Track Listing

1. Victory of Love
2. Summer in Berlin
3. Big in Japan
4. To Germany with Love
5. Fallen Angel
6. Forever Young
7. In the Mood
8. Sounds Like a Melody
9. Lies
10. Jet Set

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49908 in Music
• Released on: 1989-10-23
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Sure, it screams mid-1980s as joyously as any John Hughes teen flick, but this debut--from perhaps the only German export to sound positively gleeful--deserves as long a nostalgic afterlife as Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," Yaz's "Only You" or mid-period Depeche Mode. Forget OMD's "If You Leave," "Forever Young" is the best should-be prom-theme the decade produced. While "Big in Japan" was the KROQ anthem, everything here is deliriously tuneful. Revel in the manic melodies of "The Jet-Set," delight in the guilty synth-pleasure of "Sounds Like a Melody," surrender to the international romantic intrigue of "To Germany with Love," and hope that VH-1 re-discovers them for a reunion tour. --David Daley

Customer Reviews

The First And Best
This album remains one of my all-time favorites, and stands as one of the greatest synth-pop albums ever recorded. Many of Alphaville's biggest and best songs are here - "A Victory of Love", "Big In Japan", "Sounds Like A Melody", "The Jet Set" and (of course) the title track. The rest of the album is excellent as well, especially "Summer In Berlin" and "Fallen Angel". Alphaville would not return to an all-synthesizer sound for over 10 years with their "comeback" album Salvation (probably my second favorite AV album) in 1996. I don't think that Alphaville was ever able to top this first effort - despite some other excellent work since then - and they never produced another album as consistent as this one is. From start to finish, it's an extremely satisfying listen. There are few albums I can recommend as highly as Forever Young - this is synth-pop at it's absolute best.

A fun nostalgic 80s album.
I received this album from a friend in 1989 and could not stop listening to it all summer long. It's full of these fast paced synthesizer songs, and has that cool 80s European new wave sound to it. Big In Japan will always be one of my most favorite songs. Other favorites a include Victory of Love, In the Mood, Sounds Like a Melody, and Lies. My only complaint is that Forever Young is in the slow version. I wish that they had included the faster version instead. Guess I have to get the Singles Collection for that.
If you like A-ha, you'll love Alphaville.
Now each time I put this on it's 1989 again.

Sounds like a Classic!!
I first heard this album while in high school in the late 80's. I was living in Japan at the time (an Air Force brat) so naturally Big In Japan hit a cord. Nothing prepared me though for what is a completely awsome album. I love every track but Sounds Like a Melody is my favorite. I could listen to it over and over again.

The other reviewers have it right so I won't repeat their praises. This is one of the seminal 80's albums, much overlooked which is a shame. Their later releases are all great in their own right, but newcomers to Alphaville should get this one first. It will lay the groundwork for what will hopefully be a fanatic love of this German group. It cooled my teen angst with its hopefull melodies and is ear candy to my now mature ear. Get this, get all the Alphaville albums you can, I doubt you'll regret it. They are still around and cranking out the good stuff. Prostitute is the only one I've had trouble getting into, but as with all there stuff after Forever Young, the more you listen to it, the better it gets. This album gets my highest reccomendation.