List of unreleased songs (with dates and info) - Page 4 - Alphaville Forum

hajak · 26 Nov 2018, 19:49

Here is an old post from the mailing list about"leftovers"from CROG:

From the German Mailing List 05.11.2011

Dear André,
what you wrote there is very interesting; a few pieces that I had totally forgotten about have turned up.

First of all, let’s deal with what will definitely be on the album; unfortunately, there is only one sure candidate and that is “A Handful of Darkness”. The reason for that is that Martin and I have written an incredible amount of totally new and cool stuff in recent months and, logically, this interests us mostly since a new sound is implied that would be difficult to realize with the older pieces. In any case, we want to steer away from this “Loudness War”, which would only lead to the music being deadly compromised. That was, in my opinion, one of the few errors we made with the last album. Through that, some of the original dynamic of the songs was lost. Well, nobody’s perfect.

There are a few more "left behind" from the "Giant" production, that could be candidates for "Strange Attractor", though not with the same probability as "Darkness" (... hm, "left behind" sounds somehow disrespectful; I can’t really think of another word). At one time, "Over The Hills And Far Away" was planned as the opener for "Giant”, up until we revised the concept of the album. "Black Hole Door" and "Eternally Yours" are also included in this number. Now they are all names that say little or nothing about the music and that cannot be changed, unfortunately. Just this much: they are titles of programs.

"Gallery" will not make it onto the album, sorry, neither will "Questions Of Happiness", but do not worry, that's all interesting material for future editions of Dreamscapes. "Sweet Dreams" is admittedly a nice pop song, too bad that we didn’t write it 20 years ago. Somehow I feel I’m too old to perform this credibly. And the singer should feel comfortable, right? "Around The Universe" is also one of my favourites; the problem with that is that we have been unable, up until now, to find a contemporary arrangement for the song. We've had several attempts, but somehow we've never been able to crack it. I could well imagine such a track in a musical, "MoonGirl", "Still Falls the Rain" and "Elegy," also, maybe even "Sweet Dreams". Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit thematically into any of the projects I'm working on at the moment (e.g., the Alice musical, which is now going through its third version. God knows, when I'll be done with it).
"My Very Blood" was a cool groove number; it was always great fun to play the thing live. I have used the text, however, for one of the new songs, at least in part; the whole is now called "Beyond the Laughing Sky" (working title) and was originally planned for "Alice”. Then it so developed, that we now absolutely want to include it on the new album. "Criminal Girl" has a hammer chorus, give you that, it’s just that some numbers have a kind of timer on them so that if they are not published on time, the countdown is over and the magic is gone, at least for us, and, just like many of the new songs, CG has no chance. "Demon Eyes" is one of my all time favorite songs, the text, arrangement and my vocal performance of which is like Solitaire, because I don’t want to change anything about it and therefore this one also belongs here: the sound doesn’t fit with what we want to present as Alphaville 2012, which is anyway already as good as published.

Now to the other pieces you mentioned: "Twilight Zone" is an old number from the early 90s, the text for which I never managed to complete. It's about ancient Egyptian mythology, which theme interested me at the time. "Private Plane" was a cover version, the original from Thomas Leer, that we performed in 1988 during the first appearance of Albert & The Heart Of Gold at the Tempodrom in Berlin. By the way, the premiere of "Romeos", which I had just written, was also at this concert. "Swallow Paradise" is a sure Dreamscapes option. But only if I can find the multi-track recording, which was unfortunately buried in the Nineties. The piece is also from 1988. I wrote it for Christopher Street Day, the annual gay pride parade, which took place in that year for the first time in Berlin. There is a brilliant orchestral recording of this and it is exactly this which has disappeared without a trace.

So, enough rattling on about the past. The new music that is coming up now is the most important. And it is incredibly cool! We are all totally blown away here by the results; they are opening up new horizons.

From Alphaville with love

Yours,
Marian Gold

MarianGoldfan123 · 26 Nov 2018, 20:05

Nice.... Thanks for this. This gives a lot of insight. Marian's opinion on Demon Eyes is exactly how I feel: that one was brilliant. It showcases his vocal range the best out of all tracks (aside from Inside Out possibly).

Question of Happiness is incredible. The little piano melody is great, along with the electric guitar riff in the chorus. Damn good. I'd love to hear this in a high quality studio version :) hah

I'm interested in mythology so naturally the track I heard about, named "Day of the minotaur" is what interests me at the moment. I've said a few times before that it likely has a very "Nevermore"-like feel to it. Probably very deep lyrics as well (as are lots of his songs).

I like how he never mentioned Fuer Dich in the post. My guess is it was planned early on and then in 2007-2008 he wrote it off as one which wouldn't make it.

hajak · 26 Nov 2018, 20:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarianGoldfan123

Question of Happiness is incredible. The little piano melody is great, along with the electric guitar riff in the chorus. Damn good. I'd love to hear this in a high quality studio version :) hah

I guess we all want that,would be great to hear the recorded demoversion

MarianGoldfan123 · 26 Nov 2018, 20:36

I hope a new Dreamscapes comes out someday... Preferably digital. I'd buy that shit up like nothing else!

russharvey · 28 Feb 2019, 17:03

Ok, I can verify one of the songs from your original list......... R.I.P. Off was played live at the unplugged concert in Salt Lake City which was in 2001 I believe. Also, just to note, he sings Rip it off....... and I believe on the setlist it was written down as R.I.P. It off.

MarianGoldfan123 · 28 Feb 2019, 17:34

Interesting... So that's an older one! I can bet it's a hardcore track!

russharvey · 28 Feb 2019, 17:40

Well, it depends on what you mean by hardcore...... it is a song about heartbreak! LOL

MarianGoldfan123 · 28 Feb 2019, 17:44

Ah! I haven't heard the track before so I didn't know :) thanks for the info!

russharvey · 28 Feb 2019, 17:47

well to be fair, it was an unplugged concert so acoustically speaking..... every version of the songs played there are much tamer...... the intro was Big in Japan but it was mostly instrumental and Marian only sung a few words..... I wish Marian would release a studio version of an unplugged setlist. Brilliantly beautiful. I wish I had been able to actually attend that particular show.

Mart · 28 Feb 2019, 21:33

The version of Dance With Me on Stark Naked And Absolutely Live is memorable. The Piano acoustic version of Forever Young is one of the best

26 Nov 2018, 20:36	#34
MarianGoldfan123 Dreamer Join Date: 28 Dec 2012 Location: Michigan (US) Posts: 424	I hope a new Dreamscapes comes out someday... Preferably digital. I'd buy that shit up like nothing else! Last edited by MarianGoldfan123; 11 Dec 2018 at 17:19.

28 Feb 2019, 17:03	#35
russharvey Dream Keeper Join Date: 13 Jan 2001 Location: Grants Pass, Oregon, USA Posts: 3,893	Ok, I can verify one of the songs from your original list......... R.I.P. Off was played live at the unplugged concert in Salt Lake City which was in 2001 I believe. Also, just to note, he sings Rip it off....... and I believe on the setlist it was written down as R.I.P. It off. *This life is expensive, but at least it comes with a free trip around the sun!*

28 Feb 2019, 17:40	#37
russharvey Dream Keeper Join Date: 13 Jan 2001 Location: Grants Pass, Oregon, USA Posts: 3,893	Well, it depends on what you mean by hardcore...... it is a song about heartbreak! LOL *This life is expensive, but at least it comes with a free trip around the sun!*

28 Feb 2019, 17:47	#39
russharvey Dream Keeper Join Date: 13 Jan 2001 Location: Grants Pass, Oregon, USA Posts: 3,893	well to be fair, it was an unplugged concert so acoustically speaking..... every version of the songs played there are much tamer...... the intro was Big in Japan but it was mostly instrumental and Marian only sung a few words..... I wish Marian would release a studio version of an unplugged setlist. Brilliantly beautiful. I wish I had been able to actually attend that particular show. *This life is expensive, but at least it comes with a free trip around the sun!* Last edited by russharvey; 28 Feb 2019 at 17:58.

28 Feb 2019, 21:33	#40
Mart Dreamer Join Date: 13 Nov 2018 Location: Ireland Posts: 433	The version of Dance With Me on Stark Naked And Absolutely Live is memorable. The Piano acoustic version of Forever Young is one of the best I'm gliding in the distance and watch the world go by An orbit full of questions, a perforated sky

26 Nov 2018, 19:49	#31
hajak Exclusive Fanclub Member Join Date: 08 Nov 2010 Location: Sweden Posts: 720	Here is an old post from the mailing list about"leftovers"from CROG: From the German Mailing List 05.11.2011 Dear André, what you wrote there is very interesting; a few pieces that I had totally forgotten about have turned up. First of all, let’s deal with what will definitely be on the album; unfortunately, there is only one sure candidate and that is “A Handful of Darkness”. The reason for that is that Martin and I have written an incredible amount of totally new and cool stuff in recent months and, logically, this interests us mostly since a new sound is implied that would be difficult to realize with the older pieces. In any case, we want to steer away from this “Loudness War”, which would only lead to the music being deadly compromised. That was, in my opinion, one of the few errors we made with the last album. Through that, some of the original dynamic of the songs was lost. Well, nobody’s perfect. There are a few more "left behind" from the "Giant" production, that could be candidates for "Strange Attractor", though not with the same probability as "Darkness" (... hm, "left behind" sounds somehow disrespectful; I can’t really think of another word). At one time, "Over The Hills And Far Away" was planned as the opener for "Giant”, up until we revised the concept of the album. "Black Hole Door" and "Eternally Yours" are also included in this number. Now they are all names that say little or nothing about the music and that cannot be changed, unfortunately. Just this much: they are titles of programs. "Gallery" will not make it onto the album, sorry, neither will "Questions Of Happiness", but do not worry, that's all interesting material for future editions of Dreamscapes. "Sweet Dreams" is admittedly a nice pop song, too bad that we didn’t write it 20 years ago. Somehow I feel I’m too old to perform this credibly. And the singer should feel comfortable, right? "Around The Universe" is also one of my favourites; the problem with that is that we have been unable, up until now, to find a contemporary arrangement for the song. We've had several attempts, but somehow we've never been able to crack it. I could well imagine such a track in a musical, "MoonGirl", "Still Falls the Rain" and "Elegy," also, maybe even "Sweet Dreams". Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit thematically into any of the projects I'm working on at the moment (e.g., the Alice musical, which is now going through its third version. God knows, when I'll be done with it). "My Very Blood" was a cool groove number; it was always great fun to play the thing live. I have used the text, however, for one of the new songs, at least in part; the whole is now called "Beyond the Laughing Sky" (working title) and was originally planned for "Alice”. Then it so developed, that we now absolutely want to include it on the new album. "Criminal Girl" has a hammer chorus, give you that, it’s just that some numbers have a kind of timer on them so that if they are not published on time, the countdown is over and the magic is gone, at least for us, and, just like many of the new songs, CG has no chance. "Demon Eyes" is one of my all time favorite songs, the text, arrangement and my vocal performance of which is like Solitaire, because I don’t want to change anything about it and therefore this one also belongs here: the sound doesn’t fit with what we want to present as Alphaville 2012, which is anyway already as good as published. Now to the other pieces you mentioned: "Twilight Zone" is an old number from the early 90s, the text for which I never managed to complete. It's about ancient Egyptian mythology, which theme interested me at the time. "Private Plane" was a cover version, the original from Thomas Leer, that we performed in 1988 during the first appearance of Albert & The Heart Of Gold at the Tempodrom in Berlin. By the way, the premiere of "Romeos", which I had just written, was also at this concert. "Swallow Paradise" is a sure Dreamscapes option. But only if I can find the multi-track recording, which was unfortunately buried in the Nineties. The piece is also from 1988. I wrote it for Christopher Street Day, the annual gay pride parade, which took place in that year for the first time in Berlin. There is a brilliant orchestral recording of this and it is exactly this which has disappeared without a trace. So, enough rattling on about the past. The new music that is coming up now is the most important. And it is incredibly cool! We are all totally blown away here by the results; they are opening up new horizons. From Alphaville with love Yours, Marian Gold

26 Nov 2018, 20:05	#32
MarianGoldfan123 Dreamer Join Date: 28 Dec 2012 Location: Michigan (US) Posts: 424	Nice.... Thanks for this. This gives a lot of insight. Marian's opinion on Demon Eyes is exactly how I feel: that one was brilliant. It showcases his vocal range the best out of all tracks (aside from Inside Out possibly). Question of Happiness is incredible. The little piano melody is great, along with the electric guitar riff in the chorus. Damn good. I'd love to hear this in a high quality studio version :) hah I'm interested in mythology so naturally the track I heard about, named "Day of the minotaur" is what interests me at the moment. I've said a few times before that it likely has a very "Nevermore"-like feel to it. Probably very deep lyrics as well (as are lots of his songs). I like how he never mentioned Fuer Dich in the post. My guess is it was planned early on and then in 2007-2008 he wrote it off as one which wouldn't make it.

28 Feb 2019, 17:34	#36
MarianGoldfan123 Dreamer Join Date: 28 Dec 2012 Location: Michigan (US) Posts: 424	Interesting... So that's an older one! I can bet it's a hardcore track!

28 Feb 2019, 17:44	#38
MarianGoldfan123 Dreamer Join Date: 28 Dec 2012 Location: Michigan (US) Posts: 424	Ah! I haven't heard the track before so I didn't know :) thanks for the info!