''Stay on These Roads'' is the third studio album by 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 3 May 1988 by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. Six singles were released from the album.

Recording

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the ea ...

, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Yamaha DX-7,

Roland D-50 The Roland D-50 is a synthesizer produced by Roland and released in April of 1987. Its features include digital sample-based subtractive synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analog synthesis-styled layout desig ...

, and Roland Juno-60 or

Roland Juno-106 The Roland Juno-106 is a synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in February 1984. Features The Juno-106 is a polyphonic synthesizer with six voices. It is an analog synthesizer but with digitally controlled oscillators and chorus effects. ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s were used in the recording of this album, as was a Yamaha RX-5

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

Release and reception

The album peaked at number 148 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. It was another big hit by A-ha internationally, selling over 4 million copies worldwide. ''Stay on These Roads'' achieved

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

status in Brazil and Gold in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany and Double Platinum status in France. It reached number two in the European top-100 albums sales chart. William Ruhlmann of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said "in the U.K., the album became the group's third straight to peak at number two, though it charted for a shorter period than the first two albums, and there were four Top 25 hits—the title track, 'The Blood That Moves the Body,' 'Touchy!,' and 'You Are the One'." Also included was a re-recording of A-ha's 1987 theme from the James Bond movie '' The Living Daylights'', which, in its single version, was a U.K. number five that missed the U.S. charts. In the positive review of the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', David Quantick writes : "Life is sad and so is Pal Waaktaar. Pal, writer or co-writer of all these songs, seems over-run by melancholy. His lyrics are about crying, going away and yearning, and even the happier songs seem riddled with resignation rather than out-and-out pop joy". Lead single "

Stay on These Roads ''Stay on These Roads'' is the third studio album by Norwegian band A-ha, released on 3 May 1988 by Warner Bros. Records. Six singles were released from the album. Recording A Synclavier, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Yamaha DX-7, Roland D-50, a ...

", number one in Norway, was a hit across Europe, including top-five showings in the UK, France, Austria and Ireland and top-ten chartings in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. ''Stay on These Roads'' includes three more hit singles, " The Blood That Moves The Body", "

Touchy! "Touchy!" (also known simply as "Touchy") is a song by Norwegian band A-ha, released on 15 August 1988 as the third single from their third studio album, ''Stay on These Roads'' (1988). Critical reception Pan-European magazine ''Music & Media'' ...

" and "You Are the One", though a final single, "There's Never a Forever Thing", was released only in Brazil.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy; music composers listed below. ;Side one # "

" – 4:45 (Furuholmen, Harket, Waaktaar) # " The Blood That Moves the Body" – 4:06 (Waaktaar) # "

" – 4:34 (Furuholmen, Harket, Waaktaar) # "This Alone Is Love" – 5:15 (Furuholmen, Waaktaar) # "Hurry Home" – 4:37 (Furuholmen, Waaktaar) ;Side two # " The Living Daylights" – 4:47 ( Barry, Waaktaar) # "There's Never a Forever Thing" – 2:53 (Waaktaar) # "Out of Blue Comes Green" – 6:42 (Waaktaar) # " You Are the One" – 3:51 (Furuholmen, Waaktaar) # "You'll End up Crying" – 2:06 (Waaktaar)

2015 Deluxe edition

;Disc 1 # "Stay on These Roads" (2015 Remastered) # "The Blood That Moves the Body" (2015 Remastered) # "Touchy!" (2015 Remastered) # "This Alone Is Love" (2015 Remastered) # "Hurry Home" (2015 Remastered) # "The Living Daylights" (2015 Remastered) # "There's Never a Forever Thing" (2015 Remastered) # "Out of Blue Comes Green" (2015 Remastered) # "You Are the One" (2015 Remastered) # "You'll End up Crying" (2015 Remastered) # "Stay on These Roads" (Extended Remix) # "You Are the One" (12" Remix) # "The Living Daylights (Extended Version) # "The Blood That Moves the Body" (Extended Remix) # "Touchy!" (Go-Go Mix) ;Disc 2 - Demos & Alternate Versions # "Stay on These Roads" (Early Version) # "The Blood That Moves the Body" (Demo) # "Touchy!" (Original Mix) # "This Alone Is Love" (Demo) # "You Are the One" (Early Version) # "Cold River" (1987 Demo) # "Hurry Home" (Demo) # "I'll Never Find Streetful City" (Demo) # "The Living Daylights" (Demo) # "There's Never a Forever Thing" (Demo) # "Out of Blue Comes Green" (Alternate Mix) # "You'll End up Crying" (Demo) # "You Are the One" (Alternate Version) # "Touchy!" (Demo) # "Umbrella" (Rendezvous Demo) # "Thus Ended Our Love Affair" (Demo) # "There's Never a Forever Thing" (Acoustic Version) # "Evitar" (Demo) # "You Are the One" (Demo) # "Sail On My Love" (Writing Session)

Personnel

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 ...

– lead and backing vocals * Magne Furuholmen – keyboards, bass and drum programming, backing vocals * Paul Waaktaar-Savoy – guitars, strings, bass and drum programming, backing vocals * Contributions to the recording of the album: Steve Sidwell, Ben Robbins, Anne Dudley, Randy Hope-Taylor, Øystein Jevanord, Kick Horns. Production and Technical * Alan Tarney – producer * Gerry Kitchingham – recording engineer * John Hudson – mixing * Jeri Heiden – art direction * Just Loomis – band photography * Stuart Watson – "still life" photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Lyrics

in German {{DEFAULTSORT:Stay On These Roads 1988 albums A-ha albums Albums produced by Alan Tarney Warner Records albums