Berlin “Love Life” released 35 years ago today, March 12th, 1984. Love Life was  Berlin’s second album and it hit #28 on the US charts. Fairly straight-forward mid-80′s synthesizer-heavy new wave pop, the best song on the album is also its most popular, the excellent “No More Words” which hit #23 on the US Hot 100 chart. I absolutely loved that song and its video, the Bonnie-and-Clyde influenced bank heist montage with Terri Nunn’s fabulous two-toned black-and-blonde hair. “No More Words” was the first single, released at the end of February ‘84, and was re-released in ‘85 with its inclusion in the film Vision Quest (though it did not appear on the movie soundtrack). The other three singles included “Now It’s My Turn,” “Dancing in Berlin” (a pretty great dance track that charted in Australia and New Zealand but not the US), and “Touch.” I  like “In My Dreams” though I find most of the other tracks (excepting “No More Words” and “Dancing in Berlin”) to be pretty bland – 1984 was a great year in general for new wave and synth pop but with those few song exceptions, Berlin didn’t do much to advance the sound. Allmusic pretty much agrees in their review of Love Life stating, “Outside of these two singles [”No More Words” and “Dancing in Berlin”], the rest of the songs on Love Life fail to harbor any distinction, and even Nunn’s forceful voice can’t raise their value. Efforts like “When We Make Love,” “Touch,” and “For All Tomorrow’s Lies” get lost in lukewarm techno-dance rhythms and cloned synth-driven beats.”