Remember classic hits from the 80s like "Forever Young", "Sounds Like A Melody" or "Big In Japan" which have brought the mere synthpop sounds into another musical dimension, giving them a brand new look, so fresh and sparkling with multitude of innovative tones. All these songs are from the debut album by a German trio Alphaville which at this time consisted of Marian Gold (vocals), Bernhard Lloyd (keyboards) and Frank Mertens (keyboards). Unexpectedly, just after the album was released Frank Mertens (real name Frank Sorgratz) left the band, and the main reason for his decision was that he wasn't able to deal with a huge popularity and success that came on Alphaville in 1984. But fortunately he had to complete his contract signed with the record company WEA Musik GmbH so he composed several new songs which were released on his solo singles in the next few years. I used the word "fortunately" deliberately because among these songs the one, titled "Hold Me", is a true musical gem. He recorded it with his girlfiend Martina Richter (vocals) and Felix Lille (keyboards, guitars) and released it under the moniker Lonely Boys in vinyl on two formats : as 7inch single (WEA 248 810-7, with b-side track "Lonely Boy") as well as 12inch maxi ( the extended version ), It;s a shame but this record never was successful.
