Take Berlin

A major change of direction for Berlin, Count Three & Pray was an artistic triumph but a commercial disappointment. After making a name for itself playing very European-sounding synth pop, the L.A. trio recruited producer Bob Ezrin (known for his work with Alice Cooper and others) and unveiled a more hard-edged, guitar-oriented sound…

This, the first ever release on CD of the 1980 cult futurist / synth-pop album ‘Berlin Blondes’, collects together all of the electronic band Berlin Blondes’ commercially released studio output. The band only ever made one, albeit landmark, album. Notably, it was produced by the legendary Mike Thorne as a de facto career bridge between his celebrated work with post-punk band Wire on their first three albums and his subsequent career defining synth- pop productions, shortly thereafter, with pioneering electronic pop acts Soft Cell, Bronski Beat and B-Movie.

“I have wanted to record this concerto for a long time, and Elgar actually has been a very late discovery for me, the Violin Concerto. But it didn't take me a long time to become a very passionate ambassador for this piece. And I really feel that the format of this piece is such a vast piece of music and it's more on the symphonic scale than a violin concerto to me, which is why I take immense pleasure in playing this concerto.” – Vilde Frang