"Hunting High & Low" was basically a collection of some strong singles, with some other tracks added to fill an album. "Scoundrel Days", however, is crowded with great non-singles, usually dominated by synths, but otherwise very musically varied. "The Swing Of Things" for me stands as clearly the pinnacle of their entire body of work - a sort of Japan-influenced song with mood changes, a great tune, and possibly Morten Harket's best vocal performance ever. Other strong non-singles are the Bacharach-influenced "October", the catchy "We're Looking For The Whale" and somewhat darker synthpop tracks such as the title track and "The Weight Of The Wind". Add the fact that "I've Been Losing You" and "Manhattan Skyline" are both among their best singles, and "Scoundrel Days" for me clearly stands as their masterpiece.
The album has also generally performed better than "Hunting..." in surveys of the best Norwegian albums ever, and is apparently Sondre Lerche's all-time favourite album. So its Norwegian status is already quite huge, but what do you guys outside Norway think?
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:10 (5 years ago) Permalink
My thoughts on one song in detail.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:13 (5 years ago) Permalink
― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:40 (5 years ago) Permalink
― brittle-lemon, Thursday, 28 April 2005 05:02 (5 years ago) Permalink
― horten market, Thursday, 28 April 2005 05:59 (5 years ago) Permalink
swing of things = A++++++++
― and what, Thursday, 23 August 2007 16:43 (3 years ago) Permalink
the 3-note 'take on me' quote towards the end!!!!!
― and what, Thursday, 23 August 2007 16:44 (3 years ago) Permalink
why is it rated so low on Allmusic?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 23 August 2007 16:47 (3 years ago) Permalink
x-post -- Christ, I never even noticed that. Thank you!
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 23 August 2007 16:48 (3 years ago) Permalink
Wait, IS it rated low? What the hell?!
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 May 2008 03:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
The review itself was kinda/sorta positive, but it received only 2.5 stars. Rolling Stone's review was actually less kind to the album.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 1 May 2008 03:25 (2 years ago) Permalink
I should hope it was kinda/sorta positive at the least, given the author.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 May 2008 03:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
I've come around more on "I've Been Losing You" in recent years.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 May 2008 03:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
Haha. Oh yeah! Missed that part. Nothing gets by me.
― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 1 May 2008 04:02 (2 years ago) Permalink
The Rolling Stone review was written just after the album's release though. One should expect it to be revalued a bit in retrospect. Because, this is a way better album than "Hunting High And Low". "Hunting...." may be the bigger seller, but "Scoundrel Days" is much more of an artistic masterpiece.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 1 May 2008 07:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
wtf? i KNOW there must be a longer scoundrel days thread on ILM somewhere.
― Alan, Thursday, 1 May 2008 11:00 (2 years ago) Permalink
Maybe?
Anyway, me on said album for the What Was It Anyway? blog.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 9 May 2008 16:17 (2 years ago) Permalink
Great fucking album.
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, 12 May 2009 04:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
The legend grows.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 04:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
The legend is eclipsed:
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, 12 May 2009 11:46 (1 year ago) Permalink