Back to the future - a-ha will conquer the world again

Back to the future - a-ha will conquer the world again

Original Article

By Espen Langfeldt Olsen - (Translation by Sabine Clement)

The time was turned back fourteen years, but they assured everyone that the
future was all they were thinking about. Last night, Morten, Magne and Paul
became playful young boys and pop idols again.

In the underground nightclub 'The Monkey Club' in the center of Paris, a-ha
were introduced to the global press once again - one month before the much
discussed album 'Minor Earth, Major Sky' will be released in the whole of
Europe with a few exceptions.

"Don't call it a comeback, that's such a worn-out phrase". We simply feel like
making an album again," Magne Furuholmen says. He's now 38 years old and
since last time, he has established himself as a painter.

Before them, they have three months of aggressive promotion, to convince
Europe that the icons of the eighties are still worth a listen in the year 2000,
still worth to buy.

History

Behind them, they have an historical Norwegian pop carreer, which started
with the number 1 single 'Take On Me', followed by ten Top 10 singles in the
US and Great Britain, the title track for the James Bond movie 'The Living
Daylights' and five albums, though with diminishing success with each album.

"Now we just have to wait and see what this one will do. I don't work for
MMI [Norwegian polling company] or something like that, so I just don't know. 
But whatever happens, it's fun anyway," Morten Harket (40) says. For the
occasion, he had drawn to leather, from his jacket down to his trousers.

The single from the new album, 'Summer Moved On', has already snuck into
Norwegian and German radio. This week, the single is the biggest climber on
the radio charts in the important German market, and has risen from the 37th
spot to the 21st.

Last night, the video for 'Summer Moved On' was shown for the very first time.
And with good-looking women, beautiful beaches, big cars and sun glasses in
the middle of the night, it shows a less pretentious and formal side of a-ha than
the one we remember from before. The video was filmed only fourteen days ago
in Cadiz, Spain.

"We are very proud of this album," is Morten Harket's obligatory comment,
and the 40 year old father of three kids looked like he was ready to thrive in the
role of international pop star.

According to the record company and Erling Johannessen, the band's manager,
they want to appeal to the economically powerful age group - meaning the audience
which doesn't download the music they listen to, the folks who are on the internet
and those who remember a-ha from their previous period of success.

"I bet that a lot of a-ha fans will come out of the closet, when they hear this album.
You don't have to be a rocket physicist to understand that we have had some
disappointing moments, but I think that this is clearly the best we've ever done,"
Magne Furuholmen tells. For a moment, he feels provoked when he's asked about
his life as "Mags", the teenage girl idol.

The same roles

In an interview with the German TV station ZDF last night, the boys lapsed back into
their previous roles: Morten as the thoughtful sex symbol,  Paul as the soft-spoken
intellectual and Magne as the as the trickster and humorist.

"I say funny things because I'm the most intelligent one of the three of us. That's how
it always is - didn't you know?" he says cheerfully.

Through the new a-ha version, "Velvet", originally a Savoy song, can perhaps receive
the recognition it actually deserves, but Paul waaktaar is not afraid that the song's
co-writer Lauren Savoy will play a Yoko Ono role in the band. Lauren Savoy was
present in Paris, last night, though in a quiet role in the nightclub's VIP section.

The new a-ha album is part one of a three-record-deal with Warner Germany, and will
be released all over Western Europe on April 17. In Great Britain, the single
'Summer Moved On' won't see the light of day before March 27.