Alien 40 Years

Even though the ALIEN debut is 31 years old now it has lost nothing of its magic. In particular the two anthems “Only One Woman” and “Tears Don’t Put Out The Fire” are still a wet dream for any AOR fan. This reissue contains the original Scandinavian version with Jim Jidhed on vocals as well as the later US-version with new singer Pete Sandberg on vocals on some songs. Furthermore the re-release contains the two bonus tracks “Feel My Love” and “Touch My Fire” which make this album even more essential.

Fifty-Two Years: The Complete Singles “ includes both sides of every single – all in their original mixes/edits – that Bowie released in his five decade long career. As the music industry moved away from 7? 45s in the ’90s and ’00s and toward CD EPs, 12? dance mixes and downloads, every effort was made to keep with the original singles concept so some of these other formats are included, if there were unique versions, and it appeared that The Thin White Duke had intended it to be a stand alone release or to promote a new album. Each of his forays into different genres/personas are fully documented here.

For fans of Jerry Goldsmith's score for Ridley Scott 1978 movie Alien, this two-disc Intrada set is the ultimate fantasy. Everything is here and then some. Disc 1 contains Goldsmith's entire score as he originally intended it with every cue in place, including those that were later cut from the film plus his recomposed versions of cues the director made him change (Goldsmith's original main theme, for example, appears without its signature heroic trumpet melody because the director thought it wasn't creepy enough). Disc 2 includes the original soundtrack as issued on LP plus six other bonus tracks of demonstration takes and even the brief except from Eine kleine Nachtmusik used in the film. The stereo sound here is fabulous, the performances definitive, and the liner notes exhaustive. And the score, like the film, is a classic of its genre. With its mixture of the ecstatic chromaticism of Scriabin, the skittering strings of Penderecki, the harmonic waves of Ligeti, and the atmospheric percussion of Herrmann, Goldsmith's score became a template for all subsequent science fiction/horror movies. But as this splendid release so amply shows, the original still can't be beat.

15-LP or 11-CD collection boasts three studio albums, a remix compilation, two unreleased live LPs and a 2018 reworking of ‘Never Let Me Down’