Alphaville

Forever Young (Reviewed by wavemeister):

Alphaville 'Forever Young', released in 1984, Synthpop
Tracklist:

A Victory Of Love (4.14)
Summer In Berlin (4.45)
Big in Japan (4.43)
To Germany With Love (4.15)
Fallen Angel (3.55)
Forever Young (3.45)
In The Mood (4.29)
Sounds Like A Melody (4.42)
Lies (3.32)
The Jet Set (4.52)

1984 was a great year for Synthpop, and it also saw the first official debut of one of Germanys most successful bands of this genre, Alphaville.

Named after a movie by Jean Luc Godard, their first single 'Big In Japan' became a big hit almost on the spot, entering the German Single charts at #9, peaked at #1 and stayed in the Top 20 for over 3 months.

With it´s bombastic sound, it hitted the nerves of the New Romantic-generation, and the following album 'Forever Young' was entirely written in the same style featuring some similarites to the leading models from the UK. It also captured high positions in the German Album charts and reached notable sales throughout Europe, North America and Japan.

All tracks are featuring the great arrangements, luxurious keyboard patterns and big drama in the lyrics with the exception of 'The Jet Set', a joyous tune with a lyrically wink of the eye.
A remarkable fact was that they never toured to promote their albums in Alphavilles heydays, the last concert before 'Forever Young' was given on the last day of 1982 (under the band name 'Forever Young'), and they didn´t entered the stage then until 1993 - in Beirut (Lebanon)!

This album spawned another three singles, 'Sounds Like A Melody', 'Forever Young' and 'Jet Set' (the leading 'The' vanished from the single release). All of these releases managed to chart in the German Single Top 20.
All in all, it can be said that 'Forever Young' is a milestone of the 80s pop music culture.

In 2001, the remix album 'Forever Pop' was released, featuring the works of Paul Van Dyk, Eiffel 65 and many other artists.

Response to this review by Iluvthe80s): Umm...Yello are Swiss, consisting of Dieter Meyer (vocals) and Boris Blank (electronics).
But, you are completely right on the rest - Yello definetly played in a league of it´s own.

Response to this review by DarkWave): Umm...Yello are Swiss, consisting of Dieter Meyer (vocals) and Boris Blank (electronics).
But, you are completely right on the rest - Yello definetly played in a league of it´s own.