Posts Tagged ‘memorial beach’

Tracklistings for upcoming Deluxe Editions

Stay On These Roads (1988), East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993)

Stay On These Roads (1988), East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993)

The complete tracklistings for the upcoming Remastered Deluxe Editions of Stay On These Roads (1988), East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon (1990) and Memorial Beach (1993) have now been posted on the Facebook page of “Campaign For More a-ha Remastered Deluxes”.

These much-anticipated sets, which will probably be released at the end of October, will include an impressive 102 tracks in total. All three albums will be 2CD sets, while East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon will also include Live In South America on DVD for the first time – it has previously only been released on VHS and Laserdisc.

In addition to a lot of demos, alternate versions and live recordings of the album tracks, there will also be several previously unreleased songs: “I’ll Never Find You In This Streetful City”, “Umbrella”, “Thus Ended Our Love Affair”, “Evitar”, “Sail On My Love”, “Trees Will Not Grow On Sand” and “Bar Room”.

Campaign for more a-ha remasters

The remastered deluxe edition of Scoundrel Days. Will more albums get the same treatment?

The remastered deluxe edition of Scoundrel Days. Will more albums get the same treatment?

A new fan campaign has now been started on Facebook, urging Warner Brothers to continue releasing remastered deluxe versions of a-ha’s back catalogue:

“In 2010, WB/Rhino released deluxe 2-CD editions of the first 2 a-ha albums with added demos, extended mixes, live versions and b-side only versions. These products were fantastic, not only greatly improving the sound of these seminal albums but also greatly expanding them with unheard material.

It seemed that the record company were only at the beginning of a release campaign to further improve ALL the a-ha albums. However, since 2010, there have been no further archive projects and the fans have been left waiting and waiting. At the very least, the next 3 a-ha albums (Stay On These Roads/East Of The Sun West Of The Moon/Memorial Beach) should get the same treatment with expansion to 2-CD sets and inclusion of rare and unheard material. “Stay On These Roads” in particular is crying out for re-mastering as the only available CD release sounds very tinny and lo-fi.

In these days of nostalgia, it seems that every artist from the same period apart from a-ha is getting the deluxe treatment. Consequently, their back catalogue is in a mess and seriously needs sorting out. This is a plea to Warner Brothers to do as we ask and accord a-ha with the same respect as it does with the other (sometimes lesser) artists on it’s own roster.”

To read more about the campaign and “like” the page, head over to Facebook.

From the archives: Paul on the Memorial Beach recording process

Memorial Beach (1993)

Memorial Beach (1993)

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Memorial Beach, regarded by many fans to be a-ha’s perhaps best album.

Recorded with producer David Z at Paisley Park near Minneapolis, the album was a continuation of the organic sound on East Of The Sun, but more guitar-based and largely recorded live.

I recently re-read an interview with Paul from Norwegian music paper Puls in June 1993, which I thought I’d share with my readers by translating it. I don’t think it has been posted online before. In the interview, Paul talks about the recording sessions at Paisley Park, the challenging mixing process in New York and his songwriting in general.

“Memorial Beach is full of high-tech, but the recording itself went by very quickly. Never more than two takes, David Z wouldn’t allow more than that. So we had to rehearse a lot in advance, and I think this had a very positive impact on the final result. ‘Let’s knock his socks off!’, Paul says in the Puls interview.

Read the whole translated interview here: The new a-ha is born

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