99 Luftballons (album)

99 Luftballons
Compilation album by Nena
Released	8 April 1984 (1984-04-08)
Recorded	1983-1984 at Spliff Studio, Berlin
Genre	Neue Deutsche Welle
Length	40:55
Language	English, German
Label	Epic
Producer	Reinhold Heil, Manfred Praeker
Nena chronology
? (1984) 99 Luftballons (1984) Feuer und Flamme (1985) Alternate cover
Singles from 99 Luftballons
"99 Red Balloons" Released: 1984 "Just a Dream" Released: 1984 "? (Question Mark)" Released: 1984 "Kino (At the Movies)" Released: 1984

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

99 Luftballons (German: "99 Balloons") is a compilation album by German pop band Nena, released in 1984. It was their first album released worldwide following the success of "99 Luftballons"^[2][3] and also the first with English lyrics. The album had moderate success in America.^[3]

Alternate versions

The most widely known cover of this album is identical to the one used for most versions of the single "99 Luftballons" or "99 Red Balloons".^[4] The album was also released as Nena or International Album; this version used the same cover, but with "99 Luftballons" removed, and sometimes with additional sticker at upper left that says "International Album incl. Club-Mix ›99 Red Balloons‹".^[5] The Japanese version was released as 99 Luftballons: First America. The alternate cover features the band pictured on a white background,^[6] which photo in various releases is the same or similar to the one on the single "Rette mich".^[7]

Songs

The album is composed of tracks released on the band's two previous albums, Nena (1983) and ? (Fragezeichen) (1984), five of which are English-translated versions. "99 Red Balloons" ("99 Luftballons"), "Just a Dream" ("Nur geträumt"), "Kino", "Leuchtturm" and "99 Luftballons" were taken from Nena (1983), while "? (Question Mark)" ("? (Fragezeichen)"), "Hangin' on You" ("Ich häng' an dir"), "Let Me Be Your Pirate" ("Lass mich dein Pirat sein"), "Das Land der Elefanten", "Rette mich" and "Unerkannt durch's Märchenland" were taken from ? (Fragezeichen) (1984).

The lead single, "99 Luftballons", is the band's or even Nena's most successful song to date. It reached number one in several countries worldwide,^[2] but is considered a one-hit wonder^[8] as other singles and albums performed poorly outside of Europe. "Just a Dream" reached number 70 on the UK Singles Chart. "Kino" was initially released on the album in German, but was translated into English titled as "Kino (At the Movies)". Like its predecessor, "? (Question Mark)", the single failed to chart.^[2][3] The song was later included as a bonus track on a re-release of the band's second English album It's All in the Game (1985).^[9]

Track listing

Side A contains tracks 1 to 5 and side B contains tracks 6 to 11.

Notes

• Some releases erroneously printed "Das Land der Elefanten" as "Das Lang der Elefanten" and "Unerkannt durch's Märchenland" as "Unerkannt durch's Marchenland"^[10]
• The spelling of "durch's" instead of "durchs" in title that should be "Unerkannt durchs Märchenland" is an obvious error, too
• The track list of the Spanish version is translated into Spanish
• The track list of the Japanese version is partially written in katakana

Personnel

Credits adapted from Allmusic^[11] and Discogs.^[6]

Nena

• Nena Kerner – main vocals, arrangement
• Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen – main vocals (on "Das Land der Elefanten"), backup vocals (on "? (Question Mark)" and "Kino"), keyboard
• Carlo Karges – guitar, backup vocals (on "Kino")
• Jürgen Dehmel – bass
• Rolf Brendel – drums, percussion

Technical personnel

• David Sanborn – saxophone (on "? (Question Mark)")
• Manfred "Manne" Praeker – production
• Reinhold Heil – production
• After Hours Studio - cover design
• Jim Rakete - photography

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

• International Album / 99 Luftballons at the official Nena website, with complete lyrics and samples for music.
• Lyrics from this album at LyricWiki