Alien Shores

Alien Shores
Studio album by Platinum Blonde
Released 1985
Recorded Metalworks Studios, Mississauga, Ontario
Genre New wave
Label CBS Canada – 80105
Producer Eddy Offord, Mark Holmes
Platinum Blonde chronology

Standing in the Dark
(1983)		 Alien Shores
(1985)		 Contact
(1987)
Singles from Alien Shores
  1. "Crying Over You"
    Released: 1985
  2. "Situation Critical"
    Released: 1985
  3. "Somebody Somewhere"
    Released: 1986
  4. "Hungry Eyes"
    Released: 1986

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

  1. "Crying Over You" – 3:39 (Holmes)
  2. "Situation Critical" – 3:31 (Holmes)
  3. "Red Light" – 2:50 (Holmes/Galli)
  4. "It Ain't Love Anyway" – 3:12 (Holmes)
  5. "Somebody Somewhere" – 4:06 (Holmes)
  6. "Lost In Space" – 4:04 (Holmes/Galli)
  7. "Temple Of the New Born" – 4:02 (MacLean)
  8. "Holy Water" – 3:41 (Holmes/MacLean)
  9. "Animal" – 4:31 (Holmes)
  10. "Hungry Eyes" – 4:38 (Holmes/Galli)