German synthpop band Propaganda were one of ace producer Trevor Horn’s ZTT Records stable in the ‘80s (the label was co-owned by Horn, British music journalist Paul Morley and businesswoman Jill Sinclair). They are primarily known for their hit singles “Duel” and “Dr. Mabuse.” Amazing group, their music still stands up well today. But what I liked most about Propaganda was one of their singers, the lovely Claudia Brücken. 

Brücken’s BIG voice was well-suited for Propaganda’s widescreen cinematic synthpop, but her dreamy 1991 solo album on Island Records, Love: And A Million Other Things, I thought was much more interesting, especially the second single, “Kiss Like Ether.” This song should have been a huge hit. Over 20 years later and it still sounds quite modern and super sexy. That it and the album it came from passed more or less unnoticed (it didn’t even chart in the UK) by most people is cosmically unfair, I think. In 2009 Cherry Red released an extended two CD set of Love: And A Million Other Things with several remixes.

Brücken concentrated on being a mother in the 1990s and was relatively inactive musically. Today she is half of OneTwo with Paul Humphreys of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark. Together they also founded an independent record label, There(There). In 2012, during a career-spanning onstage retrospective, Brücken was joined by guests including Humphreys, Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware, former ZTT label-mate Andrew Poppy, Erasure’s Andy Bell and Suzanne Freytag and Ralf Dorper from Propaganda. The performance was released on DVD and CD as This Happened: Live at the Scala (and it’s quite good, I have it).

The “Kiss Like Ether” music video:

 
Propaganda’s “Duel”: