It’s been a little while since we’ve had a musical break, and this seems like a good candidate. As I said, my music tastes are unabashedly mired in the 1980s, with the occasional contemporary popping up here and there (Coldplay will probably be along at some point or another,) and so we ride the wayback tortoise to 1987 to check out Berlin’s Like Flames.
Berlin and lead vocalist Terri Nunn got too little attention, as far as I’m concerned. They’re best known for Take My Breath Away, the love theme from the movie Top Gun and quite possibly the only thing to recommend it (I wouldn’t know – I stopped watching after ten minutes of exasperation.) However, that single was not representative of their energy or style, and other releases like No More Words and The Metro give a much better feel for the group. And naturally, this one. Nunn has a marvelous voice, ranging from pleasantly dulcet to a throaty wail, and can rip a lot of feeling out of her lyrics. The video is a product of the 80s as well, so just keep that in mind – they were pretty much all like this.
The lyrics, by the way, can be found here. Since every source presents the same spelling of weak/week, I have to assume they’re that way right from the album, but whether this was intentional or not is up for grabs.
An interesting bit of trivia regarding Terri Nunn is that she auditioned for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars, which might have been an interesting casting choice (I never quite got behind Carrie Fisher in that part, though I’ve liked her in other roles and appreciate her satirical contributions since.) Nunn, however, might’ve been a bit young for the part, considering that the movie was released ten years before the video shown above.
The band broke up not long after this track was released, so there are too few examples of their work available. If you liked this one, you might try No More Words, The Metro, and Masquerade, all great examples of Berlin’s music. However, Like Flames was later covered by the group Twenty 4 Seven; under no circumstances should you attempt to listen to that version.