Customer Reviews

Singles 1984-2004

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I do not give 5 stars to this CD, 5 stars go to the tremendously talented trio from Norway that have survived decades of changing musical styles, trends and genres and stayed true to high quality songwriting, touching and moving melodies, producing a multitude of hits in many countries, and building a huge fanbase and legacy for themselves. To think that some look at A-Ha as a one-hit onder! I will let those listen to Britney and Clay Aiken and encourage others to build an A-ha collection.
I do not need this Greatest Hits album, because I have all of their CDs, from synth-pop oriented light-hearted Hunting High and Low to most recent and quite dramatic soft-rock masterpiece Lifelines. This is their second hits collection after early 90's Headlines and Deadlines. It goes along with similar recent releases from other 80s pop legends like Erasure and Pet Shop Boys who also started around the same time and had their first "greatest hits" released around the same time. For either band, the second collection does not add whole lot to the first one. They all had more hits in their early years, mid 80s, and you can find 3-4 songs from each of the earlier albums on this one, while more recent albums are less represented. Which does not mean their music quality declined as years went by, and that is particularly true about A-ha. The trio split up in early 90s after their fifth album Memorial Beach, but only to amaze their fans and make new fans with their last two strong and beautiful comeback albums Minor Earth Major Sky and Lifelines (neither of which saw a US release, very unfortunately). If you do not have any A-ha albums, you can get this one for a fair overview of their career, but, believe me, you will miss a lot of excellent songs that were not necessarily hits but deserve attention from anyone who appreciates good music. There are 7 albums out there, and if you find budget-priced used ones, combined they may cost you just as much as a new copy of this import collection. Whatever the price, you will not regret.

It's easy to see why so many Americans wrongfully dismiss a-ha as a one-hit wonder band. Since their platinum debut, "Hunting High and Low," which spawned the Number One hit "Take On Me," the pop trio from Norway saw their next four albums flop in the US before they disappeared out of consciousness. But while their success in America was short-lived, a-ha has built and maintained a healthy following in Europe, where they landed 13 Top Ten hits in England. "The Singles 1984|2004" is the band's second compilation (the first was 1994's "Headlines and Deadlines," which, like this album, was released outside the US), covering twenty years of hits and singles. Looking beyond "Take On Me," we have other notable gems like the 007 theme "The Living Daylights," "I've Been Losing You," the energetic "The Sun Always Shines on TV," and a personal favorite of mine: "Lifelines." Even better, these songs have been digitally remastered, and you can definitely hear and feel the improvement over the original recording. All in all, I think a-ha is a band that never really got a fair shot in America, where they were all-too-quickly written off as pretty boys whose music took a backseat to their chisled looks. But this hits collection features some well-crafted pop tunes and international hits that will please fans and may even win over a few converts.

have you believe. This is one of the greatest bands around, and still going after 20 years. If you haven't heard much from a-ha since "Take on Me" start here or better yet, just start buying the albums. I bought this to have all the single on one CD for taking to the gym, but there's nothing here you can't get on their CD's and you are missing a number of great songs if you forego the albums. They are also easier to get a hold of. I wound up ording this directly from AMAZON.DE (German Amazon) which is where this is imported from. It actually wound up a few dollars cheaper to order it there than here. The GERMAN was a little rough to get through but BABELFISH can help. Enjoy getting to know a-ha.

The Singles 1984-2004
Reviewer: CHUA CHERN TOONG

Veteran new-wave popsters a-ha have certainly come a long way since their embryonic days in the mid-80s. When they started out back then, they were - perhaps unjustly - lumped together with the other groups populating the teenybopper-act community (among them the unevenly great Duran Duran, the ineffectual white-soul crew Spandau Ballet, and the frankly execrable A Flock of Seagulls), posited as three clean-cut Norwegian lads appealing only to pubescent females.

What the detractors failed to realise (and still fail to do after all these years) is that a-ha are markedly different from their contemporaries, mostly in terms of the nature of their compositions and, just as importantly, in their distinctly singular worldview.

What separates Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Pal Waaktaar from the rest of the 80s rank and file is the innate melancholia that permeates the majority of their songs, perhaps nurtured by a youth spent enduring bleak Scandinavian winters.

This quality comes through most clearly in Waaktaar's elliptical, elegant, oftentimes abstract songwriting, his lyrics dealing with glum subjects like mortality, failed and/or twisted romances, and Kafkaesque existential angst.

It's all deceptively filtered through some accessible radio-friendly melodies, dextrous and polished production, and the secret weapon in a-ha's arsenal: Harket's charged, theatrical tenor. No wonder the critics were fooled.

a-ha have put these values to very good use indeed, producing a clutch of top-notch albums and a volley of first-class singles which have charted high in European charts (the American market has perennially and predictably ignored their long existence).

It is no overstatement, then, to contend that the band has matured very nicely over the years into a veritable, well-developed adult-contemporary institution, although for the past 15 years or so, they have been increasingly slipping into cult-act status.

A crying shame for sure, considering that a class act like this is neglected in favour of today's half-baked Pop Idols and faceless corporate-rock gangs.

But for diehard fans who refuse to give up on their Scandinavian heroes, this new collection should be acceptable consolation for not seeing their champions' names on the charts. The familiar standards are covered on The Singles 1984-2004, from the clever, burnished pop-tastic contraptions of the early days, to the darker-themed, grittier, solemn material of the middle period, to the lush, ornate yet graceful themes of the new millennium.

The nascent period yields some avowedly splendid classics: the overplayed but still vital Take on Me, with its instantly recognisable chattering-synth riff; the sweeping, almost desperate account of chronic loneliness Hunting High and Low (one of the best examples of a-ha's constant penchant for musical drama); the cynically bombastic The Sun Always Shines on TV; and the emotional break-up anthem Manhattan Skyline.

Longtime fans will also be well-versed with other masterpieces like the tense, rocky I've Been Losing You, the whimsical fairytale Cry Wolf, the chillingly beautiful synth-string gem Stay on These Roads and the Bond song The Living Daylights.

The more sober middle cycle sees a-ha adopting a more organic approach in their musical blueprint, resulting in a clutch of brilliantly innovative singles. These include the brooding, meditative cover of the Everly Brothers' Crying in the Rain, complete with plausible thunder-and-rain sound effects; the anthemic 1994 Winter Olympics theme Shapes That Go Together; the hard-edged Move to Memphis; and the oblique, ominous Dark Is the Night for All. A protracted break of seven years then ensued before the third era of a-ha commenced, but it was a worthwhile wait for hopeful fans.

When a-ha finally emerged from hibernation in 2000, it was with a breathtakingly melodramatic number and an instant candidate for classic standing: the ardent Summer Moved On, which arguably captures Harket's best-ever vocal performance.

Other selections from the now-fortysomething group canvassed here include the awe-inspiring Lifelines, a meticulously string-orchestrated opus; the hooky, electronics-enhanced Forever Not Yours; and the lite trip-hoppish Minor Earth Major Sky, which signals a previously unexplored direction for the trio.

In all honesty, The Singles 1984-2004 is a well thought-out retrospective of quality pop, although its saleability is questionable. Make no mistake, The Singles 1984-2004 is just about as faultless as it gets when it comes to documenting solid, sound popcraft:

a-ha rarely has any worthy competition in this rarefied (and dwindling) musical field. Even as they are comfortably settling into middle age, this is a strong testament to their very potent halcyon days. A reasonably impressive historical record of the remarkable transition of one of the sharpest, most inventive and most underappreciated outfits to survive the 80s musical meltdown.

This trio continues to reinvent themselves. They were packaged in the US as a hair band in the eighties. This was a big mistake as anyone, who has been watching their progress over the years, can attest to. While they are considered a one hit wonder in the US with their single Take On Me which was a world wide #1, this was only the beginning for this fine band. They are now a seasoned group with fine credentials. Check out the virtuosity of the groups guitarist, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, an unrecognized musician with enormous talent.

Check out their songs. You will not be disappointed!

an impeccable collection of songs by the seminal band that Chris Martin (of Coldplay) has recently acknowledged as inspiring him to get into music. Those of us who have been devoted for so long surely have most, if not all, of this stuff already; but it's a good primer to bring everyone else up to date. Long live a-ha.

What more can you say about this trio from Norway that hasn't
already been said, their musical output was saddly put into a
neat little USA catagory and given the "one hit wonder" sticker
and put on a shelf for VH1 to bring out once in while when they see
fit. These talented guys have a wonderful moody, stylistic music gift-
I rate their musical impact right up their with the best of The Moody Blues, even some of the Beatles great stuff,
The Beach boys, Everly Bros., they have such a talented singer, first rate
writer/guitarist, keyboard wiz extraordinar- yet they were really never given
the chance to shine in the states. Unfortunately it was their pin-up image
that most of the younger kids noticed from the video "Take on Me". From the first notes of "Take on Me" , "The
Sun always shines on TV", to "Living a boys adventure", I knew
this band had a future, they sang in a more mature style, wrote about the
difficulties of young love and growing up in the world around them,(hardly teenager seniments at the time of Big Hair and drama of the middle to late 80's), this just didn't click, well for the American public anyway, us Americans
were then, and still are it seems for the most part only interested in maketing dancing sex toys out of pop stars/rap star/pop princesses
to satisfy the record companies & media mogals poketbooks? I'm hoping their first world wide
distributed collection of tunes comes out in 2005 and gives
these Norway talents a bigger stage to show off their scrumptious, dazzling pop perfection. 20 songs just doesn't even
cut into the catalogue these guys have given the world. Great
live show, hopefully they will find their ways over here to the
states. If you still love pop-rock with soaring vocals and instrumentations all over the map, melodramatic songs about
love and loss this trio as well as some
outstanding sessions players are worth revisiting. They've done
an outstanding job reinventing their back catalogue for the concert stage(2002-2003 live tours in Europe) Great act!

Once again a-ha endures the test of time and remains undaunted. Their performances and beautiful melodies still remain with us. This CD is a worthy compendium of their work. As much as they have evolved the melodies and heartfelt performances have remained constant. You can go from TAKE ON ME to THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS to the more recent VELVET and LIFELINES and there is a consistency of perhaps drive or emotion that seems to be inherent in every song. I summed up what I had to say with VELVET when it was first released and it somehow holds true for what a-ha has given us through all these cherished years. VELVET is a whimsical atmospheric piece of sheer beauty. You have to hear it to appreciate this great melodic piece of elegant impressionism. Once again a-ha delivers a work of innovation and inspiration with this heart felt song. There is more than just talent and genius behind a-ha's work. They meld lyric, melody and their unique sound into something that transcends the definition of music. VELVET has to be one of their most definitive examples of this quality. I still get a chuckle or a sarcastic laugh when I tell people about a-ha. They refuse to even listen to the music. That is their loss. Yet I still know there are numbers of us out there who appreciate a-ha's artistry and in the end the music still remains doesn't it. That is somehow a great comfort and reassurance to me.

Was a little unsure I needed this "greatist hits" cd...after all I own ALL of A-Ha's CD's...but when I saw THIS one had RE-MASTERED tracks I had to have it. A-Ha are one of the greatist bands in the world. IF you are a TRUE fan SUPPORT the band and buy this one !!!!! The re-mastered tracks ARE WORTH IT !! Sounds like they were recorded last week. Awesome CD.

This is a wonderful collection of songs from the very talented trio. Containing hits from all of their different albums to this day. However this is by no means a complete set of hits. For the fans who have followed this band through 20 years and travels 10 000 miles to see them in concert, this is just a small look into a-ha's treasure chest. Many a-ha songs have never become hits but are in many wats much better than the ones who did become hits. Be sure to get the complete collection of albums, available here at Amazon and follow a-ha through their transformation from teenage poster boys to some of the best songwriters and musiscians in the world.

A-ha signed a new 3 album contract last year. They are currently working on the first of those 3 and will release it this autumn ( proabably september / october )with a following tour. So far some european dates have already been booked and some of the concerts are starting to get sold out. So far no news of concert or release in the US. However stay tuned. You never know. Maybe they will take the trip over the Atlantic this time. Check out their official site often. Enjoy