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This was Norwegian band A-Ha's debut album, and it made quite a splash, reaching number fifteen on the Billboard charts, and spawning five singles. Like a lot of bands at the time, particularly European acts, they relied heavily on synthesizers for their sound. The band, which still plays occasional shows with the same lineup they began with, consists of singer Morten Harket, keyboardist Magne Furuholmen and guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy.
The bulk of the band's success came from the lead single from this album, "Take On Me". The song hit number one on the Hot 100, and was accompanied by an innovative half-animated/half-live action music video which got the band and the album a lot of attention. This is easily the best and most unique sing on the album, and is really the only one that holds up thirty years later. It features a very catchy keyboard riff, and a memorably high note at the end of the chorus.
The band also had a minor hit with "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.", which peaked at number twenty in the U.S., but reached number one internationally. This, unfortunately, did not age as well as "Take On Me". It's not a bad song, but like a lot of synth-heavy songs of this time, it's just very bland, and unmemorable. That pretty well describes the rest of the album. "Hunting High And Low" is a slower song that is ok, but not something you'll want to return to very often.
I can't say this is a terrible album, it's just very much out of it's time and place. It might make for some inoffensive background music, and you'll be happy when "Take On Me" comes on, but that's about it, the vocals are a bit droning, and most of the music feels like it came from a single Casio. Get the one song, but you can safely avoid the rest.
The bulk of the band's success came from the lead single from this album, "Take On Me". The song hit number one on the Hot 100, and was accompanied by an innovative half-animated/half-live action music video which got the band and the album a lot of attention. This is easily the best and most unique sing on the album, and is really the only one that holds up thirty years later. It features a very catchy keyboard riff, and a memorably high note at the end of the chorus.
The band also had a minor hit with "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.", which peaked at number twenty in the U.S., but reached number one internationally. This, unfortunately, did not age as well as "Take On Me". It's not a bad song, but like a lot of synth-heavy songs of this time, it's just very bland, and unmemorable. That pretty well describes the rest of the album. "Hunting High And Low" is a slower song that is ok, but not something you'll want to return to very often.
I can't say this is a terrible album, it's just very much out of it's time and place. It might make for some inoffensive background music, and you'll be happy when "Take On Me" comes on, but that's about it, the vocals are a bit droning, and most of the music feels like it came from a single Casio. Get the one song, but you can safely avoid the rest.