VST like in Alphaville's Forever Young

[Maomoondog]

I think in the end we managed to make a (fairly) reasonable album..

Absolutely! As a fan I had to deal with the new style but in the end somehow "Anyway" always was on my playlist (and I still have the lyrics in my head) and this song was Jazz inspired

I wanted to have Bleeding Gums Murphy from the Simpsons on that track.

[Maomoondog]

I must say it is nice to think we had some impact / inspiration on people

You have not lived in vain, that music mattered alot to me when I grew up.

I didn't immidiatly get into Afternoons in Utopia, but have come to apreciate it more now when I am older. It's more like a pscyhedelic album (at least that is how the lyrics come across to me) with many styles, from pop ballads, to hi-energy belters.

Afternoons in Utopia was a concept album and originally intended to be a stage musical / performance, but it would have cost a fortune to put on tour. (We had 27 musicians to pay for performing on the album as it was)

It remains my personal triumph (especially Lassie come home)

[fluffy_little_something]

The Synclavier for that kind of music, sounds like total overkill to me

[Maomoondog]

The Synclavier for that kind of music, sounds like total overkill to me

What do you mean "that kind of music" ?

The same could also be said about using expensive fairlight's to create Welcome to the pleasuredome.

[Numanoid]

The Synclavier for that kind of music, sounds like total overkill to me

What do you mean "that kind of music" ?

+1

Synclavier was an early music workstation, so obviously that is something you would benefit from using when playing electronic music.

[e-modic]

Mr. Lloyd, do you remember which Machine you used for the FM Piano on 20,000 Lieues sous les mers? I often recognise these little detuned FM sounds e.g. in Jerusalem.

[Maomoondog]

Mr. Lloyd, do you remember which Machine you used for the FM Piano on 20,000 Lieues sous les mers? I often recognise these little detuned FM sounds e.g. in Jerusalem.

We used a Yamaha CP70 and on that (we could not afford a CP80 after using a synclavier ) on Jerusalem it was a DX7

[fluffy_little_something]

The Synclavier for that kind of music, sounds like total overkill to me

What do you mean "that kind of music" ?

The same could also be said about using expensive fairlight's to create Welcome to the pleasuredome.

Alphaville (the popular songs I know, i.e. the from the mid 80's; I don't know what (if anything) they did later on as I never cared and listed to charts anymore) always sounded like cold overblown plastic pop to me. FGTH sounded way more professional and intricate in my view...

[Maomoondog]

The Synclavier for that kind of music, sounds like total overkill to me

What do you mean "that kind of music" ?

+1

Synclavier was an early music workstation, so obviously that is something you would benefit from using when playing electronic music.

+1 too.

A lot of musicians also forget that the synclavier was prone to breaking down and was a pig to set up. We could have made the album without it, I doubt that the record buying public would know what we used.

[Numanoid]

Alphaville (the popular songs I know, i.e. the from the mid 80's; I don't know what (if anything) they did later on as I never cared and listed to charts anymore) always sounded like cold overblown plastic pop to me. FGTH sounded way more professional and intricate in my view...

It's your loss.

Listen to the last part of the LP version of Sounds Like A Melody, that is pure symphonic synth-pop heaven. I think Trevor Horn would have been mighty proud had he managed to get that to sound so well.

[e-modic]

I saw you producing Blind Passengers first album. So is Synth Pop still your passion?

[fluffy_little_something]

Alphaville (the popular songs I know, i.e. the from the mid 80's; I don't know what (if anything) they did later on as I never cared and listed to charts anymore) always sounded like cold overblown plastic pop to me. FGTH sounded way more professional and intricate in my view...

It's your loss.

Listen to the last part of the LP version of Sounds Like A Melody, that is pure symphonic synth-pop heaven. I think Trevor Horn would have been mighty proud had he managed to get that to sound so well.

That is actually the A song I like the "best". But it also has way too many high frequencies, which I am kind of allergic to. High frequencies destroy the punch.

That is why I like FGTH much more, for instance with the aforementioned Welcome to the Pleasuredome from 5 minutes or so on, that sounds very good to me...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVDC6kPCkWA#t=299

[Numanoid]

That is why I like FGTH much more, for instance with the aforementioned Welcome to the Pleasuredome from 5 minutes or so on, that sounds very good to me...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVDC6kPCkWA#t=299

My conclusion is that '84 was a great year for music, I also like WTTPD a lot

Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Ultravox, etc, all put out excellent albums that year.

[Maomoondog]

always sounded like cold overblown plastic pop to me. FGTH sounded way more professional and intricate in my view...

Here is a fact - FGTH never played on their records. Steve Howe, Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, JJ Jeckzalic, Steve Lipson, The Blockheads and a whole host of others made FGTH work, it is going to sound intricate if you have classical arrangers and top flight musicians on your side.

Your opinion is your own on what you think / thought of our music, I respect your opinion.

Cold (no) our music had soul and feeling with clever lyrics. Dig into our later, less commercial work!
Overblown I doubt it (Queen's music was overblown)
Plastic Pop - I think your referring to Erasure

No matter what people think of anything we did, is up to them, when it comes down to solid fact, I am not the one on a 9 to 5 routine, I enjoyed what I did and I enjoy doing very little now, not because I am lazy, but because I don't need to.

Sorry if that sounds arrogant, but that is how you are coming across to me!

[fluffy_little_something]

always sounded like cold overblown plastic pop to me. FGTH sounded way more professional and intricate in my view...

Here is a fact - FGTH never played on their records. Steve Howe, Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, JJ Jeckzalic, Steve Lipson, The Blockheads and a whole host of others made FGTH work, it is going to sound intricate if you have classical arrangers and top flight musicians on your side.

Your opinion is your own on what you think / thought of our music, I respect your opinion.

Cold (no) our music had soul and feeling with clever lyrics. Dig into our later, less commercial work!
Overblown I doubt it (Queen's music was overblown)
Plastic Pop - I think your referring to Erasure

No matter what people think of anything we did, is up to them, when it comes down to solid fact, I am not the one on a 9 to 5 routine, I enjoyed what I did and I enjoy doing very little now, not because I am lazy, but because I don't need to.

Sorry if that sounds arrogant, but that is how you are coming across to me!

I don't know who was behind FGTH, but whoever it was, I liked their sound better, it was tighter. (Judging from your list there it seems the same guys as with Art of Noise.)
I must say that I am mostly into R&B, Fusion, etc., which might explain why I don't like the Alphaville sound.

What did you have to do with Alphaville? You keep writing We...

I don't think you come across as arrogant, if you were involved with Alphaville, why would you not like what you did?! Unless you are like Lemmy who recently said he doesn't like the music he makes
And why would I come across as arrogant just because I describe how Alphaville sounded to me in comparison to FGTH? If I were part of FGTH then it would be arrogant, but I am not. I am just an outsider comparing the sounds of both groups...