The More You Live, The More You Love

Thursday 17 Mai 2012 and going to Amsterdam for a concert of one of the greatest synth-pop artists of the eighties Thomas Dolby. We took an early train to spend some time at the Arendsnest , a pub which only serves Dutch beers. The cafe has got more than 120 bottled beers and 30 beers on draft. We sat down at a table where an Irishman was sitting, which drank his beers in a brisk pace. He followed the line of the right part of the board, and didn't bother about the alcohol percentage. After a couple of beers and a talk with the Irish guy we turned to Bitterzoet, the venue, for the performance of Thomas Dolby. At the venue I noticed the signs but since already people were making pictures and even filming, I decided to do the same. At nine the concert started and Thomas came on stage with his band immediatly opening with Commercial Breakup from his successful first album The Golden Age Of Wireless. After apologizing for not have played in Amsterdam for 28 years, some of the c...

In the eighties I was a great fan of Die Neue Deutsche Welle which brought us bands like Nena, BAP, Spider Murphy Gang, Rheingold, Ideal, D.A.F., Falco, Trio and DŐF. Only a couple survived over the years and I stayed interested in BAP over the following years. But since the start of die Neue Deutsche Härte it seems some good German bands are coming up. One of these bands is Unheilig. Formed in 1999 by Der Graf, Grant Stevens and Jose Alvarez-Brill (ex De/Vision). In 2001 they release their first album called Prosper. The group gradually develops a good sense of marketing, by, especially with their later albums, delivering different extracted versions, often limited, of their albums and singles. When Stevens and Alvarez-Brill leave the band Unheilig becomes a bandwagon project of varying composition, on which Der Graf depends his musical escapades. With their seventh album, Grosse Freiheit, Der Graf is able to build a bridge with the German public, whom embrace the album and send ...

It all started to tickle for the members of the most successfull line-up of Ultravox. when they worked on the release of their eighties remasters Vienna, Rage In Eden, Quartet and Lament. Some hadn't spoken with eachother for years. but as they used to say, it worked out well, and in April 2009 Midge Ure, Warren Cann, Billy Currie and Chris Cross toured successful through the UK and played for sold out venues. The result was the live registration Return To Eden which was released in 2010. To promote the release the band did a second tour, which brought them to mainland Europe as well. As a result in 2011 the ep Moments Of Eden was released. From that moment rumours started to circle, the band was in the studio to record their first album together in more than 27 years (I don't count U-vox, since this album was recorded without Warren Cann). Brilliant is the result. A strong twelve tracks long album in the retro wave style, with electric- synth- and computer-pop reverence...

The fifth month of 2012 already on it’s way and I haven’t presented a top ten sofar. So here it is:   01. Galahad - Battle Scars 02. DeeExpus – King Of Number 33 03. Ultravox – Brilliant 04. It Bites – Map Of The Past 05. Unheilig - Lichter der Stadt 06. Keane – Strangeland 07. Mothlite – Dark Age 08. Clock Opera – Ways To Forget 09. Gazpacho – March Of Ghosts 10. IQ – IQ30 Live De Boerderij