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Friday, September 27, 2019

On this day in 1984: the release of Alphaville's 'Forever Young' album; new deluxe reissue out now

In early 1984, Alphaville released its debut single "Big In Japan." The song went to No. 1 in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and America's Billboard Dance Chart, but also went Top 10 in the UK and elsewhere. 

Following that successful first single, Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens recorded the debut album Forever Young.

The second single "Sounds Like A Melody" topped the charts in Sweden again and reached the Top 10 in several European countries. The title track "Forever Young" was released along with the album on September 27, 1984.

Since then the track has been covered frequently across all genres (Imagine Dragons, Jay-Z, Kim Wilde) and included in movies and TV shows. The Forever Young album hit the Top 20 in six European countries, went triple Gold in Germany and was awarded a Swedish Rockbjörnen as "best foreign album".

Alphaville vocalist Marian Gold says, "My musical career actually kicked off with a kicking out. When 'Big in Japan' had been released and stormed the charts all over Europe in the blink of an eye I was still busy in this restaurant kitchen in Münster peeling potatoes. And the cook said: 'Boy, they're playing your song on the radio every hour.' And then he threw me out."

Released last spring via Rhino Records, t
he new super deluxe edition box set has a remastered version of the album and additional material. CD 1 features the remastered original album, including "Big in Japan," "Sounds Like A Melody" and "Forever Young." CD 2 presents the original single versions, B-sides and 12" singles. CD 3 contains 16 rare demos and alternative versions as well as some of Alphaville's early compositions in German language.

The DVD features the 60-minute documentary "Never Grow Up - The Story of Forever Young," including current interviews with Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and the original album producers Colin Pearson and Wolfgang Loos among others, as well as the original music videos to "Forever Young," "Big In Japan," "The Jet Set" and "Sounds Like a Melody."

The package has a 24-page, vinyl-sized booklet, created by the art director of the original album in close collaboration with the band itself, containing numerous rare and previously unreleased photos, liner notes, quotes and production notes by the band, its former A&R and the producers.

"Producing the 'Forever Young' album back in the day was quite an adventure that brought about amazing results. We focused mainly on the vinyl album, seeing as CD mastering in 1984 was not yet as advanced. Luckily, I was able to dig up all of the original analogue master tapes that we had actually only recorded to be on the safe side. The newly mastered version of the album has a much warmer, rounder and more transparent sound, just as we had imagined back in the day," says Bernhard Lloyd.

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