A-Ha - Minor Earth Major Sky

Above and Beyond 80's Pop Cheese
by: peter naldrett

I had to laugh when I heard that 80s pop wonderboys A-Ha were getting back together and releasing their first album for seven years. The first impression had to be that Morten Harket and co were short of cash and planning a quick killing on the strength of their past fame. How wrong I turned out to be, because Minor Earth Major Sky is one of the most accomplished and fresh albums you are likely to hear.

As soon as the title track bursts into life it's quite obvious from Harket's unique vocals that this is putting them straight back on the high ground they enjoyed with hits such as "The Living Daylights," "Take on Me" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV." And the crackers don't stop there, with "The Sun Never Shone That Day," "You'll Never Get Over Me" and new single "Summer Moved On" all providing the anthem-sounds we were once used to.

In their first assault on the charts, A-Ha sold over 36 million albums and although they got a bit of a cheesy school-girl image, they seem to have shrugged that off with Minor Earth Major Sky. The idea of a reunion first became possible back in 1998 when the trio were invited to perform at the Nobel Peace Ceremony and realised how much they missed it all. And coming after Harket's dissapointing solo album and a distinct lack of talent from the Norwegian pop scene, it's a good job they did.

Far from being a reunion just for the sake of it, this is a strong album that has already gone into the top five in countries across Europe. Apr-2000