a-ha

While we’re on the subject of Scandinavian pop, I have to mention Norway’s a-ha, who although taken somewhat lightly as pretty boys at the time, cultivated a unique sound through some really nice songwriting in the late 80s. They broke through in 1985 with one of the most innovative videos ever; Take On Me remains probably the only well known a-ha song, and it’s a good one. Each of their first three albums contains gems, that at least in the states, were pretty much undiscovered by anyone close to the mainstream. Off 1985’s Hunting High and Low there were “The Blue Sky” and “Dream Myself Alive”. Off the 1986 album Scoundrel Days there were “We’re Looking for the Whales” and “The Weight of the Wind” and off 1988’s Stay on these Roads there were “The Blood that Moves the Body”, “Hurry Home”, and “The Living Daylights”, which was the theme of the 1987 James Bond movie of the same title (this was the first Timothy Dalton Bond movie and is my second favorite of the series - Maryam d'Abo rocked my world in this movie; but still, my favorite Bond movie by far is For Your Eyes Only)

While the backing instrumentals and production of A-ha were prone to the synthetic affectation and overproduction of the times, the alternately high and deep vocals of Morten Harket, the highly varied songwriting, and the ever so slightly Nordic atmospherics that are injected around the edges make the sound worth revisiting.

Here’s a movie version of the video for "The Living Daylights". Easily my favorite theme of the Bond movies.