OMD - Classic or Dud? S&D?

what, junk culture? it is fucking honking - literally. OMD go to montserrat, hire a horn section and program some horrible steel-drum noises on a fairlight. there's one paul humphrys-penned nod to "souvenir" in the form of the lost single "never turn away", but beyond that it's wank.

crush isn't great, IMHO, but the pacific age is, as i rediscovered on one of the other OMD threads. (this one, in fact, which seems to have become the official ILM OMD thread. actually ... an idea strikes me, and i'm off to the mod board.)

x-post: woah, hang on, what's "second thought (reconsidered)"? is this different from the song "second thought"? be telling!

I actually like this record - or at least some of the things on it - very much.

"Best Years Of Our Lives" has one of Andy's best later vocal performances that I can think of.

There's something about the melody and bassline of "Stand Above Me" that gets stuck in my head and is infinitely hummable

Even now when I listen to Love Unlimited's version of "Love's Theme" I find myself singing the vocals from "Dream Of Me" over it - they work really well (shame about the lawsuit and all)

and then the sorta ecstacy-fuelled fun of things like "Agnus Dei" and "Christine" are great, if even a little more lightweight and forgettable than a great pop song should be

overall not their best album - but some good songs and a fun listen. also have great memories of driving around in my first boyfriend's fancy sedan listening to this cd on the expensive car hi-fi system (whole new world for this lower-middle class kid) that sorta makes this stick out in my brain even more than it should. i bought him a copy because he liked mine so much and i think it stayed in his car the entire time until he bought another one

despite the fact i've not heard this song since 1997, it's now stuck in my head. OK, OK ... i'll listen again. soon.

haha! yes.

i can sort you out with mkI human league stuff if you're interested, though. e-mail me (use the webmail link).

only snag is i'm at work at the moment so can't download easily (i think i got chinned by IT last time i tried) ... i'll do it the second i get home, assuming other OMD fans haven't used up the 20 downloads or whatever first ;)

hmmm. i can sort-of help you here, but in a really weedy and half-assed way :)

- my copy of OMD is on vinyl and un-MP3d: sorry
- i couldn't be arsed MP3ing "organisation" from vinyl so i bought it off iTMS, which - i think? - means the files won't work if i send you them. i can, however, burn you a CD of it. but is it worth the postage?
- i have MP3s of "architecture and morality" and "dazzle ships" but they're made from the vinyl. now, while i have grown to love all the pops and crackles over the years, you might think, fuck that, i'd rather have a CD rip (or, in the case of A&M, the remaster).

anyway. like i say: e-mail if you so desire.

"I'd much rather be known as they guy who invented Atomic Kitten and wrote their number one, than the bloke who used to be in OMD"

WTF???

But he didn't.

He said he'd rather BE KNOWN AS THE MAN WHO INVENTED ATOMIC KITTEN.

Who else would like to be able to say that?

only a few nutters hanging about a dying bulletin board care about OMD.

(nb i obv number myself in the latter)

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 ...

XP - Organisation then the debut, then try Dazzle Ships again.

exactly my recommendation as well.

organisation and architecture are natural companion albums and i can't imagine liking one without liking the other. debut has some absolute gems, and then after that dazzle ships is like a bonus wonderful LP that makes much more sense once you understand what they were departing from

I know I'm late to the party, but I've always wanted to big them up for "Messages". Specifically the verse that (referring to the titular messages) contains "... I'd write and tell you that I burned them all. But you never sent me your address." (beat) "And I kept them anyway."
Love that. And the way the single version comes in with a rush, establishes the synth arpeg. and that runs all the way through. Great stuff that seems to get overshadowed by "Electricity" from their early tracks.

otm. "electricity" is a catchy as hell but whenever i listen to "messages" it's just as thrilling as the first time i heard it

This is good timing because I was wondering if I should give Junk Culture a try. I hated Locomotion bitd but I don't know any other songs from that album. I'm a huge fan of their first 4 albums. I saw them live in LA a few years ago and it was awesome.

Junk Culture is decent. Still a huge step down after the first four albums.

They were great tonight. Can't believe that last show I saw was 5 years ago. Andy is such a fun frontman, and everyone was having such a great time, band and audience alike. What a strong catalog this group has.

Organisation is the one that I've been listening to the most recently.

Junk Culture isn't a step down from the work before it - it's just different. Partly because technology had moved on.

(This idea that they lost their "experimental" side completely after Dazzle Ships is a bit of a myth, really)

I've decided that I don't actually like their most recent album all that much.

Also, Dazzle Ships wasn't really that much of a departure for those who were listening closely, anyway. If anything, it was a return to the type of material they were doing very early on in '78.

Junk Culture isn't a step down from the work before it - it's just different.

"Different" in the sense that it's not as good.

It has some clangers, 'Apollo' is terrrrrible, I listened to it again recently and was thinking that they intersect with Lowlife/Brotherhood-era New Order here and there 'Hard Day' for instance, then I realised that they got there a year or so earlier.

What is so good about Dazzle Ships imo isn't the musique concrete stuff-- which is fine-- but the unhingedness of the performances? imo? I'm thrilled every time Andy just goes for it on "International", and the sound of the tom + out-of-tune guitar being mangled on "Of All The Things We've Made", those moments convey the-frustration-with-the-very-nature-of-the-process-and-a-lack-of-care-as-to-what-people-think better than any moment on, say, Big Star's Third

For me, Andy's voice is key to the whole first four album's deal, seems obvious to say, but there is so much warmth and humanity in it, quite different to bleepy, purposefully robotic Gary Numan/John Foxx, the slate grey crooning of Ian Curtis or nagging post-punkers like Howard Devoto.

Not technically the greatest singer and a bit mannered and honky in places perhaps, but his vocal melodies really elevate the rest of the music even in it's weaker moments.

it's that and Humphries ability to write a memorable top line that enabled them to have one foot in Smash Hits and another indulging their Radioactivity era Kraftwerk studio fantasies.

What I love about Junk Culture is that they never made an album quite like it again - it's this strange mix of music which, yes, brings to mind New Order (in the sense that they were pretty much using similar equipment) but far more polished than anything New Order did prior to 1989. This is then blended with horn sections and steel drums inspired by their surroundings during recording in Montserrat, and their own experimental impluses which can not only be still heard on the album itself but on the free single that came with the original album on the B-sides - most notably 'The Avenue' ...

... anyway, Austin is wrong.

Andy's voice is key to OMD full stop, not just the first four albums.

What a coincidence -- I just wrote about them!

come around to dazzle ships in a big way, my current fav. the 2008 remaster of architecture and morality sounds great too, beefed up drums and bass

Great! Did you go back and try out the first two?

I've heard organisation which is great bhr not familiar with self titled yet. Junk culture hasn't fully grown on me yet tho

I would hit up Crush before Junk Culture perhaps.

okay thanks MaresNest, how do their later albums fare?

I love 'Dazzle Ships' a lot (though 'A&M' will always be my #1), but does anyone else find it slightly weird that its two best tracks--"Romance of the Telescope" and "Of All The Things We've Made"--were repurposed b-sides? I mean kudos to them not letting them languish as raritied, but it kind of cuts down the sense of 'DS' as some kind of coherent visionary statement album.

Silent running tho !

Well lets say two *of* its best, then : )

Good point tho sounds like :) those are fantastic songs

I've read that DS was started before they were really quite ready to make a record, hence the greater leaning toward experimentation and the repurposing of B-Sides, Radio Waves was an older, pre-OMD track iirc.

Junk Culture is great! Sometimes I dig it more than the first four. "White Trash" is such a cool track.

Crush is good, a bit of a step down IMO but it has some excellent tunes - "Bloc Bloc Bloc", "88 Seconds in Greensboro", and "Women III" are all real catchy and just gimmicky enough, if you know what I mean. Loses some steam on Side 2 but overall pretty decent.

Pacific Age on the other hand kinda shows them slipping. I like "Forever Live and Die" and I recall "Goddess of Love" being good but I can't recall how that one goes anymore. I believe this one was made in the wake of the success of "If You Leave" which is not a good thing. It also isn't really recognizable as an OMD record.

Sugar Tax though is a highlight. I think most people would agree it's their best from 1985 until, I dunno, English Electric perhaps. I've heard this was more or less a McClusky solo effort but it's definitely got the OMD sound to it.

The next two, Liberator and Universal, get maligned an awful lot. Liberator because it jumps full on into its 90s dance rhythms, sounding often like a garbage "OMD...In The Mix!" style album. Universal because it's just blah, boring cover, unmemorable tunes, though some of it is very very good, for example "Very Close to Far Away". I'd skip both of these.

As for their comeback albums - this era from 2010 on where they hop on the vintage synths and try to sound like their old selves, is very much a hit for me, since they really do nail that old sound. History of Modern is a pretty cool record, a bit of a grab bag perhaps (featuring a couple songs clearly intended for other artists), but it's mostly good. The "Europe Endless" aping closer "The Right Side?" is one of my very favorite OMD tracks. English Electric is even better, a very modern-sounding take on the Kraftwerk sound, I think if you dig classic OMD then you'll like this one very much. It sounds like what the follow-up to Dazzle Ships ought to have been. As for their latest (Punishment of Luxury), I actually think it's more fun overall, though it doesn't quite have the replay value of EE. But it's very good.

Anyway, those are all my opinions on OMD at the moment

Good post frogbs!!

Nice one frogbs, I love the second side of Crush though, man 'Native Daughters...', OMD does Kashmir!

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