Tag: a-ha

October

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Dawn awaits a sleepless English town of coloured grey.
Here I roam the streets without you as summer fades away…

It’s been a while since we’ve had any a-ha on the blog, so here, on the 1st of October, is…er… October from the 1986 Scoundrel Days album*. This isn’t the official video (I don’t think one was ever made, as the song was never released), and you can easily deduce that because One Canada Square (the Canary Wharf building) featured in the video wasn’t built back in 1986.
Yes, I suppose that the Millennium Dome is a bit of a clue as well.

Still, the song is the real deal.

* still probably my favourite a-ha album.

1989 cool

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Susanna Hoffs’ Throwback Thursday picture on… er… Thursday was kinda cool – in a 1989 kinda cool way:

Do you see what she did there? I see what she did there.

There’s something a bit odd about seeing icons of a bygone age together, in that bygone age. Yes, we see them together now, and that’s great, but it’s wholly manufactured. This was a moment when a whole band met another whole band and they had their photos taken together. I’m guessing Music Awards after-party, but if so, everyone is being remarkably well-behaved. Also, the boy-band/girl-band thing adds weight to the weirdness. That, and the fact that they managed to get all seven of them in and virtually nothing or no-one else.

Note also that the Bangles’ photographers’ obligation to get at least some of their legs into shot has come at the expense of Pål’s hair.

Which is not bad thing, based on my memory of Pål’s hair in the late 1980s.

Strange and beautiful

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Many of you won’t remember Matt Hales’ 2002 hit Strange and Beautiful until firstly, I point out that he recorded it under the name “Aqualung” and secondly, you hear it.
And yes, it was truly bewitching. But then he did this – a cover of a-ha’s Take On Me – and it’s utterly, spine-tinglingly beautiful.

As I write, there’s a free download link on that soundcloud page as well (top right).

Grey’s Anatomy fans will recognise it from episode 24 of the current (tenth) series, you know, that bit when Meredith and Cristina [spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler]. But look, put it this way, given the gentle nature of the cover, it’s not a happy happy joy joy moment.

I don’t know if Magne watches Grey’s Anatomy, but he does like the song:

I think Matt Hales is a very talented writer and performer, and have personally been much inspired by his Aqualung project.
Of the many covers done of take on me over the years, this one is perhaps the furthest from the original, and in my view therefore the most interesting.

And you know what? I’ve got 15 different cover versions of Take On Me on my iPod and I’m with him on this. Very special.