Big Project ME From January 2014

For the first time ever 'So8os presents Alphaville' brings together all original 12" mixes from the 80s plus their famous B-Sides. All songs are transferred from the Original Master Tapes and the band is actively involved in the whole project with Blank & Jones. This collection of 12" releases covers not only the A-sides but also the B-sides which Alphaville used as a field for experiments without any commercial commitments. The results represent more than just hidden treasures.

Even before the first KuschelRock album, Kuschelrock was named as a weekly nightly music program for HR3 radio station (HR3 broadcasts from Frankfurt, Germany), the author and host of this project was Thomas Koschwitz, who is considered to be the co-author of a number of albums in Kazle … After Sony Music patented the right to release a series of albums called "KuschelRock", the HR3 radio station can no longer air this night music show … And now Sony Music regularly releases every year on the album …

The main change for the Duke Ellington Orchestra during this period was that the increasingly unreliable Bubber Miley (an alcoholic) was fired by Ellington in January 1929 and quickly replaced by Cootie Williams. Otherwise, the personnel was stable, featuring trombonist Joe Tricky Sam Nanton, altoist Johnny Hodges, and clarinetist Barney Bigard as key soloists along with trumpeters Miley, Arthur Whetsol, and Freddie Jenkins. Most of the selections from this era border on the classic, with highlights including Miley's spot on "Bandanna Babies," "I Must Have That Man," "Harlemania," and a two-part version of "Tiger Rag."

Almost anything could be called "driving music" if one drives to it, so this four-disc set of songs to drive to takes that theme pretty loosely for the most part, but it does include some classic odes to the joys and hazards of motion and movement like Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone," Ram Jam's "Black Betty," Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train," Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," the Edgar Winter Group's "Free Ride," and, of course, Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again," among dozens of other would-be road anthems.

This is a great reminder of what the best 1980s pop/rock sounded like. It includes most of Pat Benatar's hits, with the unfortunate omission of I Need A Lover, the passionate melodic churner from 1979. It also includes her best album tracks like the poignant Hell Is For Children but her excellent version of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights is missing. Benatar specialised in powerful rock numbers with strong power chords and catchy hooks, delivered to full effect in her belting voice, like Heartbreaker, Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Love Is A Battlefield. In this sense Benatar was something like a female Meat Loaf and in fact not too far from Bonnie Tyler. But there were also the quiter songs in a more tender voice, like the synth-driven We Live For Love, a pop classic. With 18 tracks, this is a better compilation than Best Shots with its 15 tracks.