Customer Reviews

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a huge, huge fan of OMD, and have been since I was a young lad way back in the day. It has always been inconceivable to me as to why OMD has gotten such little airplay over their incredible career. OMD is a lot like Depeche Mode to me. Most of the songs that I really like aren't simply found on their greatest hits compilations. It's the more obscure songs that are my favorites. Songs like "Mystereality", "The Messerschmitt Twins" and "Almost", three of the best OMD songs ever, and they're all on this album. As far as early 80's synth rock goes, this is heaven for me--and there's an added bonus on the remastered version---an awesome version of "Almost" along with a few other bonus tracks, mostly B-sides, which can also be found on Navigation if I'm not mistaken. It's amazing to hear the changes OMD went through over nearly 20 years, and from this to Universal, there is not one album I dislike whatsoever. You owe it to yourself to check this album out!

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or simply "OMD" as they would later be referred to) became a mainstay in the mid-80s with mega hits like "So In Love" and "If You Leave", but by then I personally had lost most interest in the band, as by then it had diverted massively from its more alternative/experimental beginnings, even if those also showed the ways towards massive commercial success.

"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark" (16 tracks, including 6 bonus tracks; 61 min.) is the debut album of the band, originally released in February of 1980, now 28 years ago (wow, where has the time gone). This CD brings the 10 original tracks of the album, and it sounds as fresh today as it did all those years ago. From the opening sounds of "Bunker Soldiers", it was immediate apparent that this was not just another band or just another album. It is hard to imagine today of course, but in 29-80 it was quite rare to hear a band brings the type of "post-punk synths" sounds that OMD was bringing. The debut album was centered around the band's break-out singles "Electricity" and "Messages", both of which appear in their original album format, as well as a later/remixed version. "Red Frame/White Light" was also re;eased as a single, and shows the more experimental side of the band (and hence the single flopped). Other highlights include "Almost" (which also appears later as an earlier in-studio live version), "The Messerschmitt Twins", clearly influenced by David Bowie ("V2 Schneider"), and the closer "Pretending To See the Future". In addition to the already mentioned "alternative" versions, the bonus tracks also include "I Betray My Friends" (another David Bowie-influenced song), "Taking Sides Again" (an instrumental with "Messages" intertwined), and "Waiting for the Man". This reissue comes with great liner notes in which Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphrey fondly look back to these early days.

A good buddy of mine in college and I had the incredible good fortune of catching OMD opening up for Gary Numan at London's Hammersmith Odeon in September, 1979. At that time, OMD was till virtually unknown, having only released "Electricity" as a single (the debut album would appear 5 months later), and Andy and Paul performed with a reel-to-reel tape recorder on stage to provide instrumental backing (the liner notes explain they refer to the tape recorder as "Winston"). What an incredible evening that was. OMD paved the way for other synthesizer mainstream acts like Erasure, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and others. OMD would eventually peak (artistically) with its third album "Architecture & Morality" (from 1981) but their debut album has stood the test of time. Highly recommended!

OMD's self-titled 1980 release stands apart and alone from all the other of the band's albums that followed. It is five-stars-worthy on its own terms, and should not be compared to the group's more mainstream productions that came afterwards, which were, by and large, commercial-friendly and just as good.

Sure, the album sounds a bit (if not a lot) on the amateurish side, but that, I think, is its charm. I am a huge OMD fan, have all their albums (and like them all except for The Pacific Age), and have heard rumors that Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphries have reunited and that a new release may be in the works sometime soon. That is great to hear.

Prior to OMD's popsmith, radio-genic years, the duo from Liverpool, England started out, as most musical novices do, by dabbling. This, by far, is OMD's most unconventional-sounding album. The synthesizer on both Bunker Soldiers and Almost, right off the bat, seize you, with its spacey, dreamy quality. These two songs would likely never get air-play in a million years, and that is what makes them so special.

OMD's debut single, the danceable Electricity, is here. One of their biggest hits, Messages, is also featured in its unpolished version.

A woman by the name of Julia Kneale composed the lyrics for the wonderfully weirdly sung Julia's Song.

The Messerschmitt Twins, a fade-away song that lingers with you, is about WW2 bomber planes, while the sing-along-inducing Pretending To See The Future, as the liner notes inform us (written by Paul Browne), has to do about signing a record contract.

We also learn from the liner notes that Kraftwerk had played an influence upon McCluskey and Humphries when the two were just starting out.

Long-time band members, keyboardist Martin Cooper and drummer Malcolm Holmes, would soon become staples after this album came out - the former, of whom, plays the saxophone on the groovy Mysterreality.

The only thing missing on this CD is Humphries' lead voice, as later spotlighted on such songs as the pretty Souvenir and the bouncy (Forever) Live And Die. As for McCluskey's vocals, so often stylish (take Bloc Bloc Bloc, for example), his are here enhanced by the resonance of studio recording akin to that of an echo chamber, providing the tracks with an inter-dimensional-like nuance, most welcomed.

The 2003 re-release (16 tracks; 61:04) contains 6 bonus tracks; most are remixes, save for I Betray My Friends and Waiting For The Man (written by Lou Reed).

Humphries, who later went on to split with McCluskey and form his own side-project, the more intimate The Listening Pool (which I also love), tells us in the liner notes that OMD was not intended to be a permanent thing. He and McCluskey were 16-year-olds writing songs using primitive, previously used equipment, with the help of an inexpensive tape-recorder and a studio which they built and named The Gramophone Suite.

Who knew that 30 years later the two would still be at it - releasing a concert DVD in 2008, entitled Architecture & Morality & More (which I own and watch repeatedly) - with their somewhat unknown self-titled album still sounding as original and as daisy as when it was first released!

I never grow tired of listening to it.

The debut contsins the best songwriting in pop music. Fully realized songs like "Electricity", "Messages", "Almost", "Julia's Song", and "Pretending To See The Future" are instant classics that have never lost their brilliance making this a joy every time I listen to it. Experimental songs like "Red Frame/White Light" and "Mystereality" are hidden gems increasing the pleasure of this masterpiece. "Bunker Soldiers" contains the least logical chorus I have ever heard,and even though that and the understated "Messerschmitt Twins" could use the production skills of later work, they are definitely interesting songs. I hate instrumentals so "Dancing" could easily be cut. These minor flaws are nitpicking. I love this album and it showcases OMD as a brilliant band that will always remain a favorite. They define what music can be. A classic.

I never realized how under Kraftwerk's influence OMD were. Unlike them or New Order, OMD never were austere and seemed so sincere. OMD made melancholic pop on this debut but eventually they wrote mostly love songs.

These are about technology and history, ie as a bad thing. How ironic. Mostly about the horrors of 'progress' or history/war. This is 'sons of WWII' type music, enamored and horrified by WWII as Bauhaus or Joy Division.

I think this is lost in the translation nowadays, but early UK postpunk bands were very very obsessed with WWII, maybe like or because of Bowie. Since these guys are not really 'sons' of WWII, this never made sense to me. All the bands named, were born in the late 50s, not 40s. Maybe this is due to the economic decay in the UK then. A history book is good to have, if you are trying to know what OMD were singing about here.

A philosophical paper in ?Village Voice theorized about how/why 'futuristic' sounds, actually sound like antique instruments that are malfunctioning or altered. That is the case with their childlike synth sounds. So surreal and unique, they sound like they could be made on a pocket calculator using today's technology.

This sounds very much like the latest wave of 80s revival, ala Gwen Stefani or even interpol at times et al,so I wonder why no comeback for OMD?

This has to be by far the best album by OMD. All the songs are great and this is a 'must have'. It brings back a lot of memories of the early 80's. It's just a pity the rest of the material was downhill from here.

I love alot of first wave stuff ,if you love OMD or early dark first wave stuff you will enjoy this.