A-ha
Minor Earth Major Sky

THE REVIEW

Little preamble: 
Year 1994, "Shapes That Go Together" is released as a single on the occasion of the winter Olympics in Lillehammer and A-ha concludes their "Memorial Beach Tour" after 29 dates. The members of A-ha begin their solo careers, and A-ha, although not officially, disband. Unexpectedly, in 1998, on the stage of the Nobel Peace Prize, as if by magic, Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy appear together to perform a new track ("Summer Moved On") along with the legendary "The Sun Always Shines On TV"... and thus begins the new course of the band.
The album Minor Earth Major Sky comes to light in July 2000 and presents a cover which, in my opinion, is incredibly interesting and decidedly full of meanings: it shows the fuselage of an airplane without the section intended for passengers, the tail, and the wings... in a liner, the fuselage is the part that houses the crew and is usually the most robust area of the plane itself, almost as if wanting to cut ties with a past where the band was weighed down in their "flight" by an entire series of "uncomfortable passengers," the music business, the media, the weight itself of being icons of the '80s...

The album starts immediately with the title track Minor Earth Major Sky (Furuholmen-Savoy), a track with a classic pop rhythm with a captivating bass line and decidedly electronic sounds, maniacally perfect in execution; the atmosphere and also the effects applied to Harket's voice give the track an almost muffled sound. The video accompanying the track is definitely worth watching... there are many different versions of MEMS, among which the Black Dog mix stands out in particular, giving the track a more "hard" imprint.

Little Black Heart (Furuholmen-Savoy) is a track with very sophisticated and refined pop sounds where Morten's voice and the choirs create an atmosphere I would describe as melancholic in the verses and hopeful in the chorus and variation... "you say it will get better, everything is fine but I have never felt the dark like this night..." what can I say: a splendid track!!!

Velvet (Waaktaar & Lauren Savoy) is a previously written track and published for Paul and his wife Lauren's parallel band Savoy: a sweet and sensual pop ballad where Paul's guitar gently caresses the listener's ears without ever overdoing it, and Lauren's choirs accompany Morten's always (perhaps even too much!!!) perfect voice. It should be noted that the video accompanying the song is decidedly in contrast with the atmosphere of the track itself, but personally, I found the basic idea of the video extremely brilliant, even if on the verge of unpleasantness for the theme addressed...

We then arrive at Summer Moved On (Waaktaar Savoy) rearranged for the album in a way very different from the '98 performance; it's a classic pop song with an evocative atmosphere, still with deep electronic sounds that blend with classical instruments in a homogeneous but dynamic manner; Morten's voice is greatly highlighted, not so much for the note held for 20.2 seconds but for the decidedly exciting interpretation; the video accompanying the single is shot in Spain; the single (the first extracted from this album) has sold over one and a half million copies and helped relaunch A-ha on the international market (especially in Germany).

The Sun Never Shone That Day (Paul & Lauren Savoy) is a track with a more sustained rhythm compared to the previous ones and with more genuine sounds as far as the arrangement is concerned; the track strongly splits between verse and chorus in a typical and characteristic canvas for this band that always offers something original and (almost) never predictable.

To Let You Win (Harket-Haverd Rem) is an interesting example of Morten Harket's artistic evolution: an essential and bare instrumental execution with Morten singing in almost baritonal tones in a slow and deep track that only slightly opens in the variation, remaining somewhat suspended in the center of the album like something hidden, submerged, gloomy.

The Company Man (Furuholmen-Savoy) is a genuinely light pop song with a sustained rhythm, the classic filler with a significantly ironic text. Forgettable!!!

Thought That It Was You (Harket - Ole Sverre Olsen) evokes almost Christmas-like sounds (perhaps it's the jingling? who knows!!!) the track is valid, but personally, I found the arrangement not very good, too simplistic for another potentially good Pop track that actually gave its best in live versions. It's a pity someone wanted to meddle (Niven Garland?)

I Wish I Cared (Furuholmen) is a small masterpiece! A slow pop track completely electronic where all of Morten's vocal qualities are enhanced by Magne's unleashed creative flair, who, in a state of grace, can exploit modern musical technologies without losing that human compositional genuineness that makes music something global and appealing to all. The video accompanying the track is the first in history made completely in flash. For me, this track is magnificent.

Barely Hanging On (Waaktaar Savoy) oops... a genuinely three-quarters arrangement but not well-cared for and not very original either in execution or in post-production, left somewhat like that, in the middle of the album, almost meaningless... a light pop filler but listenable.

You'll Never Get Over Me (Waaktaar Savoy) a genuine pop ballad with guitars and bass in evidence, somewhat repetitive but pleasant; Mrs. Savoy pleasantly accompanies the choirs in a performance without much commitment but always good of Harket.

I Won't Forget Her (Waaktaar Savoy) seems to have come directly from an '80s B-side, all electronic in a very repetitive and uninspired pop track where someone had fun trying to make a decent song out of it, without succeeding in my opinion... quite frankly I skip it outright and would gladly scrape it off the CD...

Mary Ellen Makes the Moment Count (Waaktaar Savoy) well, A-ha may not always nail the single but are masters at knowing how to close each of their works worthily, and this time too, they do so with a Pop ballad where Waaktaar's guitar takes center stage with an almost Dylan-esque, poignant rhythm; it seems like a classic from the '70s that explodes in the chorus, reminding us that we are now in the new millennium. Towards the end of the song, Magne's keyboard starts to prevail with a maniacal riff in closing, accompanied by the phrase "I Was Around..." repeated until the abrupt closure that leaves me stunned and with goosebumps at least...

The album has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, 1 million in Germany alone, where it managed to place three singles always in the top ten on the charts (Summer Moved On, Minor Earth Major Sky, and Velvet). It is produced by Andreas "Boogieman" Herbig and Roland Spremberg and co-produced by A-ha and Kjetil Bjerkestrand. It is the first album where the band members do not appear on the cover.