A-Ha
Lifelines

Distributed by
WEA

• Year: 2002
• Rating: 7/10
• Cat. No: 0927-448492

Track listing:

1. Lifelines
2. You Wanted More
3. Forever Not Yours
4. There's A Reason For It
5. Time & Again
6. Did Anyone Approach You?
7. Afternoon High
8. Oranges On Appletrees
9. A Little Bit
10. Less Than Pure
11. Turn The Lights Down
12. Cannot Hide
13. White Canvas
14. Dragonfly
15. Solace

Having reconvened in 2000 for the Minor Earth Major Sky album, A-Ha have wasted little time in consolidating their status as a band of genuine quality, in for the long haul despite lazy pidgeonholing by unenlightened souls as an "Eighties" act.

Lifelines is a varied assortment of styles and sounds - first single (outside the UK, that is) Forever Not Yours recalls the synth-oriented trappings of A-Ha's early work, but it's almost a concession to commercial expectations than any sign that the band aim to fully rekindle the aura of past glories. Truth be told, the track is not especially inspired in comparison to those mid-80s gems, and the highlights on Lifelines possess a much warmer, natural appeal.

The ethereal beauty to which so many a-ha songs have effortlessly aspired continues to infuse their slower songs. Time & Again, Turn The Lights Down, Dragonfly and Solace are as good as anything they've done previously, while the title track is a mid-tempo grower.

However, as has been the case since the keyboards and drum machines were mostly jettisoned for 1990's East Of The Sun West Of The Moon, when A-Ha go uptempo these days the results can be rather dirgelike and blighted by a lack of finesse. Lifelines' sequencing further hampers matters by slotting in an excess of similar-sounding tracks in the middle section of the album, making the 60 minutes running time feel like a whole lot longer.

15 songs is at least a handful too many, but that's more the current norm than the 10 or 11-track album which A-Ha and most other acts used to offer up. The reduction of singles-per-album across the board (many never even getting a UK release anymore) invariably leaves the extra material, which would once have appeared on B-sides, for inclusion on the album itself.

Overall, Lifelines won't reverse their steadily declining chart fortunes, or win them too many new fans. It will please their existing admirers, and adds a few minor classics to the a-ha CV.

Review copyright © Liam Carey, 2002.