By the time East of the Sun, West of the Moon was released in 1991 in the U.S. a-ha had faded from the limelight. I bought East/West spontaneously thinking that it might be interesting to hear from them since they had disappeared. I was blown away. I didn't think this band was more than a synth pop band. I didn't think they could evolve and play. After East/West I went back and bought Scoundrel Days and Stay on These Roads (already had Hunting High and Low). In 1993, a-ha released Memorial Beach which continued down the road they started with East/West. Of the 5 studio albums, East/West is their most original and daring. They changed their sound drastically and it worked. Not many bands can do that. I hear a-ha is releasing a new cd in parts of Europe in April 2000, and I am looking forward to hearing some new material. In 1995, Morten Harket released his solo album Wild Seed, which was okay. Hunting High and Low is just as good as East/West, but the latter is more original and interesting. It's a shame a-ha faded all together in America. Buy East/West and keep an open mind. You won't be disappointed, it's worth the money. It's just as good as Hunting, just in a different way.

It's beautiful, it's haunting - I'm no Norwegian patriot, not at all, but this is one of the greatest bands ever, and as mentioned above I personally think that this album is their absolute greatest effort ever. I agree with one of the viewers who hears a clear similarity between one of the best cover-songs ever done Crying In The Rain and the haunting, yes, Rolling Thunder. Perfectly written it seems for Harkets' melancholic and beautiful voice, it's one of a kind isn't it? You recognize it immediately, just like when you hear Sting, Phil Collins, Dave Matthews and other of the great personalities of rock and roll. If you haven't already heard this album, then give it a chanse. It contains almost everything a good album should : a little ruff rock and roll(Sycamore Leaves), sweet ballads (Waiting For Her) all combined with the twist of an epic "sound-picture" - it's only missing the typicall A-ha 80s' synth-sound, but are you like me you wont miss it - they sound grown on this album. Highly recommended.

East of the Sun, Crying in the Rain, and Slender Frame are the favs here. Those are great for driving through melancholy times, whether it's in a car through a thunderstorm, or when feeling low in spirits and need the music to commiserate with you. The rest of the tunes are decent in my humble opinion, thus the four star rating (though I wish four and a half was an option).

This seems to be my general opinion of a-ha's works. A few top-notch (must-have) tunes on each CD, with average material interspersed. Definitely in my top 25 favorite bands.

Though its title implied aimlessness, a-ha's focus on 1990's East of the Sun, West of the moon had, conversely, never been more clear. From the opening bars of Crying in the Rain (their first cover tune), it was apparent that the band's emphasis this time around was squarely on musicianship, and atmosphere.

This was a newer, darker a-ha, as-yet unglimpsed in their keyboard and sequencer dominated 80's work. Magne Furuholmen had traded much of the digital keyboards of the prior decade for piano and hammond organ, and Pal Waaktaar's acoustic and electric guitars, up until now used only as embellishments in the mixes, were brought to the fore. Along with these, vocalist Morten Harket began exploring his lower vocal registers, which proved as richly rewarding as the falsetto that had made a-ha a household name.

The album continues with the live favourite Early Morning, followed by I Call Your Name, which deals with the realities of married life (can pop-star heartthrobs get married? Yes, they can!) before giving us Slender Frame, a tune that covers more musical ground than any other song by the band up to that point. The first half of the album concludes with East of the Sun, possibly the first truly epic a-ha song, almost mythic in its scope and dimensions. Your brain may suggest you take an intermission at this point, but your ears won't want to.

And you'll be glad you didn't. Sycamore Leaves, a visceral and genuinely frightening re-imagining of the fairy tale scares found in 1986's Cry Wolf is a new height for a-ha, and Waiting For Her (ostensibly about a girl, though one wonders if this isn't a lament about a fickle music business) might just be the most bittersweet moment of the band's entire 25-year career.

Cold River (the band's first 'raunchy' number) follows, leading us to The Way We Talk, which, in an album of unexpected sounds, is by far the most unexpected of all. With its sparse, jazz-infused arrangement and first-time lead vocals by keyboardist Furuholmen, this short, tiny gem points in intriguing directions a-ha fans had, up until then, never dreamed of.

The album's penultimate track, Rolling Thunder, is a soaring, heart-melting ballad in the finest a-ha tradition. A pledge of enduring friendship and loyalty in the face of hard times, it is the perfect bookend to the album's opener, Crying in the Rain. The album closes with (Seemingly) Nonstop July, a subdued, somber epilogue devoid of reverb or studio trickery of any kind (apart from the distantly-heard ravings of a maniacal street preacher, lending an air of menace to the tune). A perfect album-ender, this is a song of reluctant endings, and uncertain futures. Thankfully, the future of a-ha was very bright indeed, and could not have been what it was without the spark of this enchanting, seminal album.

From the opening track, a heartbreaking and musically minimal cover of The Everly Brothers' "Crying in the Rain", you know that this is a decidedly different A-ha. Gone for the most part are all the synths, all the electronic sounds, all the non-organic instruments; A-ha officially broke into a more mature sound with EAST OF THE SUN WEST OF THE MOON. Morten Harket brings his dramatic, almost operatic voice; Pal Waaktaar brings his guitar and lyrical expertise, and Magne Furholmen brings the keyboards to vivid life and a complete, if not entirely great, album is created.

Some songs really miss the mark, such as the saccharine "Waiting For Her" and the adolescent sex fantasy "Cold River" do little to make a good impression, but most of the other songs strive to be not only good songs but songs that have more meaning than perhaps they did before. "Early Morning" is a dark, Doors-inspired jazz-riffing tune. "I Call Your Name" is pleasantly tuneful and poppy with a nice horn section for diversity. "Slender Frame" is a lingering melody of forbidden love. "Sycamore Leaves", ironically written (but never used) for David Lynch's cult TV series TWIN PEAKS, has some Golden Earring flavor but with a less percussive and decidedly darker song with a familiar riff. "The Way We Talk" is a brief torch song of sorts with surprising vocals from Mags. "Rolling Thunder" is the bookend to this album with "Crying in the Rain" as the opener; strong, loving, rainy. "(Seemingly) Nonstop July" is a precious and bizarre little coda to the album with a very minimal acoustic guitar/piano/vocal set that has, in its background, a kind of soapbox madman who screams about endless pain or endless pleasure. It's an extremely surreal little ditty, for lack of a better term.

The centerpiece of the album, though, is the title track, although it is simply titled "East of the Sun". This is where the trio firmly plants its feet and tells the world that it refuses to be defined by their previous efforts and the song becomes a whirling and transcendant orchestra of desolation, isolation, grief and longing. It's with this song, and some of the other songs on this album that the group starts to enter into a bit of U2's JOSHUA TREE album. It's not really similar in theme or sound, but it's more of a portrait of America as the band sees it as well as a formerly pigeon-holed group making the conscious decision to show that they have a more mature side without sacrificing their artistic bent; still a bit darker, still a bit cheeky, still fun, but just leaving the synths in the attic.

EAST OF THE SUN WEST OF THE MOON is hardly A-ha's greatest work, since there are only a few songs that have a truly lasting impression, but it's certainly a step into a larger world, and one I'm grateful that they took.

3.5/5 Stars.