Put The Needle On The Record - Week #57

Put The Needle On The Record Week #57 A-Ha - Scoundrel Days

For this weeks feature we go back to October 1986 and the A-Ha album "Scoundrel Days".

"Scoundrel Days" was the follow up to the hugely successful album "Hunting High And Low", so to produce an album equal to their debut was always going to be a difficult thing to do. Whilst not hitting the high standard of their previous album it does contain some cracking tracks, "I've Been Losing You", "Cry Wolf", "Manhatten Skyline", "Soft Rains Of April" and "The Weight Of The Wind".

The album was produced by Alan Tarney, who produced the singles "Take On Me" and "The Sun Always Shines On TV" and was recorded in England and in the recording process, 3 classic synthesizers from the 80s were used, the Yamaha D7, Roland Juno 60 and Roland Juno 106, as well as other instruments.

The album went on to sell 6 million copies and was well received by music critics.

Three singles were released off the album, "I've Been Losing You" (which reached number 8 in the UK Singles chart), "Cry Wolf" (which reached number 5 in the UK Singles chart) and "Manhatten Skyline", my favourite track off the album (which reached number 13 in the UK Singles chart). They did release the track "Maybe Maybe" as a single but only in Bolivia!! Why, god only knows!

The album reached number 2 on the UK Album chart.

Track Listing

Scoundrel Days
The Swing Of Things
I've Been Losing You
October
Manhatten Skyline
Cry Wolf
We're Looking Fot The Whales
The Weight Of The Wind
Maybe, Maybe
Soft Rains Of April

If you have this album in your collection, dig it out and give it a spin!