1996 - Savoy go underground

January 1996      

19       Morten and Ingvild Bryn, co-hosts of the forthcoming Eurovision song contest, are interviewed on the Norwegian TV show "Wiese" (NRK1).

 

25 (or 20?)       The video for "Spanish Steps" is being filmed in the Oslo NRK studios in Norway. Swedish model Vendela Kirsebom appears in the video.
28       The band "Savoy" appear on Norwegian Radio and perform "Velvet" and "October".
29       Savoy, the band consisting of Paul Savoy on guitar/vocals, Lauren Savoy on bass/vocals and Roland David on drums, release their first single, "Velvet", in Norway. It is produced by Savoy, music and lyrics by Paul and Lauren, mixed by Rod Hui. The 3 track CD contains the bonus track "October", originally written by Paul for a-ha, this new version is mixed by Geir Luedy. The single goes in the chart at No.4 and drops one place to No.5 the following week.

Magne opens another exhibition at Galleri Ismene in Trondheim, Norway. The title is "Everything happens to me" and there is a series of 5 of Magne's new woodcuts inspired by jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. The titles of the woodcuts are "Not Too Slow", "Anticipated Blues", "Sad Walk", "In A Little Provincial Town" and "Exitus" which Magne created in Paris last year. These woodcuts make up the front cover of a set of four Chet Baker CD's and a print of the poem Blatoneboulevardene Chet Baker I Paris 1955-56 by Henning Krammer Dahl.

February 1996      

1       On the Norwegian TV show, "Topp 20" (NRK1), with H.C. Andersen they look at Savoy's new single "Velvet". Savoy start off a short tour in New York, USA. The band on tour are Paul Savoy on guitar and vocal, Lauren Savoy on guitar and vocal, Greg Calvert on bass and Frode Unneland on drums. The first show is at Don Hills, New York, USA.
3       Savoy are featured on NRK's Lørdagsrevyen (Saturday evening news program), the band are interviewed and a clip of the video for "Velvet" is shown.
6       Savoy' single, "Velvet" is shipped to America but only for radio play as there are no plans for a commercial release.
7       Mercury Lounge, New York, USA; at this show there are two support bands, David Yazbek and "Weeping Tile". Savoy's set lasts for about an hour. Velvet enters the Norwegian chart at No.4.
13       The gig at Coney Island, New York is cancelled, instead there is a gig at CBGB's, New York, USA. The set list is slightly different than Mercury Lounge with "Mary Is Coming" instead of "Still I'm On Your Side" and "Underground".
14       Velvet moves down one place in the charts to No.5 in Norway.
16       Savoy get some good reviews in the Norwegian newspapers VG (5 out of 6), "Dagbladet" (5 out of 6), "Aftenposten" and "Arbeidebladet".
17       Irving Plaza, New York, USA - CANCELLED. The Norwegian Spellemannsprisen take place, Morten wins best pop/rock album of the year, best male pop/rock artist of the year, Spellemann of the year and shared with Håvard Rem for song of the year for "A Kind Of Christmas Card". At the awards, Morten performs "Los Angeles" with an orchestra.
18       An article "Morten warns the record company" is published in the Norwegian newspaper "VG".
19       Spanish Steps is released in the UK, it doesn't make the UK charts. The single includes the bonus track "Girl", written by Håvard Rem and music by Morten Harket. Savoy release their first album "Mary Is Coming" in Norway.

 

Morten travels to Honduras, Guatemala and Peru with a film team from Focus Film to film a ten episode series "Safari" about foreign cultures and adventure travel, broadcast on Norwegian TV from 17 September. Among the party are Sigurjon Einarsson. Morten buys a guitar in Guatemala on which he composes some new songs on his travels. In the middle of June, the travels continue in Cuba.

Savoy are interviewed outside by H.C. Andersen for the TV show "Topp 20" (NRK).

March 1996      

1       Savoy play a further concert at Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway; Morten, Camilla, Magne and Heidi are amongst the guests at this show. The song "Fade" is left out of this show. "Mary Is Coming" is released in Germany.
2       Savoy play their last Norwegian concert at the Folken, Stavanger, Norway.
2-14 April       The "Electra" exhibition is held in the Heine Onstad Art Centre in Hovikodden, Norway. It is an exhibition of computers and modern media. Magne is responsible for "Electra Sonus" the part of the exhibition where technology and sound are combined.
4       Paul and Lauren Savoy do two days of promotion in Hamburg, Germany. They are interviewed by Susanne Reimann for the Hamburg TV show "360" (VH-1, Germany) and perform "Daylight's Wasting" acoustic. This is broadcast the same evening. Next they do an interview for "SWF3".
6       In both the single and album charts Savoy dropped one place to number 3 and 2 respectively.
8       On the nightime UK TV show "Shift", Morten is interviewed. This interview was recorded at the Hanover Grand in London on 22.1.96.
10       The exhibition "Everything Happens To Me" continues in an art fair in Stockholm.
11       "Los Angeles" is released in Norway, it includes the album tracks "Brodsky Tune" and "Wild Seed".
13       In it's sixth week, "Velvet" makes it to No.1 in the Norwegian charts, both "Mary Is Coming" and "Wild Seed" drop a few places, "Mary Is Coming" by 3 to No.5 and "Wild Seed" down 6 to No.29.
20       "Velvet" stays on the top spot for another week, but "Mary Is Coming" drops to No.8. Morten is supposed to do a concert at Rockefeller in Oslo, Norway to celebrate 10 years of the club, but it is postponed to 30 March.
25       Savoy are on Cyber-Talk, an online American chat on the internet at 9.30pm eastern time.
29       Savoy are interviewed and film clips of the band are shown on the TV show "Artistspecial: Savoy" (ZTV).
30       Morten does a concert Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway. He introduces two new songs, "Queen Of Stormy Weather" and End Of The Western World, into the set, in place of "A Change Is Gonna Come". Also "Ape Angel" is performed twice. The drummer at this concert is Neil Wilkinson instead of Stene Osmundsen .

180,000 copies of "Wild Seed" have been sold in Norway, Over 10,000 copies of "Velvet" sold in Norway in the first week.

The 70 minute documentary on the development of Morten's album Wild Seed is finished. It was filmed by Morten's friend, Sigurjon Einarsson.

April 1996

20       Paul and Lauren are interviewed and Savoy perform "Underground" on the Norwegian TV show "Midt i Smørøyet" (NRK 1).

In Norway, "Mary Is Coming" has gone gold, selling over 27,000 copies and "Velvet" has sold 15,000 copies.

Magne and Ole Henrik Moe and his son release a CD "Arkivalia Volume 1". It contains recordings of internationally known artists which Magne found in the musical archive of the Henie Onstad Art Centre.

May 1996      

2       Paul and Lauren are in the studio with H.C. Andersen announcing a Savoy competition on the Norwegian TV show "Topp 20" (NRK1).
7       Half an hour of Savoy's concert at Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway 1.3.96 is broadcast on Norwegian NRK Radio, together with a short interview with Paul and Lauren. The songs broadcast are "Daylights Wasting", "Tears From A Stone", "Raise Your Sleepy Head" and "Get Up Now". Some more of the concert is broadcast on 30th May. Camilla and Jakob make a guest appearance on the Norwegian TV comedy show "Bot Og Bedring". Camilla plays a Swedish girl and Jakob her son.
8       The World Music Awards are held in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Morten is there to present "Ace Of Base" with an award for Best Selling Scandinavian Artist with Helena Christensen.
10       On the Norwegian TV show "Helg i Solnedgang" (NRK1), Morten and Ingvild Bryn, the two hosts of the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest, are interviewed about Eurosong. On the same show, Savoy perform "Tears From A Stone" and "Underground" and Lauren is interviewed.
13       Savoy's single "Velvet" is released in the UK. Morten and Inglivd Bryn are in Norway and attend the first official event for EuroSong, a reception in Oslo city hall.
14       In the week leading up to the Eurovision song contest (12- 19th May), some Norwegian artists take part in "Norwegian Music Week" and do some concerts for the press. Savoy perform at the Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway. Savoy come on after "Ephemera" and "Weld". Savoy start off the show with the a-ha song "Sycamore Leaves", following this are "Tears From A Stone", "Get Up Now", "Velvet", then another a-ha song, "I've Been Losing You", "We Will Never Forget", "Daylights Wasting", "Underground", "Mary Is Coming", "Raise Your Sleepy Head" and the encore "Foolish". During the show, there are some technical problems.
15       Morten and Ingvild are on "Studio Grand Prix" (NRK) and play a piece of "Heaven's Not For Saints". Morten does a concert for Euro Song journalists at the Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway. The concert is for invited guests only and Morten is one of the three artists performing, he comes on after Bendik Hofseth and "Velvet Belly". Morten's set lasts for 50 minutes and includes the songs "Spanish Steps", "Wild Seed", "Lord", "Los Angeles", "Half In Love Half In Hate", "Ape Angel", "Heaven's Not For Saints", "A Kind Of Christmas Card" and "Ready To Go Home". Savoy do a guest only concert at Studentersamfundet, Trondheim, Norway.
On Norwegian TV, there is a 30 minute documentary on Savoy which includes clips of the making of "Mary Is Coming", TV & Radio interview and concert clips as well as backstage clips from the Oslo concert on 1.3.96. The documentary is called "Savoy - En Hel Halvtime" (Half An Hour's Worth) (NRK1), Paul and Lauren are responsible for the making of the documentary with NRK. Morten's forthcoming single "Heaven's Not For Saints" is previewed on UK Radio 1.
16       In the bar of the Radisson Oslo Plaza Hotel, Oslo, Norway, Morten plays 4-5 new songs on his guitar. A huge picture of Morten with black paint/grease on his face is put up at the press centre in Oslo. Savoy do another invitation only concert in Bodo, Norway.
17       Morten and Ingvild, the two hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest, dress up in National costume for Norway's National Day. More rehearsals for the Eurovision Song Contest take place, including the first (and nearly sold out) general rehearsal in front of an audience. Morten performs "Heaven's Not For Saints" twice after a technical problem the first time.
18       In the afternoon another general and dress rehearsal takes place. At the end of the rehearsal, Morten's voice is recorded for Heaven's Not For Saints to be played back that evening. At 9pm, the Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast live throughout Europe. The two hosts are Morten and NRK's Washington correspondent, Ingvild Bryn. It is held at the Spektrum in Oslo, Norway in front of an audience of 6000. Morten opens the show by performing "Heaven's Not For Saints" live with an orchestra. Ingvild and Morten introduce the show and the acts. After the performances, Ingvild collects the results from the juries and Morten interviews some of the artists backstage. Ireland are the winners and Morten plays a short clip of the song "Norwegian Wood" with the winner Eimear Quinn. After the TV broadcast ends, Morten and Ingvild are asked questions by journalists and radio presenters. Following this, there is a party in the Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel. During the party, Morten sings "Heaven's Not For Saints" accompanied by a piano.
19       In the morning, Morten flies to Russia for a concert for the promotion of voting in presidential elections St. Petersburg, Russia. 80,000 people come to watch the show in front of the Winter palace. Morten includes the a-ha songs "Take On Me" and "Hunting High And Low" in his set. Morten's single "Heaven's Not For Saints" is released to the press.
22       Mary Is Coming re-enters the Norwegian chart at No. 35.
24       Morten appears on the Kelly Show on Irish TV.
27       "Heaven's Not For Saints" is released on "Arista/BMG" label in the UK. The extra track on the CD is the instrumental version. The "World Music Awards" from 8.5.96 are broadcast on UK TV. Morten can be seen presenting the award to "Ace Of Base".

Underground is released as a promo only CD single in Norway.

June 1996      

1       Morten appears on the UK chat show "The Gaby Roslin Show". He performs "Take On Me" with the James Taylor Quartet, is interviewed and plays part of "Heaven's Not For Saints".
4       Savoy play a concert at Park Cafe, Copenhagen, Denmark. Their set features the cover version of the a-ha song "Sycamore Leaves".
5       Heaven's Not For Saints enters the Norwegian chart at No.13.
6       Savoy play a concert in Stockholm, Sweden.
8-29 June       Magne exhibits some graphic art at Lillehammer Art Society in Norway. Before the exhibition starts, there is a fire upstairs in the gallery which Magne puts out.
9       Savoy play at the Glopperock Festival, Sandane, Norway. They perform "Sycamore Leaves", "Underground", "Raise Your Sleepy Head", "I've Been Losing You", "Get Up Now", "Mary Is Coming", "Velvet", "Daylights Wasting", "Tears From A Stone" and "Foolish".
15       Savoy are one of the artists to perform on the first of two nights at the open-air Norwegian Wood Festival, Frognerbadet, Oslo, Norway. They perform a similar set to the one at Glopperock although "I've Been Losing You" is dropped (TBC?).
23       Morten appears on the Polish TV show "Wieczor Z Alicja" ("Night with Alicja" (Resich Modlinska)). He performs "Burning Out Again (A Kind Of Christmas Card)", is interviewed, plays a piece of "Half In Love Half In Hate" acoustically on his guitar and finishes with "Los Angeles".
24       Morten is interviewed on Polish Radio "Zapraszamy do Trojki".
26       Savoy's concert in Haugesund is cancelled.

July 1996      

5       Morten does an open-air concert in front of around 3,500 people as part of the Vestfold Festival, Slottsfjellet, Tønsberg, Norway (21:00 CET). Morten performs "Ape Angel", "Tell Me What You See", "Stay", "All Of You Concerned", "A Kind Of Christmas Card", "Natten", "Fra Templet", "Engelen", "Lord", "End Of The Western World", "Los Angeles" (with Deepika), "Wild Seed", "Heaven's Not For Saints", "Spanish Steps", "Half In Love Half In Hate" and "Lay Me Down Tonight". Havard Rem is also there and recites some Norwegian poetry.
7       Savoy take part in the Midtfyns Festival, near Odense, Denmark. They are one of several artists performing at the festival which runs 3-7 July. They play for about an hour and include the a-ha song "Sycamore Leaves".
10       "Heaven's Not For Saints" is at No.2 in the Norwegian Charts for the second week.
13       Morten does a concert in Fagernes. The set list is slightly different from Tønsberg. With the songs "Queen Of Stormy Weather", "Ready To Go Home" plus "A Kind Of Christmas Card" and "Spanish Steps" played twice in place of the three Poetenes Evangelium tracks.
15       Morten does a concert at Wrightegaarden (restaurant), Langesund, Norway. The band with him are Per Lindvall on drums, Kjetil Bjerkestrand on keyboards, Eivind Aarseth on guitars and Øyvind Madsen on bass. He includes the songs "Spanish Steps", "Wild Seed", "Tell Me What You See", "Stay", "Grandma's Hands" (cover of a Bill Withers song), "Girl", "Los Angeles" (joined by a guy from the audience on backing vocals), the acoustic songs "Lord", "Queen Of Stormy Weather", "The End Of The Western World", "Ape Angel", "Heaven's Not For Saints", "All Of You Concerned", "A Kind Of Christmas Card", with encore "Half In Love Half In Hate", "Spanish Steps" (with Ole Edvard Antonsen on trumpet), "Lay Me Down Tonight" and "Ready To Go Home".
16       Morten takes part in the Foss-Festival, Club Masim, Molde, Norway (double concert) along with other artists.

Morten and Norwegian Poet, Ole Sverre Olsen, are working on songtext for Morten's next album. So far the songtitles are "Aquainted For The Night", "Queen Of Stormy Weather" and "Desperate Dancers".

The Canadian organisation "East Timor Hope Foundation" plans to release a CD of various artists called "20" to mark 20 years of occupation of East Timor by Indonesia. Morten's song in this compilation is "East Timor".

August 1996      

1       Wrightengaarden, Langesund, Norway - CANCELLED.
9       Morten, Ole-Sverre Olsen and Håvard Rem have an acoustic meeting in Arendal, Norway. It is part of the Skagerrak Kulturfestival (8-11 August), this concert comes under the title "Pop-og-Poesi" (Pop and Poetry). The concert takes place on an open-air stage on the water of the small harbour in Arendal. The audience watches from the steps leading down to the water. There are three armchairs on the stage with two small tables. The concert goes as follows: Morten performs "The End Of The Western World", Håvard presents one of his Norwegian poems, "All Of You Concerned", Ole presents the English poem "Sleep", "Half In Love Half In Hate", Håvard reads a poem, Ole does English song on his electric guitar, "A Kind Of Christmas Card", poem by Håvard, Norwegian song (Håvard recites the lyrics to Morten), "Los Angeles" (with female backing singer from Arendal), "Gospel From A Heathen", Håvard presents the Norwegian poem of "Gospel From A Heathen", "Father", "Lord", Håvard reads a poem, "Lay Me Down Tonight".
10       Morten does a concert at the Gimlemessen fair, Kristiansand, Norway. He includes the songs "Spanish Steps", "Tell Me What You See", "Stay", "Grandma's Hands", acoustic versions of "Father" (a new song), "Los Angeles", "Lord", "Half In Love Half In Hate", "The End Of The Western World" (joined by the rest of the band), "Heaven's Not For Saints" and "Lay Me Down Tonight".
17       The film "Cone Heads" has its premiere on UK TV (BBC1), Morten's version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is played at the end of the film.
19       Jørun Bøgeberg releases his solo album "Songs From The Pocket" in Norway on Norsk Plateproduksjon / BMG. Morten does some back-up singing on the track "Hear That Laugh", Magne designed the cover (a woodcut of a bass guitar) and Per Hillestad is featured on it. There is a limited edition of the CD, limited to 200 copies, which comes with a book of photos of Magne's original woodcuts (taken by Alf Borjesson) and signed by Jørun, Magne & Alf. On the satellite TV channel "SKY1", there is a "Behind the Scenes at Euro Song '96" documentary (8pm). Morten appears briefly on the show, being interviewed, rehearsing his lines and clips from Euro Song.
20       Morten's concert from Sentrum Scene, Oslo on 15.5.96 is broadcast on NRK P1 Radio.
31       Morten does a concert in Skien, Norway. The set list is similar to Kristiansand except that "Wild Seed" and "A Kind Of Christmas Card" replace "Father" and "Lay Me Down Tonight".

Siguard Kohn releases a saxophone jazz album "More Pepper Please", it features a cover version of a-ha's song October".

September 1996      

In September, Camilla takes part (and hurts her leg) in a special celebrity show of "Fort Boyard" (a sport and games show) on Norwegian TV 3.

1       Morten does a concert to end the Momarkedet Festival, Mysen, Norway. This show has the same set list as Skien, except that Heaven's Not For Saints is replaced by "Lay Me Down Tonight".
7       On USA "VH-1", there is 2 hours of promotion for the "Big 80's" CD. The video for "Take On Me" is played and an old interview clip with a-ha is broadcast.
11?       Warner's, Norway release the title track off Savoy's album "Mary Is Coming" as a promo only CD single.
14-13 October       One of Magne's artworks appears in the autumn exhibition on annual Modern Art "Høstutstilling" at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo's Wergelandsveun, Norway. Magne's artwork is "Traveller (erasing memory)" which wins the 1996 art prize.
17       The ten part adventure series "Safari" featuring Morten opens on Norwegian TV3. The series is produced by Sigurjon Einarsson and is a documentary which explores nature, history and culture. The first episode is shot in Guatemala, it features Morten, crew, Sigurjon Einarsson and friends. Morten has an old guitar and plays "Half In Love Half In Hate" and "Heaven's Not For Saints".
24       In the second episode of "Safari", Morten buys a better guitar and plays "All Of You Concerned".

The group "Penthouse Playboys" release an album featuring an 'easy listening' cover version of "A Kind Of Christmas Card" at the end of September. There is also a promo CD single of this track.

Magne is working, together with Kjetil Bjerkestrand, on film music for a Scandinavian TV series "Hotel Oslo" consisting of 4 films, co-work of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark. Freddie Wadling sings on some of the songs and is joined by Anneli Drecker on "We Will Never Speak Again".

October 1996      

4       Morten does a concert in Bretvedt womens prison, Oslo, Norway. He performs some of his new material in front of 50 prison inmates. His new band are Anders Engen on drums, Thomas Tofte on bass, Geir Sundstøl on guitar and Kare Christoffer Vestrheim on guitar and keyboards. NRK films this concert which has working title "Morten Harket Unplugged" and is broadcast on 4 December. The songs are "Himmelske Danser", "Jeg Kjenner Ingen Fremtid", "Fremmed Her", "Herre I Drømmen", "Lyser Når Du Drar" and "Tilbake Til Livet".
6       Morten is one of several artists to perform at an unplugged charity concert for Bellona (Norwegian environmental organisation) which is celebrating its tenth birthday. It is held at Rockefeller Music Hall lin Oslo and is organised to celebrate the anniversary and also to raise money to get Russian member Alexandr Nikitin out of jail. Morten's set includes "All Of You Concerned", the new songs Fremtid (Future), "Himmelske Danser" (Heavenly Dances), Taksameteret Gar (The Meter's Running), a new version of Queen Of Stormy Weather, now known as "Deg For Neer" (Too Close), "Lyser" (Lighting) and "Tilbake Til Livet" (Return To Life). NRK P3 record the show and a CD featuring the different artists is due for release in December.
12?       During this week, there is a report on NRK on the recording of Morten's album on the deserted island.
15       The "Safari" series continues in Zimbabwe, but Morten does not appear.

Magne and Chinese artist Mi Qui have a 6 week exhibition in China during November called "East Meets West". Magne exhibits his works with Mi Qui in Hong Kong City Hall (60 pictures) for a week before the exhibition moves on to Shanghai and Peking. In Shanghai, there are workshops and lectures at the university under the title "Y-Project".

In Sri Lanka, there is an anniversary concert for the TV channel "Young Asia" which was founded by "World View" on UN-day last year. Morten is one of the artists performing at this 4 hour concert in front of a crowd of 17 million.

November 1996      

1       Morten releases his first single off his new album as a radio only promo CD in Norway on the label BMG. It is called "Tilbake Til Livet" (Back To Life).
21       Morten returns from Barcelona, Spain where he has been to see Salä Natie (shipping exhibition).

 

December 1996      

4       "Vogts Villa" enters the Norwegian chart at no.21.
5       Morten is on the Norwegian TV show "Absolutt" (NRK1).
10       The Nobel Peace Prize goes to Catholic Bishop of East Timor, Carlos Filipe Belo, and the international spokesman of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta. There is a short interview with Morten about these awards.
11       At Oslo's National theatre in Norway Morten performs "East Timor" as part of the celebrations of the Nobel Peace prize. During his performance Morten is joined on stage by 11 traditional Timorese singers and dansers in costume. The program is broadcast live on NRK1. "Vogts Villa" drops to no.25 in the charts in Norway.
14       Morten is on the Norwegian charity TV show "Ei Hand å Holde i" (TV2), he performs "Vuggevise" and "Tilbake Til Livet".
17       Morten does a short concert as part of Julemusikantene (The Christmas Musicians), Liertoppen Shopping centre. The profits from these concerts go to the Salvation Army. Morten's show consists of the songs "Spanish Steps", "The End Of The Western World", "A Kind Of Christmas Card", "Half In Love Half In Hate" and "Tilbake Til Livet".
24?       A promo CD of Morten's song "Herre I Drømmen" is released in Norway.

The song "In The Hands Of Fools" from the album "Hotel Oslo" is released in Norway on a promo only CD single just before Christmas.

Morten contributes to the making of the Nobel Laureate film "Sometimes I Must Speak Out Strongly", written and directed by Max Stahl. The film features the music of "East Timor" composed by Geir Kolbu.

Continue the story: 1997