Count Three & Pray
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Album Summary
Berlin, the Los Angeles synth-pop outfit fronted by the magnetic Terri Nunn, stepped into a new chapter with 'Count Three & Pray,' released in 1986 on Geffen Records. The album was produced by the slick and sonically visionary Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey — a powerhouse pairing that gave the record its polished, cinematic sheen. The sessions carried a kind of electric tension, as the band was riding the wave of their biggest commercial moment, with the Tony Scott film 'Top Gun' serving as the cultural rocket that launched one of their recordings into the stratosphere. Moroder, fresh off his film soundtrack wizardry, brought that same sweeping, orchestral sensibility to the studio, and the result was a record that felt simultaneously like a dance floor and a movie screen.
Reception
- 'Take My Breath Away,' featured on this album, became Berlin's signature commercial triumph, climbing to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning massive international airplay as part of the 'Top Gun' cultural phenomenon.
- The album received a mixed critical reception, with some reviewers praising its sleek production and Nunn's commanding vocal performances, while others felt the polished Moroder-Forsey sound occasionally overshadowed the band's edgier earlier identity.
- Despite the blockbuster success of its standout single, the album itself performed modestly on the charts as a full project, suggesting that the broader listening public was drawn more to individual tracks than the album as a cohesive statement.
Significance
- 'Take My Breath Away' cemented Berlin's place in the 1980s synth-pop and new wave canon, becoming one of the defining ballads of the decade and demonstrating how the collision of film culture and pop music could elevate a band to an entirely new commercial altitude.
- The album stands as a testament to Giorgio Moroder's towering influence on the sound of mid-1980s pop production, blending synthesizer-driven arrangements with cinematic grandeur in a way that felt utterly of its moment.
- Tracks like 'Like Flames,' 'Trash,' and 'Sex Me, Talk Me' reveal the band's ability to navigate between lush romanticism and raw, provocative energy — a duality that made Berlin one of the more texturally interesting acts in the new wave landscape of the era.
Tracklist
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A1 Will I Ever Understand You 139
4:40
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A2 You Don't Know 103
4:26
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A3 Like Flames 125
5:05
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A4 Heartstrings 119
4:12
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A5 Take My Breath Away 96
4:11
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B1 Trash 141
3:38
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B2 When Love Goes To War 123
4:09
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B3 Hideaway 111
5:08
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B4 Sex Me, Talk Me 121
4:41
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B5 Pink And Velvet 103
6:38
Artist Details
Berlin is a slick and seductive synth-pop band that came together in Orange County, California around 1978, built on icy electronic textures, pulsing rhythms, and the smoldering vocals of Terri Nunn that made them one of the sharpest acts to come out of the New Wave movement. They hit the mainstream hard with their 1982 album *Pleasure Victim* and its steamy standout "Sex (I'm A...)", which pushed the boundaries of what radio would even touch, cementing their reputation as bold, unapologetic artists unafraid to explore desire and darkness in equal measure. Their crowning cultural moment came in 1986 when their breathtaking ballad "Take My Breath Away," written for the *Top Gun* soundtrack, soared to number one and introduced Berlin to a whole new worldwide audience, leaving an indelible mark on the sound and spirit of the decade.
