99 Luftballons

The song "99 Luftballons" is magnificent in both its thematic scope and musical symmetry. It starts one way, moves into completely different zones and then finishes with yet another brilliant, triumphant stroke. Delivered on the album in both the original German and an English take, "99 Red Balloons," this classic, unique anti-war rock ballad is politically provocative, rapturously euphoric, enigmatic and perhaps tragically prophetic. For me, by itself this song is worth the price of the album.

The music by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the entire orchestration...it just "takes you there," you know. All the members of the band play their parts to pop-music perfection. You can visualize all this stuff happening. And it's fantastic, surreal, mysterious and yet somehow frighteningly real and poignant at the same time. The metaphors, the layers of the song, are so powerful. It appeals to the child in me, the adult in me, it expresses anger, fear and fantasy, the whole works. It suggests beginnings and endings...

If you think about what balloons symbolize, the concept here is nothing short of ingenious. Balloons represent hope, dreams, happiness, freedom. There are often balloons at a "grand opening" to celebrate something new, great expectations.

The writer of the song, the now-deceased Nena band member Carlo Karges, was at a Rolling Stones concert in Berlin back in the '80s when the Berlin Wall was still up. At the end of the concert, they released all these balloons into the sky, and he wondered what would happen if the balloons floated over the Wall and were mistaken for something else, like UFO's. It really could be catastrophic.

What follows is a story about "little misunderstandings" that bring about a big battle over something small: nothing really but a bunch of balloons.

The lyrics to the original Teutonic version are closer-to-the-bone, more realistic. If you think of this Armageddon-level scuffle taking place in a city divided, it is more human-scaled. The English take--while still communicating the plot and point of the original--loses the appropriate vantage point, and therefore some of the rich flavor and subtext.

The "letting go" of the balloon at the song's finale, the end of the world perhaps, is also a rich metaphor for forgiveness and giving peace and freedom a chance.

However, I want to be honest with people who are about to purchase this CD. I think some of them may be disappointed.

Nena was--and still is--a major personality in Germany, Deutschland's earnest-if-edgy sweetheart--and a striking beauty as well. And she hasn't been without her share of ups and downs. Her first child was born in the late '80s with a terminal illness and died the same year. The next time she got pregnant she had a set of healthy twins, and the sweet lyrics of "Wunder gescheh'n" from the album of the same title talk about how miracles do still happen. There's another song from WUNDER GESCHEH'N called "Hero" which is soul-searching and rugged at once--and written by Nena Kerner in English.

But when I play Nena music for people who aren't die-hard fans--especially from this 99 LUFTBALLONS album--I usually get reactions like, "They all sound the same" or "I like The Balloon Song, but they're a little too poppy." Indeed, many of the songs on this CD are what we call "undeveloped." Ideas for songs that don't reach full potential: "Leuchtturm," "Kino" and even "Just A Dream"--they're a little pleasant but rather thoughtless and largely forgettable. They also tend to capture only one note. When I listen to "Leutchtturm" and I'm starting to get into it, I wait for there to be a crescendo after "la, la, la" but there are only more "la, la, la"'s to the point of nausea. So it doesn't even really move you to dance, if you know what I mean. Only move back and forth ever-so-slightly. David Sanborn's saxophone on "?" does liven things up a little.

Nena Kerner's voice is sweet and seductive and has a biting hard edge on occasion. She's a feisty kitten. And when she talks about taking me with her on all the seven seas in "Let Me Be Your Pirate," I do want to go with her. Unfortunately, her singing in English at this point is sometimes hard to understand, and she doesn't seem as connected emotionally as she does on the songs in her original German tongue. David Sanborn's saxophone on "Pirate" also enhances the would-be dreaminess of the piece, but the English narratives on 99 LUFTBALLONS tend to be a tad stilted and unpoetic.

When I'm "in the mood for Nena" and all the good-spirited silliness of movie theatres, elephants and lighthouses, all's well. I'll listen for hours. But that's not all the time. In fact, I have to say one of her most memorable ditties, "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime," a frolicking, space-age dance mix--is unfortunately not included on this ensemble.

I still recommend the CD because "99 Luftballons" is such a great song--and there are two versions of it here, one a remix. But don't be surprised if you don't fall in love with all the melodies. Much of the pop just doesn't live up to the capacity of the world-renowned Balloon Song. And they could have used on this album Lisa Dalbello--who later did the beautiful translation "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime"--to keep the Anglo-Saxon renderings sing-able and sophisticated.

So you've been warned.

"Achtung!" as they say in German....