Alphaville - Afternoons in Utopia

Best of Alphaville

I think this album is one of Alphaville's best. I never tire of it and I really enjoy the optimistic theme. My favorite album and it comes highly reccommended. February 8, 2007

Afternoons in Utopia ~ Alphaville

Afternoons in Utopia being their second album is a very good album. However, Forever Young was such an amazing debute album that they were bound to create something less then and this exactly what happened. Songs like Afternoons in Utopia, and Dance With Me are very nice tracks. However, their first album spawned so many more hits. Yet this is a very good album filled with 80's music and the cover is so much better then the first album. I would rather have a photo of the band then some strange art that you can not make heads or tails our of. 4 Stars is not a slight and this is a well produced album with great lyrics, vocals, and beats that just does not meet the high standards of their debute album. July 31, 2005

A Watershed Album

Alphaville first rose to prominence with the smash debut "Forever Young" album in 1984. But it was their 1986 release, "Afternoons in Utopia" that really provided one of New Wave's high-water marks.

From the sparkling "Dance With Me", to the haunting "Afternoons in Utopia", to the driving anthem that is "Jerusalem", this CD provides one super track after another.

"Sensations" seems to get better with each listen, the catchy "Red Rose" is a kinetic romp of sound, and of course no one could forget the dance favorite "Universal Daddy".

No real flaws in this album, no filler, just one last blast in the 80s for Alphaville, before switching gears with their next offering "The Breathtaking Blue".

"Afternoons in Utopia" is required listening for all fans of New Wave. Definitely worth the price! March 13, 2005

It doesn't get better than this....

However, I do have a hard time deciding which is better, Prostitute (1994) or AIU (1986). AIU brings back so many great memories and this album has one of their best songs with Dance With Me. This is kind of a "concept", rock opera album. I do like how lyrics from one song refer to lyrics in another song. This is an incredible album and if anyone is looking into Alphaville to see what they sound like, you will not be disappointed with AIU. October 7, 2004

True Alphaville spirit here!

I noticed that someone rated this album well and wished the band were still around. THEY ARE!! They have never stopped producing wonderfully evocative music with thoughtful and emotive lyrics for the past 20 years. I have just seen them live again (in Germany) and Marian Gold's voice is just as clear, pure and emotional as it is on this wonderful second album!

This 'Aquarian opera' (as it is known in Alphaville circles) is full of dreamscapes and fantasy, emotion and playfulness. That the album, if played on the loop, comes full circle with the end of the final song being the beginning of the whole album is typical Alphaville art and fun - it gives the album a kind of 'concept album' feel. Indeed, the songs on the album are related and many names and themes pop up from time to time.

Beautiful, floating melodies such as the synthy 'Fantastic Dream' and the title track mingle with the anthemic (Jerusalem), the more dancey (Dance With Me; Sensations), the melancholic and beautiful (Carol Masters) and the truly artful (I.A.O.). All the songs have wonderful melodies that make it easy to sing along to and once you hear this album, you'll want to listen to it forever more. Each song could easily have been a single release!

This is Alphaville doing what they do best - producing catchy tunes with thoughtful, sometimes controversial lyrics, combined with the masterful mixing-ear of Bernhard Lloyd and the perfect and rich voice of Marian Gold (the greatest voice in the world in my opinion, and that of many more people I know!).

Get this album and then explore other albums by Alphaville, including their new 2003 album 'Crazy Show'. Alphaville is one of the most consistant producers of perfect music, and the most sorely underrated, especially in the UK. And if you get to see them live, do! I highly recommend it! July 20, 2003

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