Memorial Beach

a-ha’s sixth album, Memorial Beach, was recorded primarily at Prince’s Paisley Park studios outside Minneapolis in the U.S. Featured among the tracks is Angel in the Snow, a song Paul Waaktaar wrote for Lauren Savoy for her wedding gift and the eight-minute epic Cold as Stone.

What turned out to be a-ha’s last American release spawned three more top 25 singles, Move To Memphis, Dark Is the Night and Angel in the Snow. Recording the album was, according to Morten Harket, “A rather dark and heavy period for the band”, although Magne F has said: “I dig Memorial Beach, and Dark Is the Night for All is the high point, the best thing on the disc. ”

Memorial Beach featured three more top 50 singles for the band in the UK, Move To Memphis, Dark Is the Night and Angel in the Snow. While the album did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, and would be the band’s last to be released in the U.S., the single Dark Is the Night peaked at #11 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, their last U.S. charting to date.