Friday, September 4, 2015

A-ha released tenth studio album, Cast in Steel

First posted 9/9/2020.

Cast in Steel

A-ha


Released: September 4, 2015


Peak: -- US, 8 UK, -- CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.06 UK, 0.06 world (includes US and UK)


Genre: synth pop


Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. Cast in Steel (2/12/16, --)
  2. Under the Makeup (7/3/15, --)
  3. The Wake (8/28/15, --)
  4. Forest Fire (9/15/15, --)
  5. Objects in the Mirror (2/12/16, --)
  6. Door Ajar
  7. Living at the End of the World
  8. Mythomania
  9. She’s Humming a Tune
  10. Shadow Endeavors
  11. Giving Up the Ghost
  12. Goodbye Thompson


Total Running Time: 47:01


The Players:

  • Morten Harket (vocals, guitar)
  • Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitar, bass)
  • Pål Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars, drums, percussion)

Rating:

3.050 out of 5.00 (average of 2 ratings)

About the Album:

After 2009’s Foot of the Mountain, a-ha, the Norwegian synth-pop trio who found fame with “Take on Me” in 1985, announced their retirement. Six years later, however, they returned with their tenth studio album and a world tour.

Morten Harket and Pål Waaktaar-Savoy, the band’s singer and guitarist respectively, started work on the album in New York. Pål said he played some new songs at his studio when Morten dropped by occasionally. Morten then recorded some vocals for some of the songs. Magne Furuholmen, the keyboardist, wasn’t initially involved, but said of the reunion, “The other two wanted to do it, and I had to decide: do I block it, let them do it without me, or make a fool of myself, with my statements about this being the end.” WK The three of them were never in the studio together which Pål said was common for the band. WK

As of 2020, the resulting Cast in Steel album is their last recording. Like their previous effort, Foot of the Mountain, the album hit the top-ten in the UK, their sixth album overall to do so. The album was supported by five singles, although none charted in the UK or US or even their native Norway where they’d taken 19 songs to the top ten. Outside of Norway, the band did have some international success, primarily in other European countries, but were seen as little more than a one-hit wonder in the United States, even though they’d followed up the #1 hit “Take on Me” with the top-20 song “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.”


Notes: A deluxe edition included six bonus tracks.

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