Customer Reviews

Messages: Greatest Hits (Bonus Dvd)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

CD tracklisting:
01 Messages [Mike Howlett 10" Single Version]
02 Electricity [Martin Zero Version]
03 Enola Gay
04 Souvenir
05 Joan Of Arc
06 Maid Of Orleans
07 Genetic Engineering
08 Telegraph
09 Locomotion
10 Talking Loud And Clear
11 Tesla Girls
12 So In Love
13 Secret
14 If You Leave (From 'Pretty In Pink')
15 (Forever) Live And Die
16 Dreaming
17 Sailing On The Seven Seas
18 Pandora's Box
19 Dream Of Me (Based On Love's Theme)
20 Walking On The Milky Way

Total CD playing time: approximately 76 minutes. All CD tracks have been digitally remastered, using either the 1998, 2003, or 2008 remasters from the original analogue master tapes.

DVD tracklisting:
01 Electricity
02 Red Frame/White Light
03 Messages
04 Enola Gay [UK Version]
05 Souvenir
06 Joan Of Arc [Live On 'Top Of The Pops', 1981]
07 Maid Of Orleans
08 Genetic Engineering
09 Telegraph
10 Locomotion
11 Talking Loud And Clear
12 Tesla Girls
13 Never Turn Away
14 So In Love
15 Secret
16 La Femme Accident
17 Hold You
18 If You Leave
19 (Forever) Live And Die
20 We Love You
21 Shame
22 Dreaming
23 Sailing On The Seven Seas
24 Pandora's Box
25 Then You Turn Away
26 Call My Name
27 Stand Above Me
28 Dream Of Me (Based On Love's Theme)
29 Everyday
30 Walking On The Milky Way
31 Universal

DVD9 (dual layer format). NTSC format. Region 0. Running time = 2 hours approximately. Authored by Abbey Road Interactive. LPCM audio. DVD audio restoration: Andy Walter.

In late September 2008 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark celebrated their 30th anniversary with the Virgin/EMI release of 'Messages - OMD's Greatest Hits', a CD & DVD retrospective. The CD features 20 classic OMD tracks, from their very first single, 1979's "Electricity", to 1996's hit, "Walking On The Milky Way". The DVD features, for the very first time, all 31 promo videos. Note that the 1998 "Enola Gay [Sash Remix]" promo video for the 1998 'Singles' release is missing.

The remastering on the CD, in my opinion, ranges from good to excellent. The liner notes do not list any mastering credits for the CD. My understanding is that EMI used previous remasters for most of the tracks featured on the CD. Tracks 1 and 3-6 are apparently the 2003 digital remasters by Simon Heyworth. Track 2, the Martin Zero mix of "Electricity", which also featured on the 1988 The Best of OMD collection and the 1998 The OMD Singles, was not included on the 2003 first album remaster. According to information on the official OMD site, one reason why this package was delayed was due to finding an improved master for "Electricity". So, as far as I know, "Electricity" is a new 2008 digital remaster.

Tracks 7-8 are apparently the new 2008 digital remasters by Arun Chakraverty, as featured on the 25th anniversary release of Dazzle Ships. The remainder of the tracks, 9-20, on the other hand, are, as far as I can hear, the 1998 digital remasters used on the 'Singles' retrospective. How can I tell? Well, earlier tracks like "Locomotion" and "So In Love" sound the same as the 1998 remasters. Andy McCluskey also confirmed on the official site that the 1998 remasters would be used for these tracks as well.

So what does this have to do with anything? Personally, I think that all tracks featured on the CD should have been given a fresh new 2008 remaster by a new mastering engineer. The 1998 remasters sound good, but I still think that the mastering could have been improved on a number of these 1998 remasters. "So In Love", for example, has always sounded relatively flat to me, even in it's 1998 remaster. Perhaps this is the result of the production. Maybe it needs a new remix? Standing next to 2008 remasters such as "Genetic Engineering" and 2003 remasters like "Messages" make these 1998 remasters sound a little dated.

Including 20 tracks on one disc over such a massive career is quite a squeeze! Nonetheless, I think that, for the most part, the right tracks were chosen. "Dazzle Ships At The River", a Groove Armada mash-up, was originally scheduled to be included but was pulled at the last minute due to licensing issues. "Telegraph", which was originally missing, was replaced, thankfully.

The DVD is the main reason to buy this release, in my opinion. Finally fans get a chance to view 31 of the band's promo videos over the years, some for the very first time! "Red Frame/White Light" makes it's debut here! The master tape for this promo video apparently got ruined, leaving the band to use a VHS source for this release. The quality, despite a few jitters and lines here and there, is surprisingly good, considering it's age. "Enola Gay" is the UK version of the video, featuring more close-up shots of Andy.

Overall, the video quality of the DVD is good to excellent. I had the privilege of watching "Enola Gay" on a big screen plasma tv, and it looked stunning for a 1980 promo. My guess is that all the promo videos, with the exception of "Red Frame/White Light", were pulled from the original masters.

So how's the audio track for the videos? For the most part, good. Most of the videos have been re-syncronized with digitally remastered audio by Andy Walter. However, I have noted a few audio flaws in a couple of promos. "Genetic Engineering" sounds a bit muffled, as if the audio track may have been remastered from a mediocre source. "So In Love", unfortunately, is the original audio soundtrack, sounding flat and fuzzy like an old VHS copy. "Secret", the following track, is an improvement, and "La Femme Accident" suddenly sounds excellent. Why include a few tracks with poor/mediocre audio quality? One would think that these things would be double checked before sending the DVD to the presses. I guess not!

Nonetheless, complaints aside, I still have to give this release 5 stars for the generosity of the band and record label for including this many promo videos! I don't think that many fans would have ever imagined getting these videos on DVD after all this time. I am very excited since I have not seen most of these videos, since OMD were never really that big in the U.S. and received limited play on MTV. Most of these 'Sight & Sound' releases by EMI tend to leave out numerous videos, yet Andy and company went the extra mile here to ensure that most everything made the DVD!

If you want a trip down memory lane or if you are just discovering this brilliant underrated band for the first time, I highly recommend this package!

I've seen here a few times, and it's true, the package clearly says NTSC Region 0. And it is. It works great on my USA player.
Plus, it's great. Some of those videos i've ever seen. Some i never knew existed! Now i have a copy of my own! Yeah!!

What can I say this is one of the best new wave band from the 80's.the fact that you get the music and dvd in one it's hard to beat and a must have if you love 80's music.all I could say is buy it ,buy it buy it.you will not be dissaponited.

The bonus dvd makes this purchase worthwhile.It's interesting to have the videos to go with the songs and this set offers a good retrospective of the band through the years.

OMD is not just a band producing catchy synthipop songs, there is another experimental side which produced many great songs, especially on the first albums (OMD,Organisation, Dazzle Ships and Architecture and Morality).
I still do not understand that this music never made it in America.
This CD contains all the hits, very well remastered songs and the DVD is something i looked after for a long time!
Truly worth every Euro or Dollar!

When OMD first hit, I was in my late-30's! Unfortunately, OMD did not realise much success in the USA, first charting with So In Love in 1985. I enjoyed their follow up singles. But when their Greatest Hits LP (on A&M) was released I really got excited by their earlier work, especially Messages & Maid Of Orleans. Then later it was one of the first LPs I replaced with a CD. A&M did a great job on the CD and I've played it many, many times.

Then when I got high-speed internet, I watched their videos on [...].

Then I happened to find this CD/DVD set: Messages - Greatest Hits. After reading the other reviews I thought that the reason to buy this set was for the DVD and that the CD was ok.

I love watching the videos and seeing them on wide screen tv is definately better than [...]! Plus I enjoyed watching the ones I hadn't seen. I would rate the DVD 5 stars.

Then I listened to the CD, and wished that I hadn't waited so long to buy it! The remastering job is fantastic. Messages sounds incredible and really takes off. Maid Of Orleans gave me chills, and the harmony on Forever Live & Die was georgeous.

Plus there were several songs that were not included on the A&M release. The best ones are Sailing On The Seven Seas and Telegraph. But on the downside, We Love You and La Femme Accident were left off. I would rate the CD 5 stars.

That gives this set a total of 10 stars.

I discovered Gemm.com and they sell 45's from all over the world. So I've been buying the early OMD singles, as well as ones by Sweet & Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - two other UK groups that didn't have much success here. Naturally all three of them are among my favorite groups of all-time.

Jason W. Bellenger's long and very detailed review trumps anything I could say tecnically.
I do agree with all he said about the CD and the DVD.

There is ONE reason to buy this set and that is for the 31 promo videos.
I had only seen less than 10 of these over the years and a few of those I have only recently viewed on a UK Remaster of Architecture and Morality from 2003. Subtract those and it's a small number that I've seen and I've been a OMD fan since their first UK release.
The DVD is region free so it will play here in Region 1 country.


P.S. I wish there had been vids for "88 seconds In Greensboro" and "Native Daughters of the Golden West" but they were not singles but "88 Seconds" has the most awesome opening of any OMD song; 38 seconds of drums, guitars and thumping bass---they sound quite Hard Rock for a short bit. [It's on Crush--and I'm not joking.]

I haven't been able to find any of their albums in stores, so finally I got one off of here. The cd is great and reminds me of good times!!

this is the cat's a$$

as the folks stated above, this is best for the vids -- what a freak show of evolutionary music/trends --

If you're an OMD freak (like me) then break out the Debit Card and order this --- stop wasting time, it's only getting shorter and THIS BAND is quantum

it's a snapshot of your life and as it turns out, it's been a great life, with decades more of wonder before you

Tim in NC

This album does indeed contain all of OMD's 'hits', but it comes up short of actually containing all the best of OMD's work. I mean how could you say that Forever Live and Die, Secret and Milky Way are anywhere close to being as inventive and brilliant as 'Almost', '2nd thought' and 'Stanlow'? Where OMD succeeded to me was in their groundbreaking electronic work of the 1980 Organisation album. Where they failed was in trying to become too commercial and 'poppy' in the mid-80's, even though these commercial tracks may have appealed more to the masses. Skip this album if you really want to hear what sets OMD apart...get their earlier works instead, if you don't already have them.