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so80s presents Alphaville

 

A sneak peak at the booklet for the new Blank & Jones curated so80s Alphaville set which collections all the twelve-inch versions and B-sides across two-CDs, remastered from the original tapes (full track listing below).

The signed copies are now all sold out, but nevertheless this release still looks fantastic in standard form. Due out at the end of this month or early November depending territory.

alphaville

CD1: THE ORIGINAL 12 “MIXES

  • 01 Big In Japan (Extended Re-Mix) 7: 26
  • 02 Sounds Like A Melody (Special Long Version) 7: 43
  • 03 Forever Young (Special Dance Version) 6: 10
  • 04 Jet Set (Jellybean Mix ) 6: 32
  • 05 Dance With Me (Empire Remix) 8: 15
  • 06 Universal Daddy (Aquarian Dance Mix) 6: 19
  • 07 Jerusalem (The Palace Version) 6: 18
  • 08 Sensations (Club Mix) 6: 07
  • 09 Red Rose (The 12 “Remix) 7: 51
  • 10 Romeos (Extended Mix) 8: 37
  • 11 Summer Rain (Extended Version) 5: 30
  • 12 Mysteries Of Love (Remix) 7: 59

CD2 THE ORIGINAL B-SIDES 

  • 01 Seeds 3: 18
  • 02 The Nelson Highrise (Sector One: The Elevator) 4 12
  • 03 Welcome To The Sun 3: 10
  • 04 Golden Feeling 3: 52
  • 05 The Nelson Highrise (Sector Two: The Mirror) 3 42
  • 06 Next Generation 3: 58
  • 07 Vingt Mille leagues Sous Les Mers 5: 02
  • 08 Concrete Soundtraxx For Imaginary Films I 6 46
  • 09 Headlines 4: 12
  • 10 Sister Sun 3: 56
  • 11 Summer In Berlin (Demo Version) 5: 53
  • 12 Like Thunder 4: 47
  • 13 Big In Japan (Extended Instrumental Mix) 6: 00
  • 14 Jet Set (Dub Mix) 5: 12
  • 15 Romeos (Tribal Mix) 6: 32
  • 16 Big In Japan (Remix ’88) 6: 58

BONUS TRACK

  • 17 Big In Japan (Torsten Fenslau Remix) 7: 51
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36 Comments

36 thoughts on “so80s presents Alphaville”

  1. Along with the ‘Sensations’ Dub (mentioned above) the ‘Red Rose’ Dub is also not included. ‘Romeos’ Balcony Mix and Teknopella as well. Presumably due to space but would prefer the older material to the newer Big In Japan mix.

  2. Pingback: Blank & Jones / so80s volume 9 | superdeluxeedition
  4. Pingback: Win a SIGNED “so80s presents Alphaville” 2CD remix set | superdeluxeedition

  5. Thanks for your comments Paul and for clarifying. Oddly when it comes to books I really prefer an actual book to a digital file. I am not a fan of the kindle at all. I am 32 so I guess I am old enough to remember the pre digital era. I used to love buying CDs and reading the booklets. However I now think physical formats have little value. CDs to me are just a storage medium for the actual music.

    I look forward to your article though. It should make interesting reading.

  6. I will of course buy the physical product of the Big Chair remaster just to get the new mix and rip it but otherwise I have no use for the box.

  7. I am going to buy the FLAC version from Quobuz. I know the digital booklet is available with the itunes release at least. I hope it is available with Quobuz.

    I don’t agree that liner notes should be used as incentive to buy the physical product. It seems a rather outdated notion to me. Most people will be ripping the CD anyway to put in a portable player. Physical is on the way out. Digital booklets are the way to go. I really resent people trying to force people to stick with outdated formats like CDs. I am paying for the product and that should be enough. If I do buy the CD just for the notes I will simply scan them myself anyway then throw the CD in the bin.

    Sorry Paul.

    1. I think if you buy the product in any form you should get access to any notes etc. The point I made before was that scanning and putting notes online is out of order because they have some value. The purchase price of the product is that value, so if you’re paying for digital then that’s fair enough.

      Just picking up on your point about ‘most people will be ripping’ the content. Really? Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I honestly do not ‘rip’ anything to any device at all these days. I put CDs in CD players and play them, I put LPs on a turntable and play them and I sometimes listen to stuff on Spotify or via Amazon’s player where they put their autorips. The days of putting your CD into a PC or Mac (mine doesn’t even have a CD drive anymore) and ‘importing’ into iTunes are long since gone. I don’t have any music on my phone (really) and I don’t have an iPod anymore.

      This situation has happened organically and it’s not me being ‘old fashioned’ or having my head in the sand. Ten years ago everyone was desperately plugging they’re phones via cable into their computers and constantly faffing about syncing music, photos etc. Thank god those days are gone.

      Each to their own, but I did wince when I read your comment ‘digital booklets are the way to go’. I just do not ‘get’ having some PDF hidden away on your computer as a decent alternative to just sitting down and flicking through a book / booklet.

      I might do a post about how people consume music, because I think it has changed even within the whole MP3 era. More people are buying vinyl for a start which doesn’t correlate with ‘physical being on the way out’.

      Thanks for your comments Robert.

  8. Hi Paul… I truly dig your site! I was going to ask about this coming to the USA; however I just found it listed on iTunes (USA) for $19.99 US Dollars, so that will work for me. Thanks again for all your efforts!

  9. Why are they out of print?
    When they were released, they all belonged to EMI.
    Now Kajagoogoo and Ultravox belongs to Warner and
    OMD, Culture Club and Billy Idol belongs to Universal.

  10. Where is it $46 ? I ordered from Germany, incl. shipping it is $28

    As to the other So80s, no idea why they are no longer available, maybe sold out. The Ultravox one is mastered too loud (the early ones generally tend to be), so I would not really recommend that one.

  11. Can’t figure out why this is so much? I got the Kaja, OMD, Billy Idol and Culture Club. I will be waiting to pick this up until it is more reasonable. $46.00 is too much for a double cd set.

  12. @Matt, no, I didn’t find them (only digital downloads)! Also not on discogs’ marketplace nor their shop/site jpc.de! I’m pretty good in searching on the net. If I can’t find it, it’s probably nowhere to find. Perhaps you can ask them, there’s contact info/email on their shop/site.

    I wanted to get their So80s Vol3/4/6 for a long time for just 1 or 2 mixes I didn’t find elsewhere. But now I couldn’t find volume 4 anymore. Just found a German site, placed an order, hope they can get their hands on it & ship it to me (I doubt it as no one else online is offering this volume anymore)!

    Does anyone know where to get Alphaville’s 7″/single/edit/version/remix of the 12″ Remixes, on 1 or 2 CD’s! B&J should have included the 7″ as these are hard to come by.

    Amiga Compilation incl. mainly album versions
    The Singles Collection had only 4 songs
    First Harvest 1984-92 incl. partly later/newly remixes (according to some internet sources), so no original single remixes! Can the Alphaville’s fans confirm? I’m not a big fan, only liked a few singles of them, I’m buying this to support B&J, hope they’ll release some more of my fav artitsts so80s presents… In the future!

    And too bad, Sensations (Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero-Dub Mix) is missing! ;( I always have liked Steve & Michael’s remixes!

  13. Does anyone know why so80s Ultravox and Kajagoogoo compilations are no longer available for sale anywhere? Did they sell out or were they pulled? None used either and none on Ebay. Does anyone have the sets? Also, received signed copy here in the US. Well packed. Thanks Paul for alerting us as I would have had no idea this existed without SDE.

  14. Oops, forgot all about this! Just ordered mine from grooves-inc{DOT}com, search for So8os Presents Alphaville-Curated By Blank & Jon, euro21.59 free shipping (worldwide)!

    @Scott, thanks for letting us know there’s no problem with the quality! Like many re-issues/re-releases mentioned here, not many people reports back talking about the quality of the final product. I really appreciate it ;)

  15. Hi All, My signed copy arrive here in Australia, on Tuesday and I have already given it an airing. A Joy to have all the extended versions,together and some stuff, unavailable locally. Sadly here in Australia, Alphaville are largely only known for “Forever Young” and alot of folks think the cover by Youth Group, which was a huge hit, is the original. Ever since I heard Big in Japan, I was hooked. I have some local and imported Alphaville 12″vinyl, cassettes, cds, etc. I definitely would NOT class them, as one hit wonders, but then sometimes, that labelling, can be added, depending on terrorities, chart placements, etc, etc.

  16. Thanks to Kiki – I could only hope. Will almost certainly buy this, though the price is a bit gulp-inducing for those of us in the USA. BTW, the Razormaid version of Images of Heaven does appear on the Peter Godwin compilation of the same title on Oglio Records.

    2. CDs can go beyond 80 mins but most major labels choose not to do this because that doesn’t adhere to official ‘redbook’ standards apparently and can cause compatibility issues with older CD players. Apparently Blank & Jones have been doing this for a while and had no complaints or problems!

      1. My first CD player in the early nineties was a Technics bitstream that sounded great but refused to play discs longer than 75 mins it just stuttered through the first few minutes then played the rest of the disc fine. So I traded it in for a JVC that did play them. I was annoyed at not being able to get the brand I wanted, but it was obvious that 75+ minutes was going to be the norm for reissues.

  18. Wow… Reducing Alphaville to a One Hit wonder? That’s a bit rude…
    What About “Sounds Like Amelody”, “Forever Young” and “Dance With Me”, at least? They wer also huge European successes, and As far as I Know “Foerever Young” has been covered more times than “Big In Japan”…

    I do agree with the fact that this one is clearly expensive, more than any other so 80’s Reissue (Sandra was that much cheaper)… I think it will be a perfect gift for my Xmas ;-)

    To give an answer to Jon : the Razormaid mixes are not officials, so there is very few chances that they end on a official artist compilation..

    I’m not sure, but I thought they were 2 different extended of Big In Japan with 2 different 12″…

  19. Blank & Jones do superb work – I trust them with these releases since the sound quality is consistently good – worth th extra price in my opinion.
    I hope they get around to do 12″ compliations for Visage and The Eurythmics too…

  20. I got mine last week (signed copy!) and it’s great. Though many people only know Alphaville as one hit wonders for Big In Japan, they have a large and very rich catalogue of music and this 2 disc set is perfect in bringing together some mixes/tunes that as a fairly major fan I hadn’t heard/got.

    The sleeve notes are interesting, too, and give a nice insight into the world of Alphaville. This is definitely worth picking up for anyone who loves 80s synth pop.

    (BTW, their latest album, which I ordered at the same time, is fantastic!)

    1. Personally I think it’s a bit rude of people to do that. Decent liner notes should be part of the attraction / incentive to buy physical product. Someone scanning and bunging it all up online kind of defeats the point. I respectfully suggest if people want to read the notes they buy the product.

      1. Completely agree. It’s one of the reasons to invest in a set like this. If everything is given away for free then nobody will have the incentive to put the time and effort into creating superb compilations like this one and the recent Thompson Twins one.

      2. Sorry, I didn’t mean to suggest that people should read the liners on Discogs and thus avoid buying the CD. OF COURSE you should buy the physical product! I just meant that the video above is rather shaky and blurry. It shows you that the booklet is colorful but it doesn’t really show you what’s in it.

        Discogs is an archive for people who LOVE physical pressings and everything that goes with them. I don’t think most of the people there are the types of folks who would just download the music and read the liner notes online.

        1. No worries Don. I too love discogs, it’s a great resource. But my point stands – scan a page or two by all means so people can ‘sample’ the content, but someone putting it all up is a bit ignorant. I’m sure Blank & Jones did that video in such a way that you can’t read all the content for a reason. When I take photos of books that form part of deluxe editions I’m always careful only to show a page or two of text for this reason.

  24. I got my CD the other day and I’m very happy to report that the sound quality is stunning. The sound has not been brick walled at all, and all appear to be smooth and clear master tape transfers. Just an amazing and long overdue set, and I’m thrilled that it was done properly on all accounts.

  25. £23.99 seems rather expensive for a 2 disc set considering the band only had one major hit (‘Big In Japan’) and a few other singles (though good), especially as there have been recent 3 disc deluxe editions for lower prices. I for one will wait until the price goes down before purchasing it.

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