Retro Spins: a-ha - Stay On These Roads

Today, I'm wrapping up my 80's adventures with a-ha. They were a band that hit hard in 1985 with their iconic tune, Take On Me, but then quickly fell off my radar. Up until now, I hadn't heard anything beyond that respective album and their James Bond contribution. Now that I am, I feel like I may have missed out the first time around.

1988's Stay On These Roads matched the charts of its two predecessors, really solidifying the staying power of the band. This only makes it all the more weirder how foreign anything beyond their debut is to me. What happened that they completely disappeared in the USA?

Coming off my high from their hard rocking Manhattan Skyline track from their previous Scoundrel Days album, I was still wanting something punchier from the band. As such, I was a little bummed by the title track album starter, which was very slow paced, almost a slog to get through. 

The tempo picked up a bit with The Blood That Moves The Body, which was an enjoyable track to hear, but we were still very much in synth pop land. The string style arrangements reminiscent of The Living Daylights intertwined in the tune definitely made this one stick out as a positive.

Speaking of that Bond song. While the film version was recorded with producer / composer John Barry, and considered a masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, a-ha opted to do something rather odd. When it came time to release their album, the band included their own version on the album, which is so far inferior from the film adaptation that it's like listening to a completely different song. a-ha's "solo" effort is awful. Just awful. It has nothing that made its predecessor superior.

There's apparently a lot of drama and contention between the group and Barry, suffice to say they don't appear to have gotten along. Allegedly, Duran Duran voiced the same concerns with Barry that a-ha did when recording their Bond hit, A View To A Kill.

Sales for the album would be the beginning of a steady decline in a-ha's popularity, which continued with 1990 released East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon. I can certainly see why. With the exception of a couple tracks at the beginning, it was just a very bland and blah experience. By 1993's Memorial Beach, the world had seemingly moved on from the band. Fun fact though, their '93 album was recorded at Prince's Paisley Park.

a-ha went on hiatus in 1994, but would return in 1998 to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. This kicked off a series of comeback tours, and culminated in the 2000 released Minor Earth Major Sky studio album. They would continue to release new albums through 2009, but then shocked their fans by announcing they would be disbanding. Coinciding with this announcement was the release of the compilation, The Singles: 1984–2004.

In hindsight, this could have just been a ploy to garner attention towards the greatest hits release, as a-ha would come back together in 2015 to release yet another studio album. This was followed in 2022 with their latest to date, True North. Since then, a-ha continues to tour.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
August 8, 1981

 

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
August 8, 1987

Retro Spins: a-ha Scoundrel Days

It's funny. For how popular a-ha's Take On Me was, I've never heard anything else from them beyond that  respective album, and their James Bond theme, The Living Daylights. I felt it was high time to rectify that.

The group formed in 1982 with founding members, Morten Harket, Paul (Pål) Waaktaar, and Magne Furuholmen. Together, they left their native land of Norway, heading for London to pursue a recording deal. On the way, they considered name's for the group, ultiamtely settling on a-ha from a song title Waaktaar had written.

Upon arriving in London, the trio opted to go with the studio belonging to musician, producer, and soon-to-be-manager John Ratcliff. The reasoning behind the decision; he had a Space Invaders arcade cabinet.

Though a-ha would become the first Norwegian band to have a number one hit in the USA, the road to Take On Me was not paved in gold. The song originally began as Miss Eerie, by The Bridges.

This would turn into Lesson One under the a-ha banner, with vocals from Harket.

The band continued to work on it, ultimately coming up with new lyrics, and changing the song's name to Take On Me. While a music video was created to promote the track, this original version failed to garner much attention.

Seeing the potential in the song, it was once again remixed, and a new video shot. This version would become the breakthrough hit, a legendary 80's song, and iconic music video.

Sales for their album, Hunting High And Low, skyrocketed, sending it platinum certified in Norway, the UK, and USA. It would also go gold in Germany, Australia, and other Dutch speaking countries. The downside to this was that the pressure was now on. a-ha had to return to the studio, and create a worthy successor. The end result of their efforts was Scoundrel Days.

Knowing nothing about this release, I fired it up, eager for what I would hear, but not expecting much. Boy, was I taken by surprise. Things kick off with the title track, and the energy continues through The Swing Of Things, and I've Been Losing You.

While things took a bit of a dive with the ballad, October, things went to a whole new level with the edgy guitar intro to Manhattan Skyline. I'd never would have expected to have a-ha to have such a hard rocking song, but the tone really suites the vocal styles of Harket, honestly making me wish they had done more like this.

It is, however, because of this song that it's follow up, the synth pop Cry Wolf, feels out of place. It's a decent song. It just doesn't follow on the heels of Skyline (at all). The problem that ensued from here was that I had gotten a taste of the edgier side of a-ha, I liked it, and I wanted more. As such, the remainder of the tracks that followed with their bubblegum synth sound stopped resonating. This decline honestly made me lose interest, but I would be remiss to say I still didn't enjoy the album overall.

Scoundrel Days performed well for a-ha, bringing with it further international success, as well as platinum status in Norway, Switzerland, Germany, and the UK. Though their singles performed well in other countries, only Cry Wolf would make it to the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number fifty. This is probably why I didn't know anything from the album. Rick Dee's Weekly Top 40 is where I heard most of my music in 1986.

a-ha would return one more time in the 80's for their final entry, Stay On These Roads (1988). But, we'll have to pick that one up tomorrow.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
August 7, 1982

Retro Spins: A-Ha - Hunting High and Low

A-Ha
Hunting High and Low
1985

Debut and break through album all in one. A-Ha didn't so much step into the limelight so much as they kicked the door in to the studio and rip the roof off so the sun could shine directly down upon them. Hunting High and Low is a fantastic and I dare say essential 80's album that if you haven't heard you need to.

The album launches right into it with Take on Me and from there keeps smacking you in the face with one after the other of great tracks. Granted none of them seemed to outshine the first track in terms of chart toppers, but don't let that discount them.

Many people consider the band to be a one hit wonder because they only tend to remember Take on Me. While it's true the track charted in July of 1985 and reached number one in October, it wasn't exactly their last hit. The Sun Always Shines on TV would also debut in November of that same year and make its way to number twenty by February of the following year. Cry Wolf from their follow up album also charted in 1987. Okay, fine neither was as popular or successful as their first hit, but still it's not like it was the only thing they had going for them. Let's also not forget their fantastic opening title track to 1987's Bond film, The Living Daylights.

What's interesting to note for me personally is that when I first listened to this album a couple of years ago I actually turned it off in disgust. However, when revisiting it for my Retro Spins post it had quite the opposite effect. I loved the thing from start to finish. So much so that I didn't even bother picking out single tracks to add to my Ipod. I ended up just adding the whole thing - All ten tracks. Granted as time goes by and I hear some of the songs again I may end up whittling this down.

The aspect that really drew me in was the voice of singer Morten Harket. Even on songs that didn't necessarily catch my attention beat or overall musically wise still sucked me in with his almost haunting and wide ranged voice. It's as if the songs were echoing in my head calling to me. I know, sounds weird in a way.

I would definitely recommend this album to any 80's music lover or someone looking to find a great album overall.

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