Chart entered : 28 September 1985
Chart peak : 2
Number of hits : 22
We now come to one of my favourite groups, much misunderstood at the time.
A-ha emerged from an earlier group called Bridges. Formed in Oslo in the late seventies they were led by guitarist and singer/songwriter Pal Waaktaar Gamst ( born 1961 ) and featured keyboardist and childhood friend Magne Furuholmen with two other blokes for a rhythm section. In 1980 they released their only LP "Fakkeltog" ( meaning torchlit procession ) . The songs are actually in English but it's not an easy listen. Every song is minor key moody and most go off in strange jazzy directions. They're also heavily in thrall to The Doors , the biggest surprise of the album being Pal's uncanny Jim Morrison impersonation. Pal is an odd , inscrutable chap who doesn't do interviews and doesn't have a microphone on stage when A-ha play live so it's very strange to discover that he has a strong voice of his own. The album was self-financed and only 1000 copies were pressed.
They picked up a fan in the slightly older Morten Harket, a slightly older guy from a middle class family who was singing with unsuccessful bands such as Mercy and Souldier Blue. In 1982 Pal and Magne decided to try their luck in England which broke up the band. Apparently deciding to concentrate on playing and writing, Pal invited Morten to join them but he preferred to stick with Souldier Blue for the time being. Pal and Magne had little joy in England but when they returned to Oslo Morten accepted a second invitation to join them.
After months of rehearsals they decided to return to the UK , this time as A-ha, a name that would be understood across language barriers. They flew to London at the beginning of 1983 but had a difficult time. It took them a year just to find a manager and a record deal with Warner Brothers.
Their first single , released in October 1984 was .... "Take On Me" . It evolved from earlier songs called "The Juicy Fruit Song" and "Lesson One" and this first version of the song was produced by New Musik's Tony Mansfield. Morten sings it in a slightly lower key which makes him sound like Donny Osmond, perhaps encouraged by Mansfield, who must have noticed the singer's well-chiseled teen potential, and there's an acoustic guitar line from Pal. The single got no airplay and went nowhere except in their homeland where it reached number 3.
They tried again with the song in April 1985 with a new mix by Alan Tarney. This time they got to perform it on Saturday Superstore but it still wasn't a hit. However Warner Brothers American office liked both the song and the look of the band and told them to record it a third time and paid for that iconic video.
My thoughts on it from the Albums blog are here :
"Take On Me" starts things off as if the band were in a hurry to move on from a song that had to be released three times. I'm guessing I don't have to describe it in any detail as it has become their signature song thanks to that video. I think I said before that its not my favourite song. I was indifferent to it as a single ( perhaps a little resentful that it was one of the records blocking Red Box's Lean On Me from reaching number one ) viewing them as a ( much ) prettier version of Alphaville and whose chart career would be of similar longevity. I'm fonder of it now and enjoyed a bop with my wife to it in Manchester 18 months ago when it was the inevitable final encore on their farewell tour. It's just that its untypical in its reliance on blippety-blip sequencers and euphoric feel ( although the lyrics are not as optimistic as the melody would suggest ) and Tarney only really painted in primary colours.
I think elsewhere on the blog I mentioned that Pal made a big mistake in posing with a guitar in the video when there wasn't any guitar on the track. In fact there is, it's been lowered in the mix with each successive version but you can still hear it if you listen carefully. So apologies to Pal for the unfair criticism.
I have tried listening for the guitar on the version I have (from some 80s pop compilation) and it's either very deep in the mix of processed to the point I'm mistaking it for synths.
ReplyDeleteI do like the song, though. It's funny how you never hear any (bar one) of their many subsequent hits on the radio... perhaps you'll offer your own reasons down the line.
You can only really hear the guitar ( acoustic ) in the ascending part of the chorus.
ReplyDeleteRadio Two have been quite supportive of their noughties output but I don't know about other stations. I think perhaps the second half of the eighties isn't mined very much because producers think it's all Stock Aitken and Waterman shite.