Alphaville: Forever! Best of 40 Years [WARNER]

Why you'll love it

This anniversary collection marks 40 years since the German synth-pop band's debut, packing 13 songs onto one LP with the 7-inch and single versions of the hits. "Forever Young" alone has passed 1.2 billion streams on Spotify.

This edition

• 40th anniversary collection
• Single versions and edits
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

Few synth-pop songs have had a life quite like "Forever Young." Alphaville wrote it in 1984, and four decades on it's still everywhere.

The German band, led by singer Marian Gold, broke through that year with "Big in Japan" and the debut album Forever Young. The title song was meant to be an upbeat dance track until producer Andreas Budde told them to strip it back to vocals and synth pads, and declared the result the song. This collection follows them from those early hits through "Sounds Like a Melody," "The Mysteries of Love," "Jerusalem" and "Dance with Me" (here in its symphonic version) to later songs such as "I Die for You Today," "Inside Out" and "Flame." Many tracks appear as 7-inch or single edits, which keeps a 40-year story on one LP. The video for "Forever Young," directed by Brian Ward, was shot at Holloway Sanatorium in England.

"Forever Young" has been covered countless times and became the basis of Jay-Z's "Young Forever." Gold calls having it and "Big in Japan" in the band's luggage on tour a great privilege; we'd call it travelling with excellent hand baggage.

Also at Kops: more Alphaville on vinyl · browse Pop

Tracklist

Listen

On Warner, the 2024 compilation.