OMD - Classic or Dud? S&D?

Possibly. I sometimes forget that I own Universal because it's so bland. "New Head" is the only song on it I have time for, and that song barely sounds like OMD. There's a stretch of like five songs in the middle that are all awful.

er, au contraire. we're so behind the times we don't even seem to have noticed that the classic line-up is re-forming.

this was posted on the official site on, er, january 1.

As previously reported, 2006 could well be the OMD Renaissance year with the reformation of the band now officially announced. To recap, Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Mal Holmes and Martin Cooper will be returning as OMD with concerts and a new album on the way. Joining them for live shows will be Stuart Kershaw. Here's what's on the schedule:

* OMD perform Architecture & Morality live
* A brand new OMD album
* Extensive European tour
* Remastered Dazzle Ships album
* OMD DVD
* Unreleased material album

i'm not entirely sure about the band re-forming and the new album. this could all suck a mammoth amount of dick; although given that i think they started sullying the fine name of OMD the second "junk culture" was released, it's not as if i'm that bothered. that said, i like the idea of them performing A&M in its entirety ... and of course i'll be going to see them live, no matter what ;)

but woah, remastered "dazzle ships" at last. and a DVD. and unreleased stuff. get in.

So were they any good live?

And that the band named after him took a similar powder.

i saw the mclusky-and-hired-hands OMD on tour in 1991 - or whenever "sugar tax" came out - and they were, against all odds, quite wonderful. clips i've seen of the "proper" band suggest the same.

but i'm very wary of reformations. very wary.

I would adore seeing them perform "A&M" from end to end. I had the live 81 video and wore it out because it was so good, and such primitive electronics too. Now, if they were to use all the original instruments too...

The news was broken on Aja/Dante way back in January when McClusky announced all this. ILM IS THREE MONTHS BEHIND AJA/DANTE!!!

I haven't heard about a remastered version of Dazzle Ships. That excites me in several ways.

http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2005_05_01_nylpm_archive.html#111576540197656225

kind of

ILM IS THREE MONTHS BEHIND AJA/DANTE!!!

... fuck. rats' cocks.

[1] did you get my triptych e-mail? if not, let me know and i'll re-send.

Anyway, this is all good news, no matter the timeliness.

[comment deleted on legal advice]

The album, which featured the singles Genetic Engineering and Telegraph, will be digitally remastered and will feature bonus tracks, including the full-length version of 66 & Fading. The reissue will also feature some previously unreleased material in the shape of Swiss Radio International - a track that was dropped from the original release - and also a version of Telegraph recorded at The Manor during the Architecture & Morality sessions in 1981.

Meanwhile, OMD will be back in the studio on August 7th for 1 week of rehearsals for the 2007 tour.

Andy McCluskey is also to be interviewed for a forthcoming issue of magazine The Word.

this is insanely good news. i cannot wait.

sadly, the A&M gigs planned for the autumn have been put back to next year too. oh well. gives me more time to anticipate. and maybe see OMD twice in one year. the joy!

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 13 July 2006 08:44 (seventeen years ago) link

that's better.

the DVD re-release of A&M sounds good too. but i still want me that remastered "dazzle ships", yo.

here endeth the newsflash.

"Organisation" and "Architecture And Morality" were ace though, and the more straight pop oriented stuff they did later in the 80s is better than its reputation.

That's for damn sure.

now, geir. we've done this. at length. you're wrong and i'm right, remember?

and the more straight pop oriented stuff they did later in the 80s is better than its reputation

yes, absolutely. in fact, at some point i might even go back and re-investigate "junk culture".

then again ...

Has this already been covered?

"Work on the forthcoming OMD album The History Of Modern continues and a provisional release date is under consideration.

Paul Humphreys has been working on the new OMD album recently and mixing work is also on the schedule. Meanwhile, Andy McCluskey is meeting with Peter Saville this week to discuss sleeve design concepts. The band are also receiving a lot of requests for licensing offers from around the world and it looks likely that a lot of deals are going to be made over the next few months.

The record label that will be issuing the album is 100% Records, who have previously worked with Moby, Placebo and The Temper Trap.

The provisional release date for The History Of Modern is scheduled for late August/early September."

Heard a track on some podcast recently and it sounded a little like Souvenir. Looking forward to this.

Souvenir = my favorite OMD track, no contest. Cautiously optimistic...

The Peter Saville thing is interesting, because it sounds like they might do something that sounds like their earlier stuff again. Also, good to hear Humphreys being back again, he didn't participate on those mostly below par 90s albums McCluskey made all alone.

New album forthcoming, new interview in the Quietus, GREAT quote from McCluskey that Tom Ewing flagged on Tumblr:

We looked at how we had constructed some of our more unusual songs, and a lot of them were made from concrete music, found sounds, and we looked at what we had explored in the past and we were trying not to repeat ourselves, and, well, we’ve done trains; we’ve done machinery. And then I actually said to myself “I realise now that everything that we’ve sampled from the real world – trains, machines, computers, guns, typewriters – they were actually accidental”. The audio that we had sampled was a waste product from the specific design function of whatever it was that we had recorded. Let me clarify that: a typewriter is designed to type things onto a page, not make a clicking noise when you hit the key. A steam engine is not designed to go ‘chuff chuff’. That’s an audio waste product of the inefficiency of its engine. And as the world has modernised, the accidental audio by-products, waste products, of the things that have become concrete music are going to be less and less because the designers have designed out the waste so that the machinery of the modern world has actually become more silent.

Read this earlier on this morning... having heard two (and a half!) snippets from the album now, I'm getting very very excited for this one!

This is closer to the "Dazzle Ships" end of town, right?

I think we should start another OMD S&D thread.

BLimey, it's all happening in music-world, innit?

mbv,
OMD,
ILX do Bowie...

This is closer to the "Dazzle Ships" end of town, right?

― Mark G, Tuesday, February 5, 2013 4:38 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The two and a half tracks they've previewed so far would suggest so, yeah.

New album soon! First track from same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PO_RkGju6M

Meantime they're playing LA and SF at the end of July -- and nowhere else (at least, so far). But that's lucky for me! Already got my ticket for SF. This'll be the first time I've ever seen them, so I'm quite glad.

Predictably, I really love this... sounds like they're moving even further in the direction they went with English Electric, which of course I wholeheartedly welcome.

Heard a clip from another track on BBC radio, it sounded pretty good to me!

So Malcolm Holmes ultimately retired?

Word has it is he is still making contributions to the new record, but Stuart Kershaw has taken over the drum stool for live performances.

looking forward to this, I've never seen them and I really like the last two records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDQeREbJgc

Not really feeling this as much as "Metroland". All of this modern OMD stuff feels a bit cynical to me even if I still enjoy some of it. "You guys like 'Dazzle Ships'? HERE YOU GO!"

maybe but I'm perfectly happy a band is aping itself at it's best work.

Yeah this song is pretty fantastic, if Wire can revisit earlier albums why shouldn't OMD? If the results are this good.

I don't think this track sounds anything like Dazzle Ships, to me it sounds very much a continuation of the last couple of LP's rather than OMD circa 1983. I think the recent stuff (History of Modern onwards) has a sonic quality which distinguishes it from the earlier albums. Sure, there's a Kraftwerk influence there but that shouldn't be very surprising.

As for the track - I like it, but it sounds to me like it'll work best in the context of the album.

The themes, instrumentation, emphasis on isolated samples and vocoders - this is all the pure spirit of Dazzle Ships even if the production is updated for 2017. At best the last couple of albums are a genuine return to the spirit of early 80's OMD vs. say, "If You Leave".

The first half of that track is really just straight-up Kraftwerk, circa Autobahn/Radioactivity. If you stripped down the production a bit, it could practically pass for an outtake from one of those albums.

Nice post frogbs _ very thorough

I listen to Crush as much as the formative albums. I never listen to Pacific Age or Sugar Tax. B Sides collection, whatever they call it, is excellent as well.

I first heard OMD in a synthpop band I was in as a teen (Enola gay). No idea why it took me to 34 years old to get into this amazing band

Sugar Tax is def. the best album to be put out under the OMD name between Junk Culture and English Electric. Although I love the highlights of Crush and The Pacific Age. History of Modern is good, but a couple of tracks too long. I never listen to Liberator or Universal beyond a couple of tracks fron each.

good lord they were great tonight in L.A.

McCluskey is a great frontman, he reminds me of Karl Hyde a bit in terms of ageless and endless energy. And it's insane how his voice remains virtually unchanged as far as I can tell. I didn't catch any compensating for lost range or taking it easy in certain sections of early era songs. I had suspected as much from his vocals on the recent albums but the live show confirms it. Brilliant.

yeah I saw them for the first time on the English Electric tour and ^that's totally otm

saw them again last night as part of a bill w/the B-52s and Berlin and while the other two were respectively great and good, these guys are absolutely incredible. On another level live. They are also one of the few legacy bands who can drop in a new song or two mixed in with the old hits and have it sound on par. I do think due to the relatively shorter set vs the last time i saw them, the only newish one they played was History of Modern Pt 1, which is superb and one of the better "everything you know will be gone someday" songs. i.e. "mono no aware-core"?

i guess from their albums i always thought maybe they'd be a bit more low-key performers, maybe even more serious, but they're just good-humored, fun rock stars. The crowd was i think mostly there for the B-52s but you could tell they were completely won over by OMD.

A new/old thing, with unreleased bits.

OMD - Souvenir - (5xCD/2xDVD Super Deluxe Boxset)

Please note this boxset does not include the Electricity 7" Single - that will be back on pre-order soon.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) continue their 40th anniversary celebrations with the launch of a career boxset and brand new greatest hits collection. The special box set will comprise 5xCDs and 2xDVDs housed in a 10” box set, together with a hardback book, poster and a series of 10” prints.
The audio discs include all the band’s singles from ‘Electricity’ to ‘What Have We Done’, as well as a brand new single ‘Don’t Go’, exclusive to this release. The box set also includes a previously unreleased live show from the Hammersmith Odeon in 1983, 22 previously unreleased demos from the archive which have been selected and mixed by Paul Humphreys, rare and unreleased live material from the BBC and an entire live show from the Mermaid Theatre in 2011.
One of the DVDs contains BBC TV performances from Top Of The Pops, Old Grey Whistle Test, Later With Jools Holland and more. The other contains a live show from Sheffield City Hall in 1985, another live show from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1981, as well as Crush – The Movie.
The book contains unseen photos, single sleeve artwork, an introduction by Paul Morley and sleeve notes to accompany the archive material by Andy McCluskey.
This announcement comes as part of another exciting installment of the band’s anniversary celebrations which first saw the reissue of their first four classic albums on 180g vinyl, mastered at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road and housed in their original iconic die cut sleeves designed by the legendary Peter Saville, followed by the huge world tour. The band, Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Martin Cooper and Stuart Kershaw will be starting in October in Portugal, stretching through to February 2020 finishing in Paris. To coincide with the band’s Liverpool show, there will be upcoming exhibitions happening at the British Music Experience and Museum Of Liverpool to celebrate the band’s impressive legacy.
"OMD - Souvenir", is out Friday, 4th October 2019 on UMC/Virgin and available for pre-order now.
NB: All products ordered with a pre-order will be dispatched together close to the latest pre-order release date. If you want earlier dispatched for another product then please place separate order(s).
Disc 1 - The Singles 1979 - 1987
Electricity
Red Frame/White Light
Messages
Enola Gay
Souvenir
Joan of Arc
Maid of Orleans
Genetic Engineering
Telegraph
Locomotion
Talking Loud and Clear
Tesla Girls
Never Turn Away
So in Love
Secret
La Femme Accident
If You Leave
(Forever) Live and Die
We Love You
Shame
Disc 2 - The Singles 1988 - 2019
Dreaming
Sailing on the Seven Seas
Pandora's Box (It's a Long, Long Way)
Then You Turn Away
Call My Name
Stand Above Me
Dream of Me
Everyday
Walking on the Milky Way
Universal
If You Want It
Sister Marie Says
History of Modern (part 1)
Metroland
Dresden
Night Café
Isotype
The Punishment Of Luxury
What Have We Done
Don't Go
Disc 3 - Unreleased Archive Vol I.
Brand New Science (06.1981)
Dumbomb (01.1986)
Violin Piece (09.1982)
Untitled 2 (06.1981)
Cut Me Down (03.1986)
Radio Swiss International (09.1982)
Untitled 3 (09.1982)
Weekend (04.1985)
Organ Ditty (05.1980)
Unreleased Idea (06.1981)
Cajun Moon (05.1986)
Guitar Thrash (09.1982)
SMPTE (12.1982)
American Venus (04.1990)
Liberator (02.1985)
Ambient 1 (04.1980)
Unused 1 (12.1980)
Flamenco (04.1990)
Andy’s Song (04.1985)
Dynamo Children (01.1985)
Flutey (03.1984)
Nice Ending (06.1981)
Disc 4 - Live at the Mermaid Theatre, London (03/02/2011)
Messages
Tesla Girls
New Babies New Toys
History of Modern (Part 1)
(Forever) Live and Die
Souvenir
Joan of Arc
Maid of Orleans
New Holy Ground
Green
Walking on the Milky Way
Sister Marie Says
Locomotion
Sailing on the Seven Seas
Enola Gay
Electricity
Disc 5 - Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (10/05/1983)
Dazzle Ships - Parts II,III & VII
ABC Auto Industry
Messages
She’s Leaving
Georgia
Almost
Julia’s Song
Joan of Arc
Maid of Orleans
Statues
The Romance of the Telescope
Souvenir
Telegraph
Radio Waves
Bunker Soldiers
Enola Gay
Silent Running
Electricity
Pretending to See the Future
Stanlow
DVD1 - BBC TV Performances
Messages (The Old Grey Whistle Test 15/04/1980)
Messages (Top Of The Pops 08/05/1980)
Messages (Top Of The Pops 29/05/1980)
Enola Gay (Top Of The Pops 09/10/1980)
Souvenir (Top Of The Pops 03/09/1981)
Joan of Arc (Top Of The Pops 29/10/1981)
Maid Of Orleans (Top Of The Pops 14/01/1982)
Genetic Engineering (Top Of The Pops 03/03/1983)
Locomotion (Top Of The Pops 19/04/1984)
Locomotion (Top Of The Pops 03/05/1984)
Talking Loud and Clear (Top Of The Pops 05/07/1984)
Tesla Girls (Top Of The Pops 13/09/1984)
So in Love (Top Of The Pops 30/05/1985)
La Femme Accident (The Old Grey Whistle Test 22/10/1985)
(Forever) Live and Die (Top Of The Pops 18/09/1986)
Dreaming (Wogan 27/06/1988)
Sailing on the Seven Seas (Top Of The Pops 02/05/1991)
Pandora's Box (It's a Long, Long Way) (Top Of The Pops 11/07/1991)
Pandora's Box (It's a Long, Long Way) (Top Of The Pops 25/07/1991)
Call My Name (Pebble Mill 11/12/1991)
Stand Above Me (Top Of The Pops 13/05/1993)
Walking on the Milky Way (Top Of The Pops 16/08/1996)
Enola Gay (Later With Jools Holland 31/05/2013)
DVD2 - Live at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (04/12/1981), Live at Sheffield City Hall (14/06/1985) and Crush - The Movie
Live at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (04/12/1981)
Almost
Mystereality
Joan Of Arc
Motion and Heart
Maid Of Orleans
Statues
Souvenir
New Stone Age
Enola Gay
Bunker Soldiers
Electricity
She's Leaving
Julia's Song
Stanlow
Live at Sheffield City Hall (14/06/1985)
The Romance Of The Telescope (intro)
Crush
Messages
Secret
Tesla Girls
White Trash
Talking Loud and Clear
Maid Of Orleans
Telegraph
Enola Gay
Electricity
The Romance Of The Telescope
Crush - The Movie
Bloc Bloc Bloc
The Native Daughters Of The Golden West
So In Love
88 Seconds In Greensboro
Hold You
Women III
Crush
La Femme Accident
Secret
The Lights Are Going Out
Format: 5xCD/2xDVD Super Deluxe Boxset
Catalog Number: 7732451
Bar Code 0602577324512
Label: UMC/Virgin
Release Date: Friday, 4th October 2019

I like OMD but that is too much OMD for me.

Maybe in list form, but listened to? I bet it's just right!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDDxpKJv8Qc

This is an odd beast, but kinda interesting - https://store.omd.uk.com/products/architecture-morality-singles-40th-anniversary-cd

I wonder why nothing from it ended up on the box set?

There's a very weird, faster, almost disco-y version of Souvenier and the demo of Georgia is really sweet, missing the radio clips and the sample from 'I Wish You Love' but really poppy and simple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5NDXBf1zGY

New album out today?

listening to it now and I'm surprised there's been no discussion of it on ILX so far. it's really good! reminds me of Electric by the Pet Shop Boys - sounds surprisingly youthful (has McClusky's voice changed at all the last 40+ years?) and modern, in fact most of these probably could be modern PSB tunes