Album Notes

Having no band – his latest one splitting up at the end of 2002 – and no means to record his music in a fully produced manner, Alien Alright’s debut was born out of very little choice.

The idea for its’ minimalist “unplugged” format was instigated by Howard Good, a friend journalist and sometimes radio DJ. Good, having seen Alien Alright play acoustic but fast and energetic renditions to famous, originally heavily electrified songs - such as: Born To Be Wild, Smells Like Teen Spirit, or Led Zeppelin’s Rock’n’Roll – suggested that perhaps he should record some of his own rockier songs in acoustic versions that maintain the speed, and energy that they would have had if performed by a band.

To get the project going, Good offered to produce 4-5 songs for a new radio show he wanted to put on. The plan was to record the acoustic guitar and lead vocals live, then overdub extra vocals, bass and lead guitar, never using more than 6 recording channels. This led to the recording of more songs, and eventually the completion of the album.

Out of 18 songs that were recorded, 15 made the final version. ‘Slowly Down-Town’, ‘Natural Sweat’ ‘Walking on Earth’, and ‘Money’ – four of the five initial tracks that were recorded - are prime examples of songs that are easy to imagine as electrified rockers. ‘Broadway Company’, ‘Strange People’ and ‘Light of the Life’, are further examples, maintaining a similar sense of urgency even though they have more of a pop feel.

On the other end of the scale, there are three ballads: ‘spring’, ‘Lyd Truck’ and ‘Tell That Girl’, and in between a variety of other styles. ‘Hot in a Doggy-Day’ (which together with ‘Money’ is currently the most popular in single song downloads) is a slightly nonsensical Pop-Dance-Reggae track; ‘One of my Heroes’ has a touch of British Music-Hall; ‘Winning Seeds’ could be described as County-Rock meet Brit-Pop; And ‘All Through the Years’, uses a 6/8 beat to combine Grunge with Balkan elements.

The success of the MTV Unplugged series suggests that pared-down acoustic versions can have a wide appeal, but in giving acoustic renditions to songs that are yet to appear in full production (and have some sort of success), HGRS’s potential is perhaps yet to be reached.