a-ha are currently in Berlin to do more promotion. Here is a Twitter picture of Morten at the Regent Hotel earlier today, where he was being interviewed by Laut.de.

The album is getting mixed reviews in Norway and Germany.
Here are links to some of them:

VG (4 out of 6)
“Quite a typical a-ha album. With new reasons to keep loving them. And to keep hoping for an even better album next time.”

Dagbladet (4 out of 6)
“A coherently solid album, with a nice symbiosis between art pop and more commercial music.”

ABC Nyheter (4 out of 6)
“The retrospective sound fits Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen’s song material surprisingly well in 2009.”

Aftenposten (4 out of 6)
“a-ha deliver a solid and well-crafted product, but it’s still a big weakness that the album doesn’t have a single obvious hit-song.”

Dagsavisen (3 out of 6)
“The album brings out the worst in a-ha: the pomposity, flatness and the acute lack of groove.”

P4.no (3 out of 6)
“Morten Harket’s fabulous vocals raise the overall impression of an otherwise mediocre a-ha album.”

NRK Kultur
“Lacks memorable melodies. The production is tame, outdated and sounds cheap.”

Soundbase-Online.com
“The album is, except for the very strong first single, a complete disappointment.”

Spiegel.de
“Foot Of The Mountain” is one of the weakest a-ha albums.”

Lizzynet.de
“I am personally very surprised by how good this album is.”

So that was the first press reviews.
But more importantly – what do you think of the new album?
Head over to the West Of The Moon forum and discuss with other fans.

The single climbs up to number 2 in Norway this week, on the airplay chart. Only beaten by Beyonce’s “Halo”, and in front of U2’s “Magnificent”.
On the singles chart, FOTM drops from #17 to #18.

In Germany, the single drops from #3 to #9 in its second week.
But the album is currently number 1 on Amazon.de’s bestseller chart, two days before release.

And finally, a-ha.com has the details of an exclusive iTunes version of the UK single release, which includes two new remixes.

Universal Norway are now streaming the whole album for free on their website.
All you need to do is click on the banner below, fill in your e-mail address where it says “Epost”, and click on the button on the bottom left which says “Gå til forhåndslytting!”:

The new music video premiered on VIVA in Germany last night.
Here it is:

 
Another event last night was a-ha’s live performance at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in London.

They performed five songs, and updates and pictures can be found on Twitter.

Setlist:
1. The Sun Always Shines On TV
2. Riding The Crest
3. Foot Of The Mountain
4. Take On Me
– – – – – – – – – –
5. Analogue

 
The movie Yohan, in which Morten has a supporting role, is set to premiere in Norway on 11 December.

Producer Odd Hynnekleiv reveals in an interview with Fædrelandsvennen that Morten will probably also contribute a song especially made for the movie, which will be on the soundtrack CD.

More info about Yohan on the movie’s official website.

Picture from Dagbladet

Dagbladet has an interesting interview with Magne and Paul today, where they talk in detail about the new direction they have taken with the new album.

“Foot Of The Mountain is an album which makes its mark in a good way, there is more vitality here than in a long time. The album can almost be heard as a tribute to the original idea of a-ha”, Magne says in the interview.

A full English translation is now available here.

a-ha will sign copies of their new album Foot Of The Mountain at Oslo City shopping center on Monday, 15 June at 17.00.

This will take place at the same Platekompaniet record store where Morten did his Letter From Egypt signing session last year.

And Platekompaniet’s online store will have the new album available for download in Norway three days before the CD is released. June 12th at 12.00, to be precise.

Some great news from Germany:
a-ha.com reports that “Foot Of The Mountain” has entered the official German Top 100 single chart at number 3!

This is the highest single entry in Germany for a-ha since “Take On Me” in 1985, and is a result of a big promotional campaign, lots of radio airplay and two high-profile TV-performances.

In Norway the single remains at number 4 on the airplay chart in its fourth week, while it re-enters the single chart at number 17.

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Amazon.de has posted a small video clip of a-ha to promote the new album. It can be seen here.

Foot Of The Mountain is currently number 3 on Amazon.de’s Top 100 bestselling music chart, ten days before the album is released.

Over on YouTube there is a clip of a-ha meeting the German band Reamonn and its lead singer Rea Garvey backstage at “The Dome” in Munich on 22 May. You may remember Reamonn as one of the support bands during the German leg of the “Minor Earth | Major Sky”-tour back in 2000.

And here is a short clip from “Taff”, backstage at “Germany’s Next Top Model” on 21 May.

BTW, the “Foot Of The Mountain” music video is currently set to premiere on German television on 11 June.

Morten and Paul on “The Dome”

a-ha’s performance of “Foot Of The Mountain” on the German TV-show “The Dome” was broadcast on RTL2 last night.

It can be seen on YouTube here.

Morten and Inez’ appearance on the UK TV-show “All Star Mr & Mrs” was also broadcast last night on ITV.

They ended up scoring 3 out of 9 correct answers, and decided to donate their £5000 to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

A video of the show is available here.

Two upcoming a-ha specials on German TV have been announced:
– 19 June: WE LOVE in Concert: a-ha – “Foot of the Mountain” (Pro7)
– 28 June: Music Special: “a-ha Documentary – Foot Of The Mountain” (Sat1)

And the Norwegian release date of the album has also been changed now – it will be out on 15 June.