Episode 09: Ranking Magne Furuholmen

In this episode we direct our attention to a-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen as we hunt for the 30 highs from his solo endeavours and side projects outside a-ha.

In this episode you'll hear how Peter has given up on JP and now gives a trusted task to Jesper, we await a concept album about skimmed milk, and Peter and JP are left speechless (if only for a short while) by Jesper’s anecdotes from an Apparatjik concert.

We get another one of Jesper’s “I was at work when I first heard this song”-stories, and we also learn which song might get Jesper on the dancefloor after a few drinks. Meanwhile JP confuses Jesper with a lyrics interpretation that JP himself thinks makes plenty of sense, and Peter regrets asking follow-up questions. And does Magne really love the word “hindsight” so much that it calls for fireworks?

You’ll also hear some quotes from some rather harsh reviews of Magne’s first album, and can it really be that Apparatjik makes a mental note to always include 40 seconds of weirdness in their songs? And which song by Magne according to Jesper sounds like a better version of John Lennon’s “Imagine”?

We also discuss ghosts - including the giving up of them - and we probably read too much conflict material into all the lyrics. And has Magne written a song about his lawyer? On top of that we talk riff-recycling and lyrical rabbit holes while Jesper for once quotes more lyrics than JP. And which song by Magne makes JP fear that Jesper may be on the same wavelength as Pål?

JP suggests that Jesper should commission Magne to make him a pedestal, and we think that Morten can carry a horse. We of course also discuss Magne’s voice, we celebrate the diversity of his output, and Jesper looks for Easter eggs at Xmas time. And how does our timing of podcast release dates compare to a-ha?

All of this is blended together with 30 awesome tracks from Magne in the various constellations he uses for his creative output. Maybe you know (and love) them all, maybe you’re quite new to Magne’s work outside of a-ha or maybe you’re just ready to dig a bit deeper. Whatever your starting point is, we hope that you’ll enjoy this episode!

You are of course also more than welcome to visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rankingaha where you can follow us and comment on the episodes and the rankings.