Tag: morten harket

6000 miles…album of the year update

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We’re almost halfway through the year (cue comments like: “doesn’t time fly?” and “Christmas only seems like yesterday”) and if previous years are anything to go by, I’ll probably have forgotten what’s already happened so far when it comes to looking for my favourite album of the year in December.

So, herewith an ongoing (i.e. may be updated at any time) recap of the early contenders, in no particular order.

Delta Machine – Depeche Mode
Classic “back to their roots” stuff from Gahan et al. Much improved on their recent offerings. Really good. Really, really good.

Diary – The D.O.T.
My goodness, but this has been taking up a lot of airtime in my car. It’s one of those albums where you actually hope for traffic so that you can get to listen to it a bit longer. Don’t Look At The Road and Blood, Sweat And Tears (brilliant video here) are particular favourites, but it’s all so very listenable. And I think I will do that right now while compiling the rest of this post.

Random Access Memories – Daft Punk
It took a lot to get me to even listen to this. Hyped things usually have to be hyped for a reason and thus, I tend to avoid them. In addition, as someone who caught the tail end of disco first time around, I have a completely understandable pathological hatred for all things disco.
But wait. This is updated, experimental disco, with busy electronic bits decorating it. And it’s just ever so slightly mad. Even “serious” songs like Touch have an element of self-deprecation about them. It’s fun, and for that reason, it’s rather addictive.

In A Time Lapse – Ludovico Einaudi
Yeah. Incongruous, I know. But Ludovico slipped this one in early on in the year and it’s typically classy. And while some might argue that it’s typically typical as well, do I really have to take the time to explain once again that there’s really no need to fix stuff what ain’t broke? It follows on perfectly from 2009’s Nightbook, and there’s definitely a place for this calming, take-me-away-from-the-madness music in my life (probably more often than I’d like to admit). Here’s the video for Walk, a perfectly representative piece from the album.

Of course, all of the above could pale into insignificance come October, when the new Morten Harket offering is due to be released. Once again, he’s teamed up with Swedish producer Peter Kvint (Andreas Johnson, Britney Spears) and recently described what they’re doing as

…possibly the best stuff that I’ve ever done.

which, when you’re a fan of the other stuff that he’s done, sounds rather promising.

But, in the meantime, what did I forget? What else should I consider?
Your suggestions are more than welcome (terms and conditions apply).

UPDATE: New Pet Shop Boys album next month is surely set to complicate things further.

Happy Birthday

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The sun is shining, it’s Morten’s 53rd birthday today and it would be wrong of me not to put something a-ha related here.

Amazingly, a quick (and enjoyable) search through the back issues of 6000 miles… has revealed that I’ve never hosted this song and video on here. Let’s remedy that right now.

Of equal astonishment to those fans of the Norwegian threesome (careful now) and this blog will probably be the revelation that this was a-ha’s only UK number one single. Take On Me, arguably their best known (and certainly their best selling) song never reached the top spot, peaking at number two just slightly behind Jennifer Rush’s The Power Of Love in October 1985.

The video for this song took two days to film and was made in a church in Teddington, London, which was filled with an audience and orchestra made up from over 650 mannequins.

What could be better?

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The only thing that could actually be better about Morten Harket releasing a new solo album in the next few weeks is if one of the tracks on it had been written by the Pet Shop Boys. Just imagine: it would be like [that singer you really like] doing a song written by [that band you really like].
But, come now, reality has to hit home at some point and you have to realise that you can’t have your cake and… hang on… what’s this?

Morten Harket, until recently the lead singer of A-ha, will release a solo album in April which includes a new song by Tennant/Lowe. The album is called “Out Of My Hands” and the new song by Pet Shop Boys is entitled “Listening”. Harket approached Pet Shop Boys in September last year and was offered the recently written ballad which Neil and Chris thought would suit his voice.

I’ve been doing some rudimentary calculations after having a quick look at my iPod and it turns out that I have a total of 756 tracks by Pet Shop Boys, a-ha or Morten. B-sides, bootlegs, remixes, dodgy covers. Even given the longevity of these artists, I think that does indicate some sort of dedication and enjoyment of their art. So yes, “Listening” is going to be a big deal for me.

Bring on April. Just as soon as we’re done with March, obviously.

Morten: New album, new tour

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After the heartbreak of a-ha going their separate ways and the heartbreak of a million tonnes of snow at Gatwick Airport, some new green shoots are beginning to emerge from the wasteland that my connection to Norwegian music had become.

Yes, a new solo album from Morten and a tour to go with it. Sadly, I don’t think South Africa will make it onto the itinerary, but the UK has already got three confirmed concerts in Manchester, London and Birmingham, with further dates announced in Zurich and Paris. The UK dates are in May and I’m off to the UK in June. So that’s not great.

Still, at least I have a new album to look forward to. This will be his 5th solo offering, and the first since his brilliant Letter From Egypt in 2008:

The other a-ha band members are still doing their own thing as well: Pal with Weathervane here and Magne in Aparatjik.

Look out for more a-ha related videos on here over the next week or so, simply because I can do that on here because it’s my blog.

Sharing my drive home

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It was a beautiful day in Cape Town today. I celebrated the sunny weather by cultivating TB in a windowless laboratory for most of the day. So come the time to go home (M5 south, N2 inbound, M3 south for those of you with any interest), it was especially nice to gaze out of the window as I passed UCT and admire the Cape Flats bathed in sunshine and beyond them, in amazing clarity, the Helderberg Mountains, crisp, clear and crinkled.
Sharing my drive with me was Morten Harket’s Letter from Egypt CD and at that moment, when all seemed right with the world, he was singing this song, Movies:

 

This particular version, as the eagle-eyed among you will already have spotted, was taken from the Norwegian show Idol, which I’m guessing is something like the UK show Pop Idol, the American show American Idol and the South African show Idols.
Now, I’m not great at Norwegian (although I know someone who is), but even I can work out what is going on in that pre-song interview.
The floppy-haired bloke, after asking after Morten’s health, questions him over the standard of the previous contestant. That’s actually a bit awkward because the previous contestant was, frankly, rubbish.
You can almost see Morten’s disbelief at being asked “So Morten, what did you think of Maeva’s performance?” and having to come up with a really nice way of saying that Maeva probably shouldn’t give up her day job (at McDonald’s in Stavanger).
Fortunately, the female presenter steps in just before Morten decides to be more forthright, “Se, hun var jævla søppel, Mr. floppy hår, ok?” and gets him to do what he does best: sing.

And how professionally he performs, from the nonchalant glances back at the band during the intro, banging out the powerful chorus about turtles, movie stars and his empty bed, through to ignoring some sort of bizarre countdown towards the end of the song before the show cuts to some Norwegian version of Ant & Dec talking about mining. That’s how you do it.

I hope you were watching, Maeva. And yes, I do want fries with that.