Berlin: Voyeur : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Despite a string of hit singles, including "Sex (I'm a...)" and "Take My Breath Away," in the Eighties, Los Angeles-based synth-pop band Berlin are not an act the world has been clamoring for to reunite. Lucky Berlin. On Voyeur, the revamped band's first studio album in sixteen years, Berlin and the still coquettish-after-all-these-years lead vocalist Terri Nunn, take advantage of the lack of expectations to introduce the updated version of the group. Sex still plays a major part in Berlin version 2.0, but the synthesizers have given way to a sultrier sound. The much ballyhooed "Sacred and Profane," a song co-written by Billy Corgan, is a rhythmic ballad that finds Nunn chanting the chorus, while she shows off her pipes again on the minimalist "The World Is Waiting." Rounding out an impressive mid-album trio of tracks are the in-your-face keyboards of "Drug." Voyeur isn't likely to bring Berlin back to its Eighties heyday, but it will force many to take another look at the group.

STEVE BALTIN
(September 3, 2002)