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CD Reviews by Aubrey McInnis A-HA Minor Earth Major Sky WEA DURAN DURAN Pop Trash Hollywood · A sleepy 7th for a-ha; an 11th sparkly release for Duran Duran. Young smitten girls in the ’80s were the only ones who could sing along to a-ha’s synth-pop falsetto hit, "Take On Me." Today, Morten Harket’s octave has fallen to a somewhat earthy level and every trace of zippy synth has been dropped for windblown soundscapes which are acoustically or electronically constructed. Sparse yet lush, a-ha rarely picks up the pace except during the looming "The Sun Never Shone That Day." Although artistically crafted, the desolate and ambitious two-year epic may be a little too mellow to be used for anything other than background or late-night spins. Beginning with free and (sl)easy electronic orchestrations, Duran Duran (minus John Taylor) indulgently roll around in a pink mudpile of pop-culture for a faux-leopard-covered 50 minutes. At first, they sound like they’ve been listening to too much Air (check out the stylistic ripoff in their video), but by the second song, they’re off and prancing in their lamé trousers with interesting blips such as in "Lava Lamp" and "Hallucinating Elvis." Playing with confidence and offering fans nostalgia ("Mars Meets Venus"), Duran Duran have produced a surprisingly cohesive record. 3/5 a-ha 3/5 Duran Duran

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