In the Garden

' debut album, , is the missing link between the work of , who included both and , and 1983's commercial breakthrough, . Co-produced by producer at his studio in Cologne, Germany, it has some of the distant, mechanistic feel of the European electronic music movement, but less of the pop sensibility of later . The chief difference is in 's singing; even when the musical bed is appealing, floats ethereally over it, and the listener doesn't focus on her. As a result, wasn't much of a success, though when streamlined their sound and emphasized 's dominating voice on subsequent releases, they found mass popularity. ~ William Ruhlmann