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Product Description
Review
A double-CD collection celebrating the retirement, after 25 years, of what was once dismissed as a little more than a prototype Norwegian boy band seems like an overambitious concept. That’s until one remembers that the Norwegian trio have sold in excess of 35 million records. But their early rush of pop brilliance and their consequently powerful association with a young audience – Morten Harket was, after all, the man who inspired a generation of teenagers to wear suede leather bracelets – mean that some ‘grew out of’ a-ha, and critics turned their back. By 1991 they might have been playing to the biggest audience of paying fans ever recorded – a staggering 198,000, at Rock in Rio II – but the story went virtually unreported, a disappointment so crushing the band went on hiatus.
They reunited in 1998, wiser and more mature, something reflected in their new music, and a 2005 singles compilation released on their 20th anniversary saw them return to the UK top 20. This latest attempt to exploit their catalogue, 25 – The Very Best Of, is therefore an enlightening affair, proof that though they rarely repeated the pure immediacy of Take on Me or The Sun Always Shines on TV, nor the ambitious drama of I’ve Been Losing You or 1987’s James Bond theme, The Living Daylights, a-ha remained capable of crafting mature pop. In fact, this thorough 39-song survey leads one to the unexpected conclusion that they were the Coldplay of their generation, accomplished at writing songs that carried an emotional depth capable of reaching out across arenas. Dark Is the Night for All is an uplifting piece of mid-paced stadium rock with a gentle heart, Velvet is a lush tearjerker that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Morcheeba record, while final single, Butterfly, Butterfly, sees them return to their synth-pop roots with added grandeur, sounding not unlike Pet Shop Boys with choirboy vocals.
Inevitably, though, over two and a half hours of a-ha things start to sag, as they would with many artists, and that seems a shame. These three Norwegians have more than earned a status approaching iconic, and recent gestures – they’ve given away over £400,000 in grants to developing Norwegian artists this year – prove that music was always a far greater driving force in their careers than fame and teenage adulation. But few people listen to full albums anymore, so this is better thought of as a well-earned condensed encyclopaedia into which to dip than a simple retrospective collection. Either way, respect is due, and 25 provides more than room enough for that.
--Wyndham WallaceFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
After nine albums, an iconic music video, and sales of more than 36 million worldwide, 2010 marks a-ha's 25th anniversary and final year together.
The album includes thirty-eight a-ha favourites including "Take On Me", "The Sun Always Shines On TV" and "Cry Wolf". It also includes "Butterfly Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)", the last single ever to be released by the band.
The album includes thirty-eight a-ha favourites including "Take On Me", "The Sun Always Shines On TV" and "Cry Wolf". It also includes "Butterfly Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)", the last single ever to be released by the band.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
On the 4th of December 2010, on the third of 3 sell-out shows at the Oslo Spektrum in Norway, the curtain will finally fall on a-ha's glittering 25-year career.
Undoubtedly a sad day in the calendar, but this hugely talented trio will be bowing out on a high note. Last year, in "Foot of the Mountain", they released one of their finest albums, proving it was possible to be both contemporary and retro. This year, fans have been rather spoilt: Comprehensive 2-CD remasters of their first two albums ("Hunting High and Low" and "Scoundrel Days"), an updated version of Jan Omdahl's insightful book "The Swing of Things", a brand new single, and now this compilation album.
"25" is actually a-ha's third compilation album, following 1991's "Headlines and Deadlines" and "The Definitive Singles 1984-2004", but this is easily the most comprehensive, and it has been lovingly put together by reissue specialists Rhino Records. The only gripe I have is the band's chunky new logo on the aquatic cover, but this doesn't detract from what is a highly recommended retrospective.
Across the two discs, every remastered track (including some rare radio edits and mixes of singles) has been presented in chronological order, with the exception of "The Blood that Moves the Body" - this remix was used to further promote "Headlines and Deadlines" in 1992, and appears here for the first time in album format. Fan (and band) favourites "The Blue Sky", "The Swing of Things", "There's Never a Forever Thing" and "Slender Frame" have also been added, giving further weight to the claim that a-ha were more than just a singles act.
Each of a-ha's nine studio albums are well represented here, allowing listeners to trace their musical development. It took a few albums for a-ha to shrug off their poster-boy image, but below the surface of their catchy, intricate melodies lies a melancholic depth that has won them many admirers over the years, including bands such as Keane and Coldplay. In the early 90s the band moved away from their trademark pop sound, and their 60s influences (The Beatles and The Doors, in particular) were certainly more prevalent. By 1993's "Memorial Beach", guitars were at the forefront of the instrumentation and the material steered more towards the American market.
Fast forward to the new millennium and the end of a-ha's `seven-year-itch', and the newly focused trio were a slightly more democratic affair; less reliant on the creative tension between Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen, and utilizing more of Morten Harket's lighter material. There were, arguably, mixed results over three albums and, by 2005's deceptively-titled "Analogue" album, they were once again flirting with a rockier sound.
In 2009 a-ha went back to basics with the solid, 10-track "Foot of the Mountain", which played to the three-piece's strengths, with all the material being penned by Waaktaar-Savoy and Furuholmen. Final single, "Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)", does admittedly sound like a hold-off from those final album sessions. However, it is a fitting finale, bringing a-ha full circle with a catchy synth-pop tune that has Harket declaring "These stained glass wings could only take you so far."
For many it's the end of an era, but there is still much to look forward to from each of this loveable band's component parts. As Harket remarked on the end of a-ha: "It turns into a positive thing - the three of us are still around." A capable songwriter in his own right, he has to date released four solo albums (two sung in his native language), while Furuholmen has recorded two solo albums, composed film soundtracks, and carved out a successful career as an artist in tandem with his musical commitments. Waaktaar-Savoy, a vastly talented and prolific musician and songwriter, has already released 6 albums (including one compilation) with his side-project Savoy since 1996, and a new album is reported to be in the works.
"It's time to celebrate..."
Undoubtedly a sad day in the calendar, but this hugely talented trio will be bowing out on a high note. Last year, in "Foot of the Mountain", they released one of their finest albums, proving it was possible to be both contemporary and retro. This year, fans have been rather spoilt: Comprehensive 2-CD remasters of their first two albums ("Hunting High and Low" and "Scoundrel Days"), an updated version of Jan Omdahl's insightful book "The Swing of Things", a brand new single, and now this compilation album.
"25" is actually a-ha's third compilation album, following 1991's "Headlines and Deadlines" and "The Definitive Singles 1984-2004", but this is easily the most comprehensive, and it has been lovingly put together by reissue specialists Rhino Records. The only gripe I have is the band's chunky new logo on the aquatic cover, but this doesn't detract from what is a highly recommended retrospective.
Across the two discs, every remastered track (including some rare radio edits and mixes of singles) has been presented in chronological order, with the exception of "The Blood that Moves the Body" - this remix was used to further promote "Headlines and Deadlines" in 1992, and appears here for the first time in album format. Fan (and band) favourites "The Blue Sky", "The Swing of Things", "There's Never a Forever Thing" and "Slender Frame" have also been added, giving further weight to the claim that a-ha were more than just a singles act.
Each of a-ha's nine studio albums are well represented here, allowing listeners to trace their musical development. It took a few albums for a-ha to shrug off their poster-boy image, but below the surface of their catchy, intricate melodies lies a melancholic depth that has won them many admirers over the years, including bands such as Keane and Coldplay. In the early 90s the band moved away from their trademark pop sound, and their 60s influences (The Beatles and The Doors, in particular) were certainly more prevalent. By 1993's "Memorial Beach", guitars were at the forefront of the instrumentation and the material steered more towards the American market.
Fast forward to the new millennium and the end of a-ha's `seven-year-itch', and the newly focused trio were a slightly more democratic affair; less reliant on the creative tension between Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen, and utilizing more of Morten Harket's lighter material. There were, arguably, mixed results over three albums and, by 2005's deceptively-titled "Analogue" album, they were once again flirting with a rockier sound.
In 2009 a-ha went back to basics with the solid, 10-track "Foot of the Mountain", which played to the three-piece's strengths, with all the material being penned by Waaktaar-Savoy and Furuholmen. Final single, "Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)", does admittedly sound like a hold-off from those final album sessions. However, it is a fitting finale, bringing a-ha full circle with a catchy synth-pop tune that has Harket declaring "These stained glass wings could only take you so far."
For many it's the end of an era, but there is still much to look forward to from each of this loveable band's component parts. As Harket remarked on the end of a-ha: "It turns into a positive thing - the three of us are still around." A capable songwriter in his own right, he has to date released four solo albums (two sung in his native language), while Furuholmen has recorded two solo albums, composed film soundtracks, and carved out a successful career as an artist in tandem with his musical commitments. Waaktaar-Savoy, a vastly talented and prolific musician and songwriter, has already released 6 albums (including one compilation) with his side-project Savoy since 1996, and a new album is reported to be in the works.
"It's time to celebrate..."
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Got this album on import; it really brought it home to me just how great a band A-ha really are. This is their first complete retrospective and has ALL their singles and cherry-picks the best album tracks too. There's hardly a duff track on it - it really is that good. And the sleeve artwork is classy too.
If you love catchy but adult widescreen pop with a melancholic slant and some epic, haunting melodies, then this really is highly recommended. Non a-ha fans too will be surprised at the depth, range and quality of the songs.
If you love catchy but adult widescreen pop with a melancholic slant and some epic, haunting melodies, then this really is highly recommended. Non a-ha fans too will be surprised at the depth, range and quality of the songs.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The cd's are excellent, but what I was happiest with is the DVD. It's apparently region free. I wish more of the videos were on there, but most of the best ones are there and it play fine in my Regions 1 player. Every version of Headlines and Deadlines I've ever purchased has locked up my region free player for some reason. Overall an excellent release for the guys. Spans their full career with some of there best hits as well as some of their best non-single tracks. A must for fans and a good idea for anyone wanting to get a good idea of their full career.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Greats of a-ha
"25:Very Best Of" by a-ha is a strong two cd set showcasing some of a-ha's best musical tracks. The following listing illustrates some of the heartfelt songs on this... Read more
Published 20 days ago by Stella Carrier
MUST HAVE !!!
If you don't know anything about a-ha and you haven't ever heard to them before,this compilation album will summerize you to their music whole career... Read more
Published 7 months ago by mkeklikoglu
Signed Off in some style
That's it folks. Forever gone. However, this little gem is an essential addition to most collections - with some varition on tracks to be sampled. Should make for a great present. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Eirik
a-ha the final cd
it was sad to hear a-ha retire from the music industry their will be sorely missed thats why i wanted this cd from amazon i followed them for 26 years iam really pleased with the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by mark r merifield
Superb
I had almost forgotten how amazing this band was!
The track order and choice of songs is perfect. Read more
The track order and choice of songs is perfect. Read more
Published 15 months ago by icemantogo
FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a fantastic buy, not only do you get the cds with all a-ha's fantastic music, you also get a dvd, which is just brilliant!!
100% recommended....
100% recommended....
Published 16 months ago by klf1973
musical satisfaction
Just what I wanted as a gift for my soulmate.
It was easy to find as listed.
It was in stock and was delivered within a matter of a few days despite being close to... Read more
It was easy to find as listed.
It was in stock and was delivered within a matter of a few days despite being close to... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Acsot Green
25 years and now it's over, they will be missed.
What is there to say? Any A-HA fan will agree: we are going to miss them. A-HA has to be one of the most under rated pop group of all times. Fantastic melodies and powerful lyrics. Read more
Published 17 months ago by M. Lebreton
where's my album?
The CD was never received. Since this is a Christmas present it was very inconvenient and makes me loose trust on Amazon for timely deliveries.
Published 17 months ago by same
Best lyrics to remember
One of the best CD-Audio+DVD music album purchased so far. The last track sounds great...meanwhile engulfed in the strange melancholy.
Published 18 months ago by Saulius Barauskas
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