Hi a-ha friends,
I’m looking for an article or a book reference that I read some years ago where a-ha (maybe Pål?) explained how a-ha didn’t make any money on merchandise during the 80s/90s because they never produced anything official.
I was thinking that if anyone remembers where it’s from, it’s probably you guys 😊
Thanks a lot!
Peter
Die Melodie im Vers von Pure as driven snow erinnert mich an Savoy's Once upon a year.
I had the exact same thought 😊 And both of them are lovely.
I must say I don’t get it. To me, Pål’s songs on True North are among the most exciting from a-ha since their 1993. “Hunter In the Hills”, “Bumblebee” and “Oh My Word”… You simply don’t find pop music like this anywhere else, and it’s really songs like those that have pushed a-ha in a new direction. And you can count “As If” with some of the most interesting lyrical images and “Make Me Understand” and “Forest For the Trees” that are better than what anyone should even dare to ask of a band that has released songs for almost 40 years.
To me, Magne’s songs on True North are so-so, even bordering on boring, with Summer Rain as the main exception, but what Pål has delivered is above and beyond what I could ever have dared to hope.
I think A Break In the Clouds is a wonderful, wonderful song 😊
Thanks a lot for the promotion 😊 Hope you’ll like the episode when you get to it - I can see some clear overlaps and clear differences in your and our ranking (complicated by the fact that Jesper and I don’t even always agree even if we settle on a rank).
But overall I think we (as usual) share many of the same favourites 😉
After the first few listens I’m rolling a 5 on the dice. It’s super moving!
Hi a-ha friends,
There’s a new episode of our podcast “a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows” out now on all major podcast platforms. Just search for the title and you should find it there or go straight to the source: https://www.spreaker.com/show/a-ha-ranking-highs-and-lows
This time we’re counting down what we consider to be the 25 best officially released live versions of songs.
It’s a bit on the long side this time but it should be possible to take it in bite sizes 😊
Hopefully you’ll like it.
I like it! Much better than Digital River even if it’s not (yet) quite up there with Lonely Surfer. A few more listens are needed before a proper verdict 😊
That’s probably also reflected in the part of the episode you haven’t listened to yet. We seem to be quite aligned 😊
Thanks a lot for another (thorough) listen 😊 Hopefully the remainder of the episode will be interesting as well even if there are fewer and fewer albums to predict the rating of.
Thanks a lot for helping us spread the word 😊 We hope other fans will enjoy listening to it as much as we did making it.
Looks more correct. I’m beginning to think that my Intelligence could be artificial as well 😄
Wow, this is in my view possibly the weakest Savoy song since Barefoot in a Denim Jacket!! I didn’t have high hopes since I never liked the a-ha version on the tour but I had hoped that it would be improved on in a studio setting. Normally I actually have a certain fondness for Lauren’s voice but this time it’s drowned in cheap-sounding effects - and the melody remains unelegant, the lyrics sub-par, and the whole production just too… pale.
I loved Lonely Surfer and I’m a huge fan of Savoy/Pål but this one just doesn’t do it for me.
Or possibly that I’m not (yet) perfect 😉😄
I think the German translation is misleading. As far as I can see the 1,8 million NOK that are mentioned in the original text is the debt or the minus for the festival, not what a-ha charges for a concert.
Lonely Surfer was - in my opinion - a great song. Digital River in a-ha’s version is in my view among the most disappointing of their career (as anyone who has listened to our a-ha podcast “a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows” will know) but of course suffered from the fact that it was a shaky live performance. I’m certain that the studio treatment will have done wonders to it although I’m still not convinced about the lyrics.
Oh schade, nichts physisches, keine Bonustracks, keine Vinyl? So audiophil, dass ich das hören könnte, bin ich nicht... Aber ich freue mich für alle, die damit was anfangen können.
I’m with you here. I’d take a vinyl version, demoes or outtakes over remastered sound any day!
Great detective work! I think it’s spot on - MIC will for sure be released on Vinyl and will look great in any collection 😉
Vielen Dank!! That’s really a wonderful piece of feedback 😊
We hope that the final episode of the solo rankings can live up to the expectations! The songs are great at least, that’s for sure. And yes, there are so many “forgotten” or “undiscovered” pearls in Savoy’s catalogue that I almost envy anyone who hasn’t really gotten into Savoy yet as they really have a fantastic treasure chest in front of them just waiting to be opened.
Thanks a lot for listening and the very kind words. It’s super encouraging 🙏🏻
Hi all,
We have released a new episode of our “a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows” podcast, this time with focus on Pål’s projects outside of a-ha.
We’re doing the ranking across two episodes so the first part covers the songs ranked from 50 to 26. You can find it by searching for “a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows“ on your podcast app or find the episode directly here:https://www.spreaker.com/user/15738288/…-1-rank-50-26_3
We even got a bit of input directly from Pål for this one which we of course think is super cool! 
Hope you’ll give it a listen.
Best,
Jens Peter
