It is conventional to describe Berryman as “ confessional”: as one of a group of American poets of the 1950s and 1960s, including also Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath, for whom the use of personal material was a special and distinguishing mark. The tenacity of the term “confessional” lies partly in a way of reading: we feel that the real biographical experience gives the poem weight, and yet this is also, of course, a deliberate literary effect. Particularly in Berryman, there is a careful balance of new freedom and old rules. That which is hidden is set against that which is displayed, as if each poem were half a secret. xPropaganda / The Heart Is Strange: 'all formats' unboxing". SuperDeluxeEdition. 20 May 2022 . Retrieved 23 March 2023.

Propaganda stars return with new album 'The Heart is Strange' ". Retropopmagazine.com. 17 February 2022.

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After the original line up split in 1987, the individual band members of Propaganda pursued various solo projects. Fast forward to the spring of 2018 and Claudia and Susanne reformed as xPropaganda to play two headline shows at The Garage in Islington, London. Having felt creatively inspired by the experience, the duo then reconvened with A Secret Wish (Propaganda’s debut album) producer Stephen Lipson to write new music. The legend of German quartet PROPAGANDA was etched into the psyche of the music cognoscenti with the 1985 release of ‘A Secret Wish’ on ZTT, a classic of the electronic era which heralded the advent of sampling and digital synthesis.

Various – ZTT: The Value Of Entertainment (Time Capsule Version) (1986, CLV, Laserdisc)". Discogs . Retrieved 8 April 2008.The first single from the album, "Heaven Give Me Words", was co-written with 1980s synth-pop star Howard Jones [6] and reached the UK Top 40. The album was not as successful as A Secret Wish, only peaking at number 46 in the UK. A second single, "Only One Word", stalled at number 71 in the UK. Berryman liked language that is particular to place. When he arrived in England in 1936 he immediately wrote home to explain the local currency: “Sixpence is a tanner, the shilling a bob, the pound a quid.” He was on his way to Cambridge University, where he had been awarded a fellowship and where he dressed in tweed suits and changed his voice. He was 21. “I suppose it is correct to say that I prefer their accent to the ‘American’ accent,” he wrote. For the rest of his life he followed English spelling both in private letters and in his published work. W. S. Merwin was a student of Berryman’s at the University of Iowa in 1946, and he recalled his teacher’s voice: “[H]e snapped down his nose with an accent / I think he had affected in England.” Propaganda is a German synth-pop band formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. They signed a recording contract with ZTT Records as early as 1983 and released their first single "Dr Mabuse" in 1984. Followed by their debut studio album, the critically acclaimed A Secret Wish, in 1985. Two of the album's singles, " Dr. Mabuse" and " Duel", were UK Top 30 hits. A second studio album, 1234 (1990), was recorded with a markedly different line-up and released by Virgin Records to less success. [1] There have been several partial reformations of the group in the 21st century, with the original vocalists currently active as xPropaganda.

Sinclair, Paul (15 February 2022). "xPropaganda / The Heart Is Strange. New album available on SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio". SuperDeluxeEdition . Retrieved 4 November 2023. While the distinct pop approach of ‘The Heart Is Strange’ perhaps is missing the gothic industrial spike of Ralf Dörper and the classically schooled eccentricity of Michael Mertens that added some of the character to ‘A Secret Wish’, where it does not disappoint is vocally and sonically; fans of PROPAGANDA and ZTT will relish and savour this thoughtfully crafted work.In May 1985, with Frankie Goes to Hollywood becoming tax exiles in Ireland, the band effectively headlined "The Value of Entertainment", a series of showcase gigs of ZTT signings, held at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. The shows also featured Art of Noise, Anne Pigalle, Andrew Poppy and Instinct. Propaganda were joined on stage by former Simple Minds bassist Derek Forbes and ex- Japan drummer Steve Jansen. [4] 1985: A Secret Wish [ edit ]

The Morning Call, 29 Mar 1986". The Morning Call. 29 March 1986. p.59 . Retrieved 23 December 2020. Easlea, Daryl (20 May 2022). "xPropaganda – The Heart Is Strange: "a compelling listen" ". Louder . Retrieved 4 November 2023. Berryman’s career might be understood as a rebuke to this. In 1934, he wrote his first surviving poems: four Shakespearean sonnets, to celebrate his mother’s 40th birthday. The following year he tried to seduce a Barnard student by writing sonnets for her, and when in February 1947 he began an affair with a married woman he met in Princeton, he turned again to this form. “I wanted a familiar form in which to put the new,” he wrote in his journal. “Clearly a sonnet sequence. And this gave me also a wonderful to me sense of continuity with lovers dead.” a b c "Propaganda | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 15 January 2022.The group relocated to the United Kingdom and released the single " Dr. Mabuse", named after the fictional character made famous by filmmaker Fritz Lang. The single reached the Top 30 in the UK Singles Chart, [2] and the Top 10 in Germany. The group appeared on various TV shows in the UK, including Channel 4's The Tube. Here, as well as performing "Dr. Mabuse", the group also gave one of its few performances of a cover version of Throbbing Gristle's song " Discipline". [3] The Heart is Strange’ is released by ZTT on 20th May 2022 as in CD, 2CD, vinyl LP, red vinyl LP, Bluray audio and digital formats