OMD: S&D

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.

I'm kinda reluctant to go further for now, in fear of having the spell broken

With OMD, that's a very wise approach. There is stuff worth hearing in the post-Dazzle Ships albums -- hell, I'll rep for most of The Pacific Age (see above!) -- but the magic had vanished and they're fundamentally a different band.

And whatever the fuck else you do, don't go and see them live: OMD to tour Architecture And Morality

So what came first, OMD's 'The Boy From the Chemist is Here to See You' or Pulp's 'Disco 2000'. Same year, too similar to be a coincidence?

OMD, frm Universal (1996).

Disco 2000, 1995

So, there you go.

lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HuSDV9mnjU

having listened to almost all of dazzle ships (thanks to the ILM 80's poll), holy shit how had I not heard this band before? there is so much music to hear; fortunately i am of a mind to set aside a while for these guys

Architecture & Morality is even better imo

Quite frankly LJ I am a little shocked at this. <3 OMD. Also, I think that Scooter clip made my ears bleed.

as a massive fan of early ultravox!, rio, new gold dream and others of that ilk it seems so obvious that i ought to have heard them earlier

'the romance of the telescope' is particularly stunning

OMG 'STATUES'

I am enjoying bearing witness to this new discovery of yours btw.

i see people compare dazzle ships to kid a

'the romance of the telescope' is *miles* better than anything on kid a

Architecture & Morality is even better imo

and Organisation is right up there with A & M, too.

Really, though, you can't go wrong with everything up to and including Dazzle Ships.

IF YOU LEAVE

Has anyone ever noticed the similarity between "Romance of the Telescope" and "Venus" from Air's Talkie Walkie? It can't be coincidence.

LJ, be sure to check out the Remaster CDs with the extra B-Side goodness as there is some great stuff lurking there too like Annex for example.

And the BBC sessions disc is worth checking out too.

'ABC Auto-Industries' is awesome too! As is most of what I've heard. (Joan Of Arc = great, Stanlow = great, etc)

Nice one: genuinely delighted you're enjoying this stuff. I've waxed lyrical about Dazzle Ships enough round here, really, so I won't say any more.

Really, though, you can't go wrong with everything up to and including Dazzle Ships

... exactly, although another way of putting it might be: "Be very, very careful with everything after Dazzle Ships". Actually, I've grown to really like The Pacific Age, but even so ...

I think Crush is a 100% solid album, love every track on it (esp. 'Native Daughters of the Golden West').

Great fake Hopper cover, too.

new album! who knew?

9/28 - OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) - History Of Modern (Bright Antenna)
That's right, the kings of new wave are back and better than ever with their first new album in 14 years.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/35/OMD_History_of_Modern_album_cover.jpg/600px-OMD_History_of_Modern_album_cover.jpg

okay, anyone with any interest in omd probably knew this for years. geir will dig it. that's for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rCMo1zfAKs

sorry if there is a thread. its early...

saw the quietus tweeting that it isn't very good.

that sounded pretty good except for the hi-hat

Buying this for the cover alone btw.

Psyched

Will likely go and see them again, with any luck they'll play Stanlow at brain welding volume like at the Roundhouse gig, it was aces.

That new song is rather lovely. I absolutely love the artwork, it would be so great if the music was as good.

This song's pretty good and I'm looking fwd to the album, as long as "new single" doesn't mean "this is the best song from the album."

I don't think Organization has the 7".