essential
Hunting High and Low (1985)
They dressed like the rebels from “Rumble Fish” and sang about leaving home, losing face (“I’m too young to take on my deepest fears”) and loneliness in foreign countries. “Would she laugh at my accent?” asks Morten Harket, who is waiting for his beloved, in “The Blue Sky”. With “Living A Boy’s Adventure Tale” you go into nature, at the mercy of the weather and the night: “The rain pours down, my head in hands, pressed to the ground”.
The bonus tracks of the 2015 edition illuminate the evolution of the single “Take On Me”. A-ha knew: It will be a global success if they keep working on it long enough; today’s classic charted only with the third release and in a re-recording. The epic title track remaps the (emotional) landscape in which one can sing about loss. Everything was full of mountains, seabeds and forests. Hunting High and Low is one of the many 1985 albums about coming of age: Songs From The Big Chair, Like A Virgin, Meat Is Murder, Steve McQueen… and even the works of worse bands scored with the theme Age attention – like “Misplaced Childhood” by Marillion.
Scoundrel Days (1986)
Not only because of the grammatically unnecessarily complicated song title “I’ve Been Losing You” showed their second and best album a new direction. A-ha tried their hand at rock music. “Scoundrel Days” depicts life from the perspective of an adolescent who goes down the wrong path.
It’s about murderers and prisoners – “well, they gave me four years”, like in “The Soft Rains Of April”. And the weather was an opponent again: “October” as the month that creates loneliness. “We just had to show the industry who we really are,” said Harket. “Teenagers are ruled by so many different emotions: existential questions, faith, atheism, hate, love of course. complex things. Can’t we be taken seriously?” The second work would therefore be their most liberal – which the trio took advantage of to compose full of desperate songs, apart from “We’re Looking For The Whales”, which has a beautiful line “restlessness is in our genes / time won’t wear it off” celebrated the irrepressibility. The cover, with its surreal colors and hills, was not created on a clichéd “fjord in Norway”, but on Haleakalā, a volcano in Hawaii. This sad music could not have sounded further away than from Hawaii. But A-ha were still considered a teen band.
East of the Sun, West of the Moon (1990)
Morten dressed as a John Dunbar Indian, tried his hand at cultural assimilation, Mags in turn became Magne again, so went back from the English to the Norwegian birth name, wore Full beard and only played keyboards while sitting, because more serious. After the failure of the “Stay On These Roads” album, A-ha sent the cover version of a famous original into the race for the first time with “Crying in the Rain”; the Everly Brothers’ hit was often confused with the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” in the cinema year of “Ghost”.
A-ha wanted to sound like Robbie Robertson. In order to create a live feeling, they sprinkled all sorts of commands and “okays” into the songs, which have been preserved on the record and are intended to document improvisations. The blues of “Sycamore Leaves” would inspire David Lynch, the director wanted to use the mysterious song (“Out there by the roadside something’s buried / Under sycamore leaves”) in “Twin Peaks” – unfortunately it didn’t work out, but at least the lyrics should made it into the series.
Rewarding
Stay on These Roads (1988)
A-ha wanted to sound more mature without alienating their loyal listeners. The label, on the other hand, called for a return to cute pop songs à la “Take On Me” and wanted to keep them young as long as possible. A-ha tried their hand at the first, albeit harmless, experiments.
“Out Of Blue Comes Green” was a song that ended up fraying at 6:40 minutes, in the Beatle-esque choir piece “You’ll End Up Crying” they did without drums, “Touchy” received a Jaques Tati beach video , and then the panpipes hit “There’s Never A Forever Thing,” their best song ever. The mouth-blown wind noise on the title track has aged poorly, but “Stay on these Roads” remains their most important statement. In 2011, nine months after the second band split, A-ha played the peace song in Oslo at the national memorial service for those who died in the July 22 terrorist attack.
Memorial Beach (1993)
After this album it was over for seven years. With producer David Z. they recorded at Paisley Park from Prince on, Waaktaar played funk guitar like Nile Rodgers. In the studio bathroom, Magne scribbled a note on the urinal tile: “I was here – Prince.” At knee height, as an allusion to his small height. How lost must the three Norwegians have felt in the corridors of the former warehouse? Harket spoke of the “darkest time of her career,” but the Americana single “Dark Is The Night” and the soaring “Angel In The Snow” showed her in top form one last time.
In “Locust” A-ha sang about the wide spaces – whether that recording studio had a picture window with a view over Minnesota? The trip ended at “Memorial Beach”, the postcard kitsch. On the cover, Harket shows himself in white jeans and an open black leather jacket with a bare chest – fashion advice like that of department store giants Tom Tailor and Bruno Banani.
Analogue (2005)
With the comeback from the turn of the millennium, Harket was apparently obliged to use a whispering voice all the time (Waaktaar even called him a “castrato singer”), but on this album, as on “Don’t Do Me Any Favours”, he used the better, deep Bowie for the last time -pitch back. “Celice” offers heart pounding in the “Scoundrel Days” tradition, and the potential of “Minor Key Sonata” was recognized in good time – as a renamed “Analogue” which has become the title track, they achieved another top ten hit in the UK after 17 years . Even the only song composed by Harket, “Holy Ground”, is good.
supplementary
Minor Earth, Major Sky (2000)
A horde of producers brooded over the reunion album like a general staff. A high-tech monster that should reach many audiences – a hit-and-miss endeavor. “Minor Earth, Major Sky” was written as blues rock but given a Depeche Mode rhythm. To commemorate his class, Harket earned a Guinness World Record entry for the “longest note held in a European Top 40 song” with “20.2 seconds”.
Foot of the Mountain (2009)
Last album before the second breakup. The PR department, with the best of intentions but awkwardly, dubbed it a “return to the 1980s.” The scooter-döp-döp honking of “The Bandstand” was rather reputation-damaging, the dolphin-like “Riding The Crest” is said to be influenced by Arcade Fire and their “Neon Bible”. In “Foot Of The Mountain” again the a-ha motif of retreating into nature: “We could stay there and never come back”.
Cast in Steel (2015)
Her latest work until “True North” comes out this fall. An unbalanced mix of enchanting melodies (“Cast In Steel”), worthwhile spiced up archive material from before “Hunting High and Low” (“She’s Humming a Tune”), but also tiredly sung-away hit (“Objects in The Mirror”) . The three didn’t record together, but sent each other their files. That’s what you can hear on the record, their first in six years.
Weaker
Lifelines (2002)
Harket increasingly wanted to get involved as a composer, which, considering all three songwriters, led to “Lifelines,” a bloated 15-song scare. In an interview he said: “Good record, but too fuckin’ long.” The Europop of “Did Anyone Approach You?” was beneath her dignity. With the Anneli Drecker duet “Turn The Lights Down” they developed an image as a TV garden band. The successful demos of the deluxe version, like “Afternoon High”, show once again that the main songwriter Waaktaar couldn’t assert himself against the producers.
Movie
“Live in South America”
In 1991 they performed at Rock In Rio II in Brazil, a star-studded festival featuring Prince, Guns N’ Roses, INXS and George Michael. And the supposed has beens, a-ha, shocked the industry: 198,000 people came to see the band at Maracana Stadium. They were the unlikely stars of the festival, with no one attracting more crowds. A record that is still valid today as far as paying viewers are concerned. Live, the Norwegians were never better than at that time. But they felt uncomfortable: “The stage,” said Waaktaar, “was so wide, I could hardly see Morten.”
gems
Outtakes, cover versions, early versions
“The Killing Moon”
In 1983’s London, A-ha were obsessed with Echo & The Bunnymen. For their 2017 MTV Unplugged recording of The Killing Moon, they brought in Ian McCulloch, who was less lyrical than Harket.
“Våkenatt”
Second album by Paul and Magne’s predecessor A-ha band, Bridges. Recorded 1980, first released 2018. Includes early versions of Soft Rains of April and Scoundrel Days.
#9 Dreams
In the bridge of the original, John Lennon sings “hear” four times. Harket poses because he goes higher with every “hear” on this a-ha cover, even going into falsetto.
“You’re So White”
Unpublished early work from 1984 that has been neglected by all reissues, can be heard on YouTube.
“a-ha Days Night”
LP bootleg from their first tour, recorded at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in December 1986. Magne, who plays the role of the voice maker on stage, grows quieter and quieter as the concert progresses. There was no point in talking after all – the screams from the female fans reached Beatlemania levels.
“NRK Studios Oslo 1991”
Seven songs from the “East Of The Sun…” era, recorded live in Norway’s largest studio. A-ha was a terrific six-man band there. Could have been released as a separate album.
“Trees Will Not Grow On Sand”
Commonplace title, intended as a life lesson learned through strokes of fate of people who tell their stories on a veranda. The deadly serious use of the Norwegian Magne with an American whiskey voice: “Alrrrright”.
“Shapes That Go Together”
Forgotten last single before their first split in 1994. Official anthem of the Lillehammer Paralympics.
“A Question of Lust”
Solid version of the Depeche Mode classic, 2009 for BBC 2.
“Winds of Change”
On their Live in Athens recording, the Scorpions Harket put on a show not seen since George Michael and Elton John duet on 1992’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. Although Harket is not announced, he strolls onto the stage from the left and simply sings along. Only the whistle, mine cannot be stolen.