I just read the book " Så Blåser Det På Jorden - A-ha i nærbilder". It was written by Håkon Harket (Morten's brother) and Henning Kramer Dahl ( a close friend of the band). It was published in 1986 and tells their early story up through the breakthrough and until the rehearsals for the first World Tour. So interesting!! I'm not sure if it is available in english. To me, this is a much more interesting book than The Swing Of Things because it tells more about the details of their journey to make the music. My dream would be if the same book just had a ton of volumes continuing the story from there. It sent me down a rabbit hole researching about the studios, managers, producers etc. Very fascinating and quite a bit of underlying tension. As these things are fresh in my head, feel free to "interview" me about the early days
In those days it was not so much between the members apart from one aspect: Mags and Paul had a pretty equal share of songwriting leading up to 1984. But when Paul met Lauren he got very ispired to write, while Mags missed his girlfriend and didn’t write a lot. They had decided that the LP would be focused around new material so most of the songwriting became Paul’s. But the tension I am mote thinking about is surrounding the role of John Ratcliff. He spent a lot of time helping the band and got them past a lot of problems but he was not a match for the band personality-wise. He was also the working manager in the beginning, while Terry Slater took over when success knocked at the door. My short simple version on a more complicated situation.
I’m a fan of the music but don’t know anything about the band politics. They’re broken up/reformed a few times now, do they not get along?
It is a bit complex. Basically it is a band of three leader figures with very different personalities with each their idea of what the concept of a-ha is. Seems like they have given up making new albums for a while. The last one Cast In Steel became a patchwork of «the 3 a-ha’s». On Unplugged they seemed to unite against the arranger/producer and that really bonded them like they haven’t in a long time.
Dig published a list of their top twenty a-ha songs a couple of days ago - as ever, I could easily quibble with the selection (although I'm glad to see Lifelines and I've Been Losing You get some love), but it's always nice to see the band get more positive coverage. Best a-ha Songs: 20 Synth-Pop Classics From Norway’s Finest - Dig!
Apparently this is a surprise to many so I will share it here: https://mobile.twitter.com/robbie_andrew/status/1347866954569232384
I’m not to picky on it myself. In fact the band had the name in capital letters behind the stage when they played Rock in Rio II in 1991. But yes, a-ha is the proper way. Or actually a-ha
Same story as the Twitter link above but a bit more «tidy»: Norway's Electric Car Triumph Started With an '80s Pop Star
Sadly, even the band's Facebook page doesn't observe the all-lower-case treatment. I was happy to see that the band has been very consistent with the lower-case style in their artwork, etc., though - I really thought they'd used capitals at some point along the way in some new-album-era rebranding, but looking at all their album covers, they've been lower-case every time, just using different fonts to convey different moods. Inconsistent regarding the italics, but always lower-case. As it should be!
They Did It Nor-Way - Record Collector Magazine Just found this Record Collector interview from 2009. The only case I remember where all the memebers comment on every album up to that point (apart from the The Swing Of Things book).
Great interview - always nice to hear them discuss the band dynamics and how they've affected their musical output over the years. The tension in their whole three-different-bands-trying-to-coalesce relationship is such a key part of their work - for better and worse. When it's working, it results in complementary material that leads to a consistent album experience despite their disparate stylistic sensibilities; when it's not, it leads to albums that are bloated and don't really know what they're trying to be (I love quite a few of the individual tracks, but Lifelines is a complete mess as an album). We became a band that we wouldn’t have liked. We’re aware of the tension between us in A-Ha. It is definitely a motivating force. Now we just need a new album!
Yes! I have a feeling that they got pretty burnt on the Cast In Steel experience. The Unplugged project united them (against the producer) but that seemingly sent them on a let's-do-tours-with-old-stuff path.
Well, I at least want them to complete the theoretically current let's-do-tours-with-old-stuff shows - I had tickets to two of their three nights in LA that were supposed to take place last September and are currently rescheduled for this September (but I'm not particularly confident they'll take place then, either). Although I certainly wouldn't mind if one of those shows turned into a full-career deep cuts selection of material instead of just HHAL and a few of the well-known hits.
It started out as something unexpected in demo sessions between Morten and Paul without any specific a-ha plans and ended up as three different production teams making each their 1/3 of an album isolated. To me it sounds like it. Quite a few good songs but no common focus as an album. Look atPaul’s quote here right at the promotion time of that album: Paul interviewed by Aftenposten | a-ha live
The three band members were never together in the same studio during the recording of the album. Plus this great quote from Mags, showing his immense enthusiasm: "The other two wanted to do it, and I had to decide: do I block it, let them do it without me, or make a fool of myself, with my statements about this being the end." If I recall correctly, he was particularly annoyed at the idea of resurrecting the band after they'd made such a big deal out of ending everything in 2010 with their press announcement and the whole Ending On A High Note tour. They'd crafted the band's end so well with Butterfly, Butterfly, 25, and then the tour, only to come back less than five years later! Of course, I'm happy for them to keep coming back as many times as they want - as far as I'm concerned they can turn into Cher's never-ending farewell tours as long as they keep producing good music...
Interesting list - I'm particularly happy to see Out Of Blue Comes Green get some love, one of my favorite a-ha songs and one that never gets mentioned anywhere. Also You'll Never Get Over Me, The Bandstand, and The Blood That Moves The Body. And the rest of them.
Interesting! I'd always been wondering about the mysterious/oblique lyrics for "The Blood That Moves The Body": "A-ha were itching to show the world they were serious artists. TBTMTB was a dramatic, moody, mid-tempo number that dragged the listener in to the dark existence of the protagonist – “Red stains on ‘Eyes of a Blue Dog’/My pain fades as the interiors fog/The blood that moves the body/Now covers the ground“. So what does that mean? Well when you’re 15, you don’t know that ‘Eyes of a Blue Dog’ is a 1950 novel by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez which – and I took this verbatim from enyclopedia.com – “takes place entirely within its narrator’s dream, using the logic of the unconscious and the unique contradictions of the dream world to portray a frustrated relationship between a man and a woman”. What initially sounds like a lyrical trick to contrast the red (blood) with a book name that contains a contrasting colour (blue), now takes on a completely different level of genius. That’s Paul Waaktaar-Savoy for you."
