Year : 2013
Style : Hard Rock , AOR
Country: Sweden
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 238 mb
Bio:
Alien is a Swedish rock band formed in Gothenburg in 1986 by guitarist Tony Borg and vocalist Jim Jidhed. They are best known today for their single "Only One Woman", a cover of a Marbles song, and "Brave New Love", which was featured in the 1988 remake of The Blob.
Early success (1986-88)
Borg and Jidhed's original lineup included Ken Sandin on bass guitar, Jimmy Wandroph on keyboards, and Toby Tarrach on drums. This group released the single "Only One Woman" in 1988, a cover of a song written by the Bee Gees and first recorded by The Marbles in 1968. The Alien cover reached #1 in Sweden and remained there for six weeks.Later in 1988, Alien released their first, eponymous album, including "Only One Woman" as well as "Brave New Love" and "Tears Don't Put Out the Fire", which was released as a single later that year. In 1989, the band released a re-worked version of it for the US/international market, again titled Alien. This album included eight out of the twelve tracks released in the 1988 album, 5 of which were remixed. Two new tracks were added, "Now Love" being one and a cover of "The Air That I Breathe" the other, both sung by new vocalist Peter "Pete" Sandberg.
Shiftin' Gear (1988-93)
In the fall of 1988, Jidhed left the band to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Peter Sandberg, formerly frontman for the bands Madison and Von Rosen. In 1990 the band also made other changes, such as replacing Wandroph and Tarrach with Bert Andersson on keyboards and Imre Duan on drums. This was the lineup for the band's release of its third album, "Shiftin' Gear". However, the album was not the success it was predicted to be and another major lineup change occurred. Andersson was replaced by Richard Andre on keyboards and Stefan Ridderstrale replaced Duan on drums. Former Madison bassist Conny Payne also joined Alien in 1993. Finally, lead singer Peter Sandberg departed the band and later pursued a solo career. To replace him, Alien recruited Daniel Zangger Borch.
Band Stability (1993-2005)
Alien returned to the studios to record their fourth album, again titled "Alien". Ridderstrale, although performing on tour, did not participate in the recording sessions and Michael Wilkman stood in as drummer. Production was weak and the band lost much of its following. This can also be attributed to the numerous band member changes between 1990 and 1993.Ridderstrale officially left the band in 1995 and Staffan Scharrin became the drummer, thus completing the band's present lineup. This new formation released the band's fifth album, "Crash" in 1995. This album featured heavier metal songs than previously recorded by Alien.Since then, Alien released three more albums, Best and Rare (1997, compilation), Live in Stockholm 1990 (2001) and Dark Eyes (2005). Dark Eyes was the first album to feature all new recordings and marked the return of Jim Jidhed to the band now composed of him, Mats Sandborgh on keyboards, Berndt Ek on bass, Jan Lundberg on drums alongside Tony Borg.Present days
ALIEN 2010- present - The original line-up eventually reunited, a handful of festivals were chosen - Sweden Rock (Cruise + Festival), Getaway Rock, Firefest a.o. A new single, Ready To Fly (Manora Rec), was cut to promote the reunion. It went down great with the crowd and especially the response at the first Firefest performance (2011) made the band really consider making this new record.In 2013, the No Remorse/EMI re-issue CD (ltd 1000 copies) of Alien (s/t Scandinavian) reached No.1 in the import album chart in Japan and sold out. EMI Music Sweden released the back catalog, re-mastered for digi/download with some unreleased demos as bonus. "Alien - 25th Anniversary" 2CD deluxe edition highlighted the celebration of ALIEN’s debut album, selling out as well. "Shiftin' Gear +4" CD (AOR Heaven) bonus tracks shed some light on the fact that the original line-up wrote and pre-produced a sophomore album, before disbanding in late 1989.
Album:
The word "classic" is often overused because it is used in a wrong way when we talk about our music.Indeed, I tend to talk about musts, maybe a bit quickly, only to realise some time later that the "so-called classic" was a good album without more! With the re-release after 25 years of the first Alien, we can talk about AOR classics without taking risks. The reissue that comes out this year is sublime in that it offers both versions of the project, the Scandinavian one on one side and the US version on the other. Before talking about the content, where we can agree is on the ugliness of the two covers which is also unanimous! Alien is a Swedish band founded in 1986 and who released this first eponymous album in 1988. It is led by guitarist Tony Borg and singer Jim Jidhed. For a first try, it's a master stroke. The album is full of FM hits that haven't aged a bit, such as Brave New World, Tears Don't Put Out The Fire, the ballad Only One Woman and Jaime Remember to name but a few. I would say that Alien FM sounded more Us than Europe or Bad Habit for example. That's why there was a US version with some different tracks than the Swedish one. If you listen carefully to both, you will realize that the sound and the mix are also different. The US version has a deeper, more chiseled sound that seemed totally made for FM. It is important to note that you must own this reissue if only to avoid missing the different tracks in the two versions. Indeed, strangely the Scandinavian version offers 12 tracks with 4 different from the US version which has only 10 tracks but two unreleased ones compared to the other pressing. It is important to know that all these tracks, like Now Love, are all excellent and don't stand out at all on either the Swedish or the Californian album. Alien is also on this first try the voice of Jim Jidhed who will leave the band afterwards to be replaced by Pete Sandberg and who marks this album. We discover a singer full of talent who will not have the career he should have had after having released two small solo jewels Jim in 1990 and Full Circle in 2003. He will come back to the band for the reformation in 2005 with the bof bof, Dark Eyes. After this album, Alien will go on its way with a rare propensity to change vocalist every album.They will release in 1990, Shiftin Gear which for me is the equal of this first album. It's a good thing, I think it's just been re-released too, so more on that next episode...
Line Up:
Jim Jidhed – Vocals
Tony Borg – Guitars
Jimmy Wandroph – Keyboards
Ken Sandin – Bass
Toby Tarrach – Drums
Past members
Staffan Scharrin :
Peter Sandberg : [since 1986]
Berndt Ek : [since 1986]
Jan Lundberg :
Imre Daun :
Goran Edman :
Daniel Zangger Borch :
Mats Sandborgh :
Bert Andersson :
Stefan Ridderstrale :
Conny Payne :
Richard Andre :
Tracklist:
CD1:
01. Brave New Love - 3:53
02. Tears Don't Put Out The Fire - 4:09
03. Go Easy - 3:39
04. I've Been Waiting - 5:03
05. Jaime Remember - 4:41
06. Feel My Love - 3:46
07. Only One Woman - 4:12
08. Wings Of Fire - 3:23
09. Dying By The Golden Rule - 3:49
10. Touch My Fire - 3:58
11. Dreamer - 4:40
12. Mirror - 4:29
13. Feel My Love (Pollar session outtake) - 3:52
14. Touch My Fire (Pollar session outtake) - 3:51
CD2:
01. Tears Don't Put Out The Fire (Remix) - 4:32
02. Go Easy (Remix) - 3:48
03. I've Been Waiting (Remix) - 5:09
04. Jaimie Remeber - 4:43
05. Feel My Love (Remix) - 3:45
06. Only One Woman (Remix) - 4:34
07. Brave New Love - 4:00
08. The Air That I Breathe - 4:36
09. Touch My Fire - 4:06
10. Now Love - 4:25
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
