a-ha geeking
Jun. 19th, 2005 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperSo yesterday in email ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starfallz said to me, "Since you are the a-Ha expert..... I'm wanting to find some more a-Ha
on CD." And she proceeded to ask me for recommendations about various and sundry later discs by those boys from Norway. I went blinkety-blink and admitted that while I owned copies of Minor Earth Major Sky and Lifelines, I'd barely given either album a proper listen. After I answered her email, though, I decided to correct this problem. I fired up iTunes and listened to Lifelines, Memorial Beach, and Minor Earth Major Sky in succession, so finally I HAVE listened to my later a-ha albums.
Lifelines strikes me as an album of a lighter tone than Minor Earth Major Sky--the former is sort of wistful and mellow, while the latter seems a bit more moody and a little melancholy. There are tracks on both I've rated for repeat play to get them onto my Favorites playlist, but I think that overall I still prefer earlier a-ha--Scoundrel Days and East of the Sun, West of the Moon remain my favorite a-ha albums.
Part of this, I think, is that Morten Harket's voice is slowly showing the effects of getting older. He seems less prone these days to get up into those upper registers--he can still make it up there, as evidenced on Lifelines, but there doesn't seem to be as much power and resonance in those notes for him as was there in his younger days. I haven't heard him hit those high notes in a faster song since "Rolling Thunder" on East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
Also, I just like the styles of the earlier albums better. A-ha's always been prone to moodiness in their songs--lots of songs about relationships going awry and suchlike--but the earlier albums just seem to have more vigor to them, which offsets the moodiness for me. The later albums seem to have this tendency to do this 'muting' thing on Morten's voice, such as in the title track on MEMS, and I'm not sure I care for that. It seems to remove something critical out of the equation for me. I haven't had an a-ha track grab me with its vigor and rhythm since "Move to Memphis" on Memorial Beach.
starfallz said to me, "Since you are the a-Ha expert..... I'm wanting to find some more a-Ha on CD." And she proceeded to ask me for recommendations about various and sundry later discs by those boys from Norway. I went blinkety-blink and admitted that while I owned copies of Minor Earth Major Sky and Lifelines, I'd barely given either album a proper listen. After I answered her email, though, I decided to correct this problem. I fired up iTunes and listened to Lifelines, Memorial Beach, and Minor Earth Major Sky in succession, so finally I HAVE listened to my later a-ha albums.
Lifelines strikes me as an album of a lighter tone than Minor Earth Major Sky--the former is sort of wistful and mellow, while the latter seems a bit more moody and a little melancholy. There are tracks on both I've rated for repeat play to get them onto my Favorites playlist, but I think that overall I still prefer earlier a-ha--Scoundrel Days and East of the Sun, West of the Moon remain my favorite a-ha albums.
Part of this, I think, is that Morten Harket's voice is slowly showing the effects of getting older. He seems less prone these days to get up into those upper registers--he can still make it up there, as evidenced on Lifelines, but there doesn't seem to be as much power and resonance in those notes for him as was there in his younger days. I haven't heard him hit those high notes in a faster song since "Rolling Thunder" on East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
Also, I just like the styles of the earlier albums better. A-ha's always been prone to moodiness in their songs--lots of songs about relationships going awry and suchlike--but the earlier albums just seem to have more vigor to them, which offsets the moodiness for me. The later albums seem to have this tendency to do this 'muting' thing on Morten's voice, such as in the title track on MEMS, and I'm not sure I care for that. It seems to remove something critical out of the equation for me. I haven't had an a-ha track grab me with its vigor and rhythm since "Move to Memphis" on Memorial Beach.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-19 10:19 pm (UTC)They seem to have had three very different periods - the early one, which encompasses Hunting High & Low, Scoundrel Days, and Stay on These Roads. Though, Scoundrel Days is a much darker, and therefore much more resonant album. Then, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Memorial Beach fall into a different category - complex, layered, and maybe my two favorite albums. Then, the two post-hiatus albums; kind of oddly schizophrenic, probably due to the very different nature of the members' solo projects.
I'm really, really curious to hear what the new album sounds like! I'm madly in love with Mags' recent solo album, and I'm hoping that the a-ha album has some of the same feel.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 05:10 pm (UTC)I think I agree with the "sort of schizophrenic" description of the latter two albums, though East of the Sun, West of the Moon feels to me more like it's related to its three predecessors than to Memorial Beach, musically. Lyrically, though, I think I'm with you on it being more related to Memorial Beach. Which makes sense, either way.
I've only heard the first Savoy album; I bought that one not long after it came out. I don't even remember what it was like anymore, it's been so long since I listened to it. I haven't heard any of Mags' solo work, though.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-19 11:46 pm (UTC)I know what you mean - although the live version of 'Did Anyone Approach You?' has all kinds of vigor. Supposedly Lauren is quoted as saying the new stuff really 'grabs you', so we can hope for a whole new era.
Like Jaime, I absolutely love Magne's solo album. The next a-ha album is going to be something unlike all the others, I'm sure :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 05:37 pm (UTC)I've got the live concert DVD, but I've been lame about it--I haven't even watched the silly thing. :) I'll have to give that a swing as well.