Hubert Kah - The Very Best of Hubert Kah (2014)

One of a number of CDs compiled by Jan Pieter Blank and René Runge, a German electronic music duo. Most of their releases have been compilations of 80s’ tracks but there have been sets devoted to individual artists, such as Heaven 17, the German singer, Sandra and this killer set from another German artist, Hubert Kah.
Hubert Kah had three members, Hubert Kemmler, Klaus Hirschburger and Marcus Löhr. They began issuing recordings during the German New Wave (Neue Deutsche Welle) era and scored big with their first two singles, “Rosemarie” (Germany #3, 1982) and “Sternenhimmel” (#2, 1982). They moved on to a more pop oriented sound with “Engel 07” (#30, 1984) and the sublime, “Wenn Der Mond Die Sonne Berührt” (#41, 1984). The US started to take notice and “Engel 07” was converted to “Angel 07” for US release and inclusion in the 1985 film, “Gotcha”. An English language version of ““Wenn Der Mond Die Sonne Berührt” also appeared and as “The Picture” and was included in the film, “Once Bitten” with Jim Carrey.
Hubert Kah then teamed with producer, Michael Cretu and began releasing English language albums such as “Tensongs” in 1986 and tracks from that album, “Limousine”, “Something I Should Know” and “Love Is So Sensible” are included here. The first two of these were also German hit singles, with “Limousine” rising to #8.
Two more German hit singles, “Military Drums” and “Welcome, Machine Gun” are included here, as are three tracks form the 90s, so the compilation is thorough. By the late 80s, the group were attracting the attention of dance/pop audiences in the US and a “Best Of Hubert Kah: Dance Hits” appeared in 1990 and seven of the eight tracks on that album appear here.
Hubert Kah were true innovators, comfortable in both the German and English languages and with ballads as well as up-tempo numbers. Blank and Jones have done an excellent job in mining the Hubert Kah catalog to give us 18 titles with not a dud among them.
Highly recommended.