Alphaville - biography of the group. History of the Alphaville group

Alphaville is a German synth-pop band formed in 1982. The original line-up of the group consisted of three members - Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens. The team gained fame all over the world thanks to the hits "Big in Japan" and "Forever young".
In 1965, one talented Frenchman, Jean-Luc Godard, decided to make a science fiction film. He himself became its director and wrote the script. Initially, the film was supposed to be released under the title "Tarzan versus IBM", but during filming the more laconic and mystical name "Alphaville" stuck to it. The film takes place in the imaginary city of Alphaville (in fact, its image was copied from the Paris of the past and present), picturesque for strangers, but murderous for its population. All life in it was controlled by an all-powerful computer of the Alpha 60 model, which, unnoticed by living organisms, became a real dictator. There was another story.
In 1979, a science fiction comic series called “2000 AD” was very popular in the West. This was the comic book that featured the character of the now famous Sly Judge Dredd for the first time. In a story called "Strontium dog" his main character Johnny Alpha, mutant hunter, rescues small town from a raid by a criminal gang. In honor of this, the city residents renamed their town Alphaville.
All other references to the name "Alphaville" arose after the group acquired that name, and therefore do not represent any historical value...
German citizens Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens were leftist fanatics before the formation of their first group. The end of the 70s was a time of rebels. Young people willingly got involved in political squabbles and very fiercely defended their Political Views. Music became a weapon in capable hands. And the first songs, written by the guys in the heat of the struggle for their ideals, were teeming with slogans and socialist political propaganda. In particular, the public was asked to remove the government, remove several politicians, etc. It’s surprising how they didn’t end up behind bars, because such calls clearly went against the law. They were essentially communist intelligentsia, and a very ardent and obsessed one at that, and they were confident that through art, creative people could revolutionize the world. Marian Gold even lived in one shelter for such people in Berlin. Poets, artists and musicians who supported the ideas of communism lived there, and among their own this house was simply called a “hole.”
Bernhard and Frank knew each other for a long time, because... lived in the same city. They adopted synthesizers and, in search of entertainment, began to extract sounds from them, without having any professional skills in their souls. After meeting Marian Gold in a cafe near the "hole" in 1982, the whole trio of like-minded people decided to seriously start composing music, following a common, very lively interest in computers. But, unfortunately, and perhaps even fortunately, there were no programmers among them. The band purchased several synthesizers and, without waiting until they had enough songs to release a full-length album, were obsessed with the idea of ​​getting in front of people. Surprisingly, their first small concert attracted a lot of people, although the synth music with English texts was not listed in Germany at that time. This first success became the impetus for the formation of the group Forever Young (a song with that name was one of the first that the guys wrote). They played New Year's concert and decided, together with their friends and girlfriends, to organize the Nelson Project, a project that was located in Münster. They were united by common musical tastes and love of creativity. Soon three girls Arian, Julia and Martina began performing under the name Girl Next Door. Our heroes, too, the three of them continued to work on the songs they had already started and recorded several demos, among which were “Big in Japan”, “Summer in Berlin” and “Fallen angel”. Cassettes with these recordings have long sought their way to the favor of workers at many labels. They decided to rename the group Alphaville (all three really loved Gordar’s films).

And at the end of 1983, Alphaville achieved what they wanted - the WEA label signed a contract with them, and the single "Big in Japan", released on January 5, 1984, immediately brought the group 1st place in the charts of many European countries.
This is how the world came to know one of the most mysterious groups, nevertheless composing simple songs that are understandable to most mortals. Marian, Bernhard and Frank were able to envelop their music in an aura of mysticism. Sometimes it even seemed that these sounds simply could not have arisen on Earth, and the words with far-fetched consistency carried the listener to distant planets of the Universe; foreign thinking beings were often mentioned. But they masterfully mixed everything foreign with completely earthly motives, and from this point of view, the debut album of the group “Forever young” should be considered a classic of the versatility of lighting modern life, although over time these songs may seem very naive to some.
Revealing the secret of the creation of "Big in Japan", Marian immediately made a reservation that in 1978, when he wrote this song, he really did not like it and therefore lay on the table for a long time. It was all about its meaning, which still not everyone can grasp. In short, to become a superstar and earn a lot of money, at that time you had to organize a band playing (no matter how) hard rock, and be sure to release an album in Japan. Success would be guaranteed! And the point here is that even if no one knew him in Europe, he would have done big name in Japan (Big in Japan). And with such a phrase, Marian was able to express the state of his friends and himself, who were on the needle, when they were at the peak of “bliss.” The song brought back dark memories to him, he wasn’t looking for cheap success, and he wouldn’t have returned to the needle for anything, but the song was brilliant, so it went like this debut single, and, in general, it was thanks to her that Alphaville gained millions of fans, practically not performing live, with the exception of actions under the auspices of Greenpeace, of which they soon became members. By the way, the video for this single was directed by Dieter Mayer himself from Yello, and his wife played a seductive Japanese woman in it.
It should be noted that the guys immediately did not get along with their first manager, who was constantly trying to impose an image that was alien to them. For example, Marian and the team were asked to go on stage exclusively in pullovers, but the men thought this idea was stupid. After the group gained wide fame and earned enough “tips,” this weirdo was fired, and his favorite pullovers were sold at a second-hand store. Since then, the uniforms of the Alphavilites, as their videos eloquently testify, have invariably corresponded to the futuristic philosophy of the group.

In 1984, following “Big in Japan,” two more singles were released, “Sounds like a melody” and “Forever young” (the latter received a rating of at least “Japanese”). Frankly speaking, if, God forbid, Alphaville had ceased to exist then, these songs would have been enough to write their name in golden letters in history musical movement. They would remain the face of synth music in the mid-80s, and many would be happy with that if they were in the place of Marian, Bernhard and Frank. But our heroes felt the strength to move on, not sparing either their imagination or their computers, the work of which was present in ninety percent of their first works.
Unfortunately, the original composition of the group could not be preserved. At the very end of the most memorable year for Alphaville, 1984, Frank Mertens left the group and soon founded his own band under called The Lonely Boys. And Alphaville acquired a new member, Ricky Ecolette, who worked with Marian in his pre-Alphaville group Chinchilla Green. Ecolette's real name - Wolfgang Newhaus - as it turned out, has already been in the booklet of the album "Forever young". In an interview, Marian Gold then stated that for the group and for him, as a songwriter in particular, it was very important to find a replacement for Frank from among himself. Secondly, new person could add an element of surprise to the homogeneous atmosphere of the essay. Well, I won’t underestimate the acquisition of Rick as not just a great keyboard player, but also an excellent guitarist - both bass and solo.
Alphaville's second album, "Afternoons in Utopia", was released in 1986. He no longer radiated any naivety, and the sound spoke for itself. Beautiful, but “naked” synthesizer holidays gave way to pop everyday life. Here for the first time we can appreciate Marian’s talent as a writer. His lyrics fascinate with each new appeal to them; they force you to listen and think, using a lot of hidden symbols and messages. Immediately for the first time (obviously, as soon as the opportunity arose) there were links to the group’s past songs, famous poets, and, as already noted, Alphaville delved even further into science fiction, touching on the theme of extraterrestrial civilizations. Against the backdrop of the singles "Dance with me", "Jerusalem", "Sensations" and "Red rose", a whole team of other tracks stood out with an amazing variety of instruments used, including wind instruments, and even a female choir. Were pleasant surprises, for example, the touching, almost spiritualistic "Lassie come home". In general, the album turned out to be unique, although for some reason Bernhard liked it the least.
Almost synchronously with this album, a specially assembled collection for East Germany, "Alphaville", was released famous songs group, and it is very commendable that the guys were the first of the West German groups to decide to destroy the “Iron Curtain”. And after a concert tour in America in 1988, the team’s second “local” collection “The singles collection” was released, which included seven-inch and twelve-inch versions of “Forever young”, “Big in Japan”, “Red rose” and “Dance with me”, designed to promote the music of a group with European recognition, but completely unknown in the United States.
In May 1989, Alphaville's third studio disc, "Breathtaking blue", appeared. The group changed its concept, sound and even producer. The famous synthesizer guru Klaus Schulz began working with them and happily became the producer of this creation. Despite this, there was no turning back for Alphaville to pure, naive synth-pop. For the first time in their history, the musicians played something very reminiscent of pop-jazz, rock and classical elements at the same time. They have never been such humorists (listen more carefully to “Ariana” and “Middle of riddle”, or better yet, get the lyrics - they are simply magnificent). Oddities and lack of commercial approach in to a greater extent characterize this most experimental, symphonic and fluid Alphaville album.

Unfortunately, not having inherited any significant commercial veins, this album did not have wide publicity. In addition, the WEA label, after thinking hard, decided not to shell out much money for the filming and promotion of Alphaville's first video film "Songlines", the soundtrack for which was all the songs from "Breathtaking blue", except for "Anyway". The group's financial capabilities were also limited, but the film still appeared. It was ready in 1990, and by this time three singles from the band's current album, "Romeos", "Mysteries of love" and "Summer rain", had already been released.
There was a lull, which was largely long-awaited for the guys. Each of them received a lot of free time, but continued to do their work. Marian began writing songs for his first solo album, “So long celeste,” and Bernhard began remixing old, well-known Alphaville songs, which very soon, in 1992, were collected in one best hits album, “First Harvest 1984-92.” All the band's singles were here, except for "Universal daddy" (that's just disgusting to Gold!). Quite deservedly, the compilation included two versions of two of Alphaville’s most brilliant songs, “Forever Young” and “Big in Japan,” as well as three songs that were not released as singles at the time, but are definitely worthy of this honor. These are "For a million", "Lassie come home" and "A victory of love". In general, the new sound of familiar melodies did not spoil the picture, with the exception of the “Sounds like a melody” remix.
Almost immediately after finishing work on this collection, Marian’s debut solo album “So long celeste” was released. Of course, the most best songs it contained songs that could compete with the band's songs, but at the same time were not similar to Alphaville. Two songs stand out: “Today” and “What is love”, as well as one of Gold’s most successful compositions “Legends”, which, to the great regret of fans, was only released on back side the single “And I wonder”, which was released in conjunction with the second single from this album “One step behind you”; As many as four covers look the worst. The album arouses a certain interest, but it can hardly be compared both in sound and philosophy with Alphaville’s past creations. In 1993, a rare album, little known to the general public, was released, a collection of some of Alphaville's "live" performances "History", but little is known about it.
In 1994, a new album, “Prostitute,” was released, which, as soon as it appeared, immediately gained fame as the darkest, even black Alphaville album. Again, variations with styles from pop and rock to reggae and a shift in mood from overt aggression to intimate experiences from song to song made this creation truly some kind of stormy with partly cloudy skies. The only highlights were a few light and even to some extent commercial tracks like “The impossible dream” (one of the two singles released) and “Faith”, as the most optimistic song on the disc. In short, people have never heard anything like this from Alphaville before. The album was not released general concept, rather it is a collection of 16 in its own way wonderful stories. The lyrics are really top level, even less synthesizers and more guitar. In general, almost the most best symphony performed by the group, if you try to fully understand everything that was intended by the musicians.
In 1995, that wonderful moment came when the group went on their first world tour. Although it was difficult to call this almost foreign mass a group. Only Marian from the main team went, but Bernhard soon joined him. In December 1996, the tour ended with a final concert in the German city of Lübben, after which a grand party took place in Berlin for all Alphaville music lovers, presenting to the people some of the songs of the group's new album. Unfortunately, it was announced that Ricky Ecolette had left the group. Later their regular producer also left.

In the same year, the eternal bachelor Marian recorded his second solo album, "United". This figment of the imagination of Gold, who has aged considerably in appearance, looks even darker than “Prostitute”. There is a lot of bitterness and unbelief in it, but perhaps this is self-irony and very personal lyrics seem to incline towards just such an explanation of what is happening in the soul of a young middle-aged man. This album is perhaps the most difficult to understand of everything that has ever been released under the Marian Gold / Alphaville guise, but also the most interesting, because it is fundamentally different from all their work. But why release it only in South Africa? Either it is so personal that only blacks could understand it, or its author wanted to prove to everyone that Marian Gold is also Marian Gold in Africa?!
Much of the material on the band's new album, "Salvation", released on September 1, 1997, was more or less written by Marian, Bernhard and Rick in a small rented house in the south of France. They didn’t know how it should turn out, but what they wanted most of all was to remain true to their own philosophy, slightly distorted latest albums. Whatever they said and sang in the 90s, they have and should have a concept. In other words, this is complete spontaneity of actions, impulsiveness in decision-making and intuitiveness in choosing a topic for conversation with listeners. And in new ones they again turned to mysticism, proved the existing theory about extraterrestrial origin man, or at least his fantasies. Like in the old days good times, crazy thoughts themselves came into their heads, and Marian’s hardworking hand and Bernhard’s musical brain transformed them into the language of music.
Andy Richard, known for his work in the creative team famous producer Trevor Horn, helped the guys this time. As a producer, he corrected the authors at the right moments and maintained a given rhythm of work. The result is an album like no other, brilliant in its own way, as always, unlike the previous ones. Alphaville once again confirmed that they are wonderful musicians, worthy of respect and imitation. They intervened in time in the geographical distribution of regalia in the musical world, where the British and Americans are traditionally strong. In the 60-70s, Germany already gave birth to worldwide famous musicians, be it Kraftwerk or Can, but they were classified more as experimental “new age” music and everyone lamented why a German supergroup with decent vocals had not yet appeared. Alphaville filled this gap and remained the only ones in this niche from the outside German representatives"new wave"!
On November 19, 2010, Alphaville released their long-awaited new album, Catching Rays On Giant, their first commercial album in 13 years.

As part of the media sponsorship of the Alphaville concert, RIA Novosti is holding an SMS quiz. Every day from April 14 to 18 you can win a ticket for two to a concert legendary group 80s Alphaville in the State Kremlin Palace.

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The group Alphaville appeared in Germany in the early 1980s. Its story begins with experiments in the field of electronic music by two enthusiastic friends from the West German town of Engere, Bernhard Lloyd (real name Bernd Gössling) and Frank Mertens. Having left the NELSON PROJECT group by that time, the friends began writing “synthesizer” music that was popular at that time. After some experimentation with synthesizers, they decided that they needed a talented vocalist, and soon they were joined by Bernhard's longtime friend, who lived in Münster at the time, Marian Gold.

In 1981, in an underground club where Lloyd worked as a DJ at the time, the group gave its first concert.

The group gave its second concert only in 1983, and the musicians chose the phrase “Forever Young” as the name for their trio.

In 1983, the musicians signed a contract with the WEA record company. The first single released, Big In Japan, immediately brought the group first places in the charts of many European countries. Then the idea arose to give the group a new name. Being big fans of cinema and science fiction, the musicians decided to call their group Alphaville (the name of the science-fiction film by Jean-Luc Godard).
This is how the German synth-pop group Alphaville appeared, consisting of Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens, who left the group in December 1984 and was replaced by professional guitarist and keyboardist Ricky Ecolette.

In 1984, the group’s debut album “Forever Young” and hit singles (“Forever Young”, “Sounds Like A Melody” and “Jet Set”) were released, thanks to which the group rocketed to the top of the charts and achieved worldwide recognition.

By that time, the musicians already had their own studio in Berlin and were working on their second album, "Afternoons In Utopia", which was released in 1986.

On the next studio album, "The Breathtaking Blue", released in March 1989, the Alphaville group worked together with the legendary electronic engineer Klaus Schulze. Nine directors, including Russian actor and director Alexander Kaidanovsky, created a film called “Songlines” from the album’s songs. One of the film's clips later won an Oscar.

In the fall of 1994, Alphaville released the album "Prostitute". This work was unsuccessful commercially, but encouraged the band members to go on their first European tour.

In 1995, Alphaville finally felt it was time to go live.

Having played concerts for the first time in 1995-1996, the group successfully continues its concert activities in Germany and other European countries.

In 1996, keyboardist Ricky Ecolette left the group.

In 1998, Alphaville came to Russia for the first time and successfully performed at the Disco Stars festival in Gorky Park and at the Metelitsa nightclub.

The group visited Russia several more times: in June 1999 Alphaville gave a concert in St. Petersburg, in June 2000 in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, in April 2003 in St. Petersburg, where the group performed with the Russian group “Semantic Hallucinations” .

In 2001, Bernard Lloyd stopped taking part in touring and switched to his new project "Atlantic Popes", which is very far from the work of Alphaville. And Marian Gold, in collaboration with instrumentalists Klaus Schulz, Rainer Bloss and keyboardist Martin Lister, posts one new song per month on her official website throughout the year.

Throughout 2002, the group actively toured Europe, including concert program new songs. From time to time, Alphaville continues to give both solo concerts and performances at various European festivals.

In March 2003, Bernard Lloyd officially announced his retirement. The core of Alphaville at that time was Gold, keyboardist Rainer Bloss, who had co-written many of the band's songs since the early 1990s, and Brighton music director Martin Lister.

In 2004, the group performed for the first time accompanied by a string quartet.

Today the group Alphaville, which began its work in the 1980s with synthetic music and went through an experimental path in the 1990s, is one of the most interesting groups of the century.

Alphaville is a German synth-pop band. Formed in 1984 with: Marian Gold (b. May 26, 1958; vocals); Bernhard Lloyd (February 2, 1960), Frank Mertens (October 26, 1961); Ricky Echolette (keyboards). It all started when Marian and Bernhard left the Nelson Project in 1982 and, together with Frank, Bernhard’s longtime friend, began writing “synthesizer” music that was popular at that time. Initially the group was called Forever Young, but it was soon decided to rename it Alphaville. The musicians recorded several demos, including Forever Young, Big In Japan, Summer In Berlin and Fallen Angel. At the end of 1983, the group was offered a contract by the WEA record label. The first single released, Big In Japan, immediately brought the group first places in the charts of many European countries. In September 1984, the debut album “Forever Young” was released, which went platinum in Sweden, Switzerland and Germany. In December of the same year, Frank Mertens left the group and was replaced by guitarist and keyboardist Ricky Ecolett. In 1986, the second album “Afternoons In Utopia” was released, including the hits Dance With Me, Jerusalem, Sensations and Lassie Come Home. This album, planned as a musical, became a reflection of the musicians’ worldview, an expression of the global problems that concern them. On their next studio album, “The Breathtaking Blue,” released in March 1989, ALPHAVILLE worked for a year and a half with the legendary electronic engineer Klaus Schulze. Nine directors, among whom was A. Kaidanovsky, created a film called “Songlines” from the album’s songs. One of the film's clips later won an Oscar. In 1994, the album “Prostitute” was released; it included songs selected from a huge amount of material accumulated over more than two years of work. Two years later, keyboardist Ricky Ecolett left the group. In 1998, the group gave a concert in Moscow during a European tour. The same year, a new anthology album, Dreamscapes, was released - a set of 8 discs covering the entire history of the group, starting from the late 1970s, including live recordings. All songs were presented in a new, never before published form. In June 2000, the band's first live album, Stark Naked And Absolutely Live, was released, and stayed at the top of the alternative charts in Germany for a whole month. In January 2003, another studio album called "Crazy Show"; it consisted of 4 discs and was distributed exclusively on the Internet. On the day of release, an online party was organized on the Moonbase website for all fans of the group. It offered two new songs for download - Ways and Heartbreaker
Discography:
1984 - Forever Young
1986 - Afternoons In Utopia
1988 - The Singles Collection
1989 - The Breathtaking Blue
1992 - First Harvest 1984 – 1992
1993 - History
1994 - Prostitute
1997 - Salvation
1998 - Dreamscapes
1999 - Visions Of Dreamscapes
2000 - Stark Naked And Absolutely Live
2001 - Forever Pop
2003 - Crazy Show
2010 - Catching Rays On Giant

Internet resources:
www.alphaville.de
www.alphaville.narod.ru
www.alphaville.kiev.ua

Date of foundation: 1982

Other names: ALPHAVILLE, A Ville, Alpha Ville, Alphavill, Alphawille, Ville, α Ville, αVille, アルファヴィル, Marion Gold, Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens

Greetings, dear readers of our blog! Let's talk today about the popular German group Alphaville. We know them well from the songs Forever Young and Big in Japan. In the 80s they achieved great success and were famous throughout the world. So they passed the test of glory a very long time ago. But to this day, the group is known and often talked about in Europe on the eve of big festivals, and Alphaville sometimes comes to Russia with full-fledged concerts. True, little is known about the band members themselves. Therefore, in this article I will tell the history of the Alphaville group, as well as how the composition of its members has changed over the years.

The history of the Alphaville group began a long time ago, back in the late seventies, when Bernhard Lloyd and Marian Gold met. These are not their real names, and their real names are barely pronounceable German consonances. So the guys did the right thing by choosing such simple and sonorous pseudonyms. For example, Marian was named after his grandfather, and took his surname from George Orwell’s book “1984.”

Big in Japan is the first song of Alphaville

Both guys performed in the same group and lived in Berlin. A little later, Marian got pretty tired of all this, and he left for Munster. And Bernhard became close to another musician - Frank Mertens(and this is also a pseudonym). New friends began to write music together, wrote, wrote, and finally realized that they needed someone to sing these songs, moreover, they needed poems for these songs. And then Bernhard remembered his old friend Mariana and immediately called him. Marian came to visit, listened to the music, liked it, and immediately put his poems on it under the name Big in Japan.

This song is about how easy it is to become a star in Japan. You can be completely untalented, your name will mean nothing to Europeans, but in Japan you are the King. This song has another subtext, which Marian has only spoken about once: this song is dedicated to his drug addict friends. This is a very sore subject for him, since the singer himself had problems with drugs, but in time he came to his senses and stopped all relations with them. Ever since the song took on life, Marian hated it.

Thus the trio was completed. And the guys had only one task - to write songs. Which is what they did. Then the question arose about the name of the group, and all three decided to represent themselves with the help of their most beautiful song, as it seemed to them then - Forever young. It was under this name that they gave their first live performance, which went off with a bang, all three were happy. And they drove off to Munster to record their songs. There they organized a socialist commune for creative people.

They soon returned to Berlin, where they signed a contract with a recording studio and began preparing to release their first album. But before that they had to change the name, since Marian suddenly decided that if in twenty years he would perform in a group under the name “Forever Young”, it would look at least strange. He was 30 then, and his colleagues Bernhard and Frank were 24 and 23, respectively. Thus, Marian made it clear to everyone that he was not going to be a member of a fly-by-night group and intended to give all of himself for the sake of creativity. And after the meeting they changed the name to Alphaville. That was the name of their favorite film by Jean-Luc Godard, which was about a future where computers rule everything.

First single new group became the same song Big in Japan, so hated by Marian. And ironically, it is precisely this that is one of the band’s calling cards, the song that everyone recognizes. And the album, which they called Forever young, came out a little later. It was a completely electronic album, no live instruments. And if you ask Marian now what he thinks about all this, he will probably say: “Listen carefully, because we didn’t really know how to play there yet.” However, the undoubted advantage of the musicians was that they were able to breathe soul into cold instruments. And although it was mainly dance music, it made you not just move, but think. This was also due to the undoubted talent of Gold the poet and his voice. The voice is either low or soaring.

Frank was the first to break down: he was not satisfied with the life of a star and everything connected with show business. Being naturally very shy and timid, Frank makes a serious decision to leave the group. His colleagues agree with him and respect his decision, so a new person appears in Alphaville - Ricky Ecolette. With Frank's departure, a lot has changed in the group. Never again will they record such a direct, sincere album as Forever young with its simple but sweet melodies. But one thing remains - the opposition within the group. The previously calm Bernhard and Frank were contrasted with the energetic Marian. In this sense, Ricky fit well into the empty niche and balance was restored. But he brought a guitar with him.

The guys fired their managers, took off the stupid sweaters they forced them to wear, and began to build a new face for Alphaville. And the next single Dance with me was radically different from the style of the first album. Lightness was replaced by depth and detachment from the world - so cruel and merciless - increased even more. Peace, tranquility and dreams reigned in Alphaville's songs. And they even named the album in the end Afternoons in Utopia.

The group improved noticeably. But fans did not forgive them for leaving the style of Frank Mertens, and their record company did not particularly support such experiments on a product that once brought success. But the guys stuck to their line, and still won the recognition of both old and new fans. Their fame quickly crossed the threshold of their native Germany, flew all over Europe, looked into the USA, South America And South Africa. It seemed like there was no place on earth where Alphaville wasn't being listened to.

But then Marian started old song about touring, but Bernhard and Ricky didn’t want to hear anything about it. The topic was closed, and the group set about creating a third album. But they had problems: something fell apart, they lost something. So they fiddled around in search of new ideas, because they didn’t want to stand still and give the listeners Forever young No. 2 or Afternoons in Utopia No. 2.

New producer: Klaus Schulz

And fate brought them together with an amazing man Klaus Schulz, a legend German music. The acquaintance began with a playful promise to make a remix of one of the trio’s songs, and ended with all four enthusiastically sitting in the studio and creating something. The resulting result amazed everyone: the musicians themselves, their fans, and producers, who could not allow Alphaville to do whatever they wanted. And then Klaus decided to produce his new friends himself. Thus, they got out of another scandal. Album entitled The Breathtaking blue, released in 1989. Its creation took the group three whole years instead of the intended one. But the wait was worth it. These songs were truly breathtaking. If it weren't for Marian's voice, who could dare to say that all three albums were written by the same people: What has always captivated about this group is that they always go forward with a plus sign.

Songlines

But the trio surprised their fans once again. Instead of making videos for just the songs that would be released as singles, they shot videos for every song on the album! This project is called Songlines. Directors were invited from different countries and each of them was entrusted with some composition. The video for the song For a million was shot by Russian actor and director Andrei Kaidanovsky. And all three unanimously still declare that this is their best video. And for the video for the song The middle of the riddle, German directors received an Oscar award!

But the disc sold poorly. Only loyal fans were prepared for such changes. New listeners chose to ignore the songs that took their breath away.

Solo album by Marian Gold

After such a bright album, the guys decided to take a break. Bernd and Ricky began making remixes of old songs, and Marian began recording a solo album. He titled his creation So long Celeste- a kind of greeting to Leonard Cohen, one of Marian’s favorite performers. The disc originally contained guitar music, since the author himself always believed that his voice was more suited to the sound of a guitar than to synthesizers, but the management record company thought it was nothing like Alphaville. Therefore, proud Marian had to give up his ideas and change his sound. As a result, he was not very happy with his first solo album. It was released in 1992 two months after the release of a collection of the best songs of his group, which was called First harvest.

The beginning of the concert activities of the Alphaville group

And in 1993, something out of the ordinary happened for the Alphaville group and a very ordinary event for any other group - the trio gave a live concert in Beirut, Lebanon. Finally, Marian persuaded his colleagues to go on tour, even if at first it consisted of only one concert. From electronic groups You always expect them to look like a pale shadow of themselves in real life. But Alphaville was an exception here too. They took ten musicians on stage, but reproduced everything they did in the studio. And Marian’s voice, it turned out, was not only good to listen to in the recording. He seemed even more beautiful alive. And there is no need to say that after this the group gained even more fans.

Album Prostitute

And immediately after the concert, the trio began recording a new album. It was a continuation of the ideas of The Breathtaking blue, which they improved and presented from a different angle. The mood of the disc changed from hopelessness to light sadness. And overall it was a very sad album, although it is what is called the best. I was also struck by its name - Prostitute. The main topics were politics and religion. It seemed that they themselves had lost faith in the Utopia that they gave to their listeners.

An unusual tour of the group Alphaville

After the release, the Alphaville musicians came to a compromise: Bernhard and Ricky stay at home and relax, and Marian goes on the long-awaited tour and represents the whole group alone. Marian said that he was incredibly happy that performing was exactly what he had been missing all these years. Between performances, the soloist also recorded his second disc entitled United. Now he confessed his love for his other idol - David Bowie, making a cover version of his song Five years. And he did it quite well. This disc was not as tightly controlled as the first, and Marian should have been pleased with the result.

How a trio became a duet

In the summer of 1996, Ricky Ecolette left, turning the trio back into a duo. He chose his family, deciding that he could not combine his love for them and being in a group like Alphaville, to which he devoted all his time. And Bernhard and Marian were creating again in the studio. The fifth album is named Salvation, although initially there was a desire to dub it Inside out after the track that opens the disc and most clearly reflects general mood album. It was a return to the roots, to the spirit of their debut disc Forever young. The spiral of history led them to where the guys started and took them to another level.

According to the soloist, they planned to see how such music would be perceived by today's youth. The youth received it with a bang, but the old fans, having become accustomed to the march forward, were disappointed. There is a famous question that was asked to Marian, as the author of the texts, why there was such a rollback and the poems became completely simple? To which Marian, with his usual sense of humor, responded as follows: “I even know which song you don’t like the most! This is Flame! And then he explained that the poems are really simple, but each poem has a special line that changes the perception of the entire song. Sometimes it is easy to notice, as in the composition Wishful thinking, sometimes it is difficult, as in Flame.

Dreamscapes album on eight discs and Crazy show on four

And then Bernhard and Marian made a real gift to their fans: in one calendar year they released 8 (!) discs. This project included previously unreleased tracks from the group and was entitled Dreamscapes. 125 songs at once. A year later, the live album Stark naked and absolutely live was released. And Bernhard started his own Internet project called Atlantic Popes. 2001 - collection of remixes Forever pop, where you can hear a new sound of their old songs. And at the beginning of 2003 - another 4 discs with new and unreleased Crazy show compositions.

In 2003, Bernhard Lloyd left the group, citing the fact that he was no longer involved in the creation of Alphaville albums. And now the creative core of this team consists of the evergreen and energetic Marian Gold, Martin Lister and Rainer Bloss.

This band Alphaville is strange. They either remain silent for years, or inundate fans with their albums. They also love meeting fans. At almost every meeting of the official fan club, you can see the figure of Marian at the microphone or taking pictures with fans, or Bernhard chatting with them or modestly hiding, who can also be asked to take a photo. One time they both showed up wearing fan club T-shirts with the word Moonboy on them. And the fans wrote an album of cover versions in gratitude.

But Marian Gold prefers not to talk about her personal life. However, it is known that he is the father of many children and has a wife.

U2's Bono recently confessed to his sin again. After loving words towards ABBA and a-ha, the great Bono said that he also values ​​and respects Alphaville very much. To which Marian Gold said: “Oh, I love U2 too!”