OMD: S&D

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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".

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.

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

god, i love that album so much.

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.

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.")

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.

-- 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.

-- 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.

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

greatest hits (with dreaming) 9

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

Maybe the booker mistook them for OMC

how bizarre

I like both of these bands, so it's not inconceivable to me that there other people who feel the same way (would much rather see Barenaked Ladies opening for OMD than vice versa though)

Aw man, kinda disappointed that this wasn't news of new material - they're apparently working on an album due to come out this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyYaWD3DWIU

This is great, don't be put off by the beginning.

Is that the doc where McCluskey gets out the masters for 'Messages', 'Electricity', 'Enola Gay', 'Souvenir' etc. and breaks them down track-by-track? If so, yeah, that's a good doc... it's impressive how crude some of those melodies actually sound when played dry like that, and it's impressive how they got so much out of the primitive technology of the time.

Sadly, there still doesn't seem to be very much in terms of new news about the forthcoming OMD record which is meant to appear this year... apparently, they've been doing quite a lot of writing, but McCluskey hasn't revealed anything about what they're working on this time around. Hopefully, it'll be a step further in the direction that English Electric took.

So there is a live album from that Museum of Liverpool show.

How's their drummer doing?

Mal Holmes? From what I can gather, he's okay but he's retired from playing live with OMD permanently because of the health risks involved. He still might do studio stuff with OMD, though.

So, according to the information that McCluskey has let slip so far, the next OMD has the working title of Punishment of Luxury and is pencilled in for a March 2017 release. Apparently, Mal Holmes won't feature at all on it, although this all of course may change. Humphreys and McCluskey have been working on quite a fair bit of material, although it's clear they're taking their time with this one and it's hard to say at this stage whether anything they're working on now, or how much of it, will make it to the actual album.

So, they played a gig at the Royal Albert Hall a couple of days ago where they played both Dazzle Ships and Architecture & Morality in their entirety, so further to 'International' getting its debut live airing a couple of years back, they've now aired 'This Is Helena' and 'Silent Running' live for the first time, and they've played 'Telegraph' for the first time since they reformed. I've heard they played some other songs, just as '4 Neu' and 'Almost', but I don't know what else. There was no support act, so quite a long set.

It's being made available as a download I believe.

Yeah, I heard they recorded the gig and those that attended were able to get physical copies of it afterwards. As you'd expect, there's plenty of footage up on Youtube as well. It's great to see them performing these albums, and from what I've seen Stuart Kershaw is filling in for Mal Holmes better than I could possibly have imagined. I can't help but feel that Organisation is looking more and more underrated, and I'm hoping that Kershaw's presence in the band won't eventually mark a return to their Liberator era. I think both Humphreys and McCluskey are more protective about what they let out under the OMD name these days, so I'm guessing not.

I just bought it, actually, downloading now :)

Silent Running sounds great, I guess they have a few songs with the same vibe, however it's a shame it hasn't been performed before now.

I agree, it's always been one of my favourites on Dazzle Ships... I love it how they took the keyboard track and slowed it down and reversed it to create '66 and Fading', too.

One cool thing, the thirties sounding female vocal sample at the end of Georgia is mixed quite loud, I've always loved the way that sample rubs up against the keyboard line, it's very evocative, wish I knew what track it was.

Oh shit, well thanks google.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Que_reste-t-il_de_nos_amours_%3F

'Georgia' is a bit like 'She's Leaving' in the sense that I could totally imagine it as a single. Legend has it that Dindisc wanted to actually put 'She's Leaving' out as a single, but McCluskey refused - a decision he has since come to regret! It did come out as a single in Belgium, I think? They got the single choices on Dazzle Ships a bit wrong, though... 'Radio Waves' would have made a fine lead single.

Just took a plunge on Liberator and...its not so bad?? I'm grooving hard on "Best Years of our Lives" and "Christine"

'Christine' is probably the best track on the LP, to be fair.

GOD KNOWS IT'S A SHAME ... but it's always the way

'Goddess of Love' > 'If You Leave'

I just tested this theory out. Disproven.

Honestly, I even had to look up which album that one was on. Now, if you had said "We Love You">"If You Leave," I might have humored you.

'Goddess of Love' was actually the original song that they submitted for the Pretty In Pink soundtrack, but when the ending was changed they had to come up with a new song quickly and they came up with 'If You Leave' ...

Now, I'm fond of 'If You Leave' but the transition from 'Flame of Hope' into 'Goddess of Love' on The Pacific Age is a great moment, IMO... the chilled mood of the former gradually fading out and leaving the opening sample remaining, before suddenly switching to the opening of 'Goddess of Love' ... HEY! HEY! SHE'S OKAY! SHE'S OKAY! ... It's such an upbeat moment that it fills me with joy every time I hear it... and it's a great song. Would have made a better single than the re-recorded 'Shame' ...

(I like 'We Love You' too, fwiw)

I really need to give Junk Culture, Crush, and the Pacific Age a fair shot. I enjoy everything up until then.

check out English Electric if you haven't, that's one of their best albums imo

Sugar Tax is inconsistent, but there are some really pretty songs on there

I'd rank Junk Culture, Sugar Tax and English Electric as the best of the post-Dazzle Ships LP's, followed by Crush, History of Modern and The Pacific Age ... I hardly ever listen to Liberator or Universal.

I love Crush.

It's the better of the two Stephen Hague-produced records, IMO. '88 Seconds in Greensboro' and 'The Native Daughters of the Golden West' are two of my favourite OMD songs ever.

Hey any fans of OMD, what record would be good to get into if I like "A souvenir (extended version". Only song I'm overly familiar with.

if you like Souvenir, you will very likely enjoy Architecture & Morality and Organisation as well.

Thanks Karl, I'll check them out :)

Yeah, start with Architecture & Morality, followed by Organisation and Dazzle Ships. Then try the debut, and then Junk Culture or English Electric.

figured I'd get caught up on these dudes in anticipation of the new record...English Electric is really quite nice, isn't it?

It is. Saw them live last Friday -- absolutely wonderful show. They get away with playing songs exactly like the studio arrangements more than most, because they make it all work so well live.

They're so great live, I saw the first comeback gig at the Hammersmith Apollo back whenever and it completely ruled to hear all of A&M and all the big hits.

If the forthcoming new album is as good as English Electric, I'll be happy!

I was at the same show as Ned, they were excellent live, blown away. New songs were great (they played two of them). Looking forward to the new album, as the other two post-reunion albums were both great as well. Underrated band.

Of all the bands that reformed and put out new material this decade, I've been very happy with what OMD and Suede have been offering.

yeah, both, good point. they've really been true to their strengths and it hasn't been a nostalic money grab.

Can anyone comment on the quality of the remastered reissues on vinyl?

Well, I bought the S/T album and can confirm it sounds terrific. Outer & inner sleeves are high quality. Overall i'm very happy. Will likely buy the Organization and Dazzle Ships reissues to replace older copies.

I haven't heard any of the remastered vinyl reissues, but based on your feedback I might just check 'em out... sounds promising!

Do they have the same packaging/labelling as the original Dindisc vinyl, with the die-cut sleeves etc.?

Yes, they are all replicas of the first pressings. Die-cut, nice inners, labels replicated as well.

Do you get the 7" with Organisation also?

I don't think Organization has the 7".