Alan Horvath aka Alan J. Post aka Alan Post | Aquarian Weekly Entertainment Journal

The Aquarian Weekly Entertainment Journal | September 1983
LOOKING FOR AN OPEN DOOR
by Rich Lee - NJ Newsbeat

NOTE: From 1967 through 1997 Alan J. Post was Horvath's stage-name.

ON THE SURFACE, Alan Post's story appears to be a familiar one -- another musician paying dues in the clubs while he struggles for wider success.

But, beneath the surface, Alan Post's story is a very different one.

Post has been performing professionally since 1969; he's been through the music scenes in Los Angeles, Nashville, and a number of other American cities, and, over the years, he's had considerable interest expressed in his songwriting skills.

Some feel songwriting has become a lost art in the '80s but Post is confident that the public will once again become interested in good songs.

"I think there's patterns to it," he explained, "I think the scene right now is really comparitive to the scene when Elvis first came out -- a lot of beat, a lot of motion and not much attention to the words.

Of course, that shifted when the political scene started kicking up. People started getting into words again."

Post's own words include a catalogue of over 200 original songs. One particular batch of songs, however, always gets him the most attention.

It's his Lord of the Rings project, a series of songs he wrote based on the J.R.R. Tolken trilogy.

"I guess there's so much interest in it because it's so unique," he remarked. "It's not rock, it's not country, it's just ... something else."

"I started it back in 1973 when I wrote a song called, Friends Should Never Say Goodbye. That was just the effect that the whole story had on me. A year later I was reading the books again and I wrote a song called, The Nine Riders which represented how one of the chapters in the book affected me."

Several years later while working in Nashville, Post brought Friends Should Never Say Goodbye to the attention of some music publishers. He received a good response, cut a 45 of the tune and then spent two weeks in an upstate New York cabin composing an album's worth of material based on the trilogy.

"That was my dream come true -- to be able to just write like that" he said. "When there's interest, it's amazing how many songs you can write."

After completing his songwriting, Post returned to Nashville to shop his tape around. One producer even took it to David Bowie.

"Bowie's hangin' on to it," noted Post. "He likes to do things spontaneously, so you never know. I'm just glad he liked it enough to ask if he could hold on to it."

Since returning to the New York City area, there's been some interest from record companies. And Post will be receiving some exposure in a video of one of his compositions titled Nobody Likes To Ride Alone.

As for performing, Post finds himself in the same position as many other artists. The local club scene is not as supportive as it once was about original song sets.

"I do a lot of originals in the clubs when it quiets down and it seems appropriate." he stated. "Some nights can be very cool, but it's nothin' like '69 ... people use to really get into new songs."

Between his work in clubs, interest in a possible lp, video exposure and The Lord of the Rings project, Post's career has quite a few options.

"I'm just gonna keep chasin' things down," he smiled. "Any door that looks like it might open, I'm gonna walk through it and see what's on the other side."

� 1983 by the Aquarian Weekly Entertainment Journal

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