a-ha – The Living Daylights

The band's story is that John Barry had almost nothing to do with the composition of this track, and I'm inclined to believe them, being as it is easily the worst title song from the first 30 years of the Bond franchise. The melodies hint at the usual mood of mystery and espionage, but the arrangement and choice of keyboard voices is limp and lacking in any kind of substance (and the first example comes within a few seconds of the start - that tinny, scratchy riff just before the vocals come in - is it meant to sound like Barry's trademark plucked piano strings? It sounds utterly ridiculous). Also while Morten Harket's angelic falsetto works perfectly well in the band's regular output, he's hopelessly out of his depth here, and really just doesn't have the presence to take the baton from the bellowing baritones and soaring divas of themes past. So it's unfortunately ultimately forgettable, though I'll take it in a heartbeat over anything from Die Another Day onwards...

Who has added the European cat.nr on the UK version and reverse ??

Hello. I think this is same as Gatefold version ( https://discogs.programascracks.com/es/release/3292835-a-ha-The-Living-Daylights ), but only cover cutted.

Although the label states length of the A-side as 4.04, actual time of my copy is 4.15.

Extended Version should be Extended Mix (but excellent version anyway!)