A-ha vinyl reissues due in May

A-ha kick off their 30th anniversary celebrations late in May with vinyl reissues of their first two albums Hunting High and Low (1985) and Scoundrel Days (1986).

These have been remastered by Ron McMaster at Capitol Studios and are pressed on 180gm black vinyl. Both releases will include a download code for an MP3 versions of the album.

No word on the packaging, although one would expect Rhino to replicate the originals with the spot varnishing used on Hunting High and Low and the Scoundrel Days embossed sleeve (both these elements were present on the digipack versions of the 2010 deluxe reissues).

Surprisingly, neither album made it to number one on the UK charts back in the day, both stalling at number two, as did Take On Me, a single often assumed to be a UK number one (only The Sun Always Shines On TV got to the top spot in Britain).

For some reason both of these vinyl reissues are currently very expensive on Amazon UK. Those prices will inevitably come down, however they are available for around £15 apiece now on Amazon Germany.

Hunting High and Low has been promised as a super deluxe edition box set in 2015, but unless some other announcement is imminent, it looks like the vinyl reissue is happening ahead of the box set, rather than simultaneously. On the band’s Facebook page we are promised “more information about these and other vinyl reissues in the coming months”, so perhaps we will see vinyl editions of Stay On These Roads and the subsequent albums along with the forthcoming deluxe CD reissues that we already know about.

Hunting High and Low and Scoundrel Days are reissued on vinyl 25 May 2015

• • UK Pre-order: Hunting High And Low [Vinyl LP]
• • GERMANY Pre-order: Hunting High and Low [Vinyl LP] *best price

• • UK Pre-order: Scoundrel Days [VINYL]
• • GERMANY Pre-order: Scoundrel Days [Vinyl LP] *best price

Track listings

Hunting High and Low

1. Take on Me
2. Train of Thought
3. Hunting High and Low
4. The Blue Sky
5. Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale
6. The Sun Always Shines on T.V.
7. And You Tell Me
8. Love Is Reason
9. I Dream Myself Alive
10. Here I Stand and Face the Rain

Scoundrel Days

1. Scoundrel Days
2. The Swing of Things
3. I’ve Been Losing You
4. October
5. Manhattan Skyline
6. Cry Wolf
7. We’re Looking for the Whales
8. The Weight of the Wind
9. Maybe, Maybe
10. Soft Rains of April