a-ha: MTV Unplugged - Summer Solstice

I have front row tickets for Berlin, but I am thinking about trying to go to Oslo instead. The thought of this music in such a big place is not SO tempting, and I think you are right about Oslo being the best venue for this show. Except for Giske of course

 

Those of you who have read the new Pål-book - is it good? Should I buy it? I don't have a goal to become an a-ha expert, and I don't need to read about old stuff that has already been told in interviews. But if the book goes deeper or to new and interesting places I would like to read it.

 

I will put this on my christmas wish list so I haven't read it yet. But from what I've heard it stays mostly in Pauls world and his songwriting rather than dealing with band dynamics etc.

 

Watched the full blu-ray concert over a couple of glasses of wine yesterday. Wonderful performance throughout! The cows in the background were a nice touch.

Morten's opening cry for "Living A Boy’s Adventure Tale" (after the false start by Pål) sent shivers down my spine. By the way, on the spotify version of the album (and possibly the CD?), the opening cry is actually omitted from this track and instead included at the end of the track before (Memorial Beach at 4:23) and "Living" instead starts with the guitar. Strange place to cut between the songs, I think. On the Blu-ray disc the track change was instead just before the opening cry.

 

Yes it is good, and I think every fan who can read Scandi will find it to be a worth while purchase and read. I really like the design and feel of the book. It is striking how many of the exact subjects in the book we have discussed at this place over the years. (And correct conclusions we have reached!) That is also my mild critique. The book pinpoints and adressess some of these interesting areas in Pål's world and we get some answers but the questions actually often remain or turn in some cases out even more puzzling. After many chapters I'm left with a ton of new questions. It feels like Örjan after collecting and organizing this material after some thought should have returned to Pål with supplementary, sharper questions.

The band dynamics are there, especially in the latter half but as I said before it is mostly old stuff that is retreaded. Örjan and Pål don't want to poke in the real core of the conflicts even in the cases when it has to do with Pål's world and work. Lauren is by the way the person who gives the most honest and explainatory account of some of Pål more difficult characteristics. The chapters about the early history with the Bridges and a-ha are the least inspiring I have read/watched on the subject and it has to do with the careful avoidance of the input and influence of Magne and Morten on Pål. Alongside Lauren his two only enduring and important work-relationships. The recent NRK-documentary on the subject with Magne and even Morten's recollections are far more vivid and loving.

The chapters about Pål's inspirations and song-writing are the best even though I often wish Pål had given (and Örjan asked for) concrete examples of songs when he talks about certain specific details like middle 8s/bridges. It is the best and most important section of the book but also the area where I had even higher expectations. I always want more.

 

You Wanted More?

 

which NRK documentary is that?

 

I second the question : which NRK documentary is that? Also second the question from a few pages back: who is singing backup on Living A Boy? Stunning version. Also I need too to know more about Morten's contribution to that song...

It's interesting that Paul would go back into that "neutral" narrative- I mean if the special editions made one thing clear is how much of a group effort the songs/album are and that both Ms played crucial roles (and yeah Morten's talent scout abilities are pretty uncanny). Also I keep wondering about the dynamics at work between music/voice - in recent interview Morten has kept making playful and not so playful jabs at Mags, reminding him" that why I'm the the singer and you're not").

In any case, keep the book review coming because i'm still not speaking norwegian. Very intrigued by Lauren's POV- always wondered what her behind the scenes take on all of this journey would be, find the long-term Paul/Lauren thing quite fascinating as it was also the source of so much song material on the early albums (and always loved the visuals she made from the south america tour, iconic stuff).

Also: my love for those unplugged versions keep growing, still have to see the visuals.

 

A mix of random thoughts after finishing the book. I will perhaps have time to say something more specific about the song writing tomorrow if you want. The documentary was from a series of portraits of people born at a same year. In Magne’s case 1962. Short but some vivid snapshots from the formation of Bridges. When you get it from Magne's perspective you understand other things. Like how important it was for the whole band that he came from a musician’s home with a very supportive grandfather who got them instruments and a space to rehearse.

Örjan Nilsson has an easy style that suits the conversational content really well. His background parts complements the interviews. The right areas are covered but it is very difficult to quickly search and find things in the material. Unlike Jan Omdahl’s The swing of things, Örjan most of the time refrains from giving us his own interpretations to every single thing. You don’t get the feeling of heavy editing either. We know they had to rework many sections due to Pål’s unexpectedly poor Norwegian. (That struck me as something very sad). Örjan writes openly as a fan. I like that but sometimes it turns superfluous to a reader like when he connects the lack of sex and sensuality in Pål’s writing to his own teenage obliviousness to the lyrical content in “Mary is coming”. The pure fanboy reveals himself on occasion like when he over again points out that Pål has deep interesting songs that are not hits…wow. I almost stopped reading when he suggested that a-ha was the first Nordic band to introduce the Nordic noir in music and points out that Abba didn’t have that. Um, I who thought there is almost consensus in the view that the melancholic undercurrent is one of the things that explain Abbas’s magnetism and longevity. Lyrically and musically Abba have plenty of far sadder songs than a-ha. It is also Örjan, not Pål, who talks most about the Norwegian influences, pushing that thought (because that is popular and valuable now?) without exemplifying songs. Instead Pål, as he always has done, emphasises the British and then the American influences. In my opinion the Nordic is very noticeable on the first 2-3 albums but then more and more songs without, unlike Abba who kept it to the end (”The day before you came”). I would instead have asked about that and for examples.

There are unexpectedly few good stories and titbits. It is a book about the work and not a biography but surely there must be tons of interesting things and vivid snapshots connected to the songs and the recordings? This is particularly true in regards to the Bridges-era and songs and I suspect Örjan instead has plans for publishing something that will include all members in conjunction with upcoming releases of Fakkeltog and Poem.

They talk about the new Savoy-album that finally is to be released. Lauren says Pål sings with his deeper voice from Fakkeltog which is promising. So is also the comment that the album sounds fresh. Not a word about the disco that previously was mentioned, I’m kind of relieved. I now instead sort of think county-pop, like the new unplugged song and some songs on W&Z. Three songs are named including “Manmade Lake”. I have mixed feelings about that. The song definitely deserves a proper release but I sort of think of it as a Waaktaar song now. I confess a Waaktaar-album is what I most of all want, but I don’t think that ever will happen. They probably have re-recorded the song but I think that the original had a new promising feel different from both Savoy and a-ha.

One new thing, at least to me, is that Pål and Morten already ten years ago discussed a non-aha duo-collaboration. No more info than that. One of the many cases when Örjan should have asked a supplementary question! Perhaps the period before Analogue? It makes sense as we know Morten went over to stay at Pål’s place and they tried out songs in mutuality and good mood. (Which I suspect is reflected in the original title song) What was the story behind this?! What was the conceived musical direction of a Morten/Pål collaboration mid 00?

Lauren’s importance to Pål’s growth as a person is thoroughly examined, however I don’t think the same can be said with her influence on Pål as an artist and her concrete contributions in the song writing. Still many question marks and it is a multifaceted question. Laurens input and influence has changed over the years but since the 80s she is the one who hears everything first and gives her apparently strong opinions. Without examples or samples of before and after it is impossible to for us to value if that is a good thing or not (to our tastes). Probably both. What they do say is that she pushes Pål not to staple elements in the songs. Someone in the thread talked about Pål being good at creating space, I do not completely agree so Lauren perhaps sometimes influences that. Pål also informs that he had a dry spell in mid 90s and Lauren being a novice inspired him to write more simplistic. That Pål got access to new approaches was a good thing and it turned out well on “Mary is coming”. But on the other hand, one can’t deny that the early songs that stem from the old sessions without her had a special style and that the many elements and complexity made the songs classics. Lauren has said before that she first thought the songs on HHAL/SD sounded different and were too leftfield for the American market. From what I have read about her own listening she isn’t exactly a person who introduces Pål to new and exciting sounds. They are definitely not a creative couple of a Yoko/John, Siri Hustvedt/Paul Auster or Geneviève Castrée/Phil Elverum kind. It is illuminating that outside the world of Pål and a-ha Lauren during 35 years has practically no artistic work in film, music or writing that show her as an individual artist.

That Pål turned to his wife and not the band with new songs and collaboration was one of the things that disturbed the peace in the band. After MEMS he even suggested to Magne and Morten that Lauren should join the band.

But a multifaceted question for sure and I am of the opinion that being a muse can be a highly specialised creative skill and almost an art-form in itself. Behind or alongside many great artists and also scientists we still today find a person who provides inspiration in form of sensuality, passion, feelings, confidence and adventure or/and reads, listens, discuss, organizes, edit. In some cases the muse creates the space where the artist can create. Like Leonard Cohen said about Marianne Ihlen. She was beautiful and wise but Leonard especially points out she created an artistic and orderly home for him. (I have tried musing myself, as a friend and as a lover, and I must say I’m pretty good at most things above.It is fascinating and rewarding to recognise what is “you” in a piece of art or other work).

It is 2017 and Örjan could have asked about Pål’s unexpectedly high profile on social media. Shy or not Pål is by a wide margin the most active a-ha member on Instagram and Facebook and he isn’t using it primarily to give content to his releases. He definitely is the member I know most private details about. (Morten is the most guarded and private of them). I know how Pål’s living rooms in his three homes look like, which I think is rather odd in a forbidden way, and a lot of things about his family life illustrated with multiple photos, including of the son. What are his thoughts about that?

 

So many things that could be discussed! Maybe we need to move this to the album by album thread mind you? And maybe create a thread for muses ? Thanx for all of this. I would add that Lauren is not the sole muse (and the thought of her joining the band?) , whether he likes it or not, both Ms have acted as muses of sort for Paul (muses with a hint of rivalry and push and pull ). And when you think of it, there is something completely bananas in the leap of faith that the three of them took (and especially Morten who had not been linked since childhood to them as the other two where) in leaving everything behind and moving to London. i'm not sure if it's muse-like, but surely Paul was carried by the faith of the other two in those early days for sure. Btw I remember a fairly good press segment that was done around Foot of the Mountain / 25 / leaving on a high note, where they are going over those early days, and you have Mags going around London showing the location of the Rendez Vous studio, their old dingy flat, etc. Rather touching stuff.

Maybe it's head canon but I always chose to read "Analogue" (the song) as being about Paul and Morten. It's straightforward but I like how the song is done here btw. Flawless vocals. "Analogue" (the album) has always intrigued me in the sense that it felt like something akin to the going-back-to-basics approach of EOTSWOTM but without the "let's pretend we're The Doors angle". I find East Of The Sun sublime (listened to it this morning at full blast - perfect autumn album) and I find bandanas and jean shirts delightful, but I always understood what Morten meant when he said that there has been some sort of "playing pretend" in that album, a sense of them trying to be something they were not (i.e. American). Morten being probably the one who explored the most the Norwegian/Nordic roots, with Norwegian spoken albums , collaborating primarily with Nordic writers etc. More than Paul for sure.

 

Post delivered the Summer Solstice Fan Box [Blu/DVD/CD] late today. Begin viewing and listening through this weekend!

 

Meanwhile Morten's epic hair is reborn in Season 2 of Stranger Things

http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/stranger-things-2-best-retro-hairstyles.html
Hindsgaul tells us she took inspiration from A-ha music videos (specifically Morten Harket’s iconic tousled quiff)

 

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/v...ugged-summer-solstice-fanbox-edition-unboxed/

 

A late reply, too much work, but I just want to clarify that I don’t think it odd or wrong that a-ha wanted to try an American aesthetic to their songs. Music has no borders and it always morphs and evolves in situations when different traditions meet. That is after all the reason why the US has been such fertile ground and spawned endless of important progress and new genres that turned into universal property. But for that to happen there must exist different aesthetic traditions that can collide. Nordic artists and bands have primarily made a mark on mainstream popular music in two areas- metal and (electro) pop with a certain distinctive scent. In both, the blending and collision of the Nordic aesthetic with existing Brit, US and German aesthetics is what the successful artists brought to the international table.

That is also what happened on a-has first two albums. Sometimes something different (not necessarily better than the amazing British counterpart) happens when a classic, often melancholy, Scandinavian pop-melody is synthesised in the correct way. Abba touched upon it on The Visitors but yes I think a-ha (and their producers) were amongst the first to make the discovery. A found treasure a-ha did not fully recognise and understand themselves and long resented. Pål now sounds positive in the book but his comments on synths and Tarney were for a long time harsh. That is was a real discovery of something palatable is proved by the fact that the same alchemic process was re-discovered by other Nordic artists more than a decade later and a lot of it resembles a-ha without being directly inspired. This is of course also what is behind the current new respect and reappraisal of these albums. A renaissance I doubt Memorial Beach will ever receive. In my opinion a-ha have had some difficulty finding back to it when they later wanted to. You can hear that Pål has not kept up and listened much to what great things have been going on in Scandinavia. a-ha have been cut of that branch for so long and both songs and production germanised, anglicised and Americanised, which has led to that artists like Ulver, Röyksopp and Sundfør today can sound more like what one could wish from a modern, edgy and mature synth-pop a-ha than a-ha themselves. This I believe is one of the reasons why FOTM and CIS were not fully embraced in Norway and performed poorly in the rest of the Nordics. The tour itineraries reveal some problems in continental Europe as well.

Scandinavia loves American music, especially rock and the singer-songwriters. (Bruce Springsteen can resident massive venues with set lists impossible elsewhere. I dare say that Dylan is more revered and better understood than anywhere else outside the US.) Countless scandi-bands have successfully played that sort of music, but they never translated abroad. No Nordic rock album like Memorial Beach has ever made a wave. Rolling Stone recently published this list The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time . Quite a large number are Scandinavian which is remarkable considering it is a US rock-music magazine. What all the Scandinavian bands on the list have in common is that they sound like they are just that. Creative, confident guys who were brought up on Sabbath, NWOBHM, Morbid Angel, Metallica etc. that didn’t just want to emulate their heroes but to bring something of their own to collide with the existing tradition. They made Scandinavia for the very first time to be a part of the rock-evolution. Just as in pop, in metal many of the Nordic aesthetics shines and become the great asset it can’t be in classic, more blues based rock. Metal is how Scandis rock, and when they do that the rest of the world apparently think it feels and sounds authentic.

‘The two American albums’ East of the sun and Memorial Beach are as we know quite different. Memorial Beach is often looked upon as their mature, uncommercial turn, but to me EOTSWOTM is that album. For a-ha 1990 it was a much braver, cohesive departure than MB three years later and some of the Nordic noir is still audible in the Americana. The low point “Cold River” is much better than its horrible counterpart on MB, “Between your mama” as well. It is the only a-ha album with no clear single or hit. MB on the other hand has songs that clearly are designed to be hits, in the US even. In the book Pål talks about “Dark is the night” (p.146) and how it was more suitable for the US. They have admitted that “Dark is the night” sounds like an U2-song but it is not the edgy and daring Achtung to Pop U2 that embraced and used colliding aesthetics, but a U2 of a long gone past. Pål makes an awkward comment that simultaneously belittle Morten and Americans and also reduces what men and rock can be when he says that it had been interesting to pursue a more American direction with Morten singing more “manly” and less like a castrato and see where it had taken them in the US. Comments like this explain the demise of rock. It also reveals that Pål can be rather dusty and old fashioned, not challenging his old idea of rock and to fill it with new content. Has Pål never noticed the vocals in Radiohead, one of the most pioneering and influential rock-bands or the vocals in Coldplay the most commercially successful ‘rock’ band?! Or Sigur Rós, a band from the periphery, growing up loving NWOBHM, but chose to do something different, colliding aestetics, that gave them the desirable position between the arty and mainstream a-ha would like to have worldwide, and even with a gay, countertenor lead singer can sell out an extensive US theatre-tour anytime they want?

 

Absolutely spot-on analysis, IMHO.

 

Very interesting observations @Sesam I agree with a lot but not all of it. But then again that is one of the fascinating aspects of music. It affects us differently and can still be enjoyed collectively.

 

Always enjoy your thought-provoking posts, @Sesam. I realize my post sounded like I was somehow dissing East of The Sun, when it's a strong contender for my top 3 a-ha outputs (and I keep my fingers crossed that at least one track from the album will make it on the setlist for the upcoming tours!).

My interest is always piqued when I read what Paul or Magne have to say regarding Morten's voice- one has to wonder what underground dynamics have been at play when they take digs at that voice (I have my theories!). Paul equals falsettos with feminine - but Bowie, Mercury, a strong influence on the young Morten, and yes Thom Yorke and so many others have shown that this is more fluid thing, right?

 

Oh no, you were perfectly lucid in regards to EOTSWOTM, it was I who took your comment and just used it as tool for my own thinking. I share your opinion on that album. An absolute favourite, as is the NRK- session but simultaneously one can sense a certain unrelaxness in their new element and image.

 

So dates are starting to come in for the "electric summer tour".

 

I will skip this tour and instead prioritize trying to make it to Oslo for the unplugged in February. I hope that a North American leg is announced the upcoming weeks. It sounds like this electric tour will be perfect for people who hasn’t yet seen the band. Much focus on the well-known material. The band are in good shape and the string section will add something new to the hits.

 

'Velvet' is my favourite A-Ha track, really surprised they don't make more of this classic.

 

Looks like there will be quite a forum delegation in Oslo

I feel meh about the date announced in France so will skip that- reserving my budget for Oslo friendly outerwear and shoes I was really hoping for a show at the Olympia in Paris which is a fave venue (and one Morten visited recently).

 

"Velvet" should have been a massive international hit. The video was , a-ha at its noir best.

 

When I start to feel bad about the world, I turn to the NRK sessions. Bolo ties and bandanas was maybe not their natural element but this is a master class in going unplugged(ish). And Paul and Morten's voices play off so nicely against one another.

I wish the special edition had included a dvd of the sessions (maybe complicated due to rights issues?).

Also, it sounds like Savoy is being pretty active again?

 

I was gonna check that song out on Spotify but found out the album it´s on is not even on Spotify. Bummer. But I listened to it on youtube and must say, I haven´t heard it in years.. was a minor hit wasn´t it?