(c) 1989/99 by tobias prohl
alphaville...they still exist?! this is the question you always get when talking of alphaville (right, those who sang 'forever young' and 'big in japan'). yes, they still exist, and they always did. and they still make music: by the end of 1998 they released their anthology named 'dreamscapes'. if you like their music you're welcome to find out more about them at http://www.alphaville.de.
		(c) 1989/99 by tobias prohl
A L P H A V I L L E 1981: Christmas: very first official appearance of the founding members Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd with the 7-headed Nelson Community, a collective of artists, from which a little later ALPHAVILLE will arise. 1982/83: Sylvester: under the new band name "Forever Young" and with the new line-up Gold/Lloyd/Mertens a second concert takes place (the last for the next ten years) 1984: January: The debut-single "Big In Japan" is published, followed by "Sounds Like A Melody" and "Forever Young". In October the album of the same name is released. December: Frank Mertens leaves the band. The guitarist and keyboarder Ricky Echolette takes his place. ALPHAVILLE write the Soundtrack of the film "Der Bulle und das M?dchen" and take part at the charity project "Band f?r Afrika". 1985: January: Release of the fourth single "The Jet Set" 1986: April: "Dance With Me" is the pre-release of the second album "Afternoons In Utopia", produced by Peter Walsh (Scott Walker / Simple Minds) and Steve Thompson (a-ha, Bowie). The CD includes a live-performing-concept, which however never will be realised, because the band decides against live-concerts in order to concentrate for the time being on studio-activities. In June ALPHAVILLE publish "Afternoons" together with the single "Universal Daddy", in December the single "Jerusalem" is released. At the same time the ALPHAVILLE-music-project "Soundtraxx for imaginary movies" gets started which triggers off the coming co-operation with Klaus Schulze. 1987: May: start of the recordings for the third Album "The Breathtaking Blue" with Klaus Schulze. 1989: March: "The Breathtaking Blue" is released. In order to avoid the aesthetics of common videoclips the idea is born to connect the music with a shortcut-film. Nine producers, among them Godrey Reggio ("Koyaanisqatsi"), make a film of the pieces of the album under the program-title "Songlines". The contribution of Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein wins the Oscar award in Hollywood. 1992: June: in the band-owned Lunapark-studio the pre-works for the new, self-produced album "Prostitute" get started. Marian Gold publishes his first solo-album "So Long Celeste". At the same time the recordings of "Prostitute" get more and more extensive and time-consuming, so that the release date finally is deferred by more than one and a half years. 1993: On the basis of an invitation the band decides spontaneously, after 10 years stage-abstinence, to give a concert in Beirut. 1994: August: Release of the single "Fools", followed by the long-expected album "Prostitute". The CD is a kaleidoscope-like extract of a huge quantity of songmaterial, which arose in the course of the over two years of production work. 1995: The band betakes itself to South France for starting with the song-writing of "Salvation", the fifth ALPHAVILLE-Album. 1996: Ricky Echolette leaves ALPHAVILLE. The ALPHAVILLE-tourband is constituted in London. There also the recordings for "Salvation" with the producer Andy Richards (Art Of Noise / OMD) take place. 1997: As a first herald of this co-operation the first single "Wishful Thinking" is released. In September tthe album "Salvation" was released. Aftfer this release the contract between the band and their record-company wea ended. 1998: Alphaville successfully launched their official website at http://www.alphaville.de which now is their official means of communication to their fans. The band continued touring germany and easter-europe, they also played gigs in Peru and Moscow while they prepared the release of a new album: their anthology named "Dreamscapes" - a set of eight cds covering the complete band-history from the late seventies to the late nineties, including live recordings and former unreleased songs and mixes. All of the songs featured on "Dreamscapes" are in a format which has never been released before. And there's something special about "Dreamscapes": Alphaville produced both the music and the artwork themselves. This does definitely not mean the end of Alphaville - they already prepare a complete new album. the story continues at http://www.alphaville.de
		(c) 1989/99 by tobias prohl
alphaville live?! alphaville are playing live gigs, and that does mean a little more than two guys on stage accompanied by a sequencer: they are supportet by a second keyboarder, a drummer and a guitarrist. the live interpretation of their songs is very powerfull and exciting - you should make sure to see their show when you got the chance. they are permanently playing gigs - recently they played in south america, russia, poland and germany, find latest concert dates at the alphaville-homepage.
		(c) 1989/99 by tobias prohl