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Search and destroy me some Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. I'm grooving to the Best-Of as I write this..

Also, what actually is the real difference between the various versions of "Electricity" (i.e. is it even vaguely worth trying to track down the Martin Hannett version?)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 6 February 2003 03:32 (10 years ago) Permalink

Search: The first five albums (s/t, Organisation, Architecture & Morality, Dazzle Ships, and Junk Culture).

Destroy: The Pacific Age and Sugar Tax (and probably the stuff that came after Sugar Tax that I never heard).

― paul cox (paul cox), Thursday, 6 February 2003 03:47 (10 years ago) Permalink

is anything that was released after the first greatest hits record any good? i agree with paul's selections but even crush is likeable, it had a few duds but some fantastic songs like '88 seconds in greensboro' and i liked 'native daughters of the golden west' too. one of the more underappreciated bands, the john hughes effect i suppose.

― keith (keithmcl), Thursday, 6 February 2003 04:15 (10 years ago) Permalink

I didn't include Crush due to its mediocrity, falling squarely into neither the search nor destroy categories.

― paul cox (paul cox), Thursday, 6 February 2003 04:18 (10 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, they're one of my favorite bands. I've only heard their first 5 albums, which are all awesome as Paul said. You know, they're reissuing the first 3 with bonus tracks and interviews in the liner notes or something. Remastered.

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 6 February 2003 05:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

Jim - the Martin Hannett vers. of Electricity isn't as good as the Dindisc version. There's only really one thing different and that is the very thing that spoils it - an echo-repeat on the snare which makes the whole thing sound slightly out-of-time.

Search - the whole of the first album. Messages/Julia's Song/Bunker Soldiers/etc - all classic.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 6 February 2003 08:23 (10 years ago) Permalink

...and the single version of Messages is much better than the album version (if that's the one you have on the Best of...). I remember getting utterly bored hearing Souvenir again and again on the radio, but could never tire of Enola Gay. Erm...so there!

― Jez (Jez), Thursday, 6 February 2003 11:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

First album is good, Dazzle Ships is good, I bought Architecture and Morality again after a fine Church-of-Me write-up but I still think it's a bit lame, from the Pacific Age onwards you're into very dodgy territory. The singles comp doesn't stand up nearly as well as I'd remembered though I have a mighty soft spot for "Tesla Girls" and it's game 80s faddism.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 6 February 2003 11:06 (10 years ago) Permalink

S - all the original albums have something to say for themselves, with the exception of "The pacific age". The 90s OMD would need to be more selective, "Liberator" is one of the worst albums I own but even then has two or three good tracks but the b-sides of the era are far superior. The final album "Universal" was actually a hell of a good record but nobody really noticed. And if you must be a completist and want some of their best stuff, check out the "Navigation" and "Peel sessions" CDs - b-sides and sessions, great music on both.

D - Only "Pacific age" and the crap bits of "Liberator" (about 80% of it) really. Avoid the Listening Pool too.

― Rob M (Rob M), Thursday, 6 February 2003 11:47 (10 years ago) Permalink

FYI- the first 3 albums have been remastered and expanded with bonus cuts.Out Feb 17 in the UK, May 6 in the US.

― dek1, Thursday, 6 February 2003 14:10 (10 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

I am so into 'Talking Loud and Clear' at the moment. I loved it as a kid and recently downloaded it to find I still do. The way the push of the instrumentation tricks you into thinking it's building up to something but it never comes. A bit like Bowie's 'Sound and Vision'.

― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 6 April 2003 14:38 (10 years ago) Permalink

While "Pacific Age" doesn't work as a consistent album, I would say it contained at least two great tracks. Out of those, "(Forever) Live And Die" may easily be obtained on compilations, but "Shame" (despite being a single) isn't available on any of those.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 6 April 2003 14:42 (10 years ago) Permalink

Btw. anybody else who loves "Dreaming", the one-off single released at the same time as their "The Best Of OMD" album?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 6 April 2003 14:43 (10 years ago) Permalink

I always liked "Dreaming" myself. It was the last single from the original McCluskey/Humphreys duo and was an enjoyable way to inadvertantly bow out.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 6 April 2003 15:04 (10 years ago) Permalink

I'm a huge fan and would say every album is great. Except Dazzle Ships, which is a bit meagre. It's got more experimental try-outs on it than actual songs, and the songs are very similar without major highlights, save for Of All The Things We Made. Liberator is of a bit less quality than the other ones too, I guess you should really like all of the other stuff in order to like this one.
My faves are the first album (no title), the fifth; Junk Culture, and ESPECIALLY the last one: Universal. Universal is from the britpop era and it shows, it has a bit of a Blur/Pulp sound over it. However it doesn't have the interesting atmospheric amient-like 'manoeuvres' you'll find on the first three albums.
So for an easy listing:
1. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (One of the best debut albums ever)
2. Organisation (Very dark, has got Joy Division influences - great!)
3. Architecture And Morailty (The classic one)
4. Dazzle Ships (Very meagre IMO)
5. Junk Culture (Anthem album to me!)
6. Crush (Started getting a little bit commercial, quite diverse though)
7. The Pacific Age (Too commercial for some, has got the fantastic Forever Live And Die on it)
8. Sugar Tax (Paul Humphreys left, Andy McCluskey went on. Very good but slightly monotonous)
9. Liberator (just okay, bit crap production, easily disliked and risky buy)
10. Universal (IMO utterly brilliant)

So start with the first three, as they're remastered with bonus tracks. Would be good buys!

― Tijn, Sunday, 6 April 2003 16:31 (10 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

god these remasters are great!

― Little Big Macher (llamasfur), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

"she's leaving" is such a lovely song

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

I might have to pick them reissues up when I'm over there!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:48 (9 years ago) Permalink

the peel sessions!! w/ bonus track addition of 'electricity' -- grebt

― geeta (geeta), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 05:47 (9 years ago) Permalink

"Sugar Tax" is actually a good album. Nothing really needs to be destroyed, although "Universal" comes close.

Anyway, first and foremost, the first four albums should be searched. And also search "Dreaming", a great one-off single from 1988.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 08:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

so far I have the first 3 in their remastered form, and I think all are worth picking up. my favorite album is Organisation but my favorite track of theirs is "the new stone age" from A&M. I get sick of "souvenir" quite easily too.

In terms of the remasters themselves, I think Organisation has the best bonus material asit includes some very good live tracks from the Factory which are all instrumental.

I am going to get Dazzle Ships and the Peel Sessions discs next.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 15:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

there appears to be some re-re-reissue thing going on at the mo - poss because they've actually REUNITED for a telly appearance in germany this month.

http://www.omd.uk.com/html/news.html

i've finally ordered dazzle ships, but i'm getting by (and then some) on the B-sides collection - it's tremendous. i'm kicking myself for not getting it earlier.

― ja (_ja_), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 10:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

you're going to kick yourself even harder when you hear the awesome wonder that is dazzle ships.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 10:52 (8 years ago) Permalink

hey, i've never seen this thread. someone appears to be calling dazzle ships "meagre". good god. how wrong is it possible to be?

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 10:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

I agree, it's a much maligned art-rock Kraftwerkian classic. Yo!

― mzui (mzui), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 10:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

Wait, wait, Dazzle Ships has finally been remastered? Score!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 19:58 (8 years ago) Permalink

I tend to think Organisation is slightly underrated (or, rather, everyone seems to rate it, but then proceed to talk about the debut or Architecture & Morality or Dazzle Ships instead; or simply refer to "Enola Gay"). The synthetic Joy Division aspect is great yes, but even just as a sonic exercise I think it's fascinating, astonishingly produced, well ahead of its time etc etc etc

"VCL XI" sounds like Junior Boys or Antonelli Electr! All those burbling sounds like machine babies cooing!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:14 (8 years ago) Permalink

Oh, no question Organisation has some astoundingly great songs -- "Stanlow" as a closer, but also particularly the monstrous-factory-noise doom creep crawl into frenetic desperation of "The Misunderstanding."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

...which upon listening to it right now kinda invents Depeche Mode's Black Celebration five years before the fact.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

It strikes me as the album where the sonic/songful aspects were most thoroughly fused. On Dazzle Ships the experimentalism is simultaneously foregrounded and bracketed it seems.

xpost yeah exactly! Black Celebration is the other 80s synth-pop album which I reckon does this rilly rilly exceedingly well.

What is other stuff like these? Apart from early industrial?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

HRM. Really going to have to think about that one. It'd be a case where *ha-hem* there's 'enough' recognizable songwriting as such but is thoroughly undercut not only by the musical construction to suggest something other/alien/mechanistic but where the lyrical structure is fractured to an extent (think comparatively how "The Misunderstanding" steers clear of a chorus in favor of verses where "The New Stone Age" focuses things into the chorus ["OH MY GOD what have we DONE this TIME"]).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

I need their early albums. I accidentally deleted all the mp3s I had of theirs (the excellent debut LP and bits and pieces of the next threee) and it's very unnerving.

― That's not cocaine! It's Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Mantra), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

Seek: "Organisation" and "Architecture And Morality", plus "Sugar Tax" was a great comeback album

Destroy: "Dazzle Ship". Never understood what was so fantastic about that one. And the fans at the time obviously agreed with me, as it flopped completely.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:55 (8 years ago) Permalink

true, people whose entire appreciation of music is based on pretty melodies might have been slightly flummoxed :)

but i think DS has long been critically reacclaimed as the classic it is, don't you?

it is a dense, beautiful, experimental, dark, intelligent and heartbreaking album. and if we are going to reduce everything to melody: beat "the romance of the telescope".

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:02 (8 years ago) Permalink

i think i'd go as far as to say that if there's one album that sums up, for me, what music should be about; what it should strive for, what it can achieve, and how even its flaws can be beautiful, then dazzle ships is it.

and if someone said, right, play me an album that will give me the best idea of where your tastes lie and what you like, dazzle ships would be it.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

Well, still don't see the fuss about a collection of tapes from Easten European radio stations, combined with (eek!!) lots of digital synths in an era where digital synths were mostly not around in pop music yet.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:13 (8 years ago) Permalink

The B-Sides and Peel CD's are pretty smart too!

― mzui (mzui), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

x-post: it's not a very digital-sounding album, though, is it? i mean, the overriding sound is still the mellotron-driven swell of A&M; it's just all the warmth is replaced by chill and austerity.

and time zones ... time zones! melody without melody! rhythm without rhythm! oh, exquisite genius.

god, i love that album so much.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

The best, nay quintessential, OMD moments are when Andy totally loses all composure and lets rip. Usually around the mid-point of the song :

e.g 'She waited for so Lo-o-ong" (She's Leaving)
'Her dream's to give her heart away...etc' (JoA, Maid Of Orleans)
'Now she's on her wa-ay to another la-and' (JoA, the other one)

That all of these examples are from A&M, make it my fave OMD LP. I unreservedly love the goofy Liverpool catholic thing,choirs of angels synths on the pop stuff and all the clanking about on the 'industrial northern landscapes' ones (Sealand etc). Fantastic band.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:15 (8 years ago) Permalink

i remember him getting fantastically indignant in an interview: "well, lots of people think i sing in a very emotionally affecting way, i'll have you know." but i'm most certainly one of them.

and yes, "goofy liverpool catholic thing" sums it up wonderfully; although i do still prefer the solving-all-the-world's-problems approach of dazzle ships (key andy quote from the time: "countries are a very inefficient way of organising things.")

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

and of course the classic andy-losing-it moment comes in "international", when he's so hysterical you can barely make out what he's singing.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

great example!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 17:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

so i picked up crush and the pacific age on vinyl for two quid each on saturday.

crush, as i remembered, is a bit meh.

but jesus christ, woah, the pacific age! it's fucking amazing! what was i playing at, selling my CD copy ten years ago? it's a lost overblown eighties classic. recorded in paris with stephen hague, so you can imagine it already ... big, lush, horribly digital in parts, but ridiculously ambitious in a down-to-earth stylee ... hellfire, if i didn't know i'd regret it, i'd call it a sequel to dazzle ships.

and i've only listened to the first side.

wow. i'm gobsmacked. i need to be getting me a copy of junk culture, just in case it turns out to be good as well.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 21:27 (7 years ago) Permalink

(i'm sure it won't.)

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 21:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

There are some good songs on "The Pacific Age", even though the synth sounds sound very dated by now (in fact a lot more dated than those early 80s ones)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 23:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

Btw. anybody else who loves "Dreaming", the one-off single released at the same time as their "The Best Of OMD" album?

-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), April 6th, 2003.
i loved it and expected a full album .
can't get into them before "junk culture".i thought "liberator" was great and "universal" was their best.
i play the greatest hits more than anything.

― katomicaitten, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:10 (7 years ago) Permalink

Btw. anybody else who loves "Dreaming", the one-off single released at the same time as their "The Best Of OMD" album?

p.s. omd's middle eights are brilliant, love the key changes and ad-libs.

― katomicaitten, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

1. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 5
2. Organisation 4
3. Architecture And Morailty 3.
4.Dazzle Ships 2
5. Junk Culture 7
6. Crush 6
7. The Pacific Age 7
8. Sugar Tax 8
9. Liberator 7
10. Universal 8

greatest hits (with dreaming) 9

― katomicaitten, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:15 (7 years ago) Permalink

3. Architecture And Morailty 3.
4.Dazzle Ships 2

insanity. how can an album with souvenir on it rate a 3? that song along rates it as a 6.

― keith m (keithmcl), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

Those rankings in general are all reversed from what I would give them!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 03:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 184 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

From the official OMD website:

"On Monday we will be performing at The Bing Lounge to celebrate the release of English Electric. The performance will be available to stream live. We will be performing at noon PDT (which is 8pm UK time)."

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 5 April 2013 14:41 (1 month ago) Permalink

This album is lovely. I wish the band hadn't lessened its impact by releasing "History of Modern." This really should have been bundled in with the reunion a few years back, but maybe they had to reunite, reconnect and tour first to get these results.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 April 2013 14:53 (1 month ago) Permalink

Yeah, that's kinda how I feel too... it would have been wonderful if they'd come out with something like this when they first reunited, but I think they had to get History Of Modern out of their system first and learn from it. History Of Modern was a collaborative effort for the most part, but quite a lot of the material had been kicking around for a few years (some of it in very different forms and intended for other project that weren't OMD) and they did a lot of sending files over the internet back-and-forth and not spending much time in the same room. The one track on History Of Modern that they actually wrote and recorded in the same room together was 'New Holy Ground'... thankfully they realised that they work better when they're in the same room together bouncing ideas off one another, and of course this new album is more focused because it was written over a set period, rather than drawing from a large batch of existing stuff.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 5 April 2013 15:53 (1 month ago) Permalink

*projects

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 5 April 2013 15:53 (1 month ago) Permalink

Strongly recommend rereading that Quietus interview linked above -- McCluskey talks about how the genesis of the album came from he and Humphreys basically talking in the kitchen and getting down to brass tacks. Rereading the interview while listening to the album was very helpful.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 April 2013 15:56 (1 month ago) Permalink

This one sounds like "Dazzle Ships" crossed with "Crush," which is an interesting conflation.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 April 2013 16:21 (1 month ago) Permalink

Well, I kinda see what you mean...

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 5 April 2013 16:58 (1 month ago) Permalink

man, he hasn't lot a bit of vocal range, has he?

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 5 April 2013 17:30 (1 month ago) Permalink

lot -> lost

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 5 April 2013 17:30 (1 month ago) Permalink

Not really... I mean, he probably can't get up to high part at the end of 'International' anymore (which I think is the highest full-voice McCluskey vocal on wax), but mostly his voice and range seems to have remained pretty much intact!

Anyhow, it would seem the album has finally hit Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/album/6c7cULDmJ4x9LNJov44EMD

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, 5 April 2013 17:39 (1 month ago) Permalink

This new album is really good. Standing in line to see them live at this very moment and I won't be disappointed if the set is filled with new songs.

― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 7 April 2013 02:45 (1 month ago) Permalink

ooo let us know how it is.

― Woody Ellen (Matt P), Sunday, 7 April 2013 02:48 (1 month ago) Permalink

Great show. Set list was really well planned. Played 4 new songs, Metroland, Dresden, Night Cafe and Kissing the Machine. They all sounded terrific, especially Dresden, which is an instant classic and just about as good as any song they've ever written. Paul sang Souvenir, Forever Live and Die and Secret. Only low point for me was Locomotion, easily my least favorite 80s single. It did seem to fit with Sailing On The Seven Seas rhythmically. Maid of Orleans followed by Joan of Arc was nice as well and it was during Joan of Arc, with Andy jerking his arms in time with the drums when I remembered they had toured with Joy Division. Pretty wild to imagine what that would have been like in 79/80. Surprisingly, Radio Waves got a huge reception. All in all a memorable set, well put together and perfectly executed. If they're coming to your town, go see them.

― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 7 April 2013 07:24 (1 month ago) Permalink

Nice! ty

― Woody Ellen (Matt P), Sunday, 7 April 2013 07:27 (1 month ago) Permalink

Remembering there were 2 others from the new album but I will have to check the titles in the morning. Our System and maybe Stay With Me?

― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 7 April 2013 07:49 (1 month ago) Permalink

Decimal
Please Remain Seated
Metroland
Messages
Dresden
Radio Waves
History of Modern 1
Forever Live and Die
If You Leave
Souvenir
Night Café
Joan of Arc
Maid of Orleans
Our System
Atomic Ranch (shortened version)
Kissing the Machine
So In Love
Sister Marie
Locomotion
Sailing on the 7 Seas
Enola Gay

Walking on the Milky Way
Secret
Electricity

― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 7 April 2013 08:06 (1 month ago) Permalink

Is Holmes even on the new album? The one disappointment for me is that the drums sound so generic and programmed. His additions to the group's classic album were key, I thought. Just as with New Order, the mix of live drums and programming is a cool combo.

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 7 April 2013 13:57 (1 month ago) Permalink

Yeah, he's there on 'Our System' and 'Dresden'.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Sunday, 7 April 2013 15:15 (1 month ago) Permalink

Good feature on the Quietus re: Andy's favorite albums

http://thequietus.com/articles/11834-andy-mccluskey-omd-orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark-favourite-albums

Very predictable (there's *two* Kraftwerk albums on it, which kinda breaks an unwritten rule doesnt it?) but there are some entertaining quotes about Limp Bizkit and McC's hatred of all things rock n' roll

― frogbs, Monday, 8 April 2013 14:11 (1 month ago) Permalink

Lots of good choices and Glasvegas!!!

― Kitchen Person, Monday, 8 April 2013 22:03 (1 month ago) Permalink

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 April 2013 11:35 (1 month ago) Permalink

Reviewed on Pitchfork today, feel like it deserves a little higher than a 6.7. Nice review though, that guy seems to know his stuff.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 11 April 2013 10:50 (1 month ago) Permalink

Indeed, can't complain about the contents of the review at all (except for one error: 'Metro City'='Metroland', but that kinda thing can be easily corrected), but definitely feel that it deserves a little higher than a 6.7. Still, a better score than the recent Depeche Mode album (which seems to be growing more on me the more I listen to it) and a far more favourable review than History Of Modern.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 11:00 (1 month ago) Permalink

I've enjoyed English Electric way more than Delta Machine. I haven't kept up to date with OMD's albums but this one was a really nice surprise, I did not expect to enjoy this much. Delta is just more of the same, I thought Sounds of The Universe was pretty good but this one didn't click with me at all. I was surprised how low the Pitchfork score was.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 11 April 2013 11:08 (1 month ago) Permalink

I'm thinking the problem that I'm having with Delta Machine is its length. English Electric is pretty much old-style vinyl album length (about 42-44 minutes, I think), whereas Delta Machine is almost an hour long and doesn't really need to be. So once English Electric is finished, I often feel like putting it back on for another listen, whereas two-thirds of the way through Delta Machine I find myself starting to flag with it. I honestly think if Delta Machine were reduced down to 9 songs, it would improve the album no end.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 11:16 (1 month ago) Permalink

Also, if the songs were better. ;)

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 11 April 2013 11:52 (1 month ago) Permalink

Well, that too... but it would be much more preferable to me to have the best of the material on that record all together as opposed to having to skip over the lesser songs.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 12:05 (1 month ago) Permalink

Hello. The lower score was an acknowledgment both of its comfort food feeling -- no complaints but at the same time, no extra rewards -- and a general wish from PF that we restrain ourselves from giving everything 10s and the like. Also as is well known I fucking hate stars, rankings, etc. My argument is in the words, not the rankings. That said, you are right about that "Metroland" glitch!

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 April 2013 13:50 (1 month ago) Permalink

6.7 sounds about right, in context, but seriously, what was the last high profile Fork review of a band more fashionable/current/contemporary than OMD that erred on the side of a lower score rather than higher? They're always trying to shift the scores lower ... except when they're not. The very notion that 6.7 comes across negative says it all, really. That's why I agree with Ned. Numbers/grades/etc. are silly/pointless/inscrutable.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 11 April 2013 13:57 (1 month ago) Permalink

Like I said, man, I couldn't complain about the content of the review... I just hope folks pay attention to what's been written, rather than just having a quick glance at the score.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 14:46 (1 month ago) Permalink

If anything, I just wanted to make sure I had a perfect last line for the review. I freely admit that.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 April 2013 14:58 (1 month ago) Permalink

there is still a little too much "chirpy Vince Clarke" in OMD's makeup for me to embrace them without reservation but this album seems okay

― relentless technosexuality (DJP), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:02 (1 month ago) Permalink

But you've heard the first few albums, right? More Eno and Joy Division than anything else.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:03 (1 month ago) Permalink

Yeah, Organisation especially isn't an album which I'd particularly describe as "chirpy Vince Clarke".

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:06 (1 month ago) Permalink

If anything it's more the tech they were using at the time. By the time they got more mainstream in America maybe they were more...exuberant?

Anyway, Josh and Turrican correct. Dan I'd just recommend a listen of the first four albums in order, I think you'll find yourself pretty surprised.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:08 (1 month ago) Permalink

lol you guys remember that Organization starts with "Enola Gay" right

― relentless technosexuality (DJP), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:10 (1 month ago) Permalink

Yes. Hurrah 'chirpy' songs about atomic destruction!

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:12 (1 month ago) Permalink

My point wasn't that OMD and early Depeche Mode were exactly alike, it was that there is an undercurrent of bouncy tweeness running through both of them that keeps me at a remove; in DM that element is much more closely tied to the way Vince Clarke writes songs whereas in OMD it's more in the way they arrange music. I only full vibe with OMD when they go full-on tacky stadium, which is part of why I love "If You Leave" (and "Forever (Live and Die)") so much

― relentless technosexuality (DJP), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:15 (1 month ago) Permalink

What Ned said... and besides, 'Enola Gay' is a bit of a red herring and not really representative of the album as a whole. The fact that it was the sole single from the album should tell you everything!

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:18 (1 month ago) Permalink

Give '2nd Thought', 'Statues', 'The Misunderstanding', 'VCL XI' and 'Stanlow' a listen and tell me if you can detect any bouncy tweeness ;)

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:19 (1 month ago) Permalink

I mean... yes, I can

I have heard these albums before, guys

― relentless technosexuality (DJP), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:21 (1 month ago) Permalink

you're acting like I'm calling Chris and Cosey albums to inviting and cheerful or something

― relentless technosexuality (DJP), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:21 (1 month ago) Permalink

The friendly life-affirming vibes of Whitehouse.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:25 (1 month ago) Permalink

I suddenly have an urge to listen to 'Statues', actually... been a while since I heard that bouncy twee classic...

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:26 (1 month ago) Permalink

too much "chirpy Vince Clarke"

THERE IS NO SUCH THING.

― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:28 (1 month ago) Permalink

I always thought of OMD as kind of cold and arty until I saw them live and realized they were pretty hilarious, and it totally changed how I heard their older albums afterwards!

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:35 (1 month ago) Permalink

Yeah, it's one of the strange things about that band... on the first four albums it's clear to me that McCluskey in particular took everything about the bands art painfully seriously, and they kinda do look very humourless on the sleeve photos to Organisation and Architecture & Morality... and then you see them live and it's equally clear that McCluskey isn't scared of making a fool of himself onstage whatsoever... the 'epileptic windmill' dancing during 'Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)' being a particular highlight.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 11 April 2013 15:40 (1 month ago) Permalink

enbb otm

― wee waa nee (electricsound), Thursday, 11 April 2013 22:38 (1 month ago) Permalink

And here's 'No Man's Land'...

Can see why it didn't make the album (I can't see why it could have possibly have fit in)... getting a bit of a Pacific Age vibe from this one, weirdly enough...

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Saturday, 13 April 2013 11:47 (1 month ago) Permalink

Still haven't got the album yet so can't really say much... "Enola Gay" was written well before the rest of the "Organisation" album and was recorded for a Peel session in the spring of 1980, along with "Motion and heart", the majority of the other 7 songs on "Organisation" were written after Ian Curtis' suicide and reflected that - don't forget the Factory connection and the two bands were very closely linked. "Statues"...don't get me started on that one!

― Rob M Revisited, Saturday, 13 April 2013 12:03 (1 month ago) Permalink

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