a-ha Albums 2002 - 2003

Lifelines (29.04.02)

a-ha's new album "Lifelines" was released in many European countries on 29th April (24th April in Japan / 26th April in Belgium / 27th April in Norway / 7th May in France / 9th May in Sweden / 10th May in Italy / 24th May in Switzerland / 10th June in UK / 14th May in Canada). It was released on both CD and cassette. The cover of this 15 track album is red with white arch-ways along the bottom which almost look like the claws of a large red animal! The a-ha logo in yellow is printed in the middle of the sleeve with the title in white underneath.

The 10 page booklet features individual black and white shots of the band members and two group shots, one close up (Magne, Paul and Morten), the other of them sitting (separately) in a theatre. The booklet also features abstract shots of a car, small TV on a chair, telegraph pole, telephone, the inside of an underground train, water, a restaurant and a lamp. The lyrics are printed over the top of some of the photographs. The disc is white with a black and white emblem of a flower. The title is printed in white on a black background strip on the left hand side of the disc. Some copies of the album have extremely glossy CD booklets!

Tracks: Lifelines (4:17) / You Wanted More (3:39) / Forever Not Yours (4:06) / There's A Reason For It (4:21) / Time And Again (5:03) / Did Anyone Approach You? (4:10) / Afternoon High (4:30) / Oranges On Appletrees (4:16) // A Little Bit (4:10) / Less Than Pure (4:13) / Turn The Lights Down (4:14) / Cannot Hide (3:19) / White Canvas (3:27) / Dragonfly (3:19) / Solace (4:20)

The album features Per Lindvall on drums (tracks 1,2,3,7,8,9,10,11,13,14 and 15), Sven Lindvall on bass (tracks 1,2,3,7,8,11,13 and 14), Jørun Bøgeberg on bass (tracks 9 and 10), Anneli Drecker on backing vocals (Tracks 1 and 11) plus additional instruments by Martin Landquist (Tracks 2,12 and 13) and Beats by Attila (Track 12). The album was produced by Martin Landquist (tracks 1,2,3,11,12,13), Stephen Hague (tracks 1,2,3,11), Ian Caple (tracks 4,9,10,15) Paul Waaktaar Savoy (track 5), Tore Johansson (track 6), Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (tracks 7,8,14). The following people were involved in the song writing: Magne Furuholmen (tracks 1.2,3,8,11,13,14,15), Morten Harket (tracks 2,3,8,11,12), Paul Waaktaar Savoy (tracks 4,5,67,9,10,), Ole Sverre Olsen (tracks 3,12) and Martin Landquist (track 12). The album was mixed by Michael Brauer except track 8 by Stephen Hague and Bob Kraushaar; track 11 by Stephen Hague; track 12 by Carl Michael Herlofsson and track 14 by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley.

Selected Norwegian record stores gave away free gifts with the first sold copies of the album. The free 'gifts' included a red a-ha football shirt, a poster and the Homecoming Live at Vallhall DVD. Shops opened at midnight on Friday 26th April to start selling the new album!

 

There is a promo CD of "Lifelines" which comes with a text printed front insert and without a back insert. The disc is plain with "a-ha lifelines" printed in black letters at the top. Also, Dragonfly is printed incorrectly as "Dragon Fly". It doesn't have a catalogue number.

A similar promo was available in the UK, but the title is printed incorrectly as "Lifeline", the year as 2000 and the tracks are recorded in a different order. It also features the Hague mix of "You Wanted More" (3:38) which can be found on the "Lifelines" single.

The regular German made album of Lifelines was also used as a promo in the UK, it comes with a sticker on the reverse of the disc with information and contact details.

Another promo CD of lifelines comes in a blue and white wea printed sleeve. The top third of the sleeve is white with small blue "wea"-logos while the bottom section is blue with one large white "wea"-logo in the centre. "a-ha" is printed in black letters inside a white strip with the title in white letters on a black strip directly underneath. The tracks are listed in black in the bottom section of the sleeve while the catalogue number and promo details are in black and white letters on respectively white and black strips. The disc is of similar design to the cover with the bottom section blue with black text and the top section with small blue wea logos. This promo CD was made in Germany, but is believed to have been produced for the Norwegian market. The album claims to feature the "NY Mix II" of Forever Not Yours (track 3), but it is actually the same mix as the regular edition.

 

The German made cassette of "Lifelines" has a similar cover to the CD release with fold-out sleeve. Tracks 1 to 8 are one side one of the cassette. The cassette was not widely available across Europe.

There is also a promo cassette of Lifelines which comes in a white paper title sleeve. The tracks are printed in two columns in the middle of the sleeve with the title above. At the bottom of the sleeve the text the following text is printed: "P+C2001 WEA Records Germany / For Promotion Use Only". The WEA logo is printed in the bottom right hand corner. The cassette itself is transparent with white labels on which black text is printed.

Variations

Holland: The promo CD comes with a white Warner Music Benelux back sleeve with track list printed down the middle in black text. It doesn't come with a front sleeve. The disc is white with the title printed in black letters at the top and the track listing at the bottom.

 

Japan: The Japanese release has 3 bonus tracks compared with the European release: Differences (Original demo) (2:47) / Hunting High And Low (live in Oslo) (7:07) / Manhattan Skyline (live in Oslo) (6:14) plus a Japanese lyric insert with a message to the Japanese fans. It comes with a red obi strip with Japanese titles in yellow and white. The CD booklet is almost identical to the European release, but the paper used is much less glossy!

 

Russia: There was a Special Russian Edition CD which features an exclusive "Introduction" track (0:11) plus bonus tracks: Minor Earth, Major Sky (ATB Mix) (5:47) and Velvet (De-Phazz Mix) (3:47).

 

South Africa: The South African release is similar to the European release. The album was distributed by GALLO.

USA: There is a US Warner-Chappell pre-release 15-track CD-R acetate of Lifelines. The paper front cover is light blue with a large blue "WARNER/CHAPPELL" logo in the centre. The paper back sleeve is also light blue and has a large faded "WARNER/CHAPPELL" logo in the centre. The track list is printed over the logo. Track 3. "Forever Not Yours" is marked as "1st single". The disc has a printed paper label on it with contact information plus "Warner-Chappell" logo.

CD

Cassette

a-ha Tour Brasil - Agosto 2002 (08.02)

This rare Brazilian promo only 5-track sampler CD was issued in Brazil to promote the August 2002. It features four album tracks (Forever Not Yours (4:06) / Take On Me (3:46) / You are The One (3:48) / Crying In The Rain (4:25)) plus a live version of "Hunting High And Low" (7:07) recorded in Oslo in 2000. It comes in a stickered slimline jewel case with custom title sleeve and printed disc. The cover is dark red with the a-ha logo in white across the centre and title in black below.

How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head a-ha live (24.03.03)

a-ha released their first live album on 24th March 2003 in Germany, Norway, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Sweden. The album was also released in Belgium (25th March), France (25th March) and Switzerland (21st March). The title of the live album is a line from a-ha's song "The Swing Of Things". It was recorded during the 2002 "Lifelines" world tour and is completely live with no over-dubs. The last 6 weeks of the tour were recorded and the best quality recordings were chosen (see below for details).

There were three different versions of the album released. The regular release is a single 14-track CD. There were also two double versions which contain the regular album plus a bonus disc with 6 live tracks and behind-the-scenes footage filmed by Lauren Savoy (approx. 9 minutes long). One of the double albums came in a limited edition digi-pak with a poster.

The cover of the album features a photograph of a seal in water by photographer Per Maning. "How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head" is printed in white capital letters along the top of the sleeve, with "a-ha" and "live" in respectively red and black letters.

On the outer wrapping of the digi-pak, there is a red sticker with the text "a-ha ALL THE HITS LIVE feat The Sun Always Shines On TV, Summer Moved On, Forever Not Yours, Take On Me, Inc. Poster". There is also a sticker indicating that the CD is copy protected. The digi-pak folds out both sides to reveal the 2 CDs in the centre. Behind the CDs is a live shot of the band on stage at Ullevaal in Oslo (taken from the back of the stage, behind Magne) and the crowd which can be seen in part through the transparent CD trays.

The regular double album comes in a slim-line jewelcase. Some of the jewelcases come with a red sticker similar to that found on the digipak, but without the text relating to the free poster. There is also a "Copy Protected sticker". The CD booklet, discs and back sleeve are similar to that of the digipak release, but there is no free poster included.

The regular single album has similar packaging compared to the double album, but doesn't include the second bonus disc.