''MTV Unplugged: Summer Solstice'' is a live album by the Norwegian band

a-ha A-ha (usually stylised as ''a-''h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ...

, released on 6 October 2017 as part of the ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' series. It was recorded live at the Harbour Hall at Ocean Sound Recordings in

Giske Giske is an island municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality lies north-northwest of the town of Ålesund in the traditional district of Sunnmøre. The municipal centre is Valderhaugstrand. Other population centres in ...

, Norway, on 22 and 23 June 2017.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number six on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

with 6,982 units sold in its first week, becoming A-ha's seventh top-10 album in the United Kingdom.

Track listing

All tracks are produced by

Lars Horntveth Lars Horntveth (born 10 March 1980 in Tønsberg, Norway) is a Norwegian musician (saxophones, clarinet, percussion and guitar), band leader, and composer. He is the younger brother of tubaist Line Horntveth, but best known as a key member of the ...

, except "Take On Me" produced by A-ha and

Martin Terefe Martin Terefe (born 1969, Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish record producer and songwriter, now living and working in London, who has produced Grammy, Brit and Juno award -winning albums with artists like Jason Mraz, James Morrison and KT Tunstal ...

Notes

* "Sox of the Fox" was originally recorded as "The Vacant" on the 1980 album ''

Fakkeltog ''Fakkeltog'' is the first album by Norwegian band Bridges, the band Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen used to be in before meeting Morten Harket and becoming a-ha. Other members of the band are Viggo Bondi and Øystein Jevanord Øystein ...

'' by the band

Bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

(previous band of Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen and for whom the former was its lead singer at the time). * "Killing Moon" is originally from Echo & the Bunnymen's album ''

Ocean Rain ''Ocean Rain'' is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen. It was released on 4 May 1984 and reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, number 87 on the United States ''Billboard'' 200, number 41 on the Canad ...

'' (1984).

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''MTV Unplugged: Summer Solstice''.

A-ha

Morten Harket Morten Harket () (born September 14, 1959) is a Norwegian vocalist and songwriter, who is the lead singer of the synthpop/rock band A-ha. A-ha has released 10 studio albums to date, and topped the charts internationally after their breakthrough ...

– vocals *

Magne Furuholmen Magne Furuholmen (born 1 November 1962) is a Norwegian musician and visual artist. He was named Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav by King Harald for his services to Norwegian music and his international success. Furuholmen, better know ...

–

upright piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a ...

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five- octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ...

, acoustic guitar, flute, backing vocals *

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (born Pål Gamst, 6 September 1961) is a Norwegian musician and songwriter. Waaktaar-Savoy is best known for his work as the main songwriter and guitarist in the Norwegian pop band A-ha, which has sold more than 50 million al ...

– acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Additional musicians

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard ( ; born 18 June 1961) is an English singer noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo (also known as Yaz), but has since mainly worked as a solo artist. He ...

– vocals on "Summer Moved On" * Ian McCulloch – vocals on "Scoundrel Days" and "The Killing Moon" *

Lissie Elisabeth Corrin Maurus (born November 21, 1982), known as Lissie, is an American singer-songwriter. She released her debut EP, "Why You Runnin'", in November 2009. Her debut album, ''Catching a Tiger'', was released in June 2010. Her second stu ...

– vocals on "I've Been Losing You" *

Ingrid Helene Håvik Ingrid Helene Håvik (born 1987 in Ålesund, Norway) is a Norwegian songwriter and vocalist. She is best known as the lead singer of Highasakite but has also released a solo album under the artist name Ingrid. Biography Håvik is a former mem ...

– vocals on "The Sun Always Shines on TV" *

– acoustic guitars,

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a reson ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist, ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, so ...

Morten Qvenild Morten Qvenild (born 31 August 1978) is a Norwegian jazz pianist, band leader, and producer. Career Qvenild started his jazz career in the big band Ung Musikk in 1995, followed by studies on the Jazz program at the Norges Musikkhøgskole. He ...

– upright piano, harpsichord,

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

dulcitone A dulcitone is a keyboard instrument in which sound is produced by a range of tuning forks, which vibrate when struck by felt-covered hammers activated by the keyboard. The instrument was designed by Thomas Machell of Glasgow in the 1860s, at the ...

, Fischers mandolinette,

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark o ...

kokles Kokle (; ltg, kūkle) or historically kokles (''kūkles'') is a Latvian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Lithuanian kanklės, Estonian kannel, Finnish ...

* Even Enersen Ormestad – bass * Karl Oluf Wenneberg – drums, percussion, bells, bass

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in t ...

* Madeleine Ossum – violin, backing vocals * Emilie Heldal Lidsheim – viola, backing vocals * Tove Margrethe Erikstad – cello, backing vocals *

– arrangement on all tracks except "Take On Me" *

– arrangement on "Take On Me" * Anders Tjore – co-arrangement on "I've Been Losing You", "The Sun Always Shines on TV", "This Alone Is Love", "Summer Moved On" and "Manhattan Skyline"

Technical

* Lars Horntveth – production on all tracks except "Take On Me" *

A-ha A-ha (usually stylised as ''a-''h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ...

– production on "Take On Me" * Martin Terefe – production on "Take On Me" * John O'Mahony – recording, mixing * Henning Svoren – recording * Marcus Forsgren – recording (demo sessions) *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bish ...

– mastering

Artwork

* Max Dax – liner notes * Justin Loomis – photography * Matthias Löwenstein – artwork, cover * Season Zero – artwork, cover

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MTV Unplugged - Summer Solstice 2017 live albums A-ha albums Mtv Unplugged Summer Solstice Polydor Records live albums