Oh, that sounds interesting too. How can I find this episode please?
The same place as all the others 😉
Best place to look is here: http://www.linktr.ee/rankingaha
That way you can choose which player you normally use (Spotify, Apple, Spreaker, etc.).
Hopefully you can find it 😊
Vielen Dank! Das ist sehr nett von dir 😊
And yes, we are more critical of the post-2000 output where there - in our view - are many fantastic SONGS but probably not fantastic ALBUMS.
Danke noch mal! Was für ein tolles Interview. Es ist so schön zu hören, wie viel Pål eigentlich spechen kann! Sehr interessantes Interview. Super!
Vielen Dank! Happy to hear that you enjoyed it. There’s also an episode where we interview Jørun Bøgeberg who talks about his time with a-ha mainly in the years from 1990-1994. He has a lot of nice insider stories from that era 😊
I skimmed it. There’s a LOT!! Very cool but it takes a week to digest 😱😅😂
Windfalls is an immediate top 5 a-ha songs ever for me (alongsides other songs that you mention, but "Cast in Steel" has to be in there for me too). This is so rich yet subtle, so full of details, packed with arrangement ideas, twists and turns, and the lyrics are indeed great. When Morten sings the last line, "now is as good a time to show what you are made of", I just get goosebumps, at the end of this journey. Yes, this is probably a demo, you can tell the vocals weren't properly mixed, but that only adds to the fragility of the whole piece. I am so amazed, and grateful, that such a track exists.
Lovely comment on the song 😊
All three “new” tracks are great additions to the a-ha catalogue IMO. Slanted Floor is superior in a-ha’s version although I always liked Morten’s solo effort. It’s a song that overall sounds more Morten-ish than a-ha-ish, but the Analogue-style guitars suit the song, and Morten’s vocals are strong.
With You - With Me works quite well in an a-ha setting, too. And if anyone had forgotten - and I’m sure nobody had - how amazing Morten sounded back in 2005, WY-WM is a great reminder that there’s no one quite like him.
Windfalls: What a fantastic track! It’s not what I was expecting, but it turns out it was just what I needed. Pål is an amazing lyricist, and there are so many wonderful images in the lyrics that I need to listen to on repeat. It conforms to me that Pål is the one who has the vision to push a-ha into sonic territories where they don’t often go. Magne has a natural gift for melodies and riffs (and he’s delivered some good songs for Analogue), but it’s songs like Locust, Windfalls, Shadow Endeavors, Over the Over the Treetops (I prefer the original), Start the Simulator, Oh My Word, Bumblebee and Hunter in the Hills that fascinate me the most. That’s just a matter of personal taste, but I like that it stretches the boundaries of what an a-ha song can be.
I’m extremely happy that Windfalls has been added to the a-ha canon. There’s a bit of a-ha’s October mixed with ABBA’s The Day Before You Came in there.
It was a complete commercial and artistic failure; Pal simply couldn’t get the a-ha fans to accept any singer other than Morten.
That was the case, it is the case, and it always will be!
So are you basically saying that I am not an a-ha fan because I accept (and love) Pål’s singing?
Similarly, you wrote earlier in connection with Magne’s participation at the Tallin Festival that a-ha fans would have to choose Morten and Magne or go with Pål if Morten and Magne decided to continue with a-ha without Pål.
First of all: they couldn’t and they wouldn’t. Second of all: why would we have to choose? Why couldn’t we follow every combination/constellation the way we do now? Morten solo, Magne solo, Magne with Apparatjik, Magne with Timbersound, Pål with Savoy, with Zoe Gnecco or solo.
Doesn’t make any sense to me.
Thanks for promoting us 😊🙏🏻 We had a lot of fun “imagining” the sixth album.
This is a very good and catchy song! Well done 😊 Great chorus - which isn’t easy to nail, I’m sure. You can - and should be - very proud of what you have achieved with this one. It’s upbeat but melancholic at the same time and wouldn’t have been out of place if a-ha had made an album between FOTM and CiS. Kudos!
I of course want to make him aware that I’ve written a book about a-ha, and this is one way of doing it.
Peter hello, just a question, did the a-ha manager Harald Wiik has participated in or contributed to the creation of this fan book?
No, it’s not that kind of book. I’m drawing on many sources (books, articles, tv interviews, etc), but it wouldn’t make sense to ask someone like Harald to participate.
You can hear more about the book in the Ranking Highs and Lows podcast which will explain why I haven’t asked anyone for input. But the short answer is: it’s not that kind of book. As you say, it’s a fan book.
I’ve told Pål about the book after it was written and sent him a copy - he’s been very positive - but he also hasn’t been asked for input. The book is about my experiences of growing up with a-ha and their music. That has nothing to do with Harald 😊
Dann kann ich meinen Kindern jetzt einen Geburtswunsch nennen - Mega!
Danke! Herzlichen Glückwunsch - when the day comes 😊
Ich habe es mal bestellt und bin gespannt!
Danke sehr!!! 😊🙏🏻
Thanks a lot 😊🙏🏻
I regret that my written German got lost on the way (to quote Morten: “Ich habe mein Deutsch fast ganz vergessen” 🤣).
Yes, it’s Kindle Direct Publishing, so print on demand. Whenever someone places an order, the nearest-by printer prints the book and then ships it to the customer. I have a copy and the quality is really very good 😊
Thanks for the support - and for maintaining this page (and Facebook page) which I gladly visit several times a day!!
Dear fellow a-ha fans,
Besides producing the “a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows” podcast, I’ve also written a book about a-ha that came out yesterday! 
It’s only available on Amazon, and you can find the relevant links (including Amazon Germany) here: AMAZON
Head over to Ranking Highs and Lows’ Facebook page for more info about the book: http://www.facebook.com/rankingaha
About the book:
It’s a 361 page hardcover book. What it’s about?
Book cover
“ ‘Lesson One: What Listening to a-ha Has Taught Me About Life’ is not a traditional band biography.
Instead, it is a personal, reflective journey through the songs, lyrics, and long career of a-ha – and what they can tell us about friendship, doubt, love, time, fear, decisions, and belonging.
Each chapter takes its starting point in a line from an a-ha song and unfolds into a life lesson, blending close listening, cultural context, humour, nostalgia, and deeply personal reflection. The result is a book about growing up, growing older, and learning to listen – not just to music, but to people around you and life itself – with your favourite band to guide you.
On the journey, we encounter UFOs, questionable fashion choices, trips to concerts, piles of letters, hundreds of a-ha posters and records, a demo tape, and teen music magazines.
Written by a lifelong fan, ‘Lesson One’ explores what it means to stay connected to a band across decades, and how pop songs can become quiet companions through change, loss, and renewal.
This book is for readers who love a-ha, but also for anyone who has ever found meaning, comfort, or clarity in a song.“
I hope you’ll find it interesting!
All the best,
JP from Ranking Highs and Lows
Ich finde es auch ganz gut, bis auf den Titelsong vielleicht. Aber irgendwie hat mir gefehlt, dass man es nicht richtig live hören konnte.
Agree! I would have paid good money to hear Bumblebee, As If, Hunter in the Hills, and Oh My Word live. WITH the full string/symphonic orchestra, of course.
Ohne Magne würde es a-ha nicht mehr geben.
Er ist in meinen Augen die Säule die a-ha zusammenhält!
Zum Glück versteht er sich mit Morten
Zum Glück versteht er sich mit Paul
Ich denke das er Morten und Paul schon viel zureden musste.
Well, without Magne a-ha wouldn’t have ended in 2010 😊 So it’s a bit like in Under the Makeup: “If you wanted out / Didn’t I let you go / If you wanted in / Didn’t I make it so?”
Of course it’s not up to Pål to decide who’s in or out, but Magne has been as harmful to a-ha as any of the others. They just been it at different times. That’s how I see it.
Ich freue mich, dass die Medizin für Morten Wege findet, dass es ihm besser geht. Was die Konflikte zwischen den Dreien anbelangt, da müssen alle Beteiligten Änderungen wollen (und Psychologen finden
). Das erfordert Zeit, Mühe und Kraft und wird wohl in diesem Leben nix mehr. Påls Egoismus, auch nicht so schön (hat zu Verletzungen innerhalb der Band geführt), ist nun aber so. Dafür haben die anderen Bandmitglieder andere, nicht so schöne Eigenarten. Ich mag sie, wie sie sind und für das was sie im Moment sind. Man muss in die Zukunft schauen. Und da wird nicht die Band aus den 80ern oder 90ern sein. In welchem Format auch immer und ob überhaupt.
This was very well put. Musically I’m “Team Pål”, no question about it, but I think he underestimates the importance of sharing the credits. The money, of course, but just as much the credit/recognition. Having said that, the other two aren’t going to meet him halfway.
Magne has “issues going way back” - all the way to pre-Bridges and the time when he was “forced” to play keyboards.
Morten understandably wants his non-musical contribution to count for more than what he’s been offered.
The fact of the matter is: none of them would have made it out of Norway on their own. Pål didn’t have the star quality, Magne didn’t have the voice (or the songs?), and Morten certainly didn’t have the songs.
I love a-ha. Apparently also a lot more than they do 😄
Thanks a lot, we really appreciate the kind feedback. And I just want to stress again that Pål didn’t pose any restrictions on the questions we could ask, but we wanted to stay true to the concept - also with the assumption that anything worth communicating will be communicated by the official management 😊
We hope to get other interesting guests on the show, but we can’t guarantee that they will invest in a proper microphone 😄
