Nina Hagen
Big Band Explosion

The importance of being Nina Hagen: curiosities, extravagances, and other wonderful anomalies, chapter IV.

Do you consider the albums of Joss Stone and Michael Bublé nothing but roadside junk, and the icy and perfect Diana Krall makes you fall asleep after barely 10 minutes, but you have a weakness for revival? Do you want to hear the sounds of yesterday come back to life, vibrating with emotions and colors, rather than being academically delivered by soulless performers as if from a third-grade essay? Well, yes, Nina Hagen has a solution even for you incurable nostalgics, and what a solution I might add, "Big Band Explosion": a record of pure entertainment and absolute interpretative charisma. Old jazz, blues, and swing classics literally put through electroshock by the mighty vocal cords of the former child prodigy of DDR pop and former NDW Queen. An album that's carefree and sensual at the same time, a natural antidepressant and awkwardly elegant cabaret. 

Made in collaboration with the Leipzig Big Band, a small "orchestra" specializing in this genre of sound, "Big Band Explosion" is an album that's absolutely traditional in terms of instrumentation: brass and piano, very little else, faithful renditions because what is already beautiful in origin does not need any revolutions, Nina's interpretations suffice and then some. Imagine her in her warmest and most sensual version, let her sing a text like "Let me entertain you, let me make you smile, let me do a few tricks, some old and then some new tricks, I am very versatile, and if you're real good I'll make you feel good, I want your spirit to climb, so let me entertain you and we'll have a real good time" and you'll feel a little shiver run up your spine, an ecstatic and slightly silly smile will print on your face, and your head will be magically emptied. Nina Hagen dispenses fabulous interpretations, in her own way, never being too subtle, in "Rhythm & Romance" she attacks the Rs like a skier with the poles of a slalom, her voice revs up and becomes magically "black" in the overwhelming "Sugar Blues" and the bittersweet "If You Ever Should Leave", using both a saber and a foil, enchanting the listener with evergreen melodies like "Love & Kisses", "All Over Nothing @ All", and "I Want To Be Happy", energetic, suave, and unpredictable, spectacular like the water features of the Caesar's Palace fountain in Las Vegas.

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow", the most overused and abused song in history alongside "Hallelujah," will never be the same after hearing it sung by Diva Nina, sexy and elegant, not syrupy and whimpering like the dozens of mediocre interpretations over the years. Another timeless classic, "Fever", shows off its feline and sensual blues charge, but what really dominates the scene, representing the cheerful and take-it-easy attitude of "Big Band Explosion," are two particular episodes, namely "The Lady Loves Me" and "Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off". Nina duets with her husband Lucas Alexander, a funny and chubby guy, who embodies the parody of the classic charming crooner of yesteryears with his baritone and perfectly modulated voice, a perfect counterpart for these two hilarious performances that brilliantly portray an embarrassing attempt at flirting and then the hilarious parody of the "profound" differences between husband and wife, just before lowering the curtain with the languid notes of "Starlit Hour".

The rare times that, for masochism or happenstance, I happen to listen to a single by some new name in contemporary mainstream, with those revolting effeminate and whiny semi-falsetto voices and those sweet/putrescent sounds, I think of Nina Hagen and especially this album: "Do you think that's the way to sing, you bunch of sissies, look at this Woman who, with old stuff at least sixty years old, without the latest producer's tricks, kicks your ass a thousand times over, and then go hide, arms stolen from agriculture that's what you are!" but this is just an afterthought, not related to listening to the album, my trick to close the review, also because thinking of Coldplay and assorted trash while listening to this authentic awesomeness concentrate branded Nina Hagen would denote a remarkable rate of foolishness; in fact, this album doesn't make you think of anything, just and only to have fun, and that's why it's so beautiful, if I really have to find a flaw it's that in such a context a couple of songs like "That's Amore" and "The Great Pretender," the latter maybe as a closing dance, would have fit divinely, but you can't have everything in life, and unfortunately not even from Nina Hagen.