"idem"Year: 1978
Country: Germany
City: Berlin
Label: Sony
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk Rock
Catharina "NINA" HAGEN (born March 11, 1955) is a German singer and actress. Born in East Berlin, in the communist Deutschland Democratic Republic,
NINA HAGEN first pursued her career in the mid 1970s. In 1974, she joined
the band Automobil. During that time she appeared in a number of German
movies. After moving to West Berlin in 1976, she formed the NINA HAGEN Band and signed with "CBS Records". The band released two album before NINA HAGEN decided to pursue her career as a solo artist. In 1982, she signed a new contract with "CBS Records" and released her first solo album "NunSexMonkRock". She released two more records on the label, the Giorgio Moroder produced "Fearless" (1983) and "Ekstasy"
(1985). Her contract with the label expired in 1986 and was not
renewed. However, she kept on touring, appearing on TV shows and
remained very popular. In 1987, the single "Punk Wedding" was released
and in 1988 Hagen wrote her autobiography "Ich bin ein Berliner". By 1989, "Mercury Records" offered Hagen a new contract and she released NINA HAGEN, an album more soulful than her previous work. She kept on releasing more albums and touring during the 1990s and 2000s. She has recorded many kind of musical styles such as: electronic house, synth pop, punk, heavy metal, swing, soul, choir, etc. Hagen is often referred to as the "Grandmother of Punk" and she is also noted for her human and animal rights activism.
"unbehagen"Year: 1979
Label: Sony
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 9
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk Rock
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"nunsexmonkrock"Year: 1982
Label: CBS
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 9
Time: 40 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Goth Punk
NunSexMonkRock is the debut studio album by German singer Nina Hagen. It was released on June 12, 1982 by CBS Records.
It marked Hagen's first release since her departure from the Nina Hagen
Band and was also her first album with all songs in English language.
Hagen recorded the album in New York City with Mike Thorne and collaborated with musicians Paul Roessler, Ferdi Karmelk, and Karl Rucker when writing the songs for the album. The lyrics deal with various themes including motherhood, religion, drug abuse, and UFOs. Musically, NunSexMonkRock is a goth rock with influences of post-punk and new wave music. Upon its release, NunSexMonkRock received mixed reviews from music critics. While some praised Hagen's theatrical vocals, others criticized its experimental production. Rolling Stone called it the "most unlistenable" album ever made. Commercialy, the album achieved a moderate success. Upon its release, NunSexMonkRock received mixed reviews from music critics. Bil Carpenter at AllMusic gave it four and a half star out of five, calling it an "eccentric rock material" and praising Hagen's vocal diversity. Robert Christgau commented that "she does have a new-wave sense of humor - instead of taking on Maria Callas with her umpteen-octave range she does impressions of Linda Blair and Mercedes McCambridge.
Year: 1983
Label: Sony
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 9
Time: 40 min.
Genre: electronic
Style: New Wave
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Year: 1985
Label: CBS
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 9
Time: 35 min.
Genre: rock
Style: New Wave
"In Ekstasy" is the third studio album by german singer NINA HAGEN, released on January 10, 1985 by Columbia Records. "In Ekstase",
a german version of the album, was released the same year. It is her
last album to be released on the Columbia Records label, before her
recording contract expired in 1986. The album is mainly produced by Adam Kidron and was recorded in the island of Eivissa (Spain) and Paris. Hagen worked with Karl Rucker and Billy Liesegang and wrote most of the songs on the album. Unlike her previous disco-influenced album "Fearless" (1983), "In Ekstasy" is musically more heavy metal (guitar riffs) with elements of dance music (rhythmic section). It contains cover versions of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" (like Sid Vicious cover) and Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky". Next to NINA HAGEN there were 11 musicians to play the rest of the instruments: chorus, keyborads, piano, electronic effects, guitar, etc. After its release, "in Ekstasy" received mixed reviews from the critics and although it was released during the rise of Hagen's popularity in USA, the album was not a big commercial success. She appeared as a guest on many television shows, including Late Night with David Letterman and The Merv Griffin Show, where she promoted the record. In January 1985, she performed at one of the largest music festivals in the world, "Rock in Rio", where she performed most of the songs from the album. The lead single "Universal Radio" became a discotheque / club hit, peaking at number 39 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs.
Year: 1989
Label: Universal
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 8
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Hard Rock
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"street"Year: 1991
Label: Universal
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 9
Time: 36 min.
Genre: electronic
Style: House
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"bee happy"Year: 1997
Label: Universal
Format: CD
Tracks: 12
Time: 34 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk Rock
Yes it's true, this is not a joke, in 1997 NINA HAGEN new album shocked everybody because the german artist repeated an disk in the vein of her two first albums, so, punk rock and perhaps some new wave influences too. No electronic effects here, no synth drums... nothing but rock sound and rock compositions. Some tracks were written even by own Dee Dee Ramone, another one by Lou Reed and few by NINA HAGEN herself. Neither agressive nor lo-fi sound, because the quality production is quite clean and high and there are some reggae songs, a balad and something more. But I frankly was surprised when I listened to this album after ten years with do know nothing about Hagen and her "dance" or "electro" music in her latest recordings.
"return of mother"
Year: 2000
Label: Universal
Format: CD
Tracks: 9
Time: 40 min.
Genre: electronic
Style: Goth Rock
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 (*review by Alan Severa ).
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"personal jesus"
Year: 2010
Label: Universal
Format: CD
Tracks: 13
Time: 40 min.
Genre: acoustic
Style: World
"unity"
Year: 2022
Labell: Grönland
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 12
Time: 45
Genre: electronic
Style: Avantgarde
Unity is a rock pop album with country and electronic elements and among its themes are biblical miracles and politics. The album is the singer's first studio album since Volksbeat in 2011 and her first album featuring English songs since 2010's Personal Jesus. It was released on streaming platforms, CD, LP and also on limited edition purple coloured vinyl LP.
Album opener "Shadrack" tells the Bible story of three Hebrew men saved by God from death. "United Women of the World" was co-written by Jamaican singer Liz Mitchell and English-American singer Lene Lovich and was described in a press statement as "a feminist punk reggae anthem of solidarity".
The reggae-influenced title-track features George Clinton and is a homage to the Black Lives Matter movement. It was written after the murder of George Floyd. Hagen said the song is "about the indestructible dream of charity. From the longing for human values, for social unity and justice.” The song quotes the Coretta Scott King line from the book My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.: "Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation."
"16 Tons" is a cover of the 1946 folk classic "Sixteen Tons", telling the story of the Kentucky coal miners who worked themselves to the bone. The song “Atomwaffensperrvertrag” is explicitly political and samples a speech Hagen gave in 2009 at the United Nation Freedom Festival and a United Nations speech from American politician Dennis Kucinich.
The album features the cover of "Redemption Day" by Sheryl Crow and a German cover of "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan (“Die Antwort weiss ganz allein der Wind”). "It Doesn't Matter Now" is a duet with Irish singer Bob Geldof.
