The Best of OMD [IMPORT]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 11, 2002)
• Original Release Date: February 5, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Virgin
• ASIN: B000026GGC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,327 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This collection of 16 OMD songs includes all their singles, including "If You Leave" (from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack) and "So in Love." OMD's sound is trademarked mostly by Paul Humphrey and Andy McCluskey's glassy-smooth vocals, along with harmonies that occasionally crack for dramatic emphasis but never shatter. The music is classic early '80s synth-pop, with swelling, hopeful strings and low-key tempos sugar-crusted to keep the songs rich but not totally fluffy. --Beth Bessmer

Product Description
Out of print in the U.S. UK reissue of this 1988 compilation from the Liverpudlian Synthpopsters featuring two tracks not available on the original U.S. pressing: 'Telegraph' and 'Genetic Engineering'. Released at the height of their success, this collection spanned their career up to 1988, beginning with the 1980 single 'Electricity' and ending with 'Dreaming', a track recorded specifically for this collection (and the final track released from the original duo since they split up shortly after this album was released). 18 tracks including 'Messages', 'If You Leave', 'Tesla Girls', 'Enola Gay' plus bonus extended mixes of 'We Love You' and 'La Femme Accident'. Disky.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Influential yet underappreciated music, November 11, 2004

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Best of OMD (Audio CD)

I've always looked upon The Best of OMD as the most disposable CD in my collection, so I thought it would be fun to review it, as a change of pace if nothing else. I can't begin to say how many years it had been since I listened to this album. It's actually a bit serendipitous, as just recently I've begun trying to get a handle on this whole "synthpop" thing, never remembering I had a musical retrospective of one of the more influential synthpop groups close at hand all the while. I still can't tell you exactly what synthpop is, at its simplest, it's pop music played primarily on synthesizers. To me, though, synthpop primarily translates to musical memories of the 1980s, and I've never made a secret of my love for all things 80s, especially the music.

Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark had a long and successful career, but they achieved mega-success with only one song. If You Leave, from the soundtrack of that seminal 80s film Pretty in Pink, towers over the musical landscape of the 1980s. If I had to pick one tune that represented the decade of my youth, I would probably choose If You Leave. I'm still perplexed why the song never rose above #4 on the US charts. I originally bought this CD because of that one awesome song, and this probably explains why I didn't really "get" this music at the time, especially since a majority of the tracks date back to the group's earlier years. OMD first appeared on the music scene in 1979 with the song Electricity, a catchy but rather ephemeral track that managed to win them a recording contract. Their early recordings are hard for me to classify; I believe Enola Gay made the top ten in the UK in 1980, but this song always seems to hang around in my head to the point of being annoying after I listen to it. Tracks such as Joan of Arc and Maid of Orleans demonstrate the growing musical maturity of the group, though.

OMD began to hit their stride with the release of the album Junk Culture in 1984. Tesla Girls, in particular, is a much tighter, certainly much more energetic song from the somewhat experimental products that had come before. This song almost demands to be danced to (but not by me, of course) and had what earlier tracks did not - pop appeal. Locomotion has a more pop-oriented sound, as well, but its good points are all but nullified by the constant repetition of a certain silly phrase. Talking Loud and Clear, a third track from Junk Culture, also suffers from repetition and a stultifying level of musical restraint. The group's pop-oriented synthpop sound continued with the album Crush in 1985, with OMD finally finding significant success in America with the single So in Love. Secret taps into the kind of teenaged lovesickness that fueled much of the best of 80s music; back then, a crush could actually be an innocent albeit heart-wrenching thing that basically defined adolescence. For the first time, OMD was beginning to sound (to me, anyway) like the group that would go on to record the era-defining song If You Leave.

A defining sense of melancholy seemed to characterize all of OMD's music, from weighty songs such as Forever Live and Die to pop-oriented tracks such as the excellent Dreaming. This collection's final two tracks, 12" versions of We Love You and La Femme Accident, close things out with great energy, but the songs you take away from this album are those more poignant offerings from the mid-80s, great tracks such as So in Love and If You Leave. Listening to this album now, I think I appreciate the music much more than I did all those years ago. OMD may not have hit the charts all that often, but theirs is a typically 80s sound that helped define the decade and did much to shape the development of synthpop. Needless to say, I am no longer inclined to look upon this CD as in any way disposable.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GRACEFUL AND ELEGANT SOUND SCULPTURES, May 26, 2003

By	Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Best of OMD (Audio CD)

There's not much difference between OMD's Best Of and their Singles collection. All the real classics like Maid Of Orleans, Joan Of Arc, Electricity, Souvenir and Tesla Girls appear on both and those few tracks that are different are not their best. So if you prefer We Love You, La Femme Accident and Genetic Engineering to Sailing On The Seven Seas, Dream Of Me and Walking On The Milky Way, go for this one! You will still get their more experimental first outings like Electricity plus their spacey, magnificent later work from Architecture And Morality. OMD was one of a slew of original UK synth-duo's that emerged in the early 1980s, along with Yazoo, Eurythmics and Soft Cell. OMD's mark of distinction is their elegant, almost classical structures and mournful moods, best demonstrated by Joan Of Arc and Maid Of Orleans. They were the architects of some truly remarkable and timeless sonic sculptures.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing music XD, September 17, 2005

By	Leia Cox "music obsessie" (Oregon USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this cd because I heard the song If You Leave on the radio. And guess what? The cds surprised me because its so good. I love 80's music, especially new wave 80's songs, so this cd was definatly worth it. The music is amusing at times, and you can definatly tell that its from the 80's. The instruments are very beautiful, and its more outdone with the instruments and doesn't just focus on the song mostly, like a lot of music does now. Either way, I really liked the cd. -^_________^- I hope my random rambling review is helpful to some people. If not, sorry, I'm not good at this. -_-'