A-Ha: Classic or Dud?

Understatement of the decade, perhaps. ;-)

a big surprise was morten harket solo album - 7/10
i also 2 x matt goss (bros)solo lps and joey tempest (europe)solo lp.

Just found the literal version of Take On Me:

pipe wrench fiiiight!

Excellent.

By the way, Take On Me is my nomination for perfect pop song.

"The Swing Of Things" is the perfect a-ha song.

I equate them to a much, much better Coldplay - seriously.
Understatement of the decade, perhaps. ;-)

Coldplay are the better Coldplay. a-ha were better back when they were a-ha. :)

Wah!:

Pop group A-ha have announced they are to call it a day, just months after scoring a top 10 album in the UK.
"We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale," the group said in a statement.
The trio added that the split would allow them to pursue "other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else."

There is always a time for everything and splitting now may be wise.

That being said, the four albums they have released after the reformation (because they did break up in the 90s too, after all...) have all been surprisingly good. Other than the "Scoundrel Days" album and part of the debut, I'd say that the noughties may well have been their best era from an artistic point of view.

First few albums are classic, but they should've broken up about 15-20 years ago. I'm okay with this.

Someone call up the Big C, tell him it's another sign that David Cameron is bring down the European social democrat pop dream.

Unfortunately, as their best work was down about two decades ago, an awful lot of people probably believe they already has broken up.

Then again, an awful lot of people don't appreciate "The Sun Always Shines On TV".

Speaking of "TV," I could use an excuse to post this cover version...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTdq-tMkayo

Well, their latter albums are not at all bad. They were starting to lose it in the 90s, and their two 90s albums, plus their last 80s album, "Stay On These Roads" were their three weakest albums by quite a stretch. But then, they broke up and reformed, and after that they have been great. "Minor Earth Major Sky" from 2000 was particularly good, IMO even better than "Hunting High & Low", and the rest have also been quite good if quite not up there. Of course their best album remains "Scoundrel Days" and always will, but there were a couple of more recent albums that came close too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FRlAjPjazM

Here's another cover of "TV" by Delays.

Their best noughties moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUB9Rq8FcEQ

Playing North America next month! Or at least NYC, Toronto, Chicago and LA.

Sondre Lerche opening in NYC.

Texas, guys... Texas!

*hinthinthinthinthint*

"And You Tell Me" is one of my all time favorites of ever.
Hits that perfect twee pop nerve that I'm such a sucker for

Lerche is a huge a-ha fan so no wonder. I guess Donkeyboy are too busy setting Germany on fire to be able to warmup for a-ha in the US like they did in the UK.

Hello:

http://www.rhino.com/shop/product/a-ha-hunting-high-and-low-deluxe-edition

http://www.rhino.com/shop/product/a-ha-scoundrel-days-deluxe-edition

*drool*

Old news, Ned... these were announced a few weeks ago. ;-)

Brilliant albums, nonetheless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urFtSadL42o

I think this is my first exposure to solo Morten material? It's not terribly different from latter day a-ha, actually. How does he hold on to that voice?

There are not enough pics of Morten Harket itt.

"Stay On These Roads" is lovely!

It is indeed.

an amazing album too (aside from Touchy lol).

"The Blood That Moves the Body" would have been a way better Bond theme than "The Living Daylights." Those strings!

I must buy it.

especially Bond-y here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jiEgyZeN-4

Reuniting for an album and world tour.

http://www.classicpopmag.com/2015/03/ha-reunite-album-world-tour/

Currently blasting the first two albums, particularly Scoundrel Days. Superb album.

Indeed.

Scoundrel Days is the best

This is cool, but it's also one of the fastest reunions post-farewell that I can remember.

Tell that to the Damned! (Or Fall Out Boy or...)

From what I can gather, the plan is to do this album and tour and that's pretty much it, but you never know... the first time they broke up, it only lasted about 4 years before they got back together again, this time it's been 5...

It seems that anyone who is familiar with Scoundrel Days rates it quite highly, but I can't help but feel that the album is incredibly underrated in the big scheme of things. For me it's definitely up there with the best records of the '80s.

In the US, for the most part, they ceased to exist the last time "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was aired on MTV. People don't even remember they did a Bond theme, because people never think about the Timothy Dalton movies.

I imagine they have a slightly higher profile in Europe.

I don't know about a-ha's chart performance elsewhere in Europe, but Hunting High and Low, Scoundrel Days and Stay On These Roads all made it to #2 on the UK album chart. East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon made it to #12, which is a bit of a drop.

As far as I'm aware, all of their singles up until and including 'Stay On These Roads' went Top 10 here except for 'Manhattan Skyline', which made it to #13.

However, even though they had a great deal of success here in the '80s, 'Take On Me' and 'The Sun Always Shines On TV' seem to be the ones that most people are familiar with, with possibly 'Hunting High & Low' and 'The Living Daylights' after that. It often feels like a lot of their '80s work, for all its success, has been forgotten about in comparison to other bands/tracks of the time, which is a huge shame.

Oh man, I am all about this.

http://theseconddisc.com/2015/07/17/take-on-me-a-has-hunting-high-and-low-goes-super-deluxe-with-new-box-set/

CD 1: The Original Album (Warner Bros. 25300, 1985)

1. Take on Me
2. Train of Thought
3. Hunting High and Low
4. The Blue Sky
5. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale
6. The Sun Always Shines on T.V.
7. And You Tell Me
8. Love is Reason
9. I Dream Myself Alive
10. Here I Stand and Face the Rain

CD 2: The Demos 1982-1984

1. Lesson One (Autumn 1982 “Take on Me” Demo)
2. Presenting Lily Mars (Naersnes Demo)
3. Na Blaser Det Pa Jorden (Naersnes Demo)
4. The Sphinx (Naersnes Demo)
5. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale (Naersnes Demo)
6. Dot the I
7. The Love Goodbye
8. Nothing to It
9. Go to Sleep
10. Train of Thought (Demo)
11. Monday Mourning
12. All the Planes That Come In on the Quiet
13. The Blue Sky (Demo)
14. You Have Grown Thoughtful Again
15. What’s That You’re Doing to Yourself in the Pouring Rain
16. Take on Me (Demo)
17. I Dream Myself Alive (Demo)
18. Hunting High and Low (Demo)
19. And You Tell Me (Demo)
20. Here I Stand and Face the Rain (Demo)
21. Love is Reason (Demo)
22. The Blue Sky (Second Demo)
23. Never, Never
24. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. (Demo)
25. Presenting Lily Mars (Rendezvous Demo)

CD 3 – Singles, Extended Versions and B-Sides

1. Take on Me (Original 7-Inch Version, 1984)
2. Take on Me (12-Inch Mix, 1984)
3. Stop! And Make Your Mind Up
4. Take on Me (12-Inch Version, 1985)
5. Take on Me (Instrumental Mix)
6. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. (7-Inch Mix)
7. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. (Extended Version)
8. Driftwood
9. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. (Extended Version No. 2)
10. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. (Instrumental)
11. Train of Thought (7-Inch Mix)
12. Train of Thought (U.S. Remix)
13. Train of Thought (Dub Version)
14. Hunting High and Low (7-Inch Remix)
15. Hunting High and Low (Extended Remix)

CD 4: The Alternate Mixes (previously unreleased)

1. Take on Me (Video Version)
2. Train of Thought (Early Mix)
3. Hunting High and Low (Early Mix)
4. The Blue Sky (Alternate Long Mix)
5. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale (Early Mix)
6. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. (Alternate Early Mix)
7. And You Tell Me (Early Mix)
8. Love is Reason (Early Mix)
9. Dream Myself Alive (Early “N.Y.C.” Mix)
10. Here I Stand and Face the Rain (Early Mix)

DVD: The Videos

1. Take on Me (1985 Version) – directed by Steve Barron
2. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. – directed by Steve Barron
3. Train of Thought – directed by Candace Reckinger and Michael Patterson
4. Hunting High and Low – directed by Steve Barron
5. Take on Me (1984 Version) – directed by Stevie Price
6. Take on Me (1985 Alternate Cut) – directed by Steve Barron

Take on Me (1985 Alternate Cut) – directed by Steve Barron

Having watched the commonly available version about, oh, a zillion times, I think an alternate cut might fuck up my whole world.

Here's hoping they do a similar thing with Scoundrel Days!

Morten Harket is 60 today.

Quite right, and very glad you now understand the greatness.