Hunting High and Low (CD - 1985)

Additional personnel: Claire Jarvis (oboe).

Producers: Tony Mansfield, Alan Tarney, John Ratcliff.

The first album by the Norwegian trio of singer Morten Harket, songwriter Pal Waaktaar and keyboardist Mags will forever be known as the album that contains the intoxicating "Take On Me," one of the most famous and enduring "one-hit wonders" of the '80s. However, HUNTING HIGH AND LOW actually contains a second US Top 40 hit, "The Sun Always Shines On TV." In addition, even after those songs ceased to receive airplay, A-Ha continued a long and successful career in Europe and elsewhere.

Besides the two singles, the album contains the haunting title track, "Living A Boy's Adventure Tale," which comes across as a keyboard-heavy Scandinavian version of early U2, and the quirky "The Blue Sky," an arresting showcase for Harket's piercing falsetto. HUNTING HIGH AND LOW shows that there's much more to A-Ha than their memory in common pop history suggests. minimize