Customer Reviews

How Can I Sleep With Your Voice in My Head

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great album by a great band who recently made a comeback with two strong studio albums. This double live album provides a good overview of their career, featuring many of their hits, and well-recorded strong performances by the band.

Unfortunately, the music is presented in a 'copy-protected' format (not a 'redbook' standard CD), in which the audio signal is corrupted to discourage digital copying. This leads to a loss in sound quality when the errors are corrected on an ordinary CD player. Moreover, the first disc will not play at all on a computer - instead you must use the included proprietary software player to play 'compressed' versions of the tracks. Not only are these tracks badly edited, cutting off a second or two earlier than they should, but they are also VERY poor in sound quality, playing at only 22 kHz. We should not all be made to suffer because some people copy music.

In summary, great music, but a lousy format. Buyer BEWARE if you want to play this disc in your computer or high-end audio system.

Unfortunately for the usa ...and a-ha, this band will always be known for "take on me" here in the states. and that is very unfortunate, because their last two studio albums are masterpieces.absolute perfection.A-ha is a band that gets better with each album, never giving signs of weakness in their material.I'm not a big fan of live albums, but having seen last years live dvd of a-ha's homecoming concert,i was blown away.I knew i had to order this live cd, because living in America, the chances of seeing A-ha live are slim to none. The bottom line to this review is that A-ha is one of those bands that sound a hundred times better live. So much passion and emotion come through Morten Harket's vocals that to this day i still get goosebumps listening to "Hunting High and Low". wait till you hear the live version! even their 80's hits sound fresh live. nothing here sounds dated. theo only dissapointment for me is that "the blood that moves the body", which is one of my favorites is not included here. but thats ok, because "scoundrel days" and "manhattan skyline" are. Quick, get this limited edition double cd. it is worth the 30 bucks. and spread the word.

This is their first authorised live release (there are too many bootlegs!). Some songs sound different from the studio versions, but that adds value for money. Some covers are blue, but that must be the limited edition. Taken from the Lifelines tour. After this, there was a hiatus for solo projects and such. The last contractual release for Warner.

It's a pity one cannot listen to samples of this music! I bought this CD on blind faith, and do.not.regret.it at.all.

I got this in the mail yesterday, and like most folks do when they get new music, immediately put in the player for it's first spin. I loved it. This morning, when I had the house to myself, I played it again, cranked up the volume a bit and was blown away.

The sound quality on this recording is incredible. If I close my eyes, I can almost believe I'm right there at the live venues. The music rocks, the sound resonates in the room, Morten's voice soars.

Do you enjoy a-ha's studio recordings, do you adore Morten's voice? Then get this, it's studio recording x infinity. It will transport you.

a-ha will play their first U.S. concert since October 1986 on Sept. 12, 2005 at Irving Plaza, New York City. It's been along time coming and you'll get the chance to hear the live album tracks... well, live! This show will surely help re-acquaint the U.S. market to this fantastic band! This live album is well produced and recorded, crowd noise is at a minimum but boosted just at the right moments for full concert effect. Vocally, you're not going to get a better performance than from Morten Harket's voice like an angel. See you at the show!

Bloody brilliant. That's what a-ha is, quite simply. And this album? Nothing short of fantastic. I already knew every song on this album, so you can imagine how excited I was to finally hear them live (since I'm in the U.S., that opportunity doesn't lend itself very much). It should be a given that a-ha fans should pick this album up, but also those who only care to listen to "Take On Me". It's been my goal to educate those who have only had the privelage to listen to said song on the greater world that belongs to a-ha by feeding them all their other great--greater--songs. And this album does that wonderfully...live. Most of the songs are on-par with their studio versions, while some stray, making it possible for a-ha to give them a fresh coat of paint ("Manhattan Skyline" and "Cry Wolf" come to mind). "Hunting High and Low" and "The Living Daylights" offer the audience's involvement, prompting me to feel not so alone in the isolated world of a-ha in Miami, FL. I have no gripes with this album, save one: they altered the most important LINE of the whole album. The one that the friken album is named after. Instead of Morten saying in "Scoundrel Days" "Oh, have I come to the point of where I'm losing the grip," he says, "Oh, have we come to the point of no turning back." It's in the friken booklet for God's sakes! Anyway...buy this album. America needs a-ha. BTW...I'm a 16-year old who's into a-ha. Take that as you will.

Though the quality of the performances is uneven (and not in a particularly interesting way) the final verdict is they rock. This record is naturally a must have for a-ha fans, but also is for anyone curious about the band because it mightily showcases what the band is capable of and what they are about. They are very good musicians! Killer songwriters! They rock!

Several of the newest songs are either given a somewhat newer dynamic or just plainly sound better. "Forever Not Yours" opens the disc and doesn't have the album version's tendency to be rendered bland by production that's a bit smothering. Harket's vocals are higher in pitch and he is more creative with nuances of the melody. Waaktaar's guitar work is a great foil to the alternately soothing or soaring keyboards and vocals. "Oranges on Appletrees" is likewise less cringey than the album version. "Did Anyone Approach You" opens with what I thought was a fun drum tease for the audience, but might not be (with few exceptions I thought the percussion was capable, but unadventurous. Too bad.) Also fun to hear Harket shouting back at the audience. Times like this, in fact, are when the cd succeeds most: when a-ha emphasize their rock band side more than the orchestral, melancholy (brilliant!) side to them evidenced on their studio albums. The songs more in that vein--"Summer Moved On" and "The Sun Always Shines On TV" work least because they (try to) remain the same. But that is not the case for most of the songs here. The guitar that comes cranking out in "Minor Earth Major Sky" and "The Swing of Things", for instance, will surprise the casual listener. So, too, might "Take On Me", which is more of a fun rock song here, though it loses none of the single's bouncy charm. "The Living Daylights" cracks me up--the audience participation gap enables them to fall in and out of a reggae groove (do I hear farsifa?!). They know when to have fun. Waaktaar-Savoy's and Furuholmen's vocals are showcased on a song apiece, and Harket's are most moving when paired with the spectacular Anneli Drecker on "Crying In The Rain." That song will make you wish she was a full member, or convince you she was at least underused! I liked that the band visited so much of their catalogue, though inclusions from Memorial Beach are missed and I'd have enjoyed more from East of the Sun West of the Moon and Minor Earth Major Sky. The band simplifies "Stay on These Roads" and it really thrives when the pretty melody stands on its own merits. I dig the studio version, but the subtle touch here (less of the album version's vocal acrobatics and musical melodrama) is a nice surprise that works very well.

What a great gift for so many American fans like myself who've never seen them live. That I have any criticisms at all is just a testement to how enjoyable every moment of their many albums have been for me.

I'm very fortunate to live at the other side of the Atlantic where this album has already been released, so it's been playing in my walkman for almost a week now. Too bad it's been released as a single CD only, so I guess I'll have to wait for a limited edition to come out as well (when?). However, all their greatest hits are captured on the first disc, together with "The swing of things", which I always consider to be the one of their most perfect songs - the album title "How can I sleep with your voice in my head" is a line, drawn from this very song - even today, after almost twenty years since "Scoundrel days" came out, this song still sends the shivers down my spine. While outer cover, an inner back and a disc itself feature very appealing and moving seal photos, designed by Mags, the rest of the cover show the band photos along with chorus lines from "The swing of things" running in the middle. These 14 songs were not taken from the single concert but from five different ones (in Leipzig, Zürich, Paris, London and Amsterdam) performed during their "Lifelines" tour, so the songs are broken into several parts as well. While I've got and also listened to many live albums in my life, only a few of them were really great and not just a bland repetition of material that had already been released - this album certainly falls into the first category. The songs are considerably changed and dressed up in much more rockier outfit compared to studio versions, especially the first four tracks, accompanied by Paul's heavy guitars riffs and Anneli Drecker's voice in the background. In my opinion, the best sections are those two starting with "The sun always shines on TV" and "Lifelines". "The sun always..." was a very good choice for the first single - the band suceeded to preserve all the touch and strength this great song's got, still the track sounds quite fresh and new. "Did anyone approach you", starting with heavy drum pattern and audience clapping along, sounds even better live than in studio. "The swing of things" builds up perfectly toward the end and the final part (just before "What have I done" line takes over) is simply astonished. "Hunting high and low" and "The living daylights" are all sung by the audience as well - while it much contributes to a live atmosphere and feeling of the album on the first song, they manage to finish the latter one just a few seconds before the constant repetition of the chorus line becomes annoying. "Stay on these roads", played only by piano and guitar, sounds very nice and pleasant as if it would've been taken from their unplugged. Highlights that also have to be mentioned are "Forever not yours" - a very good and interesting intro and orchestral-like instrumental base for "Lifelines". Go get this CD and go get it now.

I've been a big a-ha fan since they began, and I love this CD. I was disappointed in the copy-protect on the CD, but there is a way around it. First, I discovered you must have the most recent version of Windows Media Player, available for free on the internet. Plus, with CD Creator 4.06, if you load tracks individually onto the CD, you can copy this, but there are pauses between the individual tracks (1/2-1 sec.). I was glad to find this out since I copy for my vehicles and keep the originals at home. Hope this helps!

This album is an absolute must for both old and new A-ha fans. It is a moveable feast for the ears. No longer saddled with the bubblegum, boy band image - A-ha has grown and matured over the years to become a super live band. This album showcases some of the finest songs in the group's lengthy armamentarium.

Some of the highlights:

The Swing Of Things- great uptempo number, Stay On These Roads- lovely duet with Anneli Drekker, Manhattan Skyline-quintessential a-ha, Hunting High And Low- oldie but goodie, Did Anyone Approach You- cool new song with a bit of rap, and the hauntingly lovely Time And Again.

Most especially noteworthy is the rendition of Sycamore Leaves performed by it's composer, the group's highly talented guitarist/composer/lyricist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy. The album should be purchased if only for this song.