Friday, December 29, 2017

NEONBABIES - s/t LP 1981

Ahhh.... fine stuff now from the Neonbabies: they came together at the beginning of 1979 in Berlin. Among its founding members were the sisters Inga Humpe ("DiLemma") and Annette Humpe ("Anita Spinetti"). The group made its first appearance in the spring of 1979 at the Gasthaus an der Havel and the gigs were the highlight of the concert season 1979/80. Later they were able to make their first recordings at the senate's own Beat Studio with Nikolaus (guitar), Conny (bass), Toni (drums) and Reinhard (saxophone). The first EP (I Don't Want To Loose You) came out early 1980 and includes a first version of the later Ideal killer Blaue Augen, in autumn then the 2nd EP Nervös. The band were now an integral part of the Berlin music scene and were worshiped as cult. 

In early 1980, Annette Humpe founded the band Ideal and was replaced by singer Petra (Miko) but she was only heard on the debut album and this was released on the Berlin independent label Good Noise Records in 1981 and sold ca. 16.000 times, Nikolaus said: ''We were never ideologically defined. Good Noise said: we make the record with you - and then we signed a contract for a plate". The music is a cocktail of early german punk (KFC or S.Y.P.H.) and New Wave & Pop. 

In 1982, Dave Hutchins produced the 2nd album (Harmlos) @ Conny Plank Studio which was released on Ariola Records, followed by a tour through Germany. After the quit of Nikolaus, he was replaced by Toni Kambiz, the group engaged Drafi Deutscher as producer of the 3rd 7Inch 'Ich Bin Ein Mann' but the sale was very much less, far far behind expectations. The last album '1983' was recorded with Gareth Jones in Berlin Hansa Studios and also appears at Ariola. A short time later, the group broke up. Conny left and Inga participated around the project DÖF which was produced by her sister and the single Codo became a great fuckin' hit! With Eiskalte Engel the last Neonbabies 7Inch was done and it was a remix of the title Engel from the 3rd album and was considered as farewell gift for the fans. Enjoy now fourteen crunchy poppy bubbles from album #1.


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