What could be better?

The only thing that could actually be better about Morten Harket releasing a new solo album in the next few weeks is if one of the tracks on it had been written by the Pet Shop Boys. Just imagine: it would be like [that singer you really like] doing a song written by [that band you really like].
But, come now, reality has to hit home at some point and you have to realise that you can’t have your cake and… hang on… what’s this?

Morten Harket, until recently the lead singer of A-ha, will release a solo album in April which includes a new song by Tennant/Lowe. The album is called “Out Of My Hands” and the new song by Pet Shop Boys is entitled “Listening”. Harket approached Pet Shop Boys in September last year and was offered the recently written ballad which Neil and Chris thought would suit his voice.

I’ve been doing some rudimentary calculations after having a quick look at my iPod and it turns out that I have a total of 756 tracks by Pet Shop Boys, a-ha or Morten. B-sides, bootlegs, remixes, dodgy covers. Even given the longevity of these artists, I think that does indicate some sort of dedication and enjoyment of their art. So yes, “Listening” is going to be a big deal for me.

Bring on April. Just as soon as we’re done with March, obviously.

a-ha’s “Take On Me”, played by North Korean accordion group

Incoming from Jacques:

In case you’ve never encountered this.
I’m told by a friend-of-a-friend on FB that: “Apparently a member of a-ha went there (cant remember why) and took a CD. Within three days the group came up with this arrangement. They had no sheet music or anything other than the CD to work off.”

Obviously, I haven’t encountered this. If I had encountered this, it would have been all over the blog the day that I encountered  it. Just like it is today, which is the first day I have encountered it.

 

Brilliant. It’s on accordions, it’s in North Korea, there’s an austere painting and some fake sunflowers behind them and the guy on the right (as we’re looking) can’t stop swaying. And then it ends, abruptly. And there’s no applause.

In my mind, there can be no better example of an 1980’s hit played by a quintet on instruments of the bellows-driven, free-reed aerophone family in a politically-closed Asian country. And I’ve seen a few: who could forget that cover of Club Tropicana, played on pitch pipes by that 5-piece from Myanmar, for example?

What I can’t understand is why it only has 5,000 views in the three days that it has been on YouTube. This has every single element of  the perfect viral video: we’re obviously just in the incubation phase right now. All of us now have the duty to spread the disease as widely as possible. Admit it, another piece of your life’s jigsaw clicked into place the moment you watched this – what gives you the right to deny others that experience? Who made you god?

Go – click the share button. Spread the wealth.

Thanks Jacques

UPDATE: (via @ColinMac7 on twitter) 

alas, not every Norwegian is a member of AHA, and there has been more than a million YT hits tinyurl.com/73yfjuh

So it’s a Morten Traavik (and not Morten Harket) that took the CD to North Korea. And there’s the full story (and an epic photo of him) on the BBC page via that link.

Best album of the year?

The 6000 miles… Best Album of the Year 2011 voting is in full swing. I say “voting” because that makes it sound vaguely democratic and democracy is good, mmmkay? In actual fact, I’m using the term “democratic” in the full Zimbabwean tradition – basically, what I say, goes, and if you wish to disagree, I’ll beat you with some sticks in the bush of Matabeleland.

And there are some strong contenders this year. The Streets’ Computers and Blues, Arctic Monkeys’ Suck It And See and now Kasabian’s Velociraptor!, from which this track Days Are Forgotten is taken:

 

I have gone on record (somewhere that I can’t find) here [Thanks Joe] as saying that the first five songs on Velociraptor!:

  1. Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To
  2. Days Are Forgotten
  3. Goodbye Kiss
  4. La Fée Verte
  5. Velociraptor!

are the best opening side (for those who can remember records and cassettes) to any album I can remember since October 1986: that month marked by the release of a-ha’s second album, Scoundrel Days, which had this line up on Side A:

  1. Scoundrel Days
  2. The Swing Of Things
  3. I’ve Been Losing You
  4. October
  5. Manhattan Skyline

See also, The Killers’ Day & Age, which came close, but which was let down  by the rather weak Joyride.

These tracks just work together. And they’re good. Sometimes with an album you want to skip a track or two, but not here. Musically, the combination of fast and slow, loud and soft (from tracks 3 to 4 on Scoundrel Days and the other way from 4 to 5 on Velociraptor!) is there in both cases. More on Kasabian’s Muse meets Beatles style when they pop out some more videos.

In the meantime, why not (carefully) stick down your thoughts on other contenders for this illustrious award in the comments below? Or maybe your thoughts on the best first five songs on any album. You may want to remember my Mugabesque approach to dissension, as described above.

Weathervane

I promised you more a-ha related videos this week and this won’t be the last.

This collaboration between a-ha guitarist and songwriter Pal Waaktaar-Savoy and Jimmy Gnecco has understandable echoes of the Norwegian supergroup – especially that minor chord into the chorus.
“Weathervane” is the title track from the forthcoming movie Headhunters, based on the book by the internationally known Norwegian author Jo Nesbø.

The piano intro and outro are a cute addition and it’s a decent enough song which has really been growing on me: Gnecco’s voice can’t compete with Morten, but then it isn’t an a-ha song, so that’s actually ok.