a-ha Albums 1988-89

Stay On These Roads (03.05.88)

The album was produced by Alan Tarney. The front cover was blue with a picture of a-ha, broken glass and string. It is released on CD, LP and cassette.

The back of the LP is white with "There's never a forever thing" written down the left side on a blue strip. There is also a small colour picture of a butterfly resting on the palm of a hand and the tracks written in blue. The inner sleeve is white with a large blue and white band picture down one side and some of the song words down the other, the other side has a smaller blue and white band picture and the rest of the song words. The a-side of the record label is white with the tracks on both sides written in blue on half of the label and the picture of a butterfly on a hand on the other half. The b-side of the label has just the colour picture of the butterfly in hand , blue "a-ha" logo and title in white.

The CD has a booklet insert, the front is like the LP but has "a digital recording" printed along the bottom, the booklet contains the lyrics and 3 black and white a-ha pictures. The back of the booklet is plain blue with "There's never a forever thing" written down one side. The reverse of the CD is white with blue titles and a colour picture of a hand holding a butterfly. The CD is silver with black titles.

There is also a misprint of the CD-booklet which has 2 blank pages with the lyrics for "The Living Daylights", "There's Never A Forever Thing", "Out Of Blue Comes Green" and "You Are The One".

There is also a limited edition picture CD which comes with a unique sleeve. The front of the CD booklet is white with a group shot (Morten, Pål and Mags) with each of the band members holding a black guitar. The pink a-ha-logo is positioned in the middle at the top of the sleeve with the title in blue written across the logo. Below the title it reads "limited edition picture disc a digital recording" in small black letters.

The reverse of the booklet is white with the track listing written in small blue letters in the centre and catalogue number in the top right hand corner. The rest of the CD booklet is the same as that of the regular release.

The CD itself is white with a colour shot of the band members with their guitars, taken at the same photo session as the picture on the front, in the top half of the disc. The bottom half of the disc features the pink a-ha-logo with the blue title written across it and a track listing in black underneath. The back insert of the CD is the same as the regular release.

Later pressings of the CD and LP had sleeves similar to the USA release (see below). The catalogue numbers are also printed in a slightly different way.

The German made cassette has front cover as the LP but fuller length with "Stay On These Roads" written at the bottom. The insert folds out with butterfly picture and some of the song words, the other side has a pale grey and white a-ha picture behind the rest of the song words. The spine of the insert is blue with the picture of the butterfly and the hand in the background plus blue and black text. The cassette is transparent with grey piece inside and features white text.

There is an "AIWA" 3 track album sampler "TapetoTape" cassette. It cmes with a light blue insert with the "TapetoTape" logo in black at the top of the tracks (album versions of "Stay On These Roads", "The Blood That Moves The Body" and "Touchy!") type printed below. "CHROME - 23.03.88" is also printed on the sleeve. The cassette itself is a regular black TDK SA 60 with the songs recorded on side A only. Side A of the cassette has a light blue label over the top of the TDK label with "A-HA (3 tracks)", "TapetoTape" logo and an address type printed in black.

Tracks: Stay On These Roads (4:44) / The Blood That Moves The Body(4:05) / Touchy! (4:31) / This Alone Is Love (5:13) / Hurry Home (4:34) // The Living Daylights (4:46) / There's Never A Forever Thing (2:49) / Out Of Blue Comes Green (6:40) / You Are The One (3:48) / You'll End Up Crying (2:06).

Variations

Argentina: The titles are printed in Spanish as "Quedate En Estos Caminos". The sleeve of the cassette is black with the picture 'album cover picture' printed at the top of the sleeve. The titles are printed in white at the bottom left hand side of the sleeve.

Germany: Limited numbers of the LP came with a free band poster. It is a 55cm x 55cm black and white poster of the band members, wearing leather jackets and standing in front of an old fashioned silver microphone - the same poster which came with limited numbers of the 12" single of "Stay On These Roads".

Indonesia: The cassette has a similar cover to the European release and folds out to reveal the song lyrics. At the bottom of the front cover are the words "HANYA UNTUK DIJUAL DI INDONESIA" in white. The regular U.S. catalogue number can be seen at the bottom of the spine and on the cassette, but there is also another number "W0103-8" printed at the top of the spine. The actual cassette is blue with white text.

Japan: There were two different CD albums of "Stay On These Roads" available in Japan. The regular release comes with a white obi strip with blue and black text. There also exists a "24K" gold CD edition which has a black obi strip with gold spine. The text is printed in gold, black and white letters. The disc is gold with black text, red logo and red trim around the edge (similar to the discs of the Japanese club CD releases). The CD tray is also gold/ brown in colour.

The cassette has a similar sleeve to the CD album, but the bottom section of the sleeve is white with blue a-ha logo and black titles. Text on the fold out insert and spine of the cassette is also printed in blue and black text. The reverse of the insert is white with black and white album adverts plus track listing in Japanese. The cassette is white with black labels and white text.

The obi strip of the LP features part of the album cover picture, so that when the obi is in place, none of the cover picture is 'missing'. The a-ha logo is printed in large blue letters down the obi with the titles in white and grey.

Early pressings of the LP, CD and cassette come with a limited edition Norwegian flag "Official Fan" cloth sticker and picture lyric sheet.

Korea:
Additional text is printed in the bottom left hand corner of the sleeve. There is also an LP which has a purple toned sleeve. This LP is thought to be unofficial.

The Philippines: The LP has a slightly discoloured front cover and has PARI-MEMBER approved signs on the labels and back cover. It doesn't come with inserts.

Road Club (08.1988)

The cover of this Japanese only mini album has a group studio picture with a yellow and pink title logo on a blue background. The CD insert folds out with the lyrics, and individual pictures of the 3 band members (Magne being on the back of the insert). The CD comes with a white obi strip with red, blue and black text.

The CD features a group shot as found on the UK 12" picture disc of "The Blood That Moves The Body".

 

There are 2 slightly different obi-strips for this mini Japanese album. The differences are very subtle - one has three lines of text at the top of the obi, whilst the other has two. The one with 3 lines of text has 2 different prices printed at the bottom of the spine, the other has just one price. Otherwise these releases seem to be exactly the same with same catalogue numbers.

Tracks:The Blood That Moves The Body (Extended Version) (5:26) / Take On Me (Extended Version) (4:51) / Stay On These Roads (Extended Version) (6:14) / Hunting High And Low (Extended Remix) (6:03) / Soft Rains Of April (Original Mix) (3:15)

CD

On Tour In Brazil (1989)

This Brazilian only release has a colour photo cover of the band. The reverse of the LP is blue with three small a-ha pictures. It comes with an LP-sized fold-out card with the picture from the cover and a picture of Morten holding a cup and a picture of Pål and Magne sitting on reels inside. The reverse features pictures of the three previous albums.

The CD edition is quite rare. It has a similar cover to the LP with the reverse of the front insert is similar to the fold-out card which comes with the LP. The back insert is light blue with a mirror image of the large a-ha logo used on the front sleeve on the left hand side. The track list is printed in black down the centre and there is even a gap between "Maybe Maybe" and "Hunting High And Low" indicating that it uses the same artwork as the LP. The disc is plain with black text. The a-ha logo and title are at the top, with the track list on the right hand side and record company information on the left hand side.

There are a very limited number of test pressings which have the same catalogue number. They come with picture sleeve and fold-out poster. The disc label is almost plain white disc label with a small amount of text.

This album was also available on cassette. The cover is blue with the band shot in the centre with a white border. Above the picture, the a-ha logo and title are printed in black. The tracks are listed on the flap which folds inside the cassette box. The cassette itself is white with black text.

Tracks: You Are The One (3:48) / Cry Wolf (4:05) / I've Been Losing You (4:24) / Train Of Thought (4:12) / Maybe Maybe (2:34) // Hunting High And Low (3:43) / Scoundrel Days (3:56) / Take On Me (3:47) / The Sun Always Shines On TV (5:06) / October (3:48)

Note: The track "Maybe Maybe" is credited to Mags Waaktaar!

LP

CD

Cassette