Customer Reviews

Memorial Beach

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is probably A-HA's most over-looked album. Unfairly so. Maybe their listeners weren't expecting a "rock" album from them. And this is definitly their "rock" album. A very good rock album at that! It sounds very much influenced by "60's classic rock & psychedelia". Several of the tunes remind's one of "THE DOORS". Especially "LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER" & "LOCUST"(the spoken word part towards the end echos the poetry of 'Jim Morrison'. The beautiful & mesmerizing title track("MEMORIAL BEACH"),sounds like a relative of "The Door's" "Riders On The Storm". Other songs have strong elements of 60's rock influences. "COLD AS STONE" is one. What a great song! At over 8 minutes they really get into every corner of it for us; the guitar work is great. A couple of the songs sound a little like "U2" however; namely "DARK IS THE NIGHT FOR ALL" & the pretty "ANGEL IN THE SNOW". Still, all the songs flow together nicely. A-HA seems to put out a great CD no matter what style they choose to cover. This one just happened to 'rock'. If you like good music,great melody, you'll like any one of their CD's. MEMORIAL BEACH is a must have if you like 'rock'; or just like good music.

I was a young teen in 1993, grunge was in full force, I would listen to bands like Screaming Trees, Tad, Paw and ofcourse the mighty Nirvana. Then I fell in love with a girl from Norway and she was into this band A-HA. This album came out and what I thought I would hate became an album that has stayed in my collection since 1993 and that always brings out a melancholic side to a day. Even as I sit here in this beautifull warm day in summer, as Memorial Beach comes out of the speakers I am taken back to a time when everything was so much more simple and innocent. Be it "Memorial beach" haunting piano and chorus, or "Angel in the Snow", with its hearfelt lyrics and romantic guitar, this album is all around solid. Not being an old school A-HA fan or anything, I cant compare it to other albums or anything, but as a lover of good music I strongly recomend this album. It just has all the elements that make an album great such as amazing lyrics, in that the music actually reaches inside and touches you. Anyway, once again I recomend this album, you wont regret it.

If you are looking for teenie-bopper dance music, you won't find it here. Memorial Beach is a dark, melancholic album full of intense music and beautiful singing--what a-ha has always been about--from the haunting guitar in "Cold as Stone" to the lovely melodic "Angel in the Snow." Although the album never got the recognition or airplay that it deserved here in the U.S., that does not lessen the talent behind its making one bit. Paul Waaktaar-Savoy is probably one of the greatest songwriters in the world and it shows in everything he does. That, combined with Morten Harket's perfectly executed vocals, prove that a-ha's international fame is still duly deserved.

Though I have been a A-Ha fan for over ten years, I havent been able to keep in touch with the happening in their world largely due to the long sabbatical the band had taken, until they released Minor Earth...When my brother gave excellent reviews for that album, I heard it. I could not believe what I heard. Then I went back and heard Memorial Beach. Again, I just could not believe what I heard. This is one of the best A-ha albums ever released. The album begins with the incredible "Dark is the Night". Its slow and is painfully melodious. The sweetness of the song is followed in "Angel" and "Cold as Stone". Again, A-ha hit the sad and superb melody notes only they can hit. "Locust" and "Memorial Beach" are my personal favourite songs from the album. Locust is not something you might like immediatly, it will grow into you. and the same with the tittle track. I think "Lamb" is another masterpeice, and the rest of all songs are good. Rest assured there isnt a single bad song in the CD. So your money is well well well spent. Its worth it, in case you do not have this CD, you will not regret buying it, it will appeal to all A-ha fans. The band has not tried anything new or innovative here, its pure old melody...and this is what makes A-ha one of the finest talents available in music.

It looks like A-ha found a track in their 'train of thought' and have stuck with it. Continuing work with the rhythm section that appeared in "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", A-ha turn out a dynamite set. They almost regained American ground with "Lie Down In Darkness" as it was on moderate rotation. The songs on this album have almost a storm cloud tastefully hovering over them as the subject matter leans a more somber direction. It's not as diabolical as "Scoundrel Days", but it is dark and it's a great album to play on rainy (really rainy) days. Pal Waaktaar, this time around, seems to be playing with new guitar sounds that really carry it along, and from the way the credits read, this may as well have been HIS album, as eight of the ten songs were penned exclusively by him. He must've been in rare form as one song after another is quite pleasing (with the exception of "Between Your Mama & Yourself" which is actually kind of stupid). High points: "Dark Is The Night", "Cold As Stone", "Angel In The Snow", "Locust".

WOAH...now if u ever needed words to express sadness of emotional tumrmoil..look no further than Memorial Beach. "Dark is the Night", "Angel in the Snow", "Locust", "Lamb to the Slaughter","Memorial Beach"...all of which seem to very effectively show the heartache involved in losing someone special..Very beautiful tracks..my personal fav being "Locust"...this is an excellent and mature album...some of the best listening out there....

This album, though made during the early days of the stripping down period of their career, still contains traces of the original songwriting formula they used on the earlier classics. Even though by this time the keyboards were notably absent, at least there were still some cool drum machine loops going on. "Cold as stone" has a cool repeating loop that sticks with you. This one is as dark as their first album, maybe darker. The piano used here has a very "Doors" sound to it. The band admits to being influenced by that band and it does show.

"Dark is the night" was a great single, catchy riff, meaningful structure and singing despite only a little organ sound from the 'boards. All the other songs have a darker "Here I stand.." or "Love is reason" feel to them. "Lie down in darkness" has a cool groove to it and cool background vocals that force you to sing along. This is about the last album where all the tracks sound distinctive, despite the lack of 'boards throughout the album. Well worth owning if you're a classic A-ha fan or if you just want to hear something different.

If you are a fan of a-ha (and I have been since i was 10) then you will love this album at least as much as I do. A-ha just gets better and better with time and this CD is definately not a let down. DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS GREAT ALBUM.

I bought this album upon its release in 1993, got to know it inside-out, but haven't really LISTENED to it in years.

I did the other night for the first time since 'Lifeines' and 'Minor Earth' came out. And I was blown away by it.

This I consider to be what must always be the last a-ha album. It has a maturity to it which perhaps they reached too soon in '93. With their year 2000 'comeback', they returned to a more pop style, and one can easily imagine memorial beach as being somewhere they will be 'at' in five or so years' time from now, whether or not they had been there before.

The experienced arrangements, the depth and gravel of Harket's voice, the sheer confidence in the playing, the rhythm and the - well -GROOVE - of this album (just check out 'how sweet it was')is something which only seems appropriate to achieve at the end of a-ha's career.

Out of 10 tracks, only 2 fail to hit the mark: 'between your mama and yourself', which tries a little too hard to hit a groove, and magne's downbeat 'lamb to the slaughter', which is about as enjoyable as its title. The rest is fantastic.

'Dark is the night for all' is not only one of the top 3 a-ha songs ever recorded, but I would also put this into the top 20 songs of all time, by any artist. 'Locust' was welcomely performed on their recent 2002 European tour, including an accordian-playing keyboard player and Anneli Drecker on backing vocals. They did it proud; Morten was word-perfect in reciting the "slate grey cloud filled the eye" lyric.

To conclude this album, they play homage to The Doors with the moody closer, 'memorial beach'. Back in '93 this track was a poignant, but fitting, close to a-ha's short but brilliant life (I chose to ignore the Olympic-induced and dire 'Shapes that go Together' - that would have been too hard to take).

Then came 'summer moved on' and the new chapter happily began. And it cast 'memorial beach' in a whole new and very different light.

This came at a time when grunge kept most '80s names from reaching the US charts, and the band were falling apart. Some songs, they're not trying hard as they should, and the lyrics can be redundant and lazy. After performing at the Paralympics and Olympics, a-ha wound up taking almost the rest of the century off tending to solo projects and the like.

I found the tape in the budget section once, showing they weren't gonna make it here again.