Scoundrel Days [CD]

Gosh, the memories!
I used to be nuts about these guys when I was 13 - completely obsessed! I had bought Hunting High and Low (and worn a hole in it!) and awaited a new offering with bated breath. This album was released on my 14th birthday, and I can remember traveling home on the bus, gingerly clutching and studying the cover (oh, for the days of vinyl when buying an LP was a REAL event!)
I certainly wasn't disappointed. In fact, I preferred this to the previous album, and it still remains one of my all-time favourites.
I guess if I'm brutally honest, there are a few weak, 80s-lite track (Maybe Maybe, in particular!) but there are some fantastic tunes as well. Unlike HH&L, Scoundrel Days defines a-ha's trademark lush melodic tunes and soaring vocals. It's a far more mature album, and many of the tracks have a timeless quality, that still sounds fresh today.
My own favourite is the incredibly sexy and powerful 'I've Been Losing You'. This is actually my favourite a-ha song ever. But 'Scoundrel Days' and 'The Swing of Things' are also among the best songs they've recorded.
Most people think of this band as a one-hit wonder ('Take on Me) but their career spanned many years and they are still producing some amazing music. Anyone who ever had an interest in the band, or in 80s music in general should defintely give this a listen!

If you're an a-ha fan and you don't own this album there is something wrong with you. From start to finish this is an immaculate album, with anthems levelling if not surpassing older hits such as "take on me" and "the sun always shines on tv". My personal favourites would have to be "the swing of things", and their own personal masterpiece "manhattan skyline", songs that touch the soul and beyond. Some criticise lesser tracks than "looking for the whales" and "maybe maybe", each has it's own charm and DO grown on you. Hidden gems would include the title track which certainly should have been released as a single, and "the weight of the wind" a heart pounding thrash out about someone who's clearly losing the plot. a-ha are brilliant make no mistake, and this is their legend.

...it wasn't the Deluxe Edition, that makes no difference.

Or does it? Now that anything and everything appears ripe for this kind of special treatment, the appearance of a-ha's second album in a bells-and-whistles two disc format might seem merely routine. After all, what hasn't been either issued or rumoured to be issued in this way?

Well, there are very good reasons for celebration in this particular case.

Ever since its release in October 1986, the only existing Scoundrel Days CD had been based on the original. The 90s and 00s came and went without a reissue or remaster of any kind. So, first up this new edition makes good on that, restoring the beautiful sleeve artwork that adorned the Vinyl LP in the process. These little details matter!

Then there is the extra/bonus material, mostly (and sensibly) confined to the second disc. The demos are presented in a sequence that mirrors the main album (with a further version of the title track for good measure); a nice touch even if, sadly, the audio quality of some (notably The Swing Of Things and Cry Wolf) verges on the distorted. In conjunction with the informative liner notes, it's possible to build up a fascinating picture of how this album evolved from a mixture of discarded songs for their debut album and hastily-written songs on tour, while the demos included here of Scoundrel Days (v.1), I've Been Losing You and Weight Of The Wind give the clearest evidence of how they worked at moving from the Hunting High & Low sound to something darker and deeper. The difference between these early works, and the finished versions, is quite startling. Maybe Maybe, meanwhile - always the album's weakest link - is arguably better in demo form...and listen out for the completely daft "sock it to me!" ad libs in the supposedly moody and tortured Weight Of The Wind.

The extended mixes of its three singles are obviously welcome, and fit nicely onto the end of Disc 1, leaving Disc 2 for the demos, three B-sides, and Live recordings from a key Croydon gig in January 1987.

If that's not enough to tempt you...well, it's simply their best album. Always has been. The occasional sound issues aside, this is how it should be enjoyed.