a-ha – Hunting High And Low / The Demos

The versions of the songs very interesting! The quality of the sound awful, shame!

The Good: The demos themselves sound really clear and show how much A-ha brought to the recording room before they got a producer. These sound consistent and don't lack any fidelity for being self produced early demos.
The Bad: Noisy, swooshing clear vinyl, almost like a hi-fi flexi disc. I've never been a fan of clear viny for this reason, not sure if it is the vinyl itself or just bad QT as defects are harder to spot, or maybe it is made out of recycled water bottles, who knows. But yeah, swooshing loud vinyl and pressed slightly off center, worse side A being it is a longer cut. Fun for what it is, shame the result was a bit half-assed due to the poor quality control, as a result the record already sounds like it is 40 years old, but in reality, a 40 year old pressing would sound better. It's not the end of the world as you probably will want to listen to the real album more anyway, but annoying nonetheless.
And last, as a collection of demos, as there are numerous iterations of these songs, some liner notes would have been nice to give these some context. Don't get me wrong it is fun, but I find that RSD titles often skip quality due to their here today, gone tomorrow pressing status. You only find out after the fact due to the intense FOMO.

I've had two copies of this and both were made in USA according the sleeve and labels. Both copies were pressed slightly off center. On the last song on Side A, "Living a boy's adventure tale" the main synth line flutters and when you notice it it's almost unlistenable. Anybody else have this issue?

My copy is made in the USA as per "MADE IN USA" on labels and sleeve.

The pressing is clean and flat with no clicks or pops when played. Sounds superb. Perfect deep stereo separation.

If only all new records could sound like this.

If you have a connection to the original album, you will gain an even deeper connection and understanding with the demo version of these songs. After listening to this album, I actually prefer the demo versions of the songs on this album over those released in the mainstream. The versions of these songs are so much more raw and I feel it is likely more of how A-ha intended these songs to be. I teared up on some of the songs as the emotionality is so much more powerful. The sound is fantastic and synth all day long on this album. Can’t wait to listen to it again!

As a fairly big fan of a-ha's works over the years, this album is definitely a must-have. Incredibly interesting to hear how the demos evolved into the iconic tracks we know today. Also, the sound, physical album, and pressing quality are amazing.

I have the normal album, the alternate takes, and now this. I don't understand how this collection of songs seems to just be impossible to get wrong. Even the odd and raw demos that are here have revelations about the development of this collection of tracks. I will never not buy an a-ha RSD release.

Not the finish product that was put out , but super fun to hear the early demos , some pretty raw stuff , but vinyl is brite and quiet

Well this certainly was a … weird album. Giving it 5 stars because the audio sounds good. Very weird version of the album. Still a good album to add to your collection if you’re an A-Ha fan.