Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Once upon a time...

There was once a little lonely and shy girl in the mid-80s, which had a chrome cassette tape music of  his older brother, which contained a dedication of love from a boy to a girl.
This little girl learned to read and write at three years old and he loved music and books.



This tape was  from  the  Alphaville's Band  - Afternoons in Utopia. The little girl only remembers  a piece of the dedication: "with love. "  This cassette tape music was heard until  his self-destruction.


These days , the now-grown girl , found in a music store a copy of Alphaville -  First Harvest 1984 - 92 which caused her a great joy.


Alphaville (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alphaville

Alphaville live on stage in 2005
Background information
Also known asForever Young
OriginMünster, Germany
GenresNew wave
Synthpop
New Romantic
Years active1982–present
LabelsAtlantic Records, Metropolis Records, Polydor
Members
Marian Gold
Martin Lister
David Goodes
Jakob Kiersch
Past members
Frank Mertens
Bernhard Lloyd
Ricky Echolette
Alphaville is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s. The founding members were Marian Gold (real name Hartwig Schierbaum, born 26 May 1954 in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia), Bernhard Lloyd (real name Bernhard Gößling, born 6 June 1960 in Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia), and Frank Mertens (real name Frank Sorgatz, born 26 October 1961 in Enger, North Rhine-Westphalia). The band was at first named Forever Young before changing to Alphaville. They are best known for their two biggest hits, "Big in Japan" and "Forever Young". As of 2010 they have sold over 6,000,000 (six million) albums.

Contents

  • 1 Beginnings - Forever Young
  • 2 Subsequent albums
  • 3 Projects
  • 4 Discography
  • 5 Alphaville in popular culture
  • 6 References


 Beginnings - Forever Young

Alphaville was born in early 1982, when Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd met each other at the music project Nelson Community. Some months later, Frank Mertens joined the project. Together the three wrote Forever Young and recorded their first demo of the same name. In 1984, the newly-renamed Alphaville released their debut single, "Big in Japan", which Gold wrote in 1979 after hearing the music of Holly Johnson's band Big in Japan. In autumn 1984, they released their debut album, Forever Young. Despite its success, Frank Mertens left the band that year and was replaced in January 1985 by Ricky Echolette (born Wolfgang Neuhaus, in Cologne on 7 August 1960), who was credited on the Forever Young album.
"Big In Japan" was Alphaville's biggest hit, topping the charts in Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden, Venezuela and the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart (the group's only Top 10 on any Billboard chart). The single also reached the Top Five in Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Ireland and South Africa. It became the group's only Top 20 single in the UK, peaking at #8.
The band's next two singles, "Sounds Like a Melody" and "Forever Young," were also both European Top 5 successes, although the former track failed to make an impression on the American charts.
Amid reports that pop star Laura Branigan was featuring the song on her next album, Hold Me, Alphaville's "Forever Young" was re-released as a single in the US, but it did not prove to be massively popular. Branigan's version, though promoted on stickers adorning the album, subsequently remained an album cut in the US. She would go on to perform the song as an encore at nearly every concert she performed, until her death in 2004. The Alphaville version was released a third time in the US in 1988, to promote Alphaville: The Singles Collection, and peaked at #65, their highest charting (and also last) single on the Billboard Hot 100. International re-releases of Alphaville's "Forever Young" followed in 1989, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2009. Several covers have been recorded featuring male or female vocalists often erroneously attributed to be Alphaville's Marian Gold or Laura Branigan.

 Subsequent albums

In 1986, their second album, Afternoons in Utopia, was released and its first single "Dance With Me" was a Top 20 hit in Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and in remix form on the US Hot Maxi Singles chart, and reached the Top 30 in Austria, Italy and in the US Club Play chart. The album's second single was "Universal Daddy". For their third single, the band released "Jerusalem" in Germany only, while they went with "Sensations" for Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The final single from Afternoons in Utopia was "Red Rose", in 1987.
The LP was followed up in 1989 with The Breathtaking Blue, including the acclaimed (if not so successful) singles "Romeos" and "Mysteries of Love". The album was released as a CD+G, including black & white stills with original lyrics and German translation. As an alternative to individual music videos, the band enlisted nine directors, among them Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi), to create a film entitled Songlines based on the album's tracks.
The next album, Prostitute, was not released until 1994. The first single released was "Fools", followed by the second and last single from the album, "The Impossible Dream". In 1996, Ricky Echolette left the band.
Salvation, a back-to-the-roots opus, followed in 1997.
Stark Naked and Absolutely Live was released in 2000
In 2001, they released both their remix album Forever Pop and a DVD entitled Little America, which documented two concerts performed in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Bernhard Lloyd did not contribute to the 2003 album CrazyShow, and shortly after its release on March 18 2003, he officially left the group. The current core stage members of Alphaville are Marian Gold (vocals), Martin Lister (keyboards), David Goodes (guitars) and Jakob Kiersch (drums).
The album "Catching Rays On Giant", the first commercial studio album in 13 years, was released on November 19th, 2010 and entered the official German album charts at number 9 in its first week of release. It is available in two formats, one as a 12-track CD and the other a deluxe edition with CD plus 4 bonus tracks and DVD. It is also available digitally from various download platforms. The DVD in the deluxe package includes the video to the first single and a documentary titled "Audiovision" which is there in a normal version and also in a 3D version. The package contains 3D glasses to enable the viewer to enjoy this. The band held an album release party, where they played a short unplugged set, at the Quasimodo Club in Berlin on the evening of 18th November, 2010 to which their closest fans and friends were invited.
The album uniquely features band member Martin Lister on lead vocals on the track "Call Me Down".

 Projects

Gold has released two solo albums (So Long Celeste, 1992, and United, 1996, both mixing personal creations and covers), alongside his work in the band.
Lloyd also worked on a project named Atlantic Popes with singer Max Holler, a 13-track CD. In 1996, Frank Mertens started a musical project called Maelstrom, which was a combination of ambient-style music, impressionistic and colorful art in the form of paintings and sculptures, and etheric poetry. This project seems now to have been abandoned, though, as Mertens has not been visibly active with it.
At present the band is still touring and working on new material and have signed new deal with the Universal Music Group. The actual single and album releases were released at first in Germany only and through online shops and download platforms in German-speaking countries. The first single from the upcoming, long awaited new album is titled "I Die For You Today". This became available as a digital download on October 8th, 2010. The single was released in CD format on October 22nd, 2010. It entered the official German charts at number 15 in its first week of release.
Alphaville is touring the album Catching Rays On Giant across Germany in March 2011 with 12 dates currently planned.
The second single from the Catching Rays On Giant album is the track Song For No One, to be released on 18th February, 2011.

Discography

  • Forever Young (1984)
  • Afternoons in Utopia (1986)
  • The Breathtaking Blue (1989)
  • Prostitute (1994)
  • Salvation (1997)
  • Catching Rays on Giant (2010)

 Alphaville in popular culture

Alphaville's song "Forever Young" was featured in the movie Listen to Me (1989) featuring Kirk Cameron in one of his first film roles. It appeared also in an episode of the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia entitled "Underage Drinking: A National Concern" during a scene in which the main characters attend a high-school prom. Additionally, "Forever Young" was played in a high school prom-related scene in the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite. The American car company Saturn also used "Forever Young" in a promotional advertisement for the Saturn Ion.
Swedish Melodic Metal Band Embraced did a cover of "Big in Japan" on their 1998 Album Amorous Anathema. In 2000, Guano Apes also covered "Big in Japan" in their second full-length album, Don't Give Me Names. A puppet version of Wayne Rooney sings a karaoke version of "Big in Japan" on an episode of I'm on Setanta Sports. Rooney's team, Manchester United was in Japan that week for the FIFA World Cup Championship. Oakley's 2005 snowboarding DVD entitled The Community Project featured Alphaville's "Big in Japan" in the Japan sequence. In 2008, "Big in Japan" was featured in the commercial for the Swedish TV show Stor i Japan (Translated: Big in Japan) and was also used several times within the show, using different cover versions as the opening theme. VH1 Classic's show 120 Minutes often features the song.
In the first part of 2006, Australian guitar band Youth Group took their remake of "Forever Young" to #1 in the Official Australian Charts, thanks in part to exposure the track had received from being on popular US TV series The O.C. and its fifth TV soundtrack CD, Music from the OC: Mix 5. In 2007 and 2008, "Forever Young" was used in a commercial for Tourism New Zealand in their Worldwide "100% Pure New Zealand" Campaign. In 2009, "Forever Young" was featured in HBO's Big Love episode #27 after Sarah Henrickson tells her brother Ben in the sunrise after prom that she is pregnant.
The German-Tunisian rapper Bushido sampled the song "Forever Young" on his 2008 song "Für immer jung" featuring Karel Gott. The song appeared on his eighth album Heavy Metal Payback.
In 2009, the single "Young Forever" from the album The Blueprint 3 featured Jay-Z rapping over a version of the song "Forever Young" sung by Mr Hudson.
The Alphaville song "Big in Japan" was sung by contestant István Szarka on the Hungarian talent show Megasztár in May 2010. The song quickly became a YouTube sensation dubbed "Bikicsunáj", complete with subtitles mocking Szarka's lack of understanding and poor pronunciation of the English lyrics.
Brian Ferry's recent song 'Another night in Alphaville'.

 References

  1.  "Alphaville Official Website". http://www.alphaville.info.
Alphaville followed the passions and romances of the '80s ,  and embraced the dreams, illusions, utopias of this little girl named Scarlet Hewson. Thank you!

"with love" - Scarlet

Some phrases taken from the Cd First Harvest 1984-92's booklet :

" MAKING MUSIC IS ONE THING...BUT THE OTHER THINGS AROUND IT, THEY ARE REALLY, REALLY STRANGE.ABSOLUTELY THE OPPOSITE OF REAL LIFE."- BERNHARD



" I THINK WE'RE MORE FILM-MAKERS - AND ALPHAVILLE IS THE SHOOTING LOCATION FOR OUR MUSIC."- ECHOLETTE



" SOMETIMES PEOPLE USED TO SAY, "HAVE THEY GONE CRAZY NOW? TALKING WITH DOLPHINS AND ALL THAT!!"BUT I THINK ONCE WE'VE LEARNED THE LANGUAGE OF THE DOLPHINS - THIS MUTUAL APPROACH - THAT COULD BE THE MOMENT OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN OUR MESSED UP CIVILIZATION." -MARIAN



"MYSTERIES' DEALS WITH ONE OF THESE IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS , THE END OF THE IRON CURTAIN.ORIGINALLY WE PLANNED TO RELEASE THE SINGLE WITH A PHOTO OF A PIECE OF WALL GRAFFITI.BUT WHEN THE WALL REALLY CAME DOWN AND THE DUST SLOWLY SETTLED, THE PIECE OF THE WALL HAD VANISHED FROM OUR SINGLE COVER,TOO.ONLY A MAN WAS THERE SMOKING HIS PIPE IN A AQUARIUM .STRANGE,ISN'T IT?"- BERNHARD



"LASSIE IS SOMETHING LIKE AN ARCHETYPE OF THE LOST.HER SYMBOLIC POWER ALWAYS HAD SOME KIND OF COMFORT FOR ME IN THIS LOST WORLD."-MARIAN



"ONE DAY WE WERE GIVEN THE SKETCH FOR A THEATRE PLAY , FOR WHICH WE WERE SUPPOSED TO WRITE THE SOUNDTRACK.IT'S THE STORY OF A MAN , WHO AT NIGHT CONVINCES LONELY PASSERS - BY ON BROOKLYN  BRIDGE TO COMMIT SUICIDE.HE OFFERS THEM AS HUMAN SACRIFICES FOR HIS LOVER,WHO,YEARS AGO-BECAUSE OF HIM-COMMITED SUICIDE AT THE SAME LOCATION.IN HIS FRENZY HE TURNS HER INTO ERIS,THE GODDESS OF REVENGE.DUE TO TIME PROBLEMS, WE WERE UNABLE TO PURSUE THIS PROJECT.BUT IT WAS IN THAT TIME , THAT 'JERUSALEM' CAME TO LIFE.ANY QUESTIONS?" - ECHOLETTE



"THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AT CENTRAL PARK PLAYS HOME TO A HUGE , ANCIENT ASTEROID, ACTUALLY A SPLENDID SETTING TO MEET WITH YOUR LOVER.I WOULD THINK."-MARIAN

"EVERY TIME I HEAR THE INSTRUMENTAL PART AT THE END , TWO SPECIFIC PICTURES COME TO MY MIND WHICH I ONCE FOUND IN A OLD PHOTO-ALBUM : A BLONDE NAZI -BOY AND TWO GALLOPING GIRAFFES."-MARIAN

 









"PERHAPS ALL OUR SONGS ARE WINDOWS IN AN IVORY TOWER THAT IS SURROUNDED BY A CHANGING WORLD .EVERYWHERE YOU TURN THERE IS ANOTHER VIEW BUT ALWAYS FROM THE SAME BUILDING."-BERNHARD



"WE DIDN'T INTEND TO WRITE A PROPER SONG; IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SOME KIND OF JINGLE THAT ADVERTISES THINGS MONEY CAN'T BUY: ANARCHY,FREEDOM,LOVE,FUN AND A PIECE OF THE END OF THE WORLD."-MARIAN


"THIS ONE IS FOR JOHN LILLY, ALEISTER CROWLEY AND THE FALLEN ANGELS."-ECHOLETTE



"YOU SHOULD LET YOURSELF BE GUIDED BY WHAT THE SONG HAS TO TELL YOU."-BERNHARD



"PROBABLY YOU'VE ONLY REALLY GROWN UP , WHEN YOU CAN BEAR NOT BEING UNDERSTOOD."-MARIAN







Forever Young

Alphaville
Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while
Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you going to drop the bomb or not?
Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
The music's for the sad men
Can you imagine when this race is won
Turn our golden faces into the sun
Praising our leaders we're getting in tune
The music's played by the mad men
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, or never
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever young
Some are like water, some are like the heat
Some are a melody and some are the beat
Sooner or later they all will be gone
Why don't they stay young
It's so hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fading horse
Youth's like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever
So many adventures couldn't happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams swinging out of the blue
We let them come true
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, or never
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, or never
Forever young, I wanna be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?

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