Berlin - Pleasure Victim

Great 80's fun!!!!

I used to have this album when I was a kid and decided to finally buy it on CD. It still holds up, with cheezy instruments and the great voice of Terri Nunn. I listen to this when I work out, it is a great CD for that. I seen them in concert in the 1980's at the peak of thier career's and they were great. A definate CD to add to your 80's flashback! Enjoy! May 9, 2008

Nostalgic

As a high schooler at the time of release I'll admit I had an enormous crush on Terri Nunn, but hormones aside it was and still is a great album...especially at it's current price. "Masquerade" is my absolute favorite; overall it's one of those CDs that's perfect when going out on a drive. IMO Terri Nunn has a level of confidence and clarity in her voice that just cranks...can't believe 26 years have past! January 8, 2008

A Classic

Each and every song on this album is a classic. They personify what 80's new wave was all about. It is a shame the real Berlin broke up after their third album...the new line up only contains Terri Nunn, whom I do love. The new group just doesn't contain the fire needed to make Berlin's signature style of music.
Tell me why and The Metro and the best cuts on this CD....but every song is highly listenable and you will find yourself humming along then singing along then memorizing each song lyric. Definate MUST HAVE June 9, 2007

Pleasure Wave

The early 80's spawned a kind of contagious alternative rock known as New Wave; a style that relied much on synthesizers and a rebel-rock style. A group that helped define this was non other than Berlin, whose 1982 album "Pleasure Victim" brought us one of the more well-known New Wave songs of the 80's with "The Metro." Recently, the Berlin reunited for a VH1 "Band's Reunited" concert where they played "The Metro" just as smoothly as they did in 1982. Led by the soaring and sensual vocals of Terri Nunn, Berlin established themselves as not only a New Wave band, but a rather sexy and somewhat erotic band as well.

"Tell Me Why" - With rapid, atmospheric synths, dancy drums and passionate Nunn vocals, this number gets you moving right away. This is a great album starter.

"Pleasure Victim" - Here is the title track. Trippy, hypnotic synths and soaring vocals from Nunn make this a rather haunting melodic number. One of my favorites.

"Sex (I'm A...)" - The most erotic song on the album by far. Fast paced and demanding with much sensual singing and not to mention moaning from Nunn and John Crawford. Features throbbing melodic and intense synths.

"Masquerade" - A rather happy and enjoyable number. Very upbeat and bright synths with matching Nunn vocals. This is one of my favorite songs. It's very contagious and one to dance to.

"The Metro" - Probably Berlin's most recognized hit and my favorite from the album. Another song to bop your head to, this song really tells a story. The synths are unforgettable in this one. It goes from smooth, to rather dreamy and atmospheric amongst the catchy beat. "The Metro" is the center of the singer's story of a relationship.

"World Of Smiles" - Okay, this is a rather quirky and strange tune, but nevertheless enjoyable. Then again, New Wave defined quirky and strange. As always, the passionate intensity of Dunn is there.

"Torture" - A very interesting piece. Slow shuffling beats and very melancholy synths that are almost hurting, as if dying slowly inside along with Dunn's slow and painly soulful and sensual vocals. The whole song itself clearly matches the title.

"Sex (I'm A....) (extended version)" - Just like it says, this is simply more of the same as in the original heard before. The beat is slightly different; you can's really hear the thud of the drums as much (however, I prefer the thudding drums). Anyway, at the end of the song here, there's a rather funny comment that Dunn makes and I would have to agree with her, hahaha.

Let me just say that David Diamond and John Crawford are gods of the synthesizer. They are a true asset to the 80's New Wave style, helped bring out the vocals and beats and of course helped make the band what it is. And Terri Dunn was a perfect fit with her sensual vocals. The whole band is one of the defining New Wave bands of the 80's as mentioned before. So if you're a New Wave fan, curious about Berlin, or want to get to know about 80's New Wave better, I suggest you pick up "Pleasure Victim." It's not the greatest New Wave album by any means, but still decent and a good listen.
January 27, 2007

Ok for starters, but things got better.

If you like Berlin but haven't got this album, you might be disappointed by the rather cheap and raw synthesizer production on it. Berlin didn't hit the big time until "Take My Breath Away", but by then they were up to their third album and had taken on a mainstream sound. This was where they started.

So what does it sound like? Well its new-wave power pop with borderline Hi-NRG overtones. The underground hit "Sex (I'm A...)" is bolstered with a chattering synth bassline that could have come straight out of Eurodisco. Funny, then, that the song is this hilariously macho and sexist rubbish about a woman promising to be everything a man could fantasize about...it apparently caused a stir at the time with it's explicit content but it just sounds amusing now: "I'm a little girl... I'm a hooker... I'm a goddess...I'm a one-night stand" are some of the lines poor Terri Nunn has to sing while the drum machine and percussion huff and puff away in the background. I have nothing but respect for Terri Nunn, she's a great singer and accomplished performer, so thank goodness that Berlin matured as each album was released and she was able to sing songs with a bit more substance!

Actually, all the other songs on the album are probably better than "Sex (I'm A...)" lyrically, although they all have the same tinny synth backing. it works most of the time though, and it was definitely "the" sound of it's time. My favourite is the opener "Tell Me Why", but the slower songs are as good as the fast paced ones, with "Pleasure Victim" and "Torture" being fairly memorable songs. The weakest tracks for me have to be "The Metro" (too much bleep-bleeping and tin-pot bashing ) and "World of Smiles" (it just goes nowhere). Bear in mind also, that this is an incredibly short CD - and the inclusion of the extended version of "Sex" makes scant difference as it's a very unremarkable edit job.

Still, it's fun to play, and Terri Nunn is already capable of stealing the show, even working with this rather adolescent material. The Berlin albums got better after this one, so think of "Pleasure Victim" as their way of just testing the water. June 8, 2006

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