A Martfüi Rém

E.A. Poe is another band from the mass of those 70's Italian bands, who recorded just one album in their career and disappeared soon after due to the lack of promotion. The album contains elements both of Symphonic Rock and Classic Progressive Rock, making their style quite abstract and undefienable. Some cuts in ''Generazioni'' are very well-crafted, dominated by the dark organ sounds, light classical piano, soft vocals and pastoral acoustic guitars (and even some mandolin), resembling to a Symphonic Rock band, close to the sound of Premiata Forneria Marconi. In some others it's the star of guitarist Beppe Ronco, who really signs. Leaving his pastoral mood apart, he fills the musicianship with fast guitar chords and jazzy passages, which battle with Giorgio Foti's organ all the time…

Released not long after A-Ha’s twentieth anniversary, Singles 1984-2004 rounds up 19 of the group’s A-sides, beginning with 1985’s international number one hit single “Take on Me” and concluding with 2002’s “Lifelines.” In the U.S., A-Ha are often seen as the quintessential MTV-driven new wave one-hit wonder - the pen-and-ink animation of “Take on Me” defining an era - but the group had a long, fruitful career as hitmakers in Europe, and this collection presents an excellent overview of that career, containing such continental smashes as “The Sun Always Shines on TV,” “Hunting High and Low,” “I’ve Been Losing You,” “Cry Wolf,” “The Living Daylights,” “Stay on These Roads,” “Crying in the Rain,” “Summer Moved On,” and “Forever Not Yours.” It may not be enough to win over skeptics but it’s more than enough to prove that A-Ha were not one-hit wonders, and it will surely satisfy anybody who is wanting a solid collection of their biggest hit singles.

While not quite as strong as the band's debut, Scoundrel Days is still a-ha succeeding as a marketed "pretty boy" band which can connect musically and lyrically as much as any musical sacred cow. The opening two songs alone make for one of the best one-two opening punches around: the tense edge of the title track, featuring one of Morten Harket's soaring vocals during the chorus and a crisp, pristine punch in the music, and "The Swing of Things," a moody, elegant number with a beautiful synth/guitar arrangement (plus some fine drumming courtesy of studio pro Michael Sturgis) and utterly lovelorn lyrical sentiments that balance on the edge of being overheated without quite going over. Although the rest of the disc never quite hits as high as the opening, it comes close more often than not…