OMD: S&D

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.

Goofy is right. I remember watching them perform the splendiferous Forever Live and Die on TOTP in 1986 - and you know the bit half-way through, where the music suddenly cuts out and there's a little bass slide into the next verse? Presumably by prior arrangement, the camera zoomed in on McCluskey at that precise moment, and he just could not stop himself from making a wacky "oooh" face. It was kind of like Michaelangelo inviting people in to view the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and then tricking them into sitting onto whoopee cushions.

The good news is that, having made do for years with the greatest hits compilations, I have been inspired by this thread to purchase Organisation and Architecture and Morality. (Would have bought Dazzle Ships too, but HMV only had the non-remastered version in stock.)

fuck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_nsoF_1AI&search=OMD

Search "Organisation", "Architecture And Morality" and a good singles compilation.

Oh god, "Souvenir" is just killing me right now. So swoonsome!

I was thinking of that very song on the way home this evening! :-)

The new live album, Architecture & Morality And More is a great listen. It's just what I was in the mood for. Also, I'm looking forward for the release of the dvd.

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 (3 years ago)

i've never felt the need to do this before, but geir, you are crazy. there is not one digital synth on this album, unless you count the emulator which i imagine was used mainly for all the radio samples. do you even own this album? there's a list of all the synths used in the sleeve. i know you've gone into great detail about how you dislike hard synth sounds, but this album practically defines warmth

this album = dazzle ships

Dazzle Ships is so great; I wish I'd heard it before yesterday! The chords in "Of All The Things We've Made" are heartbreakingly gorgeous.

My favourite OMD album by a long shot - and I quite like their stuff.
Greyish, unbalanced, icy and emotional, conveying this almost 50's cold war paranoia, eerily prescient - so great indeed.
Like I read somewhere, it is the sound of Joe Meek teaming up with Kraftwerk.

I'm listening through their discography now, and it's amazing, though I keep wanting to put on Dazzle Ships between the other albums. Between "Genetic Engineering", "The Romance of the Telescope" and the "Of All The Things We've Made" plus the interludes gluing things together, I can't get enough. I gather the lyrical subject matter is weighty but I'm not yet at the point of attending to that, not when there are chords and progressions as overwhelming as these.

As I said over on the DzSh thread, when they made "Locomotion", I liked the song a lot, but knew they would never do 'experimental' a'la Dazzle Ships again, and felt sad.

After listening to the first four albums + the Peel sessions over the last couple of days, I wanted to go back and relisten to them but tried "Locomotion" off the next album just to see. And it seems to be a move away from the lush swoon of the earlier albums, esp. Dazzle Ships. I'm kinda reluctant to go further for now, in fear of having the spell broken; but for now it's puppy love and I'm relistening to Architecture & Morality and starting to hear the influences more, e.g. Joy Division especially. I'm having a "where have you been my whole life" moment with this band right now.

'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".