Nina Hagen - 14 Friendly Abductions: The Best of Nina Hagen

Good introduction

These 14 tracks encompass some of Nina Hagen's timeless songs but they do not represent her best by any means. The best tracks here are TV Glotzer (White Punks On Dope, originally by The Tubes), African Reggae, her German version of Lene Lovich's Lucky Number which is titled Wir Leben Immer Noch and her interpretation of Norman Greenbaum's gospel song Spirit In The Sky. These capture the essence of the early Nina Hagen from the first two albums Nina Hagen Band and Unbehagen.

Other memorable tracks are New York New York, Universal Radio and her weird take on My Way. The song Zarah appears in three different mixes: the original, the dance mix and the dub. The CD booklet offers informative liner notes, photographs and info on the songs. Her early music was original and exceptional, an inspired blend of rock, punk and operatic vocals, whilst the later stuff became a little formulaic or did not live up to the high standard of the first two albums.

There are two other compilations that offer more of the early innovative songs like Naturtraene, Unbeschreiblich Weiblich, Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo and Heiss. These are the Definitive Collection and Very Best Of. But this one, 14 Friendly Abductions is a great introduction for the casual fan. Nina Hagen is an exceptional vocalist who made some of the most intriguing music of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
November 7, 2006

A 74:14 minute smile

Not for every one Cd, and people who don't know what's ahead might get frightened (see some former reviews), but if you are open minded and like energetic punk-rock music, than you wont stop smiling. Nina is an excellent performer and her music is a complex although melodic. I enjoy listening even tough the German language is the worst, but with NH serving it doesn't matter (still, a few tracks are in English).
this CD is a good place to start knowing Nina Hagen great voice, every track is a pleasure. the only bad thing about it is that you'll end up wanting more of her.
November 3, 2006

COSMA INFINITE NINA

A great listen if you're in the mood for punk rock, high energetic music. And Nina truly delivers! I enjoy this when I just want to get down and get damn crazy in my apartment. My personal favorites are "Zarah";starts off with a slow cabaret style vocal ala MARLENE DIETRICH, but really a tribute to 1930's german singer ZARAH LENDER, which progresses into GIORGIO MORODER'S frenetic dance beats;"COSMA SHIVA" which has a nice groove, yet ethereal and outworldly sounding. Cosma Shiva by the way is the name of her daughter. Other tracks that are noteworthy are AFRICAN REGGAE, SPIRIT IN THE SKY, WHITE PUNKS ON DOPE(don't know the german title off hand), UNIVERSAL RADIO and NEW YORK,NEW YORK.

Julius-Allan
March 11, 2006

Still really delicious!

I'm a huge Nina fan, and I don't speak a word of German. That ought to tell you something right there.

I picked up this disc purely because "My Sensation" is one of those tracks you develop an addiction to, and absolutely have to hear repeatedly or you run a substantial risk of spontaneously combusting (or something to that effect). Just give this song one listen and you'll be amazed... then try dancing to it. Blissful. It's pure fun from beginning to end, and it's one of the few tracks by any artist that I never get tired of.

Unfortunately, this song turned out to still be my favorite track by the end. Didn't really discover anything new here. "Universal Radio" is a keeper, and definitely worth a listen. But some stuff ("New York, New York", for example) that I was never wildly fond of in German gets even less pleasant in English. Nina's English isn't nearly as natural as her German, and I really think you miss out on a lot of her charm.

So all in all? This disc gets its fair share of time coarsing through my speakers, but I very seldom listen to the whole record through. I'm glad I bought it, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it as an intro to The Mother of Punk. Shop around a little more, perhaps. Take a little time to enjoy Nina's work with an open mind and I really think you'll be pleasantly surprised. October 22, 2005

The Original Freakazoid

I just had to chime in because I ALMOST put down my loose change for a Nina compilation, I'm always a sucker for all these 5 star Amazon reviews and I had heard of her growing up in NYC in the late 70's-81. But thank God, Amazon also has the tracks to sample because I now remember how Nina was never played at the clubs I would go to unless maybe it was freak night, or I guess this would play well at an S&M club. I was just thinking if they used her music in the movie Eurotrip when the dude is in Amsterdam and the hot S&M dominatrix ties him down and all the muscle bound dudes pop out and you know what happens next, lol. Nina had to have been the music for a scene like that. I'm not against "weird" stuff, or German stuff (I own Lene Lovich, and Kraftwerk), I'm just not into music that is weird for the sake of being weird unless it sounds good. Not trying to put down Nina, she obviously has her fans; I'm just posting this for people new to her stuff so they get a little balance, definitely listen to the samples first to see if this is for you. October 4, 2005

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