Tuesday 14 November 2017

Classic Albums Reviewed And Rated - Day 14

Throughout this month we are going to take a look at albums regarded as classics from the 80s and one or two from the late 70s and give you our comments, and our rating of each album.

Each day, during November, we will focus on one album.

To rate the albums we rate each track on the album as either 3 (Outstanding), 2 (Good), 1 (ok) and 0 (Hate it). Those points are totalled up and then divided by the maximum points the album could get (EG 10 tracks would equal 30 points, 10 x 3). Then times the figure by 100 and that gives you your percentage rating. This is a very good indicator of how you rate an album.


Today's album under the microscope is "Hunting High And Low", the debut album by A-Ha, which was released in June 1985.

Without a doubt the video created for the single "Take On Me" is what made this album a success, if you haven't seen it, check it out on YouTube, it is fantastic. What is surprising is that it took until the 3rd re-release before it was a hit!

The reason I bought the album was because of the track "The Sun Always Shines On TV", a powerhouse synthpop/new wave track, to this day the track still has a certain something special, a superbly structured track. It is a wonderful album and the 4 disc deluxe edition released in 2015, is a must have, plenty of remixes, alternative versions, and demo's etc, one of the few box sets that really does deliver and provide value for money.

The album featured 5 singles "Take On Me", "The Sun Always Shines On TV", Train Of Thought" and the title track of the album "Hunting High And Low", all of which achieved chart success in the UK singles chart and charts around Europe."Love Is Reason" was also released as a single, but only in Norway.

What I like about this album is it is quite varied and certainly sees the band on fine form, their best album ever. as with quite a few albums I am reviewing and rating this has stood the test of time, 32 years old and still an essential listen.

Our track recommendations for this album are, "Take On Me", "The Sun Always Shines On TV", "Hunting High And Low" and "Love Is Reason". There are no tracks I dislike and only one track (I Dream Myself Alive) earning a score of 1 point.

Our overall rating for this album is 70/100

The album is available for under £5 from Amazon here

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