" learning"? No they had their song writing chops pretty together on this album and higher asthetics than the previous two albums.
Hey now! How dare you question my questionable theory. Yes, they had unbelievable songwriting capabilities by that time but after 5 years or so of working with European musical noodlers who sort of had to do what Morten, Pal or Mags wanted, I'm thinking they had to get used to a scenario where they had to compromise a lot more than they had been over the previous few years. Don't poke holes in my theory again......or this is what will happen to you.................................
I hope you are able to get acquainted with their other albums. They are wonderful. I envy you in that you get to hear those for the first time.......if not then I guess pretending might work.
Good point. The comment I made about them learning to be a band again should be treated as a theory...............in fact, just treat everything I write as a theory if you haven't started already because half the time I'm just winging it. My point about that was that even though they're all prolific songwriters at the time MEMS was being recorded, they had all just spent 5 years where they had a lot of creative control. In 1998 they had to learn to work as a band again where compromise is required from time to time and maybe a not so good idea makes it onto the album because one individual demanded something be changed or that something remain. It just seemed like the best explanation for the varied styles of songs and influences. I always thought that they were like most Norwegians I knew that were extremely easy going with a strong sense of "what's good for the many" but I later found out that they had some pretty fierce confrontations at times and that things almost boiled over into a snowball fight.
Interesting. Well., what ever the juju was it worked for them. I think MEMS is there best album, may not be there most beautiful platter.that would be HHAL.
I must say I'm surprised. For many years I have had the determined opinion that I very much prefer the MEMS songs as live versions and the album suffers greatly production wise. I have now been listening to the whole album repetedly for some days and I find it much stronger than I remember. Sure, there are sounds and arrangements that haven't stood the test of time but I especially find the mix of electronica and guitars quite successful on a number of tracks. To be able to go from MB to MEMS and make both albums work shows the greatness of a-ha. There are some incredible strong songs here but as always with this band also some really low points, I Won't Forget Her is the worst one and have no place on the record. One of the things that attracts me to a-ha is that their albums always offers a varied collection of songs but each album still have a flavour of its own. And the German polished flavour is quite appealing, at least for one album and these songs. Both the band and the record company wanted a strong comeback with radio play and chart success and indie guitars hadn't done the trick. It can not have been easy for them to decide what a-ha in the noughties should sound like. With this album a-ha is back with what they do best- melancholy, darkness and longing in a bright, chilly package all delivered vocaly by Harket's unique combination of passion and detachment.
"juju" I hadn't heard that in a long time since "That 70's show". I think MEMS is their most interesting, it sounds like it was a struggle but the result was very good. Analogue and Foot of the Mountain sounded like they figured it out.
I think that's perfectly normal. Different set of circumstances in your own life can give you a different set of ears, sometimes it's just your own personal maturation. I know that I have a rough time listening to things I used to be over the moon for when I was younger. Bad Religion, Prodigy....even the earlier Arctic Monkeys stuff is hard for me to take now while I'm all over Neil Diamond's later discs. I'm glad the record works better for you now, it's always good to be able to add something to the list of things that put a bit of a smile on.
This is very interesting. For me it was actually a bit challenging to listen to the album with new ears as I was taken back to that time. MEMS is a bit rare in that case as I probably heard it more than 50 times during one year and maybe 10 times or less ever since (13 years) and the last time before now, probably 5 years ago.
True, it's both strange and nice to go back to albums connected to personal memories. Especially if you haven't listened to them for a while. In my case I had such strong concert experiences with these songs that I kind of never returned to the album versions until now. Besides this I sense that the time around MEMS was the most harmonious post hiatus period for the band. They had everything going for them here. Sure there were a lot of argumentation and power struggles but Magne and Pål worked together, at least in the beginning and Morten had his input. Most of Pål's strongest songs that decade are IMO on this album and the songwriting feels so easy and natural here. Not even German polish can hide that. I know many have Foot Of The Mountain as a favourite but I find some songs on that album to have a somewhat contrived air to them in comparison to MEMS. Quite a few of the lyrics deals with the history of the band and I think that was sign of them being invested and interested in a-ha at that time. It's a pity that they didn't quite manage to keep it together when the tour was over. I too really want a deluxe edition of this album. Not only to hear it prior the German mix. There must also be demos from the early 90s of some songs. It would also be very interesting to hear the retro-synth versions Magne mentions.
I almost forgot about this. It was never a CD single but had one of the first ever Flash based videos. Pretty big deal at the time Cool "single edit" as well and a good song:
I've been thinking about the similarities in both title and riff between the The Coldplay song Major Minus and Minor Earth Major Sky. Knowing of the friendship between the bands and Martin's habit of borrowing stuff it can hardly be a coincidence. Have I missed something?
I first saw that video when I bought the Live At Vauxhall dvd, and I love it and the song. I was listening to MEMS yesterday for the first time in years, and this song sticks out for me as one of my favorites. The singles in the beginning of the album I'm well familiar with, and like them, just trying to get a grip on the rest of the album.
So was "I Wish I Cared" actually considered a single anywhere? If so it's a shame it wasn't included on 25, which is otherwise awesome.
I have no idea but since the video got it's own edit it might be a similar case to Cold As Stone (cancelled single). I checked out some of the remixes of Velvet yesterday on Youtube. I never bought the single of the a-ha version and it is not available on Spotify. It is hard to find them online. Anyway, I listened to the Alabaster Mix and it occured to me that this is the name of Paul's studio (Alabaster Room) in New York so I wonder; Is this the early version from New York or is it a remix made by Paul? Any thoughts?
When I browsed through the post millenium albums about a month ago I was immediately attracted to Analogue. But now I've listened to ME/MS a few times, to keep in sync with this lovely thread, it's very much growing on me. The first four tracks are all stellar. That long note in Summer Moved On ! I agree thought, that at first, the tracks lack a bit of distinction. Maybe it's not the case but my impression is that all the tracks more or less have the same tempo. There's no standout uptempo track on this album. Maybe that's missing here.
Like others here I was surprised that the production doesn't sound more dated. In the late 90's William Orbit was the hot thing in music and I seem to remember thinking that much of this sounded like a rip-off of that sound (the echoing drum sound in Little Black Heart etc). However it works quite well still allthough it is a matter of taste. I wonder if Orbit's works sounds as good still.
