Alphaville are back with ‘Eternally Yours’ – an album of orchestral arrangements of their greatest hits.
Arriving four decades after their formation, the LP includes reworkings of 23 tracks, including their UK Top 10 hit Big In Japan, recorded with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg.
“It was clear to me from the start that Alphaville music is not of the present day, not of our world,” says Marian Gold. I have always sought to paraphrase it, saying: Our songs are like dreams, our music is dream music. It’s no accident that the first piece on the new album is entitled Dream Machine.”
“All 23 numbers on this album have been essentially clarified by their arrangement, they’re stripped clean, released, set free. Their true nature has been revealed.
“So ‘Eternally Yours’ really does sound to me as if it were actually the first Alphaville album – except that for forty years, it lay unreleased.
“We simply didn’t have access to an orchestra in those days, we ‘only’ had synthesisers and rhythm machines.”
He adds: “On ‘Eternally Yours’ I was sometimes singing with the last of my strength. I confess that as a singer, I’m starting to feel my age. Vocally, I have put into this album everything I had to give.”
Big In Japan (Symphonic Version) is out now.
‘Eternally Yours’ is out September 23 and available to pre-order now.