Posts Tagged ‘butterfly butterfly’

Hits 2010 book

Hits 2010 - book cover

Book cover

Norsk Noteservice, a Norwegian publisher of music books, recently published Hits 2010 – the latest in an annual series of books featuring some of the biggest Norwegian and international hits from the last year, complete with tabs and chords for guitar and keyboard, as well as lyrics.

a-ha’s final single “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)” is among the 36 songs that can be found in the book. “Den Stilleste Timen”, the charity single for Haiti that featured Morten on vocals, is also included.

And as you can see, Morten is on the cover of the book.

Hits 2010 can be ordered from Norwegian online book stores such as Haugen Bok, Bokkilden or directly from the publisher at Notebutikken.no.

 

Speaking of books; don’t forget to pre-order Just Loomis’ new a-ha photobook, which will include a foreword written by Magne.

The book can be ordered from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, with a March 31st publishing date.

Premiere of “Butterfly, Butterfly” music video

Butterfly_Video_Screenshot

a-ha’s final music video, directed by Steve Barron, premiered on MySpace today.

Watch the video here. And then discuss it with other fans in the WOTM forum.

“Butterfly” update

“Butterfly, Butterfly” has entered the Norwegian singles chart Topp 20 at number 13 in its first week. On the airplay chart Hit 40 the song is currently at number 6 in its third week.

The song will be released as a physical single in both Germany (July 30th) and the UK (Sep. 20th), a-ha.com reports. The second track on the CD single is an alternate version produced by Steve Osborne, which is longer than the Martin Terefe version.

The UK radio premiere of “Butterfly, Butterfly” can be heard tomorrow morning on Ken Bruce’s show on BBC Radio 2.

Steve Barron directs final a-ha video

Paul is using a G-Sharp guitar in the video.

Paul is using a G-Sharp guitar in the video.

a-ha have teamed up with director Steve Barron one last time, to make the music video for the final a-ha single “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)”.

This was revealed by a-ha.com on Twitter today, where various pictures from the video shoot have been posted. Apparently the video is being shot somewhere in the UK.

Steve Barron directed seven music videos for a-ha between 1985 and 1990; “Take On Me”, “The Sun Always Shines On TV”, “Hunting High And Low”, “Cry Wolf”, “Manhattan Skyline”, “The Living Daylights” and “Crying In The Rain”.

I liked working with a-ha. I actually met them in New York last year. At that point I hadn’t seen them for 15 years. Magne hinted that they could be interested in doing some more work with me, but nothing was decided“, Barron said in a 2006 interview.

Five years after that meeting in New York, Barron is back in the director’s chair and a-ha’s history of music videos now seems to have come full circle.

Article about the G# guitars

Paul using a G# guitar in Toronto, May 10th (Picture by Corina)

Paul using a G# guitar in Toronto, May 10th
(Picture by Corina)

Today’s paper edition of Dagbladet has an article about a-ha’s newfound interest in the Norwegian G-Sharp guitar.

It’s fun that a-ha have fallen in love with the guitar and its sound“, Øivin Fjeld – the musician who invented the instrument – tells Dagbladet.

Paul has tested the guitar over time, and has really come to like it.

I have after all quite a few guitars to choose from, so I have to admit that it was a big surprise, also for me, when I found out that this little Norwegian guitar became our first choice for all the guitar tracks on “Butterfly, Butterfly”, Paul says.

Paul had initially decided to use a selection of various instruments from his large guitar collection on the final single.

But no, I actually ended up using the G# on all the guitar tracks“, Paul says.

Magne and Morten are also using the Norwegian guitar during a-ha’s ongoing farewell tour.

The G# guitars have found their natural place within a-ha, and they will be used even more during the next leg of the tour, not least because of the live performance of “Butterfly, Butterfly”, Morten says.

Other musicians using the guitar include Eric Clapton, Guy Fletcher, Mark Knopfler and Scotty Moore.

The full Dagbladet article is also available online here.

– An appropriate ending

Detail from single cover

Detail from single cover

The new (and last) a-ha single “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)” is now available for listening at Warner Music Norway’s website here.

In connection with the premiere of the song, Magne was interviewed on NRK P3’s “P3 Morgen”, while Morten was interviewed on NRK P1’s “Reiseradioen”.

Here are some quotes:

Morten:This is a new single from us, but it’s not intended to promote anything. It’s just something we wanted to release, in connection with this final year.

Magne:I think this is one of the best songs Paul has written in a long time, and an appropriate ending in my view.

The three concerts in December are sold out, but we’re doing some really big concerts in Norway this summer where it’s still possible to get tickets, as far as I know. [The August concerts] will probably be the last celebration for people in general, we hope, because during a few hours fans from all over the world managed to buy…I suspect some of them to have bought tickets for all three shows [in December]. So maybe we’ll have the same audience each night. (laughs)

We have had quite a loyal fanbase for a lot of years, where a-ha has become part of their lives, you know. They travel from all sorts of strange countries to see our concerts. And for them, those last shows will be special – and they will be for us as well.

It’s turned into something cultish, and in many ways I feel we’re doing them a favor by providing them with a proper ending, so they can get into something new instead. (laughs)

 

The single is getting decent reviews in the Norwegian press. VG‘s Stein Østbø gives it a 5 out of 6 and calls it “a swan song that keeps growing with each new listen“. The reviewers from Aftenposten and Dagbladet both give the single 4 out of 6.

New a-ha single to premiere on Monday

The single cover

The single cover

The last a-ha single “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)” will premiere on Monday, 14 June,
a-ha.com announced today.

The song was written by Paul and has been produced by Martin Terefe.

It will premiere on several Norwegian radio stations, among them NRK P3, at 09:50 am Norwegian time. It will also be streamed online at VG.no at the same time.

“Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)” is released as a digital download in Norway on 5 July. The song will also be included on a new a-ha “best of” album, entitled 25, which is set for release in Norway on 19 July.

Info about international release dates is not yet available.

“Butterfly” – new a-ha song

a-ha’s upcoming final song is called “Butterfly”.

The info comes from New York-based mixer Michael Brauer, who has posted the following info on his website at mbrauer.com:

May 5, 2010 – I just mixed the final recorded song to be released by A-ha called Butterfly.

Brauer has previously mixed Lifelines and How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head. He also mixed Magne’s solo album Past Perfect Future Tense and the songs “Whalebone” and “Rain On Your Parade” for Savoy.

It is not yet known if “Butterfly” will be released as a single or included on a new “best of” album – or both.

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