Alan Tarney in the mid-1980s when he teamed up with Norwegian pop band A-ha. Producing the second version (after Tony Mansfield) of their first single "Take on Me" (1984), the song went on to become a worldwide hit. He worked on the band's biggest selling first three albums, being a co-Producer of "Hunting High and Low" (1985), and Producer of "Scoundrel Days" (1986) and "Stay on These Roads" (1988). He renewed his working relationship with the band in the production of their album release "Cast in Steel" (2015). He produced David Cassidy's comeback 1985 album "Romance," which included the top ten hit
High, Low and In Between in Houston when Van Zandt showed up drunk, sat in the front row and, in between songs, began heckling the young singer and demanding that he play "Wabash Cannonball". A flustered Earle finally admitted that he didn't know the song, to which Van Zandt replied aghast, ""You call yourself a folk singer and you don't know the 'Wabash Cannonball?'"" Earle responded by playing "Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold", effectively stunning Van Zandt into silence. Earle remembers that he wore out his copy of "High, Low and In Between" learning the song, which has "a jillion words," and claims that even