Scoundrel Days

Scoundrel Days is the second studio album by Norwegian new wave band A-ha. It was released on 6 October 1986 by Warner Bros. Records. A remastered edition with additional tracks was released in 2010.

Music
Yamaha DX7 and Roland Juno-60/106 synths used in the recording of this album&mdash;Roland Juno used on intro of the song "Manhattan Skyline" and Yamaha DX7 drum sound used on the intro of song called "October". "Scoundrel Days" and "Swing of Things" signature sounds are from the PPG Wave. The drums and several other sounds are from the Fairlight CMI.

Songs
"I've Been Losing You" was the first single from the album. It reached number one in Norway and number eight in the United Kingdom. "I've Been Losing You" became the most successful single from the album in Europe.

"Cry Wolf" was the second single from the album. It was the most successful single from the Scoundrel Days album in the United States, where it peaked at number 14 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's last entry on the latter chart. The single reached the top 40 nearly everywhere else it was released, including top-five chartings in the UK, Poland and Ireland, reaching number two in Norway. The lyrics "Night I left the city I dreamt of a Wolf..." are credited to Lauren Savoy whom Pål later married.

"Maybe, Maybe" is the third single released from the album and was only released in Bolivia.

"Manhattan Skyline" reached number 13 on the UK chart. The song was co-written by keyboardist Magne Furuholmen and guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy. The song starts with a calm verse in F major, before kicking into a hard rock-style chorus with a guitar riff in D minor. In the official A-ha biography, The Swing of Things, Furuholmen said it was "perhaps one of the most inspired cut and paste-projects that Paul and I did. I wrote the quiet part. Paul wrote the rock part."

Artwork
The cover photography was taken by Norwegian photographer Knut Bry at the Haleakala volcano on Maui, Hawaii, in 1986.

Release and reception
Scoundrel Days was the band's second studio album. The album's peak on the Billboard 200 was 74. The album was another big hit by A-ha and sold over 6 million copies worldwide which gave the band international recognition. Scoundrel Days achieved Platinum status in the UK and Switzerland as well as Germany and Brazil. The album reached #2 in the European top-100 albums sales chart.

Ned Raggett of AllMusic Guide said, "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...The '80s may be long gone, but Scoundrel Days makes clear that not everything was bad back then."

Scoundrel Days included the singles "I've Been Losing You", "Cry Wolf", "Maybe, Maybe", and "Manhattan Skyline". All the singles with the exception of "Maybe, Maybe" charted on the UK Singles Chart. "I've Been Losing You" and "Cry Wolf" were the most successful singles from the album, "Cry Wolf" became a minor hit in the US and charted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #50, while "I've Been Losing You" was the most successful single in Europe.

As part of a re-release of their first two albums, Scoundrel Days was expanded and remastered in 2010.

On 6 July 2010 the A-ha albums Hunting High and Low and Scoundrel Days were released as deluxe editions in the US through Rhino Records and both albums debuted in the top 40 Billboard Top Internet Sales Chart; Hunting High and Low at #34 and Scoundrel Days at #36.

The remaster of Scoundrel Days reached #52 in Germany, #27 in Norway, #190 in the UK.

Track listing
All songs written by Furuholmen/Waaktaar unless noted otherwise:
 * Side one
 * 1) "Scoundrel Days" – 3:56
 * 2) "The Swing of Things" – 4:14 (Waaktaar)
 * 3) "I've Been Losing You" – 4:24 (Waaktaar)
 * 4) "October" – 3:48 (Waaktaar)
 * 5) "Manhattan Skyline" – 4:52
 * Side two
 * 1) "Cry Wolf" – 4:05
 * 2) "We're Looking for the Whales" – 3:39
 * 3) "The Weight of the Wind" – 3:57 (Waaktaar)
 * 4) "Maybe, Maybe" – 2:34 (Furuholmen)
 * 5) "Soft Rains of April" – 3:12

Produced by Alan Tarney, except tracks 3, 9 and 10 produced by Furuholmen and Waaktaar.

2010 remastered edition
Disc one
 * 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"
 * 11) "I've Been Losing You" - Extended Version
 * 12) "Cry Wolf" – Extended Version
 * 13) "Manhattan Skyline" – Extended Version

Disc two
 * 1) "Scoundrel Days" – Demo
 * 2) "The Swing of Things" – Demo #3
 * 3) "I've Been Losing You" – Octocon Studios Demo
 * 4) "October" – Demo
 * 5) "Manhattan Skyline" – Demo
 * 6) "Cry Wolf" – Demo
 * 7) "We're Looking for the Whales" – 1984 Demo
 * 8) "The Weight of the Wind" – Demo
 * 9) "Maybe, Maybe" – Demo
 * 10) "Soft Rains of April" – Guitar Version
 * 11) "Scoundrel Days" – Octocon Studios Demo
 * 12) "This Alone is Love" - Original Version
 * 13) "Days on End"
 * 14) "Train of Thought" (Live)
 * 15) "I’ve Been Losing You" (Live)
 * 16) "The Blue Sky" (Live)
 * 17) "We're Looking for the Whales" (Live)
 * 18) "Cry Wolf" (Live)

Note: There are four bonus download-only tracks on each release, available in most countries:
 * 1) "I've Been Losing You" (Dub)
 * 2) "Soft Rains of April" (Piano Version)
 * 3) "The Swing of Things" (Demo #1)
 * 4) "I've Been Losing You" (Early Demo)

Scoundrel Club EP

 * 1) "Cry Wolf" (Extended Version) – 8:13
 * 2) "We're Looking for the Whales" (live version) – 3:50
 * 3) "I've Been Losing You" (Dub Version) – 4:28
 * 4) "Manhattan Skyline" (Extended) – 6:49
 * 5) "Hunting High and Low" (Extended Version by Alan Tarney) – 6:02

Personnel

 * Morten Harket – lead and backing vocals
 * Magne Furuholmen – keyboards, bass and drum programming, backing vocals
 * Pål Waaktaar – guitars, drum programming, backing vocals
 * Graham Prescott – strings on track 1
 * Michael Sturgis – drums on tracks 2, 3, 10
 * Leif Karsten Johansen – bass guitar on track 3
 * Øystein Jevanord – drums on track 6