professionalism Nina Hagen has them all beat on this debut. Energy, experimentalism, and efficiency: this album beams with life, and even if it ends up seriously annoying you (and I see how it would), there's absolutely no denying the power, the vivaciousness, and the unusualness of the thing. She may be an angel, or a demon, but she won't be a mere "good-for-nothing" for anyone.

In terms of pure songwriting, or, rather, melody-writing, there's not that much to laud - my first impression was that I was listening to the German equivalent of Patti Smith (confer the vocal intro to 'Unbeschreiblich Weiblich' with Patti's 'Ask The Angels' and you'll see what I mean), the only difference being a more varied approach to the material: the music on here ranges from cheesy dance rhythms to typically New Wave structures to ballads to barroom boogie to Seventies' hard-rock. However, repeated listens eventually bring out bits and pieces of solid melodies, and after some time you begin to realize that the key to appreciating this music lies in the ability to understand the WILDNESS of it all. It doesn't matter if the melody is not too memorable, or if the melody is downright generic, or downright stolen; it matters that every one of these bits has a ferocious drive of its own, and that there's so many of them, you're supposed to be blinded by the kaleidoscopic effect instead of meticulously smashing the kaleidoscope with a rock and then leaving in disappointment over the unexclusiveness of each and every single little piece of coloured glass.

In any case it's not the melodies that are the main point of obsession on here, it's the performance. Nina Hagen unveils herself as a wild, uncompromising, spluttering punk goddess on here, mainly through the maniacal, "cavewoman" strength of her vocal cords, because when you come to think of it, only the very last track on the album follows the typical punk musical structure ('Pank' has the obligatory chainsaw buzz and lasts all of 1:44 - what else would you need?). Whatever the variations in the actual music, though, it's always the voice that matters.

For one thing, how often do you have operatic singers successfully bridging the distance between the 'highest' and the 'lowest' genres? Nina's East Germany training certainly turned out to be productive; "Naturträne" has to be heard to be believed, an almost - I hesitate to say the word - gorgeous Wagnerian "aria" about the simple beauty of life, culminating in a series of ear-splitting vocal gymnastics that you haven't heard since at least 'Child In Time' (and actually, I can't believe Nina's hysterical ever-rising singing on that one was not intended as a conscious attempt to throw Ian Gillan off his pedestal, and she succeeds). You gotta appreciate Nina's range on that one: while on some tracks she sings in a low gruff baritone, the highest note that ends 'Naturträne' might just be the highest note ever heard on a rock record. Totally ecstatic. Yet what actually pushes this over the edge is her ability to not come across as overblown. Her punk is actually delivered with more authenticity than her opera - and both her punk and her opera are always delivered with a mild sense of irony, so salvaging for the overall effect.

Of course, 'Naturträne' is far from the only highlight. On 'TV Glotzer', a reworking of the Tubes' 'White Punks On Dope' with German lyrics (well, actually, everything here is in German - that's kinda natural for a debut album released in West Germany. DUH!), Nina screams and bellows so much that she puts any concurrent punk singer to shame, at the same time managing to throw a few quick blasts of sarcasm towards the average TV-watching Joe. On 'Rangehn' her hysteria is perfectly supported by the band's dexterous interplay, even if the punk is suddenly gone, replaced by "white funk", I guess, or whatever you call that style; the guitar player's got a good tone too. And then there's 'Unbeschreiblich Weiblich', distinguished by, on one side, the album's most unforgettable synth riff (even if the skeleton of the song is pure garage-rock), on the other side, the no-holds-barred lyrics: the song must be one of the fiercest pro-abortion statements ever put on record. At times, when I hear Nina spit out the 'Ich hab' keine Pflicht! (I have no duty!)' line, I envision her standing on one cup of the scale with the entire Catholic church on the other and guess who's weightier.

Some of the songs (naturally) feature a more mystical, more Goth-influenced atmosphere, although I gotta say that for a German singer, Nina Hagen almost criminally underrates the importance of Goth for that kind of music. Even when something like 'Heiss' comes along, with its nervous guitar passages in the background and threatening breathy singing, it's still undermined by corny tee-hee-hees and that dang reggae riff. Reggae? In a dark castle-and-torture-chamber-type song? (Never mind that the lyrics are just about being horny - they're in German anyway). Ridiculous. But cool! As is 'Auf'm Friedhof', this time an actually dark song about the everyday life of a pair of vampires, a song that has it all - gory lyrics, unexpected fusion-style keyboard solos, Star Wars-like synth bloops, blood-curdling yells and yelps, and, of course, the inescapable declaration of God's death.

There's no attempt anywhere to be really serious (unless you count the lyrics to 'Unbeschreiblich Weiblich'), and yet this music crashes so many taboos that it's hard to merely judge this effort as a piece of dated goofy product. It's a bit inconsistent to be rated as Nina's highest, and her second effort would actually manage to beat it in terms of depth, diversity, and entertainment value, but the fact is that all of Nina Hagen is already here, limbs, fluids, and dharmas. Which makes it a must-have for all fans of Creative Forces Worldwide in the late 70s. ---starling.rinet.ru

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01. Tv Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)
02. Superboy
03. African Reggae
04. Universelles Radio
05. Unbeschreiblich Weiblich
06. Smack Jack
07. Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo
08. Dread Love
09. Auf'm Rummel
10. New York/N.Y.
11. Wir Leben Noch (Lucky Number)
12. The Change
13. My Way
14. Heiss
15. Gott Im Himmel (Spirit In The Sky)
16. Zarah (Ich Weiss, Es Wird Einmal Ein Wunder Geschehen)

Catharina Hagen, 11 March 1955, East Berlin, Germany. After her parents divorced in 1957, Hagen was raised in a suburb in the eastern bloc by her actress mother and her stepfather, dissident poet and songwriter Wolf Biermann. In 1964, she joined the Thalmann-Pioneers, a Communist youth organization and, four years later, the Freie Deutsche Jugend - from which she was excluded for her hand in a demonstration (instigated by Biermann) against the participation of East German militia in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. On failing a 1972 entrance test for a Berlin-Schönweide drama college, she sang a mixture of blues and soul with a Polish outfit for several months prior to enrolment at the Studio Für Unterhaltungsmusik (Studio For Popular Music) where she was an outstanding student. For a few years, she toured East Germany as featured vocalist with the Alfons-Wonneberg-Orchester before fronting Automobil and then Fritzens Dampferband (Fred’s Steamboat Band) but when Biermann was expelled from Soviet territory in 1976, she followed him to West Germany where her worth as an entertainer was sufficiently known for a recording contract to be offered. Her imagination captured by punk, she flew to London where she and Ari-Up of the Slits collaborated on a number of songs. On returning to Germany, she formed the Nina Hagen Band with former members of Lok Kreuzberg - Bernhard Potschka (guitar) and Manfred Praeker (bass) - plus Herwig Mitteregger (drums) and Reinhold Heil (keyboards). Released in 1979, ‘African Reggae’ was enough of a ‘turntable hit’ to bring Hagen a cult following - particularly in Australia - that grew steadily during the 80s. She relocated to New York to pursue a solo career, recording her first English language album, the quasi-religious Nunsexmonkrock. 1984’s Fearless was produced by Giorgio Moroder and included the disco hit ‘New York New York’.

During the late 80s Hagen’s career faltered outside her native Germany, with a number of ill-advised recordings on the Phonogram Records label. One oddity was the Punk Wedding EP, a four song ‘celebration’ of Hagen’s 1987 marriage. Relocating to Paris in 1989 she overhauled her image with the help of designer Jean-Paul Gautier, and returned to her musical roots with a series snappy, punk-influenced albums. Already a veteran of German underground film and cable television, Hagen popped up on UK television in 1998 as the host of a weekly science fiction show on the Sci-Fi Channel. Hagen’s long-standing interest in India was reflected on the following year’s Om Namah Shivay!, half of the profits from which went towards charitable causes. ---oldies.com

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01. Bitten Der Kinder & An Meine Landsleute
02. Ick Lass Mir Doch Vom Teufel Nich ...
03. Killer
04. Ermutigung									play
05. Ich Bin										play
06. Das 5. Gebot
07. Menschen Sind Kompatibel
08. Wir Sind Das Volk
09. Soma Koma
10. Jesus Ist Ein Freund Von Mir
11. Susses, Susses Lied Der Errettung
12. Keiner Von Uns Ist Frei
13. Noch Ein Tass'chen Kaffee
14. Nicht Vergessen
15. Dieser Zug Fahrt Richtung Freiheit

Bass – Graham Maby
Brass – Peter Hinderthür
Conductor – Joris Bartsch Buhle
Drums – Dave Houghton
Guitar – Warner Poland
Keyboards – Peter Hinderthür
Orchestra – Berlin Session Orchestra
Vocals – Nina Hagen 

One of the most charismatic front women of Punk has returned with a new release, namely the ‘Volksbeat’, just one year after ‘Personal Jesus’. And here is the point where the good, the bad and the ugly news start. The good news is that Nina Hagen can still read the Gospel of John and make it sound as de Sade’s ‘120 days of Sodom’. It is also a CD that has covers of older songs, songs that Hagen liked mainly for their messages to the audience. Those of you who don’t pay attention to anything but the quality vocals can proceed and buy the album. As for the rest, this release is bad news per se; Nina Hagen found Christ along her way and you’re bound to be faced with the results of her epiphany. She found and embraced her “ancestors like Brecht, Martin Luther and Larry Norman. In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King and Jesus the Christ, who have gone before us, who have fought for the same ideals, as well as also embracing beloved artists like Biermann & Dylan, Mayfield and Burke, to never forget why we are here; we are born to love one another and take good care of each other. We are born to be free, born to serve humanity, so that one fine day, we all shall be free and live in peace and dignity. It’s about our love that never fails!”

She forgot something else; she has also found SONSEED, the band who wrote one of the most pathetic songs that I know of, ‘Jesus is My Friend’, and a song that is second only to the utter lack of talent that characterises the band. What motivated Nina Hagen to do all that? I guess her engulfment of political activism with shreds of messianism following her baptism in the Protestant Reformed Church of Schüttorf 2009. Jesus and Brecht make an unbeatable team I guess much to the distress of the so famous German Universities in the areas of Philosophy and Theology. Really in Schüttorf do they have any serious books? Apart from all that, as it is easily understood, the songs are flat. Due to Hagen’s voice no song here sinks but then again nothing really particularly shines as well. Nina Hagen actually believes that this release is a step forward. The truth is that it is leagues backwards to the point, where you might be wondering about the reason why she was nicknamed “The Mother of Punk”. --- Ray Dunkle

Born in East Germany, Nina Hagen had already gained a reputation as a flamboyant rock singer by the time she emigrated to the West in 1976, where she formed a band, signed to CBS Germany, and released the debut album Nina Hagen Band in 1978. It was followed in 1980 by Unbehagen. Hagen's first U.S. release, Nina Hagen Band EP (1980), was a four-song EP consisting of songs drawn from her two German releases. She moved to New York and made her first English-language LP, Nunsexmonkrock, in 1982. That and its follow-up, the Giorgio Moroder-produced Fearless (1983), charted briefly, and "New York New York" was a Top Ten dance club hit. But Hagen left CBS after Nina Hagen in Ekstacy (1985). In 1988, she celebrated her marriage with the EP Punk Wedding, released in Canada, and in 1989 she returned to the German market with Nina Hagen. In 2010, Hagen released Personal Jesus, which featured 13 faith-based tracks that dutifully blend rock, blues, soul, and gospel into a sound that’s distinctly hers. ---William Ruhlmann, allmusic.com

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