Other Releases

| Take On Me Releases | The Swing Of Things Book / The Demo Tapes | Instant Karma / Make Some Noise

Take On Me Releases

East Germany: Following the immense success of the third release of "Take On Me" the G.D.R. came up with a 7" EP.
This unique edition features a group-shot (Magne, Morten and Pål (sitting)). The background is a dark shade of grey, while a-ha-logos have been scattered to both the left and right of the picture. Two yellow or light green larger logos stand out, while a lot of smaller logos are printed in a light grey colour. In the lower left corner the logo of the record label Amiga Quartett has been printed. Take On Me 4-Track German 7"
The reverse is plain grey with information on the track listings written in black. The label of the actual record is bright blue and all information is naturally written in German.
There is a mis-press which has the same "a-side" label on both sides of the disc, although the actual disc has been pressed correctly.

Russia: A light blue transparent 7" flexi disc featuring the tracks "Take On Me" and "I Dream Myself Alive" came 'free' with the Russian music magazine "Krugozor" (issue no. 7) in July 1987. The disc was one of six free flexi discs to come with the magazine. The two a-ha tracks are together on one side of one of the discs with two tracks by the artist Veneta Rangelova on the other side. One half of the disc is square shaped so that it could be attached to the centre of the magazine. The disc plays at 33 r.p.m. and is plain except some Russian text close to the centre which reads: "KRUGOZOR 33 TRIO "A-HA" Veneta Rangelova 11-12 7", but there is no track listing. Pages 11-12 in the magazine give details of the artists featured on the disc, a-ha are on the last page. There isn't a catalogue number, only a number (70461 ISSN 0130-2698) which seems to be the serial no of the magazine.

Russian Flexi Disc   Info page from magazine

UK: There is a mis-press Madonna release of "Borderline" which has a-ha's "Driftwood" recorded on the B-side rather than the correct B-side "Physical Attraction". The labels state that the disc plays Madonna on both sides, but the give-away is the a-ha catalogue number "W8846-B" scratched into the vinyl on the B-side.

USA: In America there is a "Back To Back Hits" 7" which features "Take On Me" (3:46) and the single version of "The Sun Always Shines On T.V." (4:42) (printed as 4:30 on the 7"). The 7" doesn't come with a picture sleeve. This 7" was released in 1985.

Take On Me / The Sun Always Shines On TV 7"   Take On Me USA CD in card sleeve

There is also a 5" "CD Back Trax" single which features the same tracks as the 7". It is a picture CD with yellow, silver, blue and green graphics in the middle of the disc while `the outside' is black with 'record effect' in silver. This CD comes in a plain brown cardboard wallet sleeve with "CD BACK trax" written on it in black. This "Back Trax" release is also available on cassette which comes in a card slip case. The front of the sleeve features a green-tone picture of some recording equipment. A-HA is printed in black letters at the top with "Take On Me" and "The Sun Always Shines On T.V." printed in black letters below. Between the two track titles is a large yellow "+" symbol. Back Trax is printed in black and white at the bottom of the sleeve. A black sticker on the front mentions that the release is "Also available as a CD single". The reverse of the sleeve shows a similar picture, but purple toned. The tracks are printed in black in a similar format to that on the front sleeve. The Back Trax and WB logos are printed at the top with additional track and copyright information lower down. The "Back Trax" range was released in 1993. The cassette itself is black with white text with one track on each side (Take On Me on Side 1 and The Sun Always Shines On T.V. on Side 2).

Take On Me USA Cassette in card sleeve (front)   Take On Me USA Cassette in card sleeve (reverse)

7"

Germany EP Take On Me / Train Of Thought / The Sun Always Shines On T.V. / And You Tell Me 5 56 147
Russia flexi Take On Me / I Dream Myself Alive // 2 tracks by Veneta Rangelova /
USA   Take On Me / The Sun Always Shines On T.V. 7-21999
UK   Madonna - Borderline / a-ha - The Sun Always Shines On T.V. W9260

CD

USA Take On Me / The Sun Always Shines On T.V. 9 21999-2

Cassette

USA Take On Me // The Sun Always Shines On T.V. 9 21999-4

The Swing Of Things Book /
The Demo Tapes

Norway: A book on a-ha's career (The Swing Of Things) by Jan Omdahl was released in Norway on 21st October 2004. It is written in Norwegian and tells the story of the last 20 years of a-ha and features new pictures and stories never before been told in nearly 400 pages.

The Swing Of Things Book The cover of the book is black with a picture of three monkies, one with hands on his eyes, one with hands on mouth and one with hands on ears (depiciting the saying "See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil"). One of each of the letters spelling "AHA" are written on the bellies of the monkies. The title of the book is printed in white above.

The Swing Of Things Book (back cover)   The Swing Of Things Book sticker

A yellow sticker on the front of the book reads "Inneholder CD med 8 uutgitte a-ha-låter! Take On Me The Swing Of Things m.fl.i demoversjon" with "Historier du aldri har lest. Musikk du aldri har hørt. Bilder du aldri har sett." (The stories you have never read. The pictures you have never seen.) printed in orange around the outside.

The Demo Tapes The book includes a unique CD "The Demo Tapes" with 12 early recordings by the band which have never before been released. The tracks include demos and early versions of released tracks plus an "extra surprise". The disc is of similar design to the book featuring the three monkies. The CD has a white rim on which the track list has been printed.

The Demo Tapes - with Paul's name corrected

Early pressings of the CD have Paul's surname spelt incorrectly as "Waktaar-Savoy", this was later corrected.

Tracks: Take On Me (demo) / Presenting Lily Mars / Dot the I / Days On End / The Love Goodbye / Monday Mourning / Never Never / Så blåser det på jorden / Go To Sleep / Hunting High and Low / I’ve Been Losing You / The Swing Of Things (demo) / extra surprise!

This book was translated into English and sold via www.a-ha.com from November 2004(?). Although similar to the Norwegian version, there are some differences in the text and pictures. Also, the title is printed as "The Swing Of Things Twenty Years With a-ha" on the spine and it doesn't have a sticker on the front cover. The English book comes with the same demo CD (complete with the Waktar spelling mistake).

CD

Norway The Demo Tapes /

Instant Karma - The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur / Make Some Noise - The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur (25.06.07)

a-ha's cover version of the John Lennon song "#9 Dream" (4:07) is included on Amnesty International's compilation of the songs of John Lennon "Instant Karma - The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur". The album was released internationally on 25 June 2007 and was available for download from 11 June. The 2-CD set was released under the title "Instant Karma - The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur" in the UK, USA and Canada. Elsewhere, the album was released under the title "Make Some Noise- The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur".

Note: The USA version does not include a-ha's cover of "#9 Dream", The Cure's "Love", The Raveonettes "One Day At A Time", Eskimo Joe's "Mind Games", Duran Duran's "Instant Karma" or Tokio Hotel's "Instant Karma"but instead includes Lonely Boys' "Whatever Gets You Through The Night".

The cover of both versions of this album is white with John Lennon's face and the title in red, yellow and green shades. The UK edition (other versions TBC) comes in a slimline card digi-pak. It comes with an 8 page booklet with a note from Yoko Ono, information about Darfur, Amnesty International and track information. The discs are silver with titles in red, green and black.

Make Some Noise / Instant Karma

Instant Karma UK track list:

Disc 1:
1. U2 - Instant Karma
2. R.E.M. - #9 Dream
3. Christina Aguilera - Mother
4. Aerosmith featuring Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars - Give Peace A Chance
5. Lenny Kravitz - Cold Turkey
6. The Cure - Love
7. Corinne Bailey Rae - I'm Losing You
8. Jakob Dylan featuring Dhani Harrison - Gimme Some Truth
9. Jackson Browne - Oh, My Love
10. Raveonettes - One Day At A Time
11. Avril Lavigne - Imagine
12. Big & Rich - Nobody Told Me
13. Eskimo Joe - Mind Games
14. Youssou N'Dour - Jealous Guy

Disc 2:
1. Green Day - Working Class Hero
2. Black Eyed Peas - Power to the People
3. Jack Johnson - Imagine
4. Ben Harper - Beautiful Boy
5. Snow Patrol - Isolation
6. Matisyahu - Watching the Wheels
7. The Postal Service - Grow Old With Me
8. Jaguares - Gimme Some Truth
9. The Flaming Lips - (Just Like) Starting Over
10. Jack's Mannequin featuring Mick Fleetwood - God
11. Duran Duran - Instant Karma
12. a-ha - #9 Dream
13. Tokio Hotel - Instant Karma
14. Regina Spektor - Real Love

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