The Ringing of Your Laughter, It Sounds Like a Melody

It is really satisfying to see people appreciating the same (at least what I had perceived to be) obscure music as I do. In this case I'm referring to the 80's German electro-synth-pop-rock band, Alphaville.

Alphaville had pretty widespread success since their 1983 inception into the music world of New Wave so its not like 'nobody' has ever heard of them or at the very least, any of their songs.

I'd say their two most successful songs were "Forever Young" and "Big in Japan". Third runner up is "Dance with Me". Their first two albums "Forever Young" and "Afternoons in Utopia" sold remarkably well and gained them some notoriety.

With Marian Gold's brilliantly capable voice range and the unique sounds and subjects of their songs, they were different from the average New Wave band and for that I think they sat further in the back ground when put into comparison with bands like Flock of Seagulls,Simple Minds, Husker Du or Depeche Mode.

Now for some crazed fans(and I'm talking to myself here as well, as usual)lumping the New Wave gods Depeche Mode with the previous bands may be sac religious but then again, this is my blog, my own Personal Jesus, my own Black Celebration for one of my top five favorite New Wave bands of all time, Alphaville.

Now, back to the being satisfied part, the one I started with, the point that I'm continually digressing from. Tonight I typed in Alphaville into youtube.com and looked to see what videos etc they had from them. Some of their videos and the songs I thought were great when I was 10 are closer to uber-corny and just sort of disturbing, but I still have love for those quiffs, ahem.


What it was that I appreciated and was sort of surprised by, sort of, not entirely, were the multiple covers done for a song called "Sounds Like a Melody", which is a lesser known yet fantastic synth-violin-esque piece of music. Again, Marian Gold can sing anything, I'm convinced of that. The band Nod did a cover of it that was pretty impressive, more rock and roll, sort of NIN-ish, but well done.

DJ Lichtenfels made a dance track out of it, a modern dance song because its already meant to be a New Wave dance song. Its pretty well done. I have heard "Forever Young", "Big in Japan" and "Dance with Me" done to Techno so thats an obvious leap. Alphaville is a synth-pop band after all, cousin to Rave, Trance and Techno music.

Alphaville is still around today and they are more of a Trance-House dance version of their earlier selves. They aren't just this musically amazing group, but some of their songs reflect their awareness of the world around them.

Like I said earlier, their subject matter is often intense, sincere, passionate and hailing from Cold War era Germany, they are at times extremely conscious and poetic in their view of their part in the world drama. The song "Summer in Berlin" is the perfect example. This song reflects Marian Gold's current event consciousness and feelings about the long standing separation of East and West Germany and the plight of the people living under those conditions. How does one spend "a summer by the wall"?

according to Alphaville, something like this:
Summer in Berlin, it's alright
The day feels so tired
>From the lead in the air
And the fire in the skies
Life seemed to be a fault of grace
But it's ok
It gave you a kiss
In the middle of the crossroads

Summer in Berlin, it's alright
The heat of the sun
Which is stored in the pavement
Feels so fine
Here stands the innocent
and there it comes oh so wild
That's when you're longing
For a summer by the wall

Summer in Berlin, it's alright
Summer in Berlin, it's ok \

--One of my favorite songs and lyrics from Alphaville

I made a reference to them being 'quifs' at the end of an earlier paragraph. Of course, I have no problem with their apparent lean towards homosexuality. I've been on to it since I was 12 or so, the same way I knew Depeche Mode and Erasure were at least parts gay, possibly bi-sexual. My brothers told about DM and Erasure, to my youthful surprise. It did nothing to stop my amazement towards these groups abilities as song writers and over all musicians

side note--->
(Andrew Bell can sing like nobodies business and Vincent Clarke, these two make up Erasure, has produced legendary dance tracks that has gotten my head bouncing innumerable times. David Gahn and Martin Gore, the two main players in the Depeche Mode quartet are remarkable showmen and legendary songwriters and score writers that have marked their own places in history, not to undermine the ability and contribution of the other two DM members, Andrew Fletcher and Alan Wilder, the latter, after the 1981 DM debut album, replaced the aforementioned legend, Vince Clarke. Clarke went on to have major success with Alison Moyet in the band Yaz or Yazoo and still to this day, Erasure)<----side note concluded! I remember listening to the Alphaville song "Jet Set Society" and finally stopping to question what they meant by these lyric "If she's a lady I'm her man, if she's a man I'll do what I can". Well, its obvious Alphaville likes women because almost every love song they've written references some love for a woman but these lyrics, I mean, they're blatant bi-sexual lyrics.

I remembered my brother telling me about Erasure and then I said, wow, these guys too; oh well. The music is great, its fun, it was among my first great musical loves from my childhood and I still can dig it just fine today.

To me that shit never mattered, I mean, even the manliest of homo-phobes that I know are aware of Mick Jagger and David Bowie but they still sing along with the 'ooh-ooh's of "Sympathy for the Devil" and croon to the sad tale of title character "Major Tom" when they hear them on the jukebox, so really, the musicians personal sexual appetites are really so minor that they often fail to deter people from enjoying the products of their talents and passions.

Did I talk about digression earlier, i must be the king of it, lord. Alphaville, yeah, thats the ticket. I can't tell which album I listened to more, Forever Young or Afternoons in Utopia. The first one is darker, pop-rockier while the latter is airy, with stronger jazz-tones and as the title notes, a longing for a more idyllic sound and place in time, with songs where they cry out for "a universal daddy for everyone"(is that God or a sugar daddy for a lonely Marian Gold) In "Afternoons in Utopia", they sing often about magical worlds and scenes from outer space, all with the overtones of a desire for peace and the obvious 'Utopian' society. Politics from the shadow of the wall.

Anyway, even "The Breathtaking Blue" was so-so, a little too efforted and inane for my taste, yet never failing to showcase Gold's brilliant range and creativity in his vocals. The music wasn't half bad, a bit of a watered down mix of the two previous albums. The subject matter, for the most part, was dull and pointless. Of the whole album, probably three or four songs stand on their own. I believe they never gained back the early success after that third album. They were better off moving into the dance world and it has done them justice so far.

Once my friend The Debs found an Alphaville album on vinyl in a rinky-dinky little shop in Beechhurst, New York that had a song on it that I had never heard before and knowing what a huge fan I was of them, she grabbed it and bought it for me. I used to sense that she didn't really get my fanaticism for the band. I knew she liked a few songs, forever Young and the lot, but the rest I think she allowed me to keep for myself, yet she did like that one track on the vinyl she bought me very much, so I got the Alphaville bug through to her, at least a little bit.

I think the track was called "The Sun" or something like that. It was one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard and I haven't been able to find it again. Debs, if you know where it is, if you still have it, hold it for me, the "universal daddy" is coming home, by that I mean me, God.

Alright, so, check them out and any of the other bands I've mentioned if you already haven't and if you have, give them another go around, for old times sake. Listen to Alphaville, love Alphaville, you must do what I say,, schnell, mach schnell!!!(Top Spun, please correct my German)

Goose-Stepping to my bed by the wall

The Mallet