Headlines And Deadlines - A-Ha

...Morten Harket, who made tabloid headlines in the mid 80s for taking a sexy groupie to bed and then talking about _Jesus_ all night. Now THERE'S a man you can safely let your 10-year-old daughters plaster all over their walls. Of course, I'm 31 now, and the idle wonderings my mind turns to when hearing this song are not ones I'd share with my ten year old self. So, it gets 9/10 from me, and I'm going to pause for a smoke. :-)

_Here ...
.../> _She sounds asleep and she's sweeter now_
_Than the wildest dream..._

9. _Move To Memphis_

A return to a rockier feel for this one, a memorable song from their "longer hair" stage. It would be better, I think, if they'd rocked out even more, and shown up Jon Bon Jovi and his chums for being the Bros-in-fright-wigs that they were (that's not to say I don't like Bon Jovi). But it _rocks_, and has funky, ... more

I have decided to review another a-ha album again much sooner than I planned after I saw this fine Greatest Hits album for a measly £3! In ASDA, if you're curious. It appears that it has been "remaindered" or whatever it is happens to CDs that makes them end up in bargain sections of supermarkets. So, if you don't own this album, and like top-notch popular music, I would strongly recommend you cast your eye over the CD section in your local hypermarket. It was released in 1991, and so the most recent song on there is Move to Memphis. But I'm sure that these songs will be the most familiar to people who aren't already hardcore a-ha fans, and for that reason, it's probably the best place to start if you are at all interested in rediscovering these (far too often neglected) Norwegian pop gods.

If you haven't read any of my a-ha reviews before (this is my third to date- 9th April, and there's more to come), you should be warned I am an EPIC fan of a-ha! See my Lists for a guide to a-ha's studio albums, if you are at all interested. I feel very strongly they are a very under-recognized band in this country, well, except by me, Coldplay and more than a few other women over 30. :-) I'm such an epic fan of a-ha that I once queued from midnight to 8am, in January, in a piss-stinking alleyway next to HMV in Oxford Street to get a wristband to see them do a small gig and get something SIGNED later that day. Lest you think this some 80s teenage whim, it was only a couple of years ago, when they were promoting their last album, Analogue. And lest you think I'm hardcore, I only travelled from South East London. The truly epic bought their Travel Lodge duvets with them to keep warm, having travelled from all over the UK and further afield for the chance to see a-ha. They were just as smashing close up as they are from a distance, I am happy to report, although I couldn't say much as security bundled the queue past as quickly as they could, I managed to repeatedly say "thank you". Magne was lovely, he made extended eye contact with everyone and seemed to be appreciating that I wasn't just thanking them for hurriedly signing my copy of Analogue.

I like a-ha because they have a very finely tuned pop sensibilities but still ROCK. At their best, they produce epic songs that are either pop-that-rocks or rock-that-is-pop, with the added bonus of deeply soulful moments that always avoid being mawkish and are never self-pitying. They have provided the musical backdrop to my life, essentially-- and as their style evolves, they have grown up with me. Their poppier phase suited my pre-pubescent desires, and as their sound matured, so did I. I may not be the most truly epic of a-ha fans, in that I'm not an a-ha stalker, one of the front three rows of every gig the band themselves have said they recognise at every gig, who are all generally a few years older than me and would have been a teeanger in the mid 80's, but I'm sure that a-ha have a deeper resonance for me because I matured in sync with a-ha and I have always held their music almost as a sacred thing, the harmonious background to the chaos of my life.

Hopefully, the contents of this album would convince anyone why I got so hooked to a-ha to begin with! By 1991 I would have been 14, surly, and getting into heavy metal, but I still felt dizzy with glee when I got my filthy paws on this greatest hits album. Most of my a-ha albums were at that point on cassette, this was the first one I got on CD, so it was a special treat!

As well as hypermarket bargain bins and the web offers above, you can also get this album off the iTunes for £7.99.

Tracks

1. Take On Me

In the interests of writing a review the way I always do, I'm listening to this song as I type, even though it's a song I of course know better than the back of my own hand. I'm really trying to be objective here. Has the signature keyboard riff dated? Maybe a little, but not as much as you might think. It feels pleasingly retro rather than dated. It's odd to think I song I remember coming out is now an "oldie" but I guess that's just getting older, innit. It's a beautiful pop song. I taught my 9-years old (at the time) godson to play the riff on a little toy keyboard (it's harder than it sounds). "Do you know this tune?" I asked him. He looked thoughtful. "Yes, but I don't know what it's called," he said. I was his age when I first heard Take On Me and got hooked. Will any of the crappy rap and R&B artists he seems to favour have the same longevity? I can't give this song less than 10/10.

I'll be gone
In a day or twooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

2. Cry Wolf

From a-ha's second album Scoundrel Days, wot I have already reviewed, this is a much less poppy song than the opener, with a heavy bass line, urgent keyboards, and the epic feel that characterizes a-ha's best songs. It's a bit less guitar-centric than the rockiest songs on the album, but still manages to rock. I love it. Live, it kicks ass. I gave it 8.5/10 when I reviewed Scoundrel Days, and I'll stand by that.

3. Touchy!

There isn't a song that divides a-ha fans like Touchy!. Even truly die-hard a-ha stalkers who make me look like a lightweight have been known to admit to hating it. I LOVE IT. It's a pure pop masterpiece, that came out in 1988, and showed Bros up for being the complete ladyboys that they were. It feels like an exquisite mickey-take of the demands of pop, and the video is just a complete joy to watch, full of crappy 80s cliches and gratuitous posing even from Paul. There's no way you're going to get the very dignified (and slender) Paul Waaktaar-Savoy posing gamely in a bathing suit unless it's in the name of irony. Everything about this song is pure pop cheese, done with the same expertise, dignity and style that a-ha bring to their obviously deeper, rockier efforts. 10/10 and a gold star from this reviewer, with a resounding "you SWINES!" to a-ha, who don't seem to play it live anymore!

4. You Are The One (Remix)

Less cheesy than, but almost as poppy as, Touchy!, this was my favourite song off the Stay On These Roads album at the time, though these days I would name Touchy! as my favourite. It's an airy concoction of poppy drums and synths, with trumpetty riffs and light hearted lyrics of love. I adore it. 9.5/10 from me, losing half a point because I find it oddly tricky to sing along to.

5. Manhattan Skyline

This song, as I have observed elsewhere, is "typical a-ha", in that it employs the formula they often exploit to epic success, and this song is certainly epic. It switches mood and tempo, has a strong rocking guitar in the faster parts and exploits Morten's voice in the spartan, slower, more reflective sections. God gifted that man with an amazing instrument. I shall perhaps try and use it as an argument for the existence of God in my next internet discussion of the matter. :-) Another 9.5/10 from me.

6. The Blood That Moves The Body

Another of a-ha's more poppy efforts from the Stay On These Roads album, this still has a dark feel, a murder theme, and lyrics that actually require research (or a love of South American literature) to fully understand. You don't get that from Britney Spears, eh? It alienated fans at the time, not reaching the top 10, the first time that happened to a-ha! 9/10 from me.

7. Early Morning

I actually think this is one of a-ha's duller offerings, although it has more appeal live. It's not bad, I don't think a-ha could produce something truly bad, but it's not epic enough for me. Although it does have some cool guitar sounds and a nice gentle vibe, it just doesn't make me want to smoke as if I've just had sex like many other a-ha songs can. :-) They've set their own bar too high, I suspect that's the real problem here, reflected in my score of 7/10.

8. Hunting High And Low (Remix)

I couldn't review this song properly when reviewing a live version as seeing it live is just way too personal for me. I don't know what it is about this song-- maybe it's because listening to this song as a girl was the first time I ever imagined what it might be like to be sharing my bed with a man. That man, of course, was Morten Harket, who made tabloid headlines in the mid 80s for taking a sexy groupie to bed and then talking about Jesus all night. Now THERE'S a man you can safely let your 10-year-old daughters plaster all over their walls. Of course, I'm 31 now, and the idle wonderings my mind turns to when hearing this song are not ones I'd share with my ten year old self. So, it gets 9/10 from me, and I'm going to pause for a smoke. :-)

Here I am
and within the reach of my hands
She sounds asleep and she's sweeter now
Than the wildest dream...

9. Move To Memphis

A return to a rockier feel for this one, a memorable song from their "longer hair" stage. It would be better, I think, if they'd rocked out even more, and shown up Jon Bon Jovi and his chums for being the Bros-in-fright-wigs that they were (that's not to say I don't like Bon Jovi). But it rocks, and has funky, almost Prince-ish guitars and a powerful bassline. Not Morten's most exciting vocal effort, it was a standalone single, released two years before the studio album it was released on, and I think that shows, a bit. Odd singles tend to let the side down a bit, for many bands (another example of this phenomenon is The Prodigy's Baby's Got a Temper, and this is definitely better than that.) I give it 8.5/10.

10. I've Been Losing You

This is held by many to be the best song off Scoundrel Days, although mine is a mere album track (_The Weight of the Wind_) and this was an epic single, blowing away the pop cobwebs of the Hunting High and Low era. This song ROCKS like no other. It has a false ending, and the coda opens with a massive drum explosion and the pulsing bass and almost harsh, but always melodious, rock guitar that are the hallmarks of a-ha at their rocky peaks. It is a pity that a-ha's next album returned to a poppier feel, as this song hints at the Nordic rock gods they could well have been. 11/10 from me.

11. The Living Daylights

Apparently in the making of this song, for which they worked with Bond composer John Barry, there was a falling out. Paul later went onto claim that Barry had had little creative input; I have no idea how true this is, but it's certainly true that there are two versions of this song, the single version and a-ha's favoured version, found on the Stay on These Roads album and it's also very true that as far as Bond themes go, this is a stand-out song as its rather different in feel than other Bond themes. It being the theme song made me watch the move, and I really liked it, despite not really liking Bond films previously. This song suits Timothy Dalton's Bond; it's moody, serious, and sexy without being morbid or silly, and like Dalton's Bond, a-ha are seriously under-rated. I reckon it's worth 8.5 of anyone's 10 points.

Hey driver, where're we going?
I swear my nerves are showing...

12. Crying In The Rain

When I'm in a good mood I'm always tempted to think of this Everly Brothers cover as dull, but then I find myself listening to it when I'm not in such a happy mood and I find myself thinking it's a beautiful and heartfelt piece. I'm in a fairly reasonable mood right now, but it's tuning in to my background angst and making me thoughtful so I'm going to give it 8.5/10 and move swiftly onwards....

13. I Call Your Name

Another fine offering, with great guitars and saxophone-y bits, this is is another offering from their "Long Haired Phase". This was the last a-ha song I bought before I went off and got into Happy Mondays inspired shoegazing. It really didn't trouble the charts, but that says more about the charts at the time than it does about this song, which is a perfectly fine number, although not their most epic. The album this is off- East of the Sun, West of the Moon, is generally considered their least epic, but this has a most satisfying, almost epic finish. 8/10 from me.

Through fire and rain
Through wilderness and pain
Through the losses, through the gains
On love's roller coaster train
I call your name

14. Stay On These Roads

In 1988, when this song came out, I was eleven. Even at that age, I felt a bit disappointed that it wasn't rockier. I'd LOVED the Scoundrel Days album, sadly the slightly lower chart positions the singles from it meant a move back to a poppier feel for the third album, of which this is the title track. It's a worthy, soulful ballad, and it's truly EPIC live. It uses Morten's voice well and has a backing of nicely balanced drums, guitar and keyboard. Many fans name this as their favourite song. 9/10 from me.

Where joy should reign
These skies restrain

15. Train Of Thought (Remix)

I love to listen to this song when I'm commuting. It was a-ha's third single, and is more Take On Me-ish than their second single, which closes the album next. It has a chugging, powerful bassline, emotive of the train in the title, and has intricate keyboards. Morten's voice in this reminds me of David Bowie at times, and it certainly is a worthy part of their epic pop phase. Listening to it now, I'm thinking I really don't listen to this song as often as I should. 9/10 from this commuting reviewer.

He likes to have the morning paper
Crossword solved
Words go up words come down
Forwards backwards twisted round

16. The Sun Always Shines on T.V.

This song is truly, in my book anyway, the best song of the 1980s. It is better than Take On Me, and quite rightly got to number 1 in the charts in the UK (_Take On Me_ got to number 2, kept off the top spot by Midge Ure, if I remember correctly). It's an epic, guitar driven pop masterpiece, which starts slowly with a simpler keyboard line, which is then joined by Morten's vocals for a deceptively spartan verse.... then the "violins" and guitar kick in and it all becomes something timeless, truly, a song that transcends both its era of the 1980s and its nominal genre of "pop". I would say that it is this song, far more than Take On Me, that defines what a-ha are all about. I can't give this song too many points, it really is without peer. There is no other "pop" song of the 1980s that has the depth, skill and intelligence this song does. This is not my favourite a-ha song for emotional reasons, but it is definitely my second favourite and technically and musically the best. It would be one of my Desert Island Discs, for sure. The disjointed phrasing of the lyrics reflect the themes of the song, which I've tried to reflect in my breakup of the lyric sample:

I reached inside myself and found
nothing there to ease the pressure off
my ever worrying mind
All my power wastes away
I fear the crazed and lonely
looks the mirror's
sending me these days

Conclusions and Waffle

As you might have guessed, I love a-ha and I'm not ashamed to be evangelical about it. But I also do genuinely think that they are one of the most under-rated bands ever, in the minds of the "general public", at least; they have always been very highly rated by other musicians. I noticed that at the concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire a couple of years ago that the crowd split into men and women; women down the front, men (who mostly appeared to be partners of the women down the front) at the bar. I was kind of half way, as a courtesy to the chap who was accompanying me, hehe. But I also noticed that the men up the back were enjoying it as much as their womenfolk down the front, who would have been besotted since they were teenagers. Not in a girly squealy way of course, but there was a lot of foot tapping and watching of the band, and even a little sly singing along to Take On Me and The Sun Always Shines On TV was observed. The fans ranged in age, although most of the women there were older than me there were also many much younger, which surprised me.

a-ha really are a pop band that transcends that genre, with finely tuned rock and soul sensibilities. Their influence by bands like The Doors shows. If you were to assemble a band from highly talented, skilled and original musicians and demand they made "popular music" a-ha is exactly what you would be asking for. This early Greatest Hits compilation is a fine showcase of their first phase of working together. Chronologically, the next album is Memorial Beach (1993), which I would strongly recommend as well, as the swansong of this first era of a-ha. After that the differences between the band members became too pressing and they didn't work together again until 1998, but since then have been producing albums of fine quality and just what you would expect from a "mature" a-ha.

I would recommend this album to everyone... and for three quid, it has to be worth a punt. Do keep an eye out for it: I promise you that you won't regret it. And I also bet you will keep an eye out for further a-ha bargains and maybe even start poking around the iTunes! :-) 

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