a-ha - East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Considerably Less Synth, More Traditional Rock-Oriented 1991 Release from the Norwegian Trio that Brought You the 1985 Hit 'Take on Me'. crying in the Rain – an Everly Brothers Top-20 Hit – is Included. Album Details

Over Looked CD

This is a much over looked gem of a CD that one should not pass by.
Filled with great vocals and a very mature sound for pop sensation
a-ha, this one is sure to satisfy. Give this a try and be suprised! December 1, 2008

Good Album

One of A-ha's best. I can listen to this album over and over, that's what it is. But note to pop music lovers, you might need to play the album more than 10 times before you finally get into it. August 4, 2008

Progression

East of the Sun/West of the Moon and Memorial Beach are the two CDs that alot of people who are diehard a-ha pop music fans seem to loath. I have been an a-ha fan from the beginning and I just recently bought these two albums. I didn't know what I was missing out on, I wish that I had bought them sooner. Yeah this is a different sound than the synth pop of the 80's, I would characterize these two albums as Progessive Rock instead of pop. ESWM sounds like an evolving both of music and songwriting. ESWM and MB albums grew on me quickly and are quickly becoming my favorites. Some have stated that they didn't like these two albums because they have a darker feel, I say that's a good thing. They are edgy and fresh, even now. The same can't be said about Analogue, what a collosal failure! May 7, 2008

good not better

than their previous effort. It's a sudden change in direction for them, it seems this cd is more low key and eclectic which is okay for some folks. I generally don't mind it but i didnt feel that same connection that i did to previous efforts (Hunting High and Low and their first effort). East of the Sun is by no means a bad cd, it has a few tracks that i did enjoy like:

Early Morning
Waiting for Her
Rolling Thunder
Crying In The Rain

It's enough to give 4 stars for this cd but the group needs some extra oomph in their next effort for me to warrant another cd purchase. Perhaps more listens to this one and i'll like it a tad bit more we'll see. But for now East of the Sun, West of the Moon is a slighly above average purchase for a-ha fans. For those that are new to the group, you might want to try their first cd or Hunting High and Low (which i believe are better). April 8, 2008

the end of an era in A-ha's music

Luis Mejia (son)- Aha's works of the 80's were excellent, some were lazy too but this album is an inspiration of sweet sounds, beautiful melodies and sets at the greatest state of pop.

Being released in 1992, it still contains the rythms that have always characterized A-ha. The ballads are amazing and the lyrics are maybe the best that Paul Savoy have written. The use of keyboards of A-ha keeps being a wonder, and even when in they use mainly a synthesizer amog all the songs, they're still the dominant musical feature.

Within the songs, ballads like Crying In The Rain, Rolling Thunder, Slender Frame and the title track are the best content in the album, being soft, sensitive and delicate. Another great feature is the pop sound keyboard applied in the fast tracks such as Sycamore Leaves and Cold River, which applies also excellent guitars by Paul. I Call Your Name and Early Morning are nice pop ballads but in times they seem out of tune. The Way We Talk is a song for staying shock for the new style of "ruining an album just at the end". Now here is where experience enters among listeners, even before spliting, they were just starting to try some alternative sounds, such as in (Seemingly) Non Stop July, and as a person hears the new century albums, one notices the brutal change.

When it comes to the bad aspects I can say a lot, too. First of all it isn't new for A-ha to try to enchant the audience with beautiful choruses for hiding the not-so-good structure of the songs. Also they've stayed in the same musical mood since Stay On These Roads, the structure of these songs and sound patterns can be characterized in their past 4 albums.

In conclusion, even with it's failures, it's excellent for we, the fan audience and also for the new listeners for identify their sounds and create ideas. June 30, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...