''MTV Unplugged: Summer Solstice'' is a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

by the Norwegian band

a-ha A-ha (often 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 ros ...

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

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

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

Giske Municipality Giske is an island List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality lies north-northwest of the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in the Districts of Norway, traditional distr ...

, 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 the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

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 t ...

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

Martin Terefe Martin Terefe (born 18 April 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 K ...

Notes

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

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

(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 Echo & the Bunnymen are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch (singer), Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson. By 1980, Pete de Freita ...

'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 by Korova and reached number four on the UK Albums Chart, number 87 on the United States ''Billboard'' 200, number 4 ...

'' (1984).

Personnel

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

a-ha

Morten Harket Morten Harket (; born 14 September 1959) is a Norwegian singer who is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band A-ha. A-ha has released 11 studio albums as of 2024, and topped the charts internationally after their breakthrough hit "Take On Me" i ...

– vocals *

Magne Furuholmen Magne "Mags" Furuholmen (born 1 November 1962) is a Norwegian musician and visual artist. Also known by his stage name Mags, he is the keyboardist of the synth-pop band A-ha and co-wrote hits such as "Take On Me", "Stay on These Roads", " Manhat ...

–

upright piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temper ...

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

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 ...

, 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 synth-pop band a-ha, which has sold more than 50 mill ...

– acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Additional musicians

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard (; ; born 18 June 1961), formerly known as Alf, is an English singer. Noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice, she came to prominence as a member of the synth-pop duo Yazoo (band), Yazoo (known as Yaz in Nor ...

– 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 st ...

– 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 memb ...

– 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 reso ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide 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 pla ...

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, 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 no ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

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 u ...

– upright piano, harpsichord,

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

, dulcitone, 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 of t ...

kokles Kokle (; ) 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 kantele, and ...

* 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. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

* 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 (often 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 ros ...

– 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 Bishop ...

– mastering

Artwork

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

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2017 live albums A-ha albums Mtv Unplugged Summer Solstice Polydor Records live albums