One record at a time: 3. a-ha - Minor Earth Major Sky

The third LP from the shelf is the last a-ha album in my collection (plenty of CDs to come later in this review process) and one of my favorites by the band. I'm playing the only vinyl version of this album from 2019 and it sounds brilliant. Unlike re-pressings of their earlier albums, this double LP package has been mastered and pressed very well.

The album kicks off in great style with a title track that is quirky and catchy. "Little Black Heart" continues to employ the surprisingly electronic sound the band found in 2000. "Velvet" would be a mundane ballad if it were not for the ethereal female vocals of Simone Larsen that help lift it to another plane. The original Savoy version of the song is a bit too 'rock' for my taste and Paul's vocals aren't a patch on Morten's. When we flip the vinyl over we are treated to the excellent "Summer Moved On" which somehow manages to sound electronic despite the orchestral arrangement, live drums and swathes of acoustic guitar. 

Track 5 is the first of the weaker songs on the album, "The Sun Never Shone That Day". There's nothing offensive here and the Mellotron strings fit the faint Beatles pastiche - I just don't like it much. "To Let You Win" tries not to be a mid-tempo crawl, but you're kind of glad when it's over. Having gone a bit saggy in the middle, the album begins its recovery with "The Company Man". This track trots out the tired "privileged and rich rock star complains about their record company" story in the vein of "Have a Cigar". And much like "Have a Cigar" I have no sympathy, but the track has a good tune.

Things really pick up with "Thought That It Was You" and "I Wish I Cared" which verge on the anthemic. Morten's vocals are strong here and the production accomplished. These two tracks are the zenith of the album for me as things turn more rock with the next track "Barely Hanging On". On the final side we find "You'll Never Get Over Me" which sounds like a 'band' recording that, whilst being initially entertaining, out stays its welcome. We get treated to another electronic pop track with "I Won't Forget Her" which sounds a bit like an Ace of Base reject (is that a bad thing? Not sure). The album fizzles out with "Mary Ellen Makes The Moment Count" and the strong American accent Paul employs when singing backing vocals. I like this album very much, but to align it with my tastes more closely I would have to cut out 3 or 4 of the weaker 'rock' tracks. 4/5

One record at a time: 2. a-ha - Scoundrel Days

The second LP on the shelf is a-ha "Scoundrel Days". Like their first album, I own the 2015 180g remastered version but unlike "Hunting High and Low", this pressing sounds pretty good. The title track "Scoundrel Days" heralds the arrival a less 'synth' sound for the band and hints at a happy middle ground between pop and rock. "The Swing of Things" is impressive both lyrically and musically but sounds a little under produced to my ears. We hear some 'real' drums on "I've Been Losing You" and you can definitely hear the band moving more to their natural 'rock' tendencies. The synths and drum machines soon return with the twee oom-pah oom-pah of "October" - not unpleasant but hardly epic. The epic tag has to be reserved for "Manhattan Skyline" which follows next. The guitars come to the front of the mix here but there is more than enough DX7 Koto and string sounds to keep synth pop fans interested. A fantastic track.

Side two delivers another single in the form of "Cry Wolf". I remember when this track came out and I wasn't too impressed; it sounded like the band were catering to a record company request for a radio hit. To me it sounds forced. Next up is "We're Looking For Whales" which is lyrically a bit weird and sounds like an Emulator had just landed in the studio. "The Weight of the Wind" has an impressive chorus but is otherwise nondescript. The album feels like it is petering out with the sugary "Maybe Maybe" which features some vocal trills that almost made me laugh out loud. The coup-de-gras is delivered by "Soft Rains of April" which ambles along for 3 minutes without really doing anything and then ends abruptly. All in all, a-ha's second album isn't bad, but I can understand why I have only played this record once before. 3/5

One record at a time: 1. a-ha - Hunting High and Low

I bought my first record in 1985 and in the intervening years I have amassed (or hoarded) quite a lot of vinyl, CDs, tapes and other recorded media. But it has recently occurred to me that I haven't actually listened to all of the items I own. So here I will begin to dig through my music collection and add some notes as I go. I'm starting with vinyl albums.

The first LP in my rack is "Hunting High and Low" by a-ha (my collection is in alphabetical order you understand). This pressing is the 180g version from 2015 and I think I have only played it once over the last six years. Whilst unmarked and scratch free, the vinyl seems to have a lot of sibilance that detracts from the sound quality. Very depressing - I can't help but think an original eighties pressing would have been far cheaper and probably sounded better.

The album is a 'classic' of eighties pop and kicks off with the ubiquitous "Take On Me". As the second track "Train of Thought" starts I am stuck by how different it is from the single version. Today I can hear Yamaha DX7 presets all over these tracks, but the 12 year old me back in 85 didn't have a clue how this music was created. "Hunting High and Low" is inoffensive without being too engaging. Personally I prefer the next track "The Blue Sky" as it has a quirky tune and some nice lyrics. I love this track and it just flies by - well it's only two and a half minutes long anyway - but you get my point. Side one ends with "Living a boy's adventure tale" which is a bit odd and sounds like it was mixed by someone who was deaf. It's a mushy mess of a track that I can't concentrate on.

Side two sees us back in pop classic territory with "The Sun Always Shines On TV" - definitely one of my a-ha favourites (if not THE favourite come to think of it). There are some great synth sounds on this track and its complexity is satisfying. "And You Tell Me" provides contrast to its driving predecessor with a laid back nursery rhyme style. Now NOTHING sounds more 80s than "Love is Reason" - if you followed a blueprint for the 80s sound you would come up with something like this. Octave synth bass, DX7 tubular bells, DX7 brass stabs and a twee tune about love are all present: it hasn't aged well. The next track is "Dream Yourself Alive" and whilst it is definitely not the best track on the album, it does benefit from a distinctive Fairlight backing track. The album closes with the moody "Here I Stand and Face the Rain" which point to the more mature sound a-aha would develop with their next album. 3/5

My ripping victory

I have been downloading and ripping MP3's since about 1998; so I've accumulated quite a few. Looking through my library recently I decided it was time for a clear out and an upgrade. Any file that was below 256 Kbps was deemed unsuitable and a replacement sought. The majority of the time this simply meant re-ripping CDs at 320 Kbps, but I soon found some CDs wouldn't rip. No matter how many times I cleaned the disc, cleaned the laser and screamed at the screen, some CDs just weren't playing ball. In a vain attempt to overcome the situation I even bought another copy of one particularly frustrating disc, a-ha's "Minor Earth Major Sky", but the new copy was even worse than the original.

Nope, it wasn't copy protection, it wasn't scratches, it wasn't bronzing. At first I found this quite mysterious as I had ripped all of these CDs previously. But it soon occurred to me that this was some years ago using different PCs and different operating systems. The majority of my MP3s were created on a desktop machine with an internal optical drive running Windows XP. Windows 10 on a modern laptop just couldn't get the job done.

My old 'copy protection workaround' of using an optical output from a traditional CD player was so laborious that it was impractical for the number of CDs I was looking at. Google searches weren't really turning up any useful information and I became increasingly frustrated. I gave up.

Fast forward about 3 years and I found a solitary forum post that seemed to describe the exact issue I was having. The poster had identified the one thing all of these discs had in common. Three dirty letters: WEA. It seems discs manufactured by WEA are different, and not in a good way. Most solutions for difficult to rip CDs centre around using old optical drives. It seems more recent hardware just can't cope with some discs, and for my laptop, as with many others, this meant WEA discs.

Today, most people seem to have abandoned optical drives and CDs (one colleague recently said: "Who buys CDs in this day and age?"). Not being 'most people' means there are bargains for the rest of us. I was able to find an old Sony USB optical drive on eBay for just a few pounds.

As soon as the new drive arrived I plugged it in, threw in a copy of Madonna's "Music" and watched it spit the disc out like it was poison. Next I tried David Gray's "White Ladder" and Windows Media Player crashed as soon as the drive span up. When I tried my nemesis "Minor Earth Major Sky" the drive disappeared from explorer and Windows crashed without so much as spinning up the disc.

In order to eliminate the laptop as the source of the issue I plugged the drive into my work laptop. As the disc began to spin I noticed the laptop was not only reading the disc, it was actually playing the audio! With lightning speed I hit "Rip CD" and crossed everything. Immediately Windows put up the shutters. My work machine is obviously configured not to allow ripping. Foiled again.

Recently I was working on my laptop whilst simultaneously trying to keep one of my children entertained. In desperation I picked up an old netbook I had lying around the office and gave it to her. It took a minute or to for the light bulb moment to happen but when it did, it triggered intense negotiations to retrieve the netbook and convince a two year old that Peppa Pig wasn't as important as ripping CDs.

In hope rather than expectation I plugged in the optical drive and fired up Media Player. With trembling hands I placed HARD-Fi's "Starts of CCTV" into the drawer and pushed it closed. Yes,it read the disc and started to play it; but I'd been this close before. However, when I clicked "Rip CD" this time... it did. Not only did it rip this CD but it also devoured David Gray, breezed through Madonna, didn't even pause on ripping New Order and Prince was a push over. This just left 'the big one', the most difficult to rip of them all: "Minor Earth Major Sky". At first the CD span but didn't play and then the first track ripped but it then returned an error and the drive dropped off the list of available devices. Damn you Morten Harkett.

Yes, repeating the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is insanity; but I decided to restart, plug the drive back in and try again. I was not going to be beaten by an eighteen year old CD. And I'm pleased to say that I wasn't beaten, second time around the CD ripped without so much as a murmur of protest.

So, I have finally ripped all of the discs that were giving me trouble and am now about half way through ripping my CD collection. So if you will excuse me I'm about to pull box number 12 off the shelf and get stuck in.

Oh, and if you know of anyone who would like to buy a copy of aha's "Minor Earth Major Sky" do let me know.

a-ha are gone........

A recent trip to see Goldfrapp was so unengaging and frankly, boring, that I don’t even have the strength to write about it here. Last night I needed ‘a-ha’ to banish my memories of their insipid ‘Lifelines’ tour and renew my passion for the live concert.

I wasn’t that hopeful as I entered the Sheffield Arena, I knew this gig was set as a ‘half-house’ with 50 to 75% of the seating curtained off (a very curious affair that I have only ever seen in that arena).

Once inside the arena I headed for the merchandise stall. £15 for a program isn’t that unusual today. The phrase ‘value for money’ is not in the lexicon of bands, tour managers or program vendors, 99% of the time it is about ripping fans off with unscrupulous zeal. Happily, a-ha are marking their farewell tour with a tour book. And it really is a book!

Once the band took the stage I simply forgot any concerns or niggles about the arena and simply marvelled at the show unfolding in front of me. One of the most impressive live spectacles I have seen in many years. If you missed this tour then tough. They are finished. Over. a-ha will be no more by the end of the year.

Until they get short on cash or bored and then the reunion tour will winging its way to a city near you in 2015. But don’t get me started on band splitting up and reforming……..