Berlin - Count Three And Pray (1986)

Californian electro-pop/new wave band Berlin hit the scene in the early 1980s their carefully blended mix of synth-driven songs, such as The Metro, coupled with their image, personified by singer Teri Nunn which garnered them a growing fan base. As their career progressed a more rock side to their sound emerged and by Count Three and Pray, their fourth studio album in 1986, they had developed into a strong commercial-rock band capable of writing songs of both power and melody, all impeccably sung by the very underrated Teri Nunn. Unfortunately, just as More Than Words became a millstone around the neck of Extreme by being their worldwide smash hit but not belying the true sound of the band, so Take My Breath Away from the film Top Gun did for Berlin, but more of that later.

The album opens with a powerful mid-tempo bass and drum line overlaid with Hammond followed by a flash of guitar before Terri Nunn begins the verse of Will I Ever Understand You. A strong album opener held together by a bassline and powerful vocal performance from Nunn who demonstrates her powerful and versatile range to good effect. Mid-track there’s a short drum-break and slow build to . . . not, not a guitar shred, but a return to the main theme thus maintaining the melody and intensity of the overall track.

The mood then drops for the pan-pipe style intro to You Don’t Know through which the drums fade-in along with a brief synth melody before Nunn once again holds centre stage with a brooding verse before lifting the mood slightly with the chorus. Written by bass/synth player (and Nunn’s partner) John Crawford the song serves well to illustrate the strong songwriting credentials of the band – there’s even a harp on this track in places! You Don’t Know was a single from the album reaching number 39 in the UK chart but in my opinion deserved to perform much better.

Like Flames starts with a whistling melody over a really typical 80s synth pattern but soon turns into a more mainstream rock track making good use of light and shade with the first part of each verse being dropped softly and picking up with intensity towards the chorus and as with You Don’t Know, was a minor chart troubler on both sides of the Atlantic. The track was written by drummer Rob Brill and makes good use of Nunn’s range and whilst the rather dated backing track – think John Parr’s St Elmo’s Fire and the ilk – there’s enough guitar, even a solo, and interest from Nunn to carry the track along without it descending too much into cheesy 80s territory.

Heartstrings is up next and is a poppy track again around a bassline with guitars chopping away in accompaniment. The track stands up well alongside any 80s rock tracks of similar artists – Pat Benatar etc – and it does make you wonder why Berlin didn’t really hit the heights and aren’t remembered with the same degree of affection and frequency as some lesser groups of the era. The harmony guitar break works well on Heartstrings too as does the solo proper which stretches over several bars.

Up next is the root of the problem with Berlin, Take My Breath Away. Now, whilst the Georgio Moroder-penned track is good for what it is, and whilst Terri Nunn does a great job on vocals, in part Take My Breath Away broke the band. Being number 1 in the chart virtually globally, in part for its connection to Tom Cruise’s Top Gun film for which it was an integral part, was a double-edged sword for Berlin. On the one hand it gave them worldwide exposure and success but on the other hand it wasn’t reminiscent of Berlin – it was in effect a Terri Nunn solo piece – and thus those masses switched on to the band by the single would buy the band’s albums and be disappointed if they were expecting more of the same. Furthermore, Nunn and Crawford’s relationship was stretched to breaking point as Nunn was seen as ‘Berlin’ and the band an irrelevance.

Trash is up next and is a really ballsy guitar-driven rocker, good contrast to the previous track, in a more updated Runaways style. There’s even a squealing guitar solo here and a bit of shredding which gives a real metal edge to the track with Nunn’s vocals reigned back melodically in-keeping with the greater emphasis on instrumentation. The track does show what a versatile composer John Crawford was as he could seamlessly write hard rock, pop and ballads all with a distinctive catchy edge and was fortunate enough to belong to a band who could execute them impeccably.

When Love Goes to War opens with melancholy piano which drifts into a slow bassline once more over which a heavily chorused guitar plays and Nunn opines the breakup of love and the trail of destruction a broken relationship leaves behind: somewhat prophetic at the time! This is a classic track of its time and would equally have sat well with Vixen, for example, with whom I’m sure it would have been a huge hit as it has a strong hook, powerful vocals, melody, emotion and power. Listen to it back to back with Vixen’s Edge of Broken Heart and you’ll see that Berlin had great commercial potential too in their own style and right but sadly it was not to be.

Hideaway is one of the weaker tracks on the album – it’s got a strong performance once more from Nunn but doesn’t really standout amongst the other tracks being of mediocre ballad affair. Sex Me, Talk Me begins with a very ‘macho’ chant repeated to a backing of strings! Then in comes the 80s synth bass of which I’ve never been a fan and again it’s a bit of a filler track and not written by the band. Interestingly, Hideaway was also co-written by the writer of Sex Me, Talk Me so I’d go as far as to say that I’ve identified the weak link with these two tracks.

Pink and Velvet, co-written by Nunn and guitarist Ric Olson closes the album and is a mellow, slow-tempo track carried along by Nunn’s soulful vocals. Pink and Velvet was also released as a single from the album but failed to make any inroads into the charts and was, in my opinion, an unlikely single choice. However, it is a strong track featuring two very melodic extended, Dave Gilmour-esque, guitar solos and reminds me of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb in the guitar department . . . well, at least heading in that direction.

Count Three and Pray should have been a huge album for Berlin as it contains a set of very strong tracks that equal, if not better, those of many of their peers in the power-rock/commercial rock field at that time but unfortunately their biggest hit rather overshadowed the band’s true sensibilities and attracted a new audience drawn by the sound of Take My Breath Away who were only going to be disappointed by how the band actually sounded. The nature of the single also rather made them somewhat of a novelty act in rock circles and further drove away an audience that would have been far more appreciative of the true Berlin sound should they have had the opportunity to hear it. All-in-all this is a very strong album and one I’d definitely recommend and Terri Nunn was, and is, a phenomenally talented vocalist who, along with the songwriting and playing skills of the rest of Berlin, should have been destined for greatness but, alas, that destiny was not to be realised.

• Terri Nunn – Vocals
• John Crawford – Bass/Synthesizer
• Ric Olsen – Guitar
• David Diamond – Guitars/Syntheiszers
• Matt Reid – Synthesizers/Keyboards
• Rob Brill – Drums