Strange Alliance is the debut album by Tommy Keene

Tommy Keene

Tommy Keene is an American singer-songwriter, best known for releasing critical acclaimed new wave/power pop songs in the 1980s. He has a longtime cult following among fans of the musical genre of power pop...

 and was self-released on LP in 1982 on his Avenue Records label (catalog #AVE 001). Initially slated for release on Skip Groff's Limp Records

Limp Records

Limp Records was an independent record label based out of Rockville, Maryland that operated from 1978 until 1982. Run by Skip Groff out of his Yesterday and Today Records store, Limp was one of the first labels releasing music from the nascent D.C. punk scene...

, it still carries the Limp catalog number (LIMP 1010) in the run-out groove of the vinyl. This album has never been reissued on any other format. Keene's band line-up would remain the same until he moved to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 following the release of his major label debut in 1986. In addition, a former bandmate of bassist Ted Nicely's from Nightman, Mike Colburn (who had also been an early member of (The) Razz), contributes backing vocals on three songs.

Track listing

All songs written by Tommy Keene

1. "Landscape" – 3:40
2. "All the Way Around" – 4:32
3. "Don't Get Me Wrong" – 3:42
4. "I Can't See You Anymore" – 3:36
5. "It's All Happening Today" – 4:43
6. "Strange Alliance" – 4:25
7. "Another Night at Home" – 2:50
8. "Northern Lights" – 4:59

The band

• Tommy Keene — Vocals, guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , "[a]ll instruments on "Northern Lights""
• Ted Nicely — Bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Doug Tull — Drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Michael Colburn — Harmony vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
   ("Don't Get Me Wrong", "I Can't See You Anymore", "Another Night at Home")

Production

• Ted Nicely
  Ted Nicely
  Ted Nicely is an American record producer. He is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Girls Against Boys, Jawbox and Tripping Daisy among others.-Production credits:Select production/engineering/mixing credits include the following:...
  
   — Producer
• Tommy Keene — Producer
• Jim Crenca — Engineer
• Mark Greenhouse — Engineer
• Robert Ludwig
  Bob Ludwig
  Bob Ludwig is an American mastering engineer.He is a well known and respected figure within the music industry. His name is credited on the covers of albums released across the world, and he has won numerous awards....
  
   — Mastering

Additional credits

• Recorded at Track Recorders, Silver Spring
  Silver Spring, Maryland
  Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
  
  , Maryland
  Maryland
  Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
  
  
• Mastered at Masterdisk
  Masterdisk
  Masterdisk is an audio mastering and multimedia company in New York City, located on West 45th Street in Manhattan. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production....
  
  
• Roger G. Williams — Graphics design
• Stephen Figliozzi — Photography
• Skip Groff — Album coordinator
• Peter C. Leeds — Manager (American Entertainment Management, New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  )
• Seth Hurwitz
  9:30 Club
  Foo Fighters Promise to come back to D.C. and play the 9:30 ClubNightclub 9:30 is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. Originally located at 930 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C., in the 1970s it was called the "Atlantis Club", and hosted primarily rock, New Wave, and punk bands...
  
   — Booking
• David Einstein
  WHFS
  WHFS was the call sign for three different FM stations in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore, Maryland markets on various frequencies for nearly 50 years. The first and longest run was a progressive rock station and was usually, and affectionately, referred to as 'HFS...
  
  — Liner notes