Hunting High and Low

A couple of great singles on here, but the rest is completely forgettable.

Surprising depth from a one hit wonder. The faster songs were much more enjoyable than the ballads. 2.5/5

pish

I remember this album! I’m surprised it’s on this list. They did have a few more songs, but will always be remembered for Take on Me and “that video”

If there’s any album on this list that is here off the back of one song, it’s this one. “Take On Me” is an undeniably excellent (and iconic) song. Nothing else on the album really reaches its heights. The other tracks are well produced and the vocals are nice, but everything else feels like, “Yup, that definitely sounds like it’s from the 80s.”

I also struggled to finish this album—I got it two weeks ago. After a few tracks, I’d always get bored and feel ready to move on to something else. On my third attempt to complete it, I finally did. And that’s crazy, because it’s only 37 minutes long.

Take on Me is a belter of a tune!

Some of the other songs are a bit generic and ehh. Others pop (like The Sun Always Shines on T.V). Overall it's quite nice, but it's only Take on Me that's worth revisiting.

Take On Me is a banger, that's for sure. But the rest of the album has nothing that grabbed me as something I had to hear. It's fine, nothing I wanted to turn off either, but nothing I'm going to put on again (except for Take On Me)

Melkein tekis mieli antaa nelonen mut ei ihan taivu. Take on me:n lisäksi muitakin hyviä hittejä, erityisesti mahtipontisuudessaan upea the sun always shines on t.v. pari heikompaa vetoa valitettavasti laskee arvosanaksi 3/5

Take On Me is a transcendant song, and the rest of the album is very solid 80's synth pop. One of the best examples. I just don't much care for 80's synth pop, so four stars.

Before today, the only song by a-ha that I was familiar with was Take On Me (the first song on this album).

a-ha are a Norwegian synth pop band, that rose to fame with the song and video for Take On Me. I remember the sketched music video well. After the success of that song, it seemed like, on this side of the pond at least, the band kind of fell off of the face of the earth. Interestingly though, there were 5 singles released off of this album in Europe (Take On Me, The Sun Always Shines On T.V., Hunting High and Low, Love Is Reason, and Train of Thought), and they are actually still actively making music and touring over there as well (latest album release was 2022).

This album is full of 80's nostalgia. Not because I was familiar with all the songs, but because all of the songs had that signature 80's heavy synthesized sound, with electric drum machines and synthesizers in the forefront. Aside from the 5 singles mentioned above, the other songs were good, but felt a bit like filler (didn't really stand out).

I was hoping that another of their songs would impress me enough to topple Take On Me from my "favourite song" slot, and that is what The Sun Always Shines On T.V. did. Not that I don't like Take On Me, but it just got played to death, so it lost a lot of its grandeur over the years of repetition. The Sun Always Shines On T.V. starts off slow, but is a real rockin' 80's pop song.

Overall, not a bad record. Probably not something I would revisit, but I can see how it may have been influential in the 80's.

Favourite songs: The Sun Always Shines On T.V., Take On Me, Love Is Reason, Hunting High and Low

Least favourite songs: And You Tell Me

3/5

80’s rubbish, maybe being harsh but not my thing. Take on me saves the album getting a 1.

Take On Me will always be great, the rest felt bland.

OK, so you have to appreciate this album, because it contains 'Take on Me', which you either enjoy ironically or you loved because of the music video.

Beyond that, it's a boy and his synthesizer, and if that's all it is then I'd rather be listening to Wesley Willis.

This starts with Take On Me? Wow that's a high mark to keep up. Hunting High and Low is deceptively complex. Every time I seem to wane interest in the sound, there is a new thing thrown in.

Aparte del bombazo de "Take on Me" hay otras canciones interesantes como "The Sun always shine on T.V.". En realidad veo más influencias de este disco en bandas recientes de lo que pensaba (White Lies o Editors). En algunas canciones el uso de los sintetizadores ha envejecido muy mal.

Better and more varied than expected.

Hunting High & Low is very much a mid-80s album. Accessible synth-pop made at a time when it was a commercially safe choice.

Nevertheless this album has two things that set it a little apart:
Firstly, the beautifully emotional voice of Harket and secondly, the melancholic tone of many of the songs.

It ensures that this album goes just a little deeper than many of its contemporaries. And even though there is really nothing wrong with the songwriting, it really does have the 80's issues of filler sounds, the need to fill up silences with an extra synth-trumpet, drumcomputer-loop and background violin. Especially clear in the song Hunting High And Low.

Solid Debut for this Norwegian Band and I'm glad to have learned about songs like The Blue Sky and Here I Stand And Face The Rain

I have a soft spot for synth pop. The dynamics on this album give my eardrums a workout. Nothing really tops "Take On Me" but the whole thing brings me back to the sound of my childhood. I had no idea they were Norwegian.

If someone came out with an album that sounded just like this today, with slightly more contemporary lyrics, people would flip out over it and say it was amazing. We need a synth pop revival on par with the garage rock revival of the early 2000s.

Very 80s. I'd heard Take on Me of course but nothing else to my knowledge. Definitely sounds like the Take on Me band.