Analogue | 
| Artist: A-ha
Label: Polydor/Universal International
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $14.46
You Save: $2.52 (15%)
New (8) Used (6) Collectible (1) from $7.88
Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 89473
Format: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics, Import
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 602498746998
EAN: 0602498746998
ASIN: B000BI0QNC
Publication Date: 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Celice | | • | Don't Do Me Any Favours | | • | Cosy Prisons | | • | Analogue (All I Want) | | • | Birthright | | • | Holy Ground | | • | Over the Treetops | | • | Halfway Through the Tour | | • | Fine Blue Line | | • | Keeper of the Flame | | • | Make It Soon | | • | White Dwarf | | • | Summers of Our Youth | | • | A-Ha Desktop Player |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
International pressing of their 2005 album for Universal. 13 tracks in all including the first single, 'Celice'. Some 20 years after their heyday (commemorated recently with their Singles: Best Of 1984-2004 album), and after solo albums by leader Magne Furuholmen, and fresh off their Berlin concert as part of Live8, a-ha return with this brand new album.
Album Details
2005 Label Debut Album from Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-savoy, their First for Universal/Polydor and the First Studio Material from the Group Since the Release of "Lifelines". "Analogue" is their Eighth Studio Album Overall, Following Many Years on Warner Brothers/Reprise. The Sessions were Produced by Martin Terefe and Engineered and Mixed by Flood (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Crowded House, Depeche Mode, Pj Harvey).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
Interesting new direction, yet still familiar November 8, 2005
A. Gammill (West Point, MS United States)
37 out of 38 found this review helpful
With their 8th studio album, a-ha has come up with something that will both surprise and reassure long-time fans. Three of the first 4 tracks sound like nothing the band has ever done. The sensual urgency of "Celice" and "Don't Do Me Any Favours" is underscored with driving guitars. . .something different indeed for the keyboard-driven pop stars. The title track rocks in a similar vein as well. These changes may be a bit jarring at first for fans, but they are a great opening statement.
Things settle down with the lovely "Birthright" and "Holyland", the latter of which has quickly become my favorite track on the album. The a-ha we know and love is back in place throughout the rest of the album, with Morten Harkett in fine vocal form with the heartfelt material. This latter half has much in common with the LIFELINES album, which is not a bad thing at all.
ANALOGUE does occasionally bog down in the middle, with the lukewarm "Over the Treetops," and the lenghty "Halfway Through the Tour" and its sleepy final 3 minutes of instrumentation. It's epic length without epic strength.
Still, there's much to recommend here, and a-ha fans are sure to enjoy it. If you're new to the band (or just rediscovering them), I'd recommend you first get their 2000 masterpiece, MINOR EARTH MAJOR SKY. But ANALOGUE is a fine addition to their catalogue, and hopefully one that will bring them continued international success.
 a-ha full, rich, organic sound with a touch of Graham Nash May 23, 2006
Mortyman (Norway)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This album is yet another accomplished effort from the Norwegian trio. Since the 80's, a-ha has gone from synths and drummachines to more guitar and piano in the 90's and now to a more rich and organic sound for their albums of the new millenium. This is especially true with their latest effort, Analogue.
The sound might be somewhat different, but the typical melancholic and well written songs are there together with Morten's excellent voice, wich he on this album takes to a bit of a different level.
The album includes two songs with the legendary Graham Nash ( from the Crosby Stills and Nash ) on backing vocals. The two songs are " Cosy Prisons " and " Over the Treetops ". The latter has a bit of a 60's feel to it and cool guitar work. Something that perhaps is a bit surprising to people, but a-ha grew up with 60's music and was very much influenced by that before they started with a-ha.
Other stand outs are: " Analogue ", " Celice ", " Don't Do Me Any Favours ", " Keeper of the Flame ", " White Dwarf ", " A Fine Blue Line ", " Holy Ground ", " Birthright " and " Summers of Our Youth ", wich is a duet between Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen.
AND these songs sounds even better live. Get the maxi singles of " Celice " and especially " Analogue " wich includes live versions from Frognerparken concert in their hometown of Oslo in Norway ( audience of 150 000 !! )
Next a-ha album is said to be ready in 2007.
spend the extra money for the "DVD packaged one" January 14, 2006
Author Brian Wallace (Mind Transmission, Inc.) (Texas)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is truly a majestic, awe-inspiring album - a real accomplishment. It's fun to pull for the underdogs, the ones who were denigrated by the American press and considered only an "eighties band." Here we are all these years later with an accomplished, enduring band that has delivered a masterpiece. This album is infinitely enjoyable.
These are heartfelt and wonderfully written songs. Each one presents a world unto itself: great insights into longing and loving; pain and loss. The past two albums were solid and found these old friends re-finding the grooves and discovering new ones. With this album, they have really found their wings and are soaring high, indeed. Analogue is the culmination of pure talent that could not be constrained or squelched by the idiotic press.
Of course, now they are flourishing in so many countries other than America, the land of the free and the banal, such as Ricky Martin and 98 Degrees. True artists such as Coldplay and Keane are properly giving it up to this delightful band from Norway, the indomitable a-ha! You don't need Americans, but we need you!
(On a side note, there are three additional benefits with this product: gorgeous packaging; bonus DVD; and the omission of copy-protection - which only gets in the way of us preserving the music we BUY. This is a completely worthwhile import disc. Both the band and the record company should be applauded.)
That Euphoric Feeling All Over Again December 14, 2005
gobirds2 (New England)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
It did not take long for a-ha's new CD to grow on me. As usual some of those songs remain in your head after listening to them and you anticipate playing the CD again and again to get that somewhat euphoric feeling. The very first track, CELICE really grew on me and I quite enjoy it. At first I thought it wasn't quite up to their usual aesthetics but I was wrong. CELICE is very good. I was also engrossed by COSY PRISONS, ANALOGUE, BIRTHRIGHT and WHITE DWARF. They all give me a little boost of the spirit and I like that feeling. At first I thought this CD was just an extension of their last two studio CDs but ANALOGUE really is in a new yet familiar sounding direction. This CD is very soothing and relaxing to listen to. The sound of a-ha is still there. It is forever present. I don't know how else to describe what I feel about this CD other than to say that I like it, it sounds very good and it is eminently soothing and relaxing and a pure enjoyment.
I'm good for another 3 years November 30, 2005
Christian D. Austin (Salt Lake City, Utah)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Every time a-ha comes out with a new album, it lives in my car's CD changer for at least 6 months (unless it is Memorial Beach, in which case the four songs I like live on a compilation disk in the CD changer for 6 months). Some albums live there substantially longer. I kept MEMS and Lifelines in first position for over a year (both are still in my changer, but now relegated to slot 11 or 12). Heck, I have kept 5 tracks from Morton's Wild Seed in my changer for over 4 years as part of an a-ha compilation. For whatever reason, a-ha is one of the 10 artists whose albums I will always buy, who never completely let me down, and who I will eschew all other music for when they release something new.
Having said that, I was glad MEMS and Lifelines were long, and not because everything on them was good. I was glad because even after you cut out the 3 or 4 songs that don't work for you (sorry "Mary Ellen Makes the Moment Count" and "Oranges on Apple Trees") you were still left with at least ten good songs and an album which could equal Hunting High and Low, Scoundrel Days,and Stay on These Roads (much maligned, but one of my favorites).
So it is with Analogue. Do I love "Over the Treetops"? Not really. I liked it better when Neil Young sang it and it was called "Cowgirl in the Sand." And I liked the abstract, 60s vibe of "Halfway through the Door" until I realised it was called "Halfway thorugh the Tour" and was about life on the road (it can take its place next to "Company Man" in my circular file).
But rip and burn a new disk excluding those misfires (heck, I still kind of like Over the Treetops, it just doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album)and you are left with one exceptional a-ha album.
"Celice" is not an immediate pop song, but because of that, it has some staying power (which is good, since I will listen to this disc at least 200 times over the next 6 months). Same with "Don't do me any favors."
The structure of "Cozy Prisons" threw me a little at first, but is now one of my favorites. "Analogue" is just about perfect, and I am glad it was not the first single, because otherwise it would get played out for me quicker.
For me, the real core of this album is "Birthright" "Holy Ground" and "Fine Blue Line" (and when you ditch Paal's Beatles tributes, they become the literal middle of the album). A-ha could make 5 more albums with songs exactly like these and I would give each the 6 months it deserves.
"Keeper of the Flame" would be one of my favorites if the lyrics were anything other than what they are. I will not, and can not "give it up for rock n'roll" and "how it made me feel." A-ha are many things, but "rock n'roll" they are not, and I just can't accept an a-ha song that is about rock' n'roll (or about "pumping my fist into the air" and saying "four more years and I am outta' here"). I guess I am just not nostalgic for high school (Would I even be an a-ha fan if adolescence had been pleasant? Well-adjusted kids don't really need Nordic melonchalia to get them through the day).
But "Make it Soon" works, and "White Dwarf" is a gift (Hey- a-ha was there with the "outer space" imagery in MEMS way before Coldplay's "X&Y"). And if Magne's voice doesn't quite justify his duet with Morton on "Summers of our Youth," his stellar contributions to the album as a whole, let alone that song, do. I actually think the contrast of voices enhances the song (something I thought I would never say after "the way we talk").
Simply put, this really is a fine album. Far more cohesive than Lifelines and more varied than MEMS. Now if only someone can convince Paal that he is not Paul McCartney . . .
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