Archive for the ‘a-ha’ Category

a-ha nominated for Norwegian “Hall of Fame”

 

Rockheim – the Norwegian museum of popular music in Trondheim – is planning to induct five bands and artists into a new “Hall of Fame” of Norwegian music later this year.

The first 15 nominees were revealed at a press conference at the National Library in Oslo today, and among them is a-ha. Other nominees include Alf Prøysen, Bjørn Eidsvåg, Åge Aleksandersen, Lars Lillo-Stenberg and Anne Grethe Preus. The whole list can be seen here.

In the jury that decided on the 15 nominees were the musicians Marit Larsen, Øystein Greni and Janove Ottesen, among others. To be considered, the band or artist needed to have their debut album released more than 25 years ago.

Another jury consisting of 100 people (60 musicians and 40 people from the music business and media) are now going to have a vote to determine the final five to be included in the “Hall of Fame”.

The induction ceremony will be held at Rockheim on August 21st this year.

Ending On A High Note chart update

Ending On A High Note entered the UK album chart at #43 this week, with 2,966 copies sold. It was actually in the top 15 in the first midweek chart update, so there was a significant drop in sales later in the week. Still quite good though, considering there doesn’t seem to have been much promo for it in the UK so far.

In Germany EOAHN is at #9 this week, and has now spent an amazing four weeks in the top 10 on the album chart. And after dropping down to #7 last week, it climbs to #4 in Norway.

“zbig1” on the WOTM forum has put together the following list of all European countries where the live album has charted so far (Updated 15 May):

1. Norway – Best place #3, All places: 6-3-7-4-6 and 5 weeks in Top-10
2. Germany – Best place #3, All places: 3-7-8-9-14 and 5 weeks in Top-10
3. Poland – Best place #21, All places: 21-35-42-27-39 and 5 weeks in Top-50
4. Russia – Best place #24, All places: 24 and 1 week in Top-25
5. UK – Best place #43, All places: 43 and 1 week in Top-100
6. Switzerland – Best place #56, All places: 56-59-98 and 3 weeks in Top-100
7. Austria – Best place #61, All places: 61-72 and 2 weeks in Top-75
8. Belgium Wallonia – Best place #70, All places: 70 and 1 week in Top-100
9. Netherland – Best place #72, All places: 72-86 and 2 weeks in Top-100
10. Belgium Flanders – Best place #87, All places: 70 and 1 week in Top-100
11. Spain – Best place #92, All places: 92 and 1 week in Top-100
12. France – Best place #163, All places: 163 and 1 week in Top-200

And here’s how the DVD has performed in the music DVD charts around Europe
(Updated 15 May):

1. Norway – Best place #1, All places: 1-1-1 and 3 weeks in Top-10
2. Germany – Best place #1, All places: 1-1-1-1 and 4 weeks in Top-10
3. Austria – Best place #1, All places: 1-10-5 and 3 weeks in Top-10
4. Sweden – Best place #1, All places: 3-6-1-8-6 and 5 weeks in Top-20
5. Hungary – Best place #6, All places: 6-20 and 2 weeks in Top-20
6. Switzerland – Best place #6, All places: 6 and 1 week in Top-10
7. Ireland – Best place #7, All places: 7 and 1 week in Top-10
8. Netherland – Best place #11, All places: 20-11 and 2 weeks in Top-30

(Thanks to zbig1 and tryffel for the chart info)

Chart success for Ending On A High Note

 

The CD version of Ending On A High Note – The Final Concert has entered the official German album chart at #3, which is an impressive result for a live album.

In Norway it entered the album chart at #6, before climbing up to #3 this week. Other first-week chart entries include #21 in Poland, #61 in Austria and #72 in the Netherlands.

 
The DVD entered the German music DVD chart at #1. In Sweden it entered the music DVD chart at #3, before dropping to #6.

Despite the two missing songs, the DVD/Blu-ray features a brilliant production. High quality filming and audio all the way, which can really be experienced in full on the Blu-ray disc. And although there’s not much bonus material, the 15-minute documentary is a nice addition.

 
In Norway, the reviews have been quite good. The newspapers VG, Dagbladet, Bergensavisen, Østlandets Blad and Romerikes Blad all give Ending On A High Note 5 out of 6. Trønder-Avisa even gives it 6 out of 6.

 
In the UK, Ending On A High Note will be released on April 25th. The four available versions can be pre-ordered from amazon.co.uk through the links on the left. And remember that all sales help support this site.

Preview clips from upcoming DVD/Blu-ray

The first preview video clips from the Ending On A High Note DVD and Blu-ray from Oslo Spektrum are now available at Universal Germany’s website:

DVD trailer (w/ Stay On These Roads)
Scoundrel Days
The Living Daylights

Fan looking for actors

I’ve been contacted by Brad Hansen in Ireland, who is looking for three young actors to play the a-ha members in a low-budget music video:

Ireland 2011: Morten, Magne and Paul lookalikes wanted in look, build, height etc to mirror their 1985 appearance as much as possible. This is a unique event, but with a low budget. If you know anyone in Europe, (closer to Ireland the better, to cut expenses), then please let them know of this. This is something by a fan FOR fans and a-ha themselves.

The full casting call can be found at starnow.com.

a-ha disappoint their fans with incomplete concert release

Not only are they getting an incomplete concert, German fans will also have their DVD covers ruined by a big freakin’ rating symbol.

The tracklisting for the upcoming Blu-ray, DVD and 2-CD release of Ending On A High Note – The Final Concert has now been officially confirmed by a-ha.com.

Unfortunately, it shows that two of the songs performed at Oslo Spektrum on December 4th will not be included – “Bowling Green” and “The Bandstand”.

The omission of the Everly Brothers cover “Bowling Green” was to be expected, considering the technical difficulties during that song. But leaving out “The Bandstand” is a very disappointing and puzzling decision.

Considered by many fans as one of the absolute highlights of the 2009 and 2010 tours and performed at nearly every show, there is no doubt that “The Bandstand” should definitely have been included…

This means that there’s still no complete a-ha concert that has been released officially. The previous live DVD Homecoming – Live at Vallhall (2001) left out the live version of “Angel In The Snow” that was performed at Vallhall.

In addition to the CD, DVD, Blu-ray and Deluxe Edition (2CD + DVD), Universal will also release a CD single with two live tracks; “Summer Moved On” and “Scoundrel Days”. The German release date for the CD single is March 25th and it can now be pre-ordered from Amazon.de.

Cover of the CD single, with a picture of Morten on the synth drums taken during…”The Bandstand”.

Signed photobooks

Signed copies of Just Loomis’ a-ha photobook are now available from his official website at justloomis.com.

There are two pricing options; signed book with priority international shipping ($90.00) and signed book plus signed 8×10 print with priority international shipping ($225.00).

Loomis’ exhibition “As We Are” at the Stenersen museum in Oslo is open until April 3rd.

a-ha receive honorary award

Morten and Magne with their trophy, meeting the press after the show

a-ha were given the honorary award at the Spellemann Awards for 2010, which were held at Oslo Spektrum on Saturday. This is actually the third time a-ha have been given the honorary award – they also received it in 1987 and 2001.

Magne and Morten had been specially invited, and was in the audience together with Heidi, Inez and manager Harald Wiik. Paul was in New York, where he is reportedly working on a new Savoy album.

The award was presented by Kaizers Orchestra vocalist Janove Ottesen, Thomas Dybdahl, Ida Maria Sivertsen and Bertine Zetlitz, who opened the show with a cover version of “The Sun Always Shines On TV” as a tribute to a-ha.

 

Here is Magne’s acceptance speech:

Thank you very much. The last time we were standing in almost this exact same spot, was on December 4th. That was a special evening, just as this is turning out to be.

We are a three-headed troll and we are missing one of our heads tonight. But on behalf of all of us I want to thank you all for a fantastic version of a song that’s actually 25 years old. And of course we can’t leave the stage without thanking our families and wives. According to my wife, that’s something we’ve never done before.

We have really been touring a lot. And I wouldn’t necessarily say that he managed to tame the troll, but he kept us organized; Harald Wiik, our manager in recent years. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone in Norway. It’s been a pleasure to entertain you through all these years.

Morten added: “Enough has been said. Thank you very much, everyone.

 

A video clip of the TSASOTV performance and the acceptance speech can be seen at tv2underholdning.no. Further down on the page is a clip of Morten and Magne arriving on the red carpet.

VGTV also has a video interview with Morten, who had just returned from a holiday “far away from Norway”.

And here is a video of Magne and Morten meeting the press after the show.

The Final Concert CD cover

 

The cover of the CD version of Ending On A High Note – The Final Concert has now started to appear online, including on the website of Universal Norway.

And I’d expect the covers of the DVD and Blu-ray to look somewhat similar.

These live releases are still scheduled to be out in Germany on April 1st, but details on tracklists and number of discs have not been officially confirmed yet.

Amazon.de has the CD version listed as being just 1 disc, which means it’s obviously not the complete concert. Hopefully the Deluxe Version (3 discs) will have all the songs. Needless to say we’re at least expecting the DVD and Blu-ray to feature the complete concert (although leaving out “Bowling Green” will be understandable).

An official announcement is expected soon.

Sound On Sound article

Sound On Sound, a UK magazine focusing on music recording technology, has a 6-page article about the recording of “Take On Me” in its latest issue, March 2011.

Describing the studio work on the different versions of the song in great detail, the article features contributions from producer Alan Tarney and engineers Neill King and Gerry Kitchingham.

The March issue of the magazine can be ordered from soundonsound.com. The a-ha article is also available as a PDF file here (includes a preview of the article).

(Thanks to Oliver and Matthew for the tip)

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