OMD: S&D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0NXbuvh3Iw

only got 1 minute in so far, but i think Kraftwerk should sue.

Given that Andy McCluskey has been all over TV and radio talking up Kraftwerk's recent shows the influence they had on him, it should come as absolutely no surprise that it's going to come out in OMD's music. I like it. They attempted this kind of thing before on 'The Right Side?', but I think this is the superior track.

Now, see, that's a nice track.

the heavy KW influence has always been there though hasn't it?

Absolutely. I'd be more surprised if this was a new development, but it's been there since album one.

Absolutely, Dazzle Ships is an awful lot like Radioactivity

also doesn't Sazzle Ships have a song thats essentially a rewrite of YMO's "La Femme Chinoise"?

The intro to Genetic Engineering

Liking this track, I live in Metroland, well Betjeman's version of it, which I'm guessing is the reference.

afaic OMD have done as many interesting things using Kraftwerk's template as Kraftwerk themselves. This track is pretty superfluous tho

Current scores in the 'synth veterans returning in 2013' battle:

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - 4
Depeche Mode - 0

C'mown, Depeche... now it's your turn to impress me.

That's nice... but nothing more than nice. It doesn't really go anywhere for all its seven minutes, and it's great when Andy lets rip at the end but... Slightly underwhelmed. Maybe it'll grow on me, or maybe it's just that "Genetic engineering" was issued 30 years ago today and that song changed my life, maybe I'm expecting too much. Pleasant, but sounds a bit dated.

I'll leave this here before it gets taken down...

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

Cheers for that. Loving the typical Andy bass on "Dresden".

I already think it's a thousand times better than History Of Modern, just based on these snippets.

OMD are guests on Graham Norton's Radio 2 show on Saturday morning (10am to 1pm) with another exclusive new track, it says here.

Cheers for the heads up... I'll be away over the weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to steal a moment to tune in!

cool clips. Always like it when they're unafraid to wander into the lower-frequency end of the pool.

Pitchfork are streaming the whole album in advance...

http://pitchfork.com/advance/57-english-electric/

It's a good album that gets better on relistening. More thoughts later...

There isn't a single song on this that I'm finding myself disliking, which is something I definitely couldn't have said about History Of Modern (or indeed the two albums that came before it)... I think 'Our System' is probably my favourite track at the moment... love it when those drums kick in at the end!

Fucking hell, I'm on my 9th listen of this already... I'd better slow down before I burn out on this thing!

Ha, really? Might have to give it a listen. I was already to get into the last album but then that lead single killed all my interest. I haven't actually listened to any of their albums since Junk Culture. First four albums are of course classic.

It's a much sharper album than the first reunion. I do strongly recommend this interview with McCluskey in that regard, I think it puts the album into a clear context on several fronts

http://thequietus.com/articles/11307-orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark-omd-interview-watch-atomic-ranch-video

Interesting interview. I'm going in!

Yeah, this is definitely much sharper... while History Of Modern had its highlights (I'm very fond of 'New Holy Ground', 'RFWK' and 'History Of Modern (Part I)' to name three), this one undeniably feels much more like an OMD album. It doesn't contain any embarrassing attempts at styles that don't suit them (i.e. like 'Pulse' from the last album, or 'Agnus Dei' from Liberator), there's a track with a Paul Humphreys lead vocal (which was a trademark of every OMD album from Organisation up to The Pacific Age), there's some Dazzle Ships-esque interlude pieces in there such as 'Decimal', 'Atomic Ranch' and 'The Future Will Be Silent', and the album on the whole is mostly electronic and in keeping with their electronic roots (no blues-rock here!)... the only acoustic drums on the record, as far as I can tell, is in the outro to 'Our System' (which is fast becoming one of my favourite OMD songs), and of course several tracks feature the McCluskey bass. It's also a fairly concise album, about 43-44 minutes long (near-perfect vinyl album length), so it doesn't outstay its welcome (I often felt like albums like History Of Modern and Sugar Tax were slightly overlong).

Very hard for me to pick highlights so far, and no track on here is leaving me disappointed... yet another album to add to the growing pile of records which I'll be playing the shit out of this year.

Funny you mention roots music....but I'll have more to say later.

Is it fair to say you're reviewing this one, Ned? :D

Glad people I trust like Turrican are enjoying the new album, I'm unable to stream the album so will have to wait 'til I buy it next week and I can't wait.

*whistles idly*

I love the title. My Dad worked at English Electric in the early '60s, in Gillmoss off the East Lancs Road.

*whistles idly*

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, April 3, 2013 9:13 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha!

So there's a single and a double CD version of this available to order? What's on disc 2?

I haven't looked into that yet, but I know there was quite a few tracks they recorded during the album sessions that are coming out as B-sides and stuff: 'Frontline', 'No Man's Land', 'Time Burns', a cover of 'Shelter' by The xx... and 'The Great White Silence', which has already come out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EUNX-nwSDw

This album is actually really good. Never thought I'd be into a later OMD album but think I'm going to end up playing it a lot.

I love it when synth pop bands make great albums late into their careers, Human League's Secrets and Erasure's Nightbird are probably the best examples.

I've never heard the band's '90s output. Anything worthwhile in there?

I'd say that Sugar Tax is the best of their '90s albums. It's maybe a couple of songs too long, and there's one or two tracks on there I could easily do without, but I prefer its Korg M1-driven sound to the "McCluskey having a love affair with techno" album that is Liberator, or the more Britpop-styled Universal. Sugar Tax is all about the mid-tempo tracks/ballads for me: 'Then You Turn Away', 'Was It Something I Said', 'Walking On Air', 'All That Glitters'...

How about any of the later 80's albums after Junk Culture? I don't love that album but it has it's moments.

Oh I guess that's just two albums then, thought there were more than that. Just looking them up on All Music, they really have great album artwork almost all the way through their career.

There's some discussion about the Junk Culture, Crush and The Pacific Age albums here...

Of course, I already think that English Electric is better than those three albums(!)

Okay thanks. I saw you talked abou them earlier on this thread too (I should actually read threads before posting on them)

As you seem to be a bit of an expert and I'm a complete music nerd, would you mind ranking their albums? I'd be really interested to see what order you would put them in.

I'm listening to Sugar Tax now. Then You Turn Away sounds a little too close to Femme Fatale on it's verses.

1. Architecture & Morality / Dazzle Ships
2. Organisation
3. English Electric (NEW ENTRY!)
4. Junk Culture
5. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
6. Sugar Tax
7. History Of Modern
8. Crush / The Pacific Age
9. Universal
1,500,000. Liberator

That's at the moment, anyway.

Great, thanks! Dazzle Ships just has the edge over Architecure for me but yeah that's a great top five.

Poor Liberator, I have no intention of hearing that album but I did like the first two singles when they came out back in the day.

This new one is very good on headphones too, I think the band mixed this one themselves... lots of little details I'm picking up like the extra percussion underneath 'Dresden'...

damn good imo

And here's 'Frontline'...

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

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