Customer Reviews

Headlines and Deadlines - The Hits of A-HA

5 star:		(9)
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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

a-ha has been my favorite since 1985. I was 15 and in the front row of their concert of the old Met Center in Minneapolis, MN before it was torn down. These men truly know who to create weak knees! Their voices and instrumentation abilities make my skin tingle. The Sun Always Shines on TV has been my favorite song since the first moment I heard it. It's fun to be nearly 29 and still in love with them. I used to have $350.00 of posters and merchandise as a kid.

My nine-year-old daughter listens to them with me now and maybe some day when we make it to Norway, well, maybe we'll get to meet them. I would love for them to sing at my wedding in Alaska this spring...

Thanks for the skin-tingling, mesmerizing ballads!

Your fan,

Cammilla

I was 14 when a-ha stepped onto the scene in 1985.
Definitely the idea for the TAKE ON ME video was stuning, all that cartoons/live mixing was fresh stuff.
Plus the song was catchy and fast became a # 1 hit on both sides of the atlantic.
THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV did just great here in Europe but failed to repeat success in the US - although the mannequins storyboard for its video was just as good.
And the musical bridge boasts a great violin section.
A-ha proved to be polyedric artists: HUNTING HIGH AND LOW, TRAIN OF THOUGHTS are just nuggets, THE BLOOD THAT MOVES THE BODY and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (from the 1987 James Bond original soundtrack) border closely to high-class pop.
MANHATTAN SKYLINE and I'VE BEEN LOSING YOU are possibly the best tracks off their second album, while STAY ON THESE ROADS is a simple, well-crafted, radio-friendly tune.
The unreleased track MOVE TO MEMPHIS is stunningly poly-rhythmical, sensual and sung by a dark-voiced Morten Harkett.
The guys are long gone from the top of the charts but they're definitely not from my heart!

A-Ha were undoubtably one of the top bands of the 80's worldwide and to achieve this feat while coming from Norway makes it all the better as Norway isn't exactly renowned for producing world class bands.

Headlines And Deadlines contains all of A-Ha's hits in the UK from 1985 through to the release of this compilation in 1991 and some of the songs here higlight how good they could be when they got it right but some of the newer material just doesn't live up to past expectations and this is probably the major factor in the downfall although they have refound their form on the new album Minor Earth Major Sky.

Starting the CD with their most memorable hit and one of the most memorable videos of all time Take On Me still retains that irresistable charm and ending with their only other major hit, the UK No 1 The Sun Always Shines On TV. This is by far the best song on the CD. What may surprise people is how good the other songs on this collection are as they weren't as memorable or big at the time. I've Been Losing You has one of the catchiest chorus' around, The Living Daylights has everything a Bond theme could wish for with that great tune and Stay On These Roads is a top ballad which captures the heart with its tune even if the lyrics don't really stick in your head.

Despite all these classics and numerous others their newer material like Move To Memphis and Early Morning let the CD down greatly and you can't help but skip some tracks.

A-Ha's more edgy and almost spooky rock/pop music is some of the 80's best and this is highlights them at the top of their game and is an essential purchase for a fan of 80's music.

I remember when I bought this album a long time ago. It was way back when I was a junior in high school. I hadn't really heard much by A-Ha other than their classic hit "Take On Me" at the time. But when I got this album it totally blew me away. I listened to it over and over again until I realized that every single song on here kicks. It's a shame that so many people have written off A-Ha as one-hit wonders because they are really so much more than that. In addition to this awesome collection they have four great albums that are not to be missed by any music fans. On this collection, songs like "Cry Wolf", "Train of Thought", and "Touchy" are upbeat songs that are a lot of fun to listen to while songs like "Hunting High and Low", "Stay On These Roads", and "Manhattan Skyline" are more poignant, passionate, and let the listener in on A-Ha's sensitive side. Overall a truly awesome collection. "Take On Me" is NOT the best song on here. In my humble opinion, it's not even the best. I highly recommend this compilation, because all the songs on here range from good to great!

Este album consiste en toda una recopilación de los mejores exitos de a-ha.
The sun always shines on T.V., Take on me, You are the one, Stay on these roads es uno de los exitos que mas me gustan de este excelente compacto. A-ha tiene otros hits excelentes com Living in a boys adventure que es tambien una de las mejores de este grupo el cual se puede encontrar en el famoso Hunting high and low.
A-HA por siempre en la memoria de los inovadores 80's

Wow. I looked at the track listing, and thought
I maybe recognised four or five of the songs.
Putting the CD on, I found I knew maybe four or
five by heart, knew the first verse of four others,
and liked the rest.

My favourite has to be "The Blood that Moves the
Body" -- is there another song about the Japanese
tradition of seppuku? All these songs bring back
memories, especially "Stay on these Roads" which
came out around the time my family emigrated
from Ireland. A-ha did very well in Ireland, and
I seem to recall several #1s. Even now the songs
stand up to comparison with modern song writing,
lyrically and melodically. "The Living Daylights"
is the only rival to Goldfinger for best Bond
theme, and "Hunting High and Low" has the creepy
subtext of the best ballads (think "Every Breath
You Take").

A concentrated hit of 80's nostalgia that won't be
taken out of my CD player for a while.

This is an excellent album. I was not an A-ha fan, i just buyed it cos I knew some songs (I guess, just 3 of the album). But after listening to all the album I liked most of the songs (or all of them) and got interested a little bit more in the group productions. The pop style is great and it contains very well known pop songs like Take on me! or You are the one, The sun always shines on TV or I've been losing you. Crying in the rain is a great balad song (not original from the group but well perfomed) As the title mentions the album has the most popular a-ha songs. There is also a video hits collection with the same name. If you do not have an A-ha album this one is a good choice.

Although of course best known for the ubiquitous synthdance confection, Take On Me, there's actually quite a lot to recommend here. All 16 tracks are excellent representations of the 80s New Wave movement; fans of Erasure, Depeche Mode, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, etc. will be quite pleased. Besides you-know-what, there's also Cry Wolf, a great dance song that saw little US airplay; a gorgeous remix of their finest ballad, Hunting High And Low; and, IMHO, their very finest dance track, The Sun Always Shines On TV. Everything else has minor flaws, but is still very enjoyable. If you want to remember the glittery 80s in all their hairsprayed MTV glory, get this CD!

The version of "Move to Memphis" on this album really makes this album stand out. What a song and a rendition. This is much different than the version on the MEMORIAL BEACH album. This version seems to have a lot more movement to it but it gives you a feel of the direction their music was heading on MEMORIAL BEACH. "The Living Daylights" is the version heard on the soundtrack album and not the one from STAY ON THESE ROADS. "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." and "Hunting High And Low" (Remix) are fantastic. This is a good collection. It could have been better depending on your taste, but a-ha is so esoteric I don't think you can ever please any of their fans with just one CD. Somebody's favorite song (s) is always going to be left out.

Hello, it's DreReich here again, merely admitting my guilt and remorse for writing such a terrible, unneccesary and totally uninformed former review on this album, and I really hope that as soon as whoever is in charge of "screening" these contributions, whoever that person may be, will hopefully see fit to delete my totally completely horrible former review of this album, in place of this newly written, much, much better one! Now, as I was saying, I was completely misinformed! The Norweigian Trio from the '80's was NOT just known for "Take On Me", they had other, better more excellent-sounding dance-pop hits! In fact, after actually giving this album a decent chance, I discovered that I like the sound of almost every track! Adding on to my former review of me liking "Cry Wolf", "Touchy", "You Are The One", "The Blood That Moves The Body", and "The Living Daylights", there is a few more to be considered to have a-Ha be thought of as one of the better '80's groups, them being "Early Morning", "I've Been Losing You", "Stay On These Roads", and the cool, funky "Train Of Thought". So, I've finally been able to get this situation of my chest, and I hope that this better review will be a whole lot more satisfactory to the generable public reading these. There, I feel a lot better now. Goodbye!