Berlin – Information
“Hey cool, Berlin. I like Berlin and this is cheap I’ll buy this” I thought, as I stumbled upon this LP in a record store nearly a decade ago.
Berlin remains one of my favorite new wave acts, and I’ve always thought they’ve fallen through the cracks of history for no good reason. They’re usually dismissed as a one-hit wonder, but that’s not the case at all. Sure, “Take My Breathe Away” was a mega-hit that made any other success they had seem minute in comparison, but before that Moroder-penned tune launched them to super-stardom, the group scored a few minor hits with awesome tracks like “No More Words,” “Dancing In Berlin,” and the incredible “Metro.”
All those songs are from the group’s 1982 major-label debut Pleasure Victim. And if you check them out on iTunes, any record store, or even on Berlin’s own webpage, that’s usually regarded as their full-length debut. But that was not the case, as I discovered when I bought this record. Turns out that Information was Berlin’s first album, recorded and released in 1980.
Although to be fair, it’s barely a Berlin album. Most notably, Terri Nunn is nowhere to be found here, having left the group for a short time to pursue an acting career. Replacing her is one Virginia Macolino, whose vocal stylings are notably different than Nunn’s. While Nunn dipped her toes in a more detached and robotic vocals to match her band’s all-electronic sound, she was never afraid to let herself go and really belt it out when needed. Macolino, on the other hand, is full new wave, almost punk rock, in her approach. Her style reminds me heavily of Patty Donahue from The Waitresses, detached with an aura of irony throughout.
Macolino isn’t the only change. This early incarnation of the group also features a different bass player by the name of Jo Julian, who also served as the album’s primary songwriter, alongside guitarist Chris Velasco (who did stick around for the band’s more well-known records) and original vocalist Toni Childs (!!!) who is credited as a songwriter for four of the album’s tracks. Keyboardist John Crawford, who served as the primary creative force for the band’s biggest years, only contributes to a handful of tracks here.
The result is a drastically different sounding record when compared to what would come just two years later. While Pleasure Victim is clearly influenced by the poppier side of synthpop that was just beginning to make itself known thanks to acts like The Human League and Flock of Seagulls, the Berlin of Information is far more robotic and futuristic. Again, comparisons to The Waitresses could be made here, as well as Gary Numan and pre-Dare Human League. Pleasure Victim was all about sex and romance, Information is far more of a socially conscious record, touching on themes like nuclear war and the drollness of middle class life, while bouncing back and forth sci-fi themes like robots and mind control as well. The only song on Information that sounds like the Berlin we would come to know is “A Matter Of Time,” which actually was a pre-Macolino track that was originally recorded with Nunn, with that version appearing on their greatest hits album.
Aside from that one track, everything on Information remains woefully out-of-print and hard to track down. It was only released in 1980, and from what I can tell it only got a single pressing. Turns out that I was lucky to score my copy for less than five bucks, good copies online usually go for between $20 and $40. Not a buried treasure by any stretch of the means, but a bit on the pricey side.
Equally hard to come by is information by the band members who left after Information. According to Discogs Jo Julian went on to work with some metal acts, including Alkatrazz and Samson, but that’s a pretty big geographic/style switch, so I suspect that might be another Jo Julian.
As for Virginia Macolino, for someone who never broke through to the mainstream she certainly got around. Before Berlin she fronted the punk act Virginia And The Slims, of which you can find an incredibly in-depth write-up on by a former band member here. After Information she returned to her punk roots with the hardcore act Beast Of Beast. They never made it anywhere either, but they did manage to record one album, 1983’s Sex, Drugs and Noise. It pretty rare now and goes for a mint online and one listen will tell you why – it’s a pretty damn great hardcore punk album, totally revolutionary and ahead of its time. More people need to hear that one.
After that, I can’t find much else. Apparently she dated Joey Ramone for a while in the 90s, so even though she wasn’t recording music professionally she was probably still involved in the scene at that point. Sounds like she’s had one hell of a life.
Information isn’t Berlin’s best, I still think that would go to Pleasure Victim, but it’s a great time capsule showcasing the pre-MTV era of synthpop, a darker, more eccentric sound that was still a couple years away from the shine and polish that acts like Duran Duran would give it. Of all the out of print albums I’ve found by accident while writing this blog, it’s one I treasure the most.
