Alien Shores
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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Alien Shores
- Artist: Platinum Blonde
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1985
- Total Time: 38:14
- Genre: Rock
Review
This album marked Platinum Blonde's commercial peak, and in retrospect you can only wonder why it failed to spread the band's massive Canadian success to America. Beyond the MTV-perfect hairdos, the quartet offered a savvy musical blend that suggested crossing Duran Duran with Def Leppard -- just the sort of thing you'd figure would have gone over huge in the heartland. It didn't, but Platinum Blonde had perfected the formula anyway on the single "Crying Over You," adding squalling guitar from Rush's Alex Lifeson to the polished dance groove. Close behind were the muscular metallic funk of "Red Light" and "Animal," while the keyboard-laced melodies of "Somebody Somewhere" and "Hungry Eyes" made those songs obvious hits to everyone -- except U.S. listeners. Sometimes the band ventured a little too close to Simon LeBon and co., especially on "Lost in Space," which sounded like an outtake from Duran Duran. And given that singer Mark Holmes' occasional vocal excesses mirrored LeBon's, it wasn't always a flattering comparison. But ultimately, that's a small quarrel with an album that rolled most of what was fun, colorful, and catchy about '80s music into one still-impressive package. ~ Dan LeRoy, Rovi| Alien Secx Rehab (2011 Album by Alien Secx Rehab) | |
| Alien Sleestacks from Brazil (1988 Album by Tater Totz) |
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Alien Shores
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| Alien Shores | ||||
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| Studio album by Platinum Blonde | ||||
| Released | 1985 | |||
| Recorded | Metalworks, Mississauga, Ontario | |||
| Genre | New Wave | |||
| Label | CBS Canada – 80105 | |||
| Producer | Eddy Offord, Mark Holmes | |||
| Platinum Blonde chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Alien Shores | ||||
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Alien Shores was Platinum Blonde's 1985 follow up to their debut album Standing in the Dark. Released by Columbia/CBS Records Canada in 1985, it contained one of the band's biggest Canadian hits with "Crying Over You" and their only US hit, "Somebody Somewhere".
This album was the first to feature Kenny MacLean as a full-time bassist and keyboardist. This freed lead singer Mark Holmes to focus on lead vocal duties.
The band enlisted Alex Lifeson from fellow Canadian rockers Rush to perform guitar solos on two songs on the album, "Crying Over You" and "Holy Water". A song entitled "Alien Shore" is the sixth track on Rush's 1993 album Counterparts.
The liner notes from the Seven Year Itch collection bear this relationship out: "...Platinum Blonde managed to infuse well-crafted intelligent modern rock with pop hooks that literally grafted themselves onto the airwaves. One of the first to acknowledge this fact was Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson who validated their efforts with solos on "Crying Over You", "Holy Water"."
The album was released as a mini-concept album with the b-side (starting with "Lost in Space") containing various songs with a science fiction theme and narrative.
Track listing
CD: CBS Records Canada / CK-80105 Canada
- "Situation Critical" – 3:31 (Holmes)
- "Crying Over You" – 3:39 (Holmes)
- "Red Light" – 2:50 (Holmes/Galli)
- "It Ain't Love Anyway" – 3:12 (Holmes)
- "Somebody Somewhere" – 4:06 (Holmes)
- "Lost In Space" – 4:04 (Holmes/Galli)
- "Temple Of the New Born" – 4:02 (MacLean)
- "Holy Water" – 3:41 (Holmes/MacLean)
- "Animal" – 4:31 (Holmes)
- "Hungry Eyes" – 4:38 (Holmes/Galli)
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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums
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Mentioned in
Seven Year Itch: 1982-1989
(1999 Album by Platinum Blonde)
Platinum Blonde
(Rock Band, '80s)
Alex Lifeson
(Rock Artist, '70s-'90s)
Contact
(Platinum Blonde album)
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