I have a complicated relationship with Berlin: When my brother brought their "Pleasure Victim" EP home from college, I fell in love with "The Metro." (I was a pretentious New Wave suburban teenager who also dreamed of world travel to foreign capitals, so how could I not?) And while "Sex (I'm a)" was memorable if not embarrassing, "Masquerade" was also pretty infectious. Then "No More Words" -- which I might have liked -- rubbed me the wrong way because it was virtually the same music Giorgio Moroder had written for Debbie Harry's solo comeback (“Rush Rush") the year before ... only it got way more attention, with Terri Nunn's reverse ombre and its fun Bonnie and Clyde video. But a couple years later "Take My Breath Away" pretty much stripped them of any credibility -- Martha Davis and the Motels recorded a demo but reportedly had the good sense to turn it down -- and the decades that followed saw Terri touring with none of the original band members, rendering Berlin a place I no longer wanted to visit. Still, I love a good '80s reunion. So seeing her back together with John Crawford and David Diamond -- they're releasing a new album, "Transcendance," on Friday -- was enough to get my nostalgia juices flowing to share this.
P.S. It helped that I recently saw Terri be treating like a piece of garbage on an episode of "James at 15" called "Girl With a Bad Reputation"! (She also auditioned with Harrison Ford to play Princess Leia!)
