Hunting High And Low

Inoffensive to the point of being boring.

Take On Me is an all-timer, the rest of the album didn’t do much for me.

It’s got the meme song Enjoyed some instrumentals But it’s not for me.

an old friend once told me that his fiancee's favorite band was a-ha and I laughed before realizing he was serious and they were planning a trip to europe to see them play live. this was like 2003. the marriage didn't work out but do you really want to marry someone whose favorite band's best album mostly just sounds like songs Duran Duran didn't think were good enough to release?

It was ok nothing grear

What you expect aha to sound like.take on me then a bunch of soft rock? 5/10

A-ha's debut showcases sharp synths, Harket's range and a wide variety in sounds, which convinces me of the quality of this record and it's significance in a period when synth pop went through it's highest commercial success. However, I have already had my fair share of this style when I finish listening to Take on Me. Train of Thought slows down the tempo gigantically, and Hunting High and Low is a ballad too cheesy for me. Something I experience quite a few times with synth pop, is that the vocal mixing is very inconsistent and causes a distracting experience between tracks. Because I enjoy the subtlety of the synths on the Blue Sky, I feel this record deserves a 2/5.

Definition of one hit wonder I guess. One hit on this album and the rest of the songs are garbage.

There's some great music on here - by which I mean "Take on Me", mostly. And some other good moments I guess, but it's a 37 minute album I'm impatient for it to end only halfway through.

Boring overall. Better synthpop exists (flock of seagulls anyone?)

1. ICONIC 10/10 2. pretty cool 6.75/10 3 gooood 7/10 4. kinda boring 4/10 5. i give up

Impossible to be a teen in the 80s, as I was, and not know 'Take On Me' (and have a grand ol' time attempting the high notes in the chorus!). Admittedly, I honestly don't remember ever hearing any other song by them. I just listened to this album now and I can say with all certainty I didn't miss anything. Just too 80s-synth-pop for me without enough in it to keep me interested. Was right for the time, I know, and it's not bad, it's just utterly dull to me as a listener.

So habe ich mir Depeche Mode immer vorgestellt, ohne es je gehört zu haben. Nix für mich.

Meh

Def an unnecessary one hit wonder album

Grand

There's a reason why you only know one song from this album...

Meh.

Obviously Take on Me is a classic. The Sun Always Shines on T.V. is decent but the rest of the album is pretty forgettable. 5/10

Definitely a classic, but I'm not a huge fan of their brand of synth pop. Too much MIDI, not enough substance.

I was never a fan of their radio hit(s), but I tried to give this a chance. Nope, tapping out - Same vapid '80s synth pop...

A couple good tracks. Most of it below average

piola

Sooooo 80s. Some very famous songs...but it‘s just not my thing.

The most typical dodgy 80s album

My hopes were high on seeing this and ‘Take on Me’ is a great opener. Track two wasn’t for me, but i was safe with track three i thought as i vaguely remember‘Hunting High and Low’ from my youth. Turns out i was wrong and sounded as dated and crap as the track before it. Other than ‘The Sun always shines on tv’ the rest of the album is just dated pap.

Of all the infinite things to do with the money and studio time this took to produce, this is what you make? Even “Take On Me” can’t save this one.

Not for me. 1/5

No

No emotional connection for me. Mwh

Not for me

Take On Me Hunting High and Low The Sun Always Shines on TV

Siempre digo que lo peor de ser hortera es serlo y no saberlo. Pues hay algo peor: ser hortera, no saberlo y además ser aburrido (una estrella porqué Take on me, yoquesé)

viva suecia

This is what the real 80’s sounded like. You may think us teens were listening to cool and moody Smiths and Joy Division albums. And we were but turn on the radio during the day or watch a music tv show (there was no MTV back then). It was wall to wall garbage like this. Or watch some horrid American movie starring Michael J Fox or Tom Cruise and there’d be a scene of them running or skateboarding or just being arrogant and drum beats and synth stabs would accompany them while Huey Lewis or Simon Le Bon or Morten Harket butchered meaningless lyrics. I had forgotten what a half-assed rotten singer aha had. Garbles every line then goes falsetto for now reason. The hits - Take on Me, Sun Shines on TV are as excruciating as I recall them. But there’s a real drop off from the hits to the rest of the tracks. Do you remember the Most Mysterious Song On the Internet? A song so unloved it go one play on German radio then forgotten, well it sounds like an Aha filler track.

Guy has impressive vocal range, the first song is a classic, and the rest can’t live up to those aspects and it’s generally a generic synth-pop blur of unmemorableness.

10/10

Wow, I did not expect this to suck so much

80's synth pop, everything I don't like 1/29/2026

++: And You Tell Me +: Train of Thought, Here I Stand and Face the Rain +-: Take On Me, The Blue Sky, Living a Boy's Adventure Tale, The Sun Always Shines on T.V. -: Hunting High and Low, Love Is Reason, I Dream Myself Alive 3,3/10

One hit wonder albums should not be on this list at all! Ugh. BTW Spotify has absolutely fucked this up using multiple sources for the tracks with different mastering levels. The singles are loud, the album is quiet. Take On Me is pretty all time as a single but the rest of this album is generic sounding and boring mid 80's new wave afterbirth.

A one-hit wonder new wave band from the 80s? Amazing. Put it on the list boys! As you know, the only thing that qualifies a new wave album's placement here is existence. Starts off with this catchy but annoying Take On Me. I've had to put up with hearing this song since the 90s when I started watching Much Music in Canada because VJs loved the music video. Then a bunch of whiney new wave sop follows. Even compared to other new wave this is terrible. To cap off the album, they did an instrumental version of their one hit, because I guess they realize that's the only reason people bought this album anyway. 1/5

a-ha glad i never bought the album. Cant beleive i wasted my time listening to this one

Take on me is an all timer! The rest of the album tho

I tried to give it a two, but the truth is I just didn’t like it.

Truly could not wait for this to be over

Made it through 2.5 songs, then started skipping around. True 80s synth schlock, I was too bored to finish. Take on Me is too overplayed to even appreciate on its own terms at this point.

1,3/5

That was awful.

One hit song, but not for me

Posted: No Hunting.

80s synth pop = boring and lifeless. This album fits the mold...

The sort of music I avoided at the time, and would still prefer to avoid now. One good tune and a lot of chaff.

They’re a one hit wonder and they don’t deserve to be on this list. And the one hit I didn’t like back then and I still don’t like.

Not my flute of chanpagne

Unfortunately a one-hit wonder.

1. take on me - 2 2. train - 1.5 3. hunting - 1.5 4. blue - 1 5. tale - 2 6. zun - 1.5 7. me - 1 8. love - 1 9. dream - 1 10. rain - 1.5

Maybe this is a you had to be there thing but I only liked "Take on Me"

This album sucks. Apart from 2 great songs the others are generic songs from the 90s era of that genre.

Knowing me, Elliot Roberts, knowing you, a-ha. A-ha! I hated this. Even Take on Me couldn’t save this album. It’s like an alien tried to make 80s music and did a shit impression of the worst parts.

Dull mainstream 80s synth pop from a glorified boy band. A waste of 37 minutes I’ll never get back.

Verschrikkelijk. Vindt Take on Me niet eens goed, dus dan is de rest ook gene vetten he

Apart from take on me every now and then. Blegh. This is the worst. Nothing the like to here.

Nah

Cheap empty plastic. Nothing here holds up after multiple listens. Take On Me is annoying.

1/5 yawn

Dorking away tweets from shite football clubs piss me off so much that I now hate A-ha for that sole reason

Not for me

Pretty lame outside of 'Take on me'

Highlight: Take On Me. In a nutshell: still looking The opening track is an eternal classic. The rest of the album was so-so. I found myself comparing the band to Simple Minds, Tears For Fears and ABC. Overall: 1/10

I got this the day Trump won a 2nd term. To be honest - Take On Me sounds like something he would play at one of his rallies and “white man dance” to. That is the high point of the record and it’s the first track. So. . .

I was very curious about this album, because who the heck doesn’t like “Take on Me”? But that was the first song and after that it was pretty much all downhill from there. Completely unremarkable, which was kind of disappointing. One of the songs was enjoyable, but I don’t remember which one 🤷‍♀️ Another album from this list that I won’t be listening to again 🙄

Ummm. I mean. Why?

Calling an album by a one-hit-wonder one that you must hear before you die is certainly a choice.

Ah, no.

Really??? Best things about this are the single, Take On Me & the excellent photo by Just Loomis used on the cover. But, sorry, I tried to listen to the whole album but fell asleep.

When I have to turn up and turn down the volume between songs, you know you mixed your album like shit 1.5/5

pish

Help! I'm trapped in the 80s! "Take on Me" is a classic. The rest is unlistenable. Epitome of a one-hit wonder.

They knew take on me was the hit. The only hit. They put it first to make it easy for people to play on vinyl. One good song.... one star.

Woof, barely made it through this. It's what teenagers in the 80's thought would be cool, and maybe it was at the time, but it has aged very poorly.

This is just.... not good. At all. Even take on me sounds so much worse than I remembered.

Not for me

One song take on me. Love the last of us version.

Dear God that was awful. After the first track (Take on Me) it got painful.

Known song was Take on Me I also liked The blue sky Didnt really like the synth 80's pop aspect of this album or band 1.5

I didn’t even like Take On Me

Orribile!

Take On Me is decent but the rest is pretty bad. I even like synth and couldn't get into this. The vocals absolutely suck.

I'll admit, I didn't hate it as much as I expected. Still, not into the synth pop. Take On Me reminds me of being a hungover 17 year old working at Sobeys on a Sunday morning.

The first song is a classic. I spent a fair amount of time listening to Take On Me trying to decide if I had never heard it before whether I would like it or not. I could never quite decide. Either way, I do enjoy that song and it makes for a great opener. The rest of this album is synth pop trash.

"Take on me" is quintessential 80s synth pop and likely the only reason this is on the list. That doesn't make it good and reconfirms that 1985 is possibly the worst year in music history

The song you know is the one you know for a reason.

I guess this album was big at the time, but I have always considered a-ha to be one hit wonders, and there's nothing on this record that changes that for me. Maybe it's that new wave is just so out of my wheelhouse that I don't understand the context, but it's not doing it for me. It seems strange to me that this is on this list.

My tried and tested formula for any album where I know the singles by heart (Achtung Baby or Eliminator for example) of not playing the singles and seeing how strong the rest of the album is has badly let me down here. I deeply dislike the singles and the album tracks do nothing to change my mind. Saving grace: at least it's quite a short album. But still shockingly mediocre (And You Tell Me is shockingly awful) and a model for everything that was bad about 80s production. There's no end of the badness here. (Not even started on the lyrics). Is this really the thousand and first best album ever made?

Take on me should have been a single

I liked the video when I was 9 years old. I think I had the 45. Couldn't get past the 2nd track 2/5

No thanks.

Not super into this.

This was fucking awful. God the 80s was awful.

A slog of a listen - songs tend to drone on without soul or purpose, meandering through with plenty of annoying synths and vocal accents but no substance to speak of

Made me listen to take on me unironically and not my favorite genre

Aburrido, escuchas la primera canción y después te echas a dormir una siesta.