FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
Part Eighty-Nine: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)
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FOR this outing…
of my A Buyer’s Guide feature, I am looking at the essential work of the legendary Merseyside band, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). I have been a fan of their since childhood - so it is good to get to highlight their albums that you need to get. The band consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Stuart Kershaw (drums); McCluskey has been the only constant member. Before getting to the albums of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (I shall refer to them as such going forward) that are worth buying, here is some biography from AllMusic:
“Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are one of the earliest, most commercially successful, and enduring synth pop groups. Inspired most by the advancements of Kraftwerk and striving at one point "to be ABBA and Stockhausen," they've continually drawn from early electronic music as they've alternately disregarded, mutated, or embraced the conventions of the three-minute pop song. Outside their native England, OMD are known primarily for "Maid of Orleans" and the Pretty in Pink soundtrack smash "If You Leave," yet they scored 18 additional charting U.K. singles in the '80s alone. These hits supported inventive albums such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980), Architecture & Morality (1981), and commercial suicide-turned-cult classic Dazzle Ships (1983). After roughly a decade of silence, OMD returned in the mid-2000s to add to their legacy as much as tend to it. Their lengthy second life has been highlighted by a sixth U.K. Top Ten album, The Punishment of Luxury (2017), and a box set, Souvenir (2019), coinciding with their 40th anniversary.
Acquaintances since they were students at primary school on the Wirral peninsula, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys -- the core members of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark -- played separately and together in a few short-lived bands starting in the mid-'70s. In 1977, they formed the ID, a group that gigged in North West England and contributed a song to Street to Street: A Liverpool Album (a compilation most notable for an early Echo & the Bunnymen appearance). By the time the LP was racked, the ID were no more and McCluskey had joined and left Dalek I Love You. Moreover, McCluskey (primarily bass and vocals) and Humphreys (primarily synthesizers) had experimented as a duo and were well underway as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, effectively named as such to further distinguish their endeavor from punk. Not only had the two musicians played their first official gigs -- starting at Eric's in their home base of Liverpool and the Factory club in Manchester, supporting Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire at the latter -- but they had also made their recorded debut with a demo of "Electricity" backed with the Martin Hannett-produced "Almost," issued by Factory.
Later in 1979, OMD signed with nascent Virgin subsidiary Dindisc and re-released their 7" debut with a Hannett-produced version of the A-side. The full-length Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, recorded by the duo with manager Paul Collister (credited as Chester Valentino), followed in early 1980. It featured new mixes of "Electricity" and "Almost," which were spun off as a third iteration of the first single, and was promoted with two more singles, including the Mike Howlett-produced re-recording of the album track "Messages," which became a number 13 U.K. hit (and in the U.S. registered on Billboard's club chart). These progressions guided Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to number 27 on the corresponding U.K. album chart. Howlett continued to work with McCluskey and Humphreys for OMD's second full-length, Organisation, released later in 1980. Only "Enola Gay" was issued as a single, but that became the duo's first in a streak of Top Ten hits. The parent release followed suit at number six. By then, OMD's live and studio lineup was augmented with drummer Malcolm Holmes (formerly of the ID) and keyboardist/saxophonist Martin Cooper.
Still on the rise in late 1981, OMD released Architecture & Morality, a Top Five U.K. LP and the source of three equally high-charting singles, all ballads: "Souvenir" (led by Humphreys), "Joan of Arc," and "Maid of Orleans." The last of this sequence proved to be the group's biggest international hit, topping the official German and Dutch pop charts and reaching the Top Ten in other territories. (Architecture & Morality was the first proper album licensed in the States by Epic, which also compiled highlights from the first two albums and released them as O.M.D.). McCluskey and Humphreys responded to their greatest commercial success yet with a loosely conceptual effort that shot to number five in the U.K. upon release but soon capsized. Although it incorporated a couple of remixed B-sides and an ID-era composition, Dazzle Ships, co-produced by Rhett Davies and released on Dindisc parent Virgin, was a sharp departure, integrating musique concrète, snippets of Czechoslovakian radio broadcasts, songs about robotics and optical instrumentation, and the descriptively titled charting singles "Genetic Engineering" and "Telegraph."
Although Dazzle Ships was later embraced as a misunderstood and inspired work, a creative high point, OMD took the puzzlement to heart and simplified their lyrics and song structures. For the rest of the decade, they courted pop listeners with their most straightforward recordings. Within a three-year span, 1984-1986, they released Junk Culture, Crush, and The Pacific Age, a comparatively conservative trilogy yielding the number five U.K. hit "Locomotion" and a handful of other singles that fared well. Among their Anglophilic Midwestern fans during this phase was John Hughes, who sought them to contribute a song for the 1986 teen romantic comedy Pretty in Pink. OMD submitted "Goddess of Love," but the original ending of Hughes' screenplay was not well-received by a test audience, prompting Hughes to change the ending and ask the pressed OMD for another song. Overnight, OMD came up with "If You Leave," a number four hit in the States that made a gold seller out of the soundtrack (coincidentally featuring their fellow Liverpudlians Echo & the Bunnymen). The single went down similarly elsewhere and didn't go over quite as well in the U.K., where it peaked at number 48. OMD finished off the decade with The Best of OMD, promoted with the new single "Dreaming," a Top 20 hit in the U.S.
A series of departures left McCluskey as the lone original member of OMD in the '90s. During the decade, with varying support, he put together Sugar Tax, Liberator, and Universal, issued from 1991 through 1996 on Virgin. (In the U.S., the first two were also Virgin products; the latter was available only as an import.) Nine primarily commercial dance-pop singles from these albums, including the Top Tens "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box," and the McCluskey/Humphreys-written "Everyday," charted in the U.K. McCluskey also co-wrote and sang two songs on Esperanto, a project from Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos (under the name Elektric Music). Meanwhile, Humphreys and fellow ex-OMD members Malcolm Holmes and Martin Cooper recorded as the Listening Pool. OMD became inactive toward the decade's end as McCluskey ventured into artist development and songwriting for other acts. McCluskey and '90s OMD associate Stuart Kershaw founded and co-wrote material for the pop trio Atomic Kitten. Their biggest hit with the group was the 2001 U.K. chart-topper "Whole Again," also nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. Humphreys and Claudia Brücken (Propaganda, Act) released an LP a few years later as Onetwo.
McCluskey and Humphreys reunited in 2005 when they were approached to perform on the German television program Die Ultimative Chartshow. It developed into a full reactivation of OMD with Holmes and Cooper. A tour for which they played the entirety of their third album -- documented in 2008 with Architecture & Morality & More, recorded at London's Hammersmith Apollo -- led to new, independently released material starting in 2010 with History of Modern. After a live package from the subsequent tour was offered in 2011, the quartet continued studio work with English Electric, issued in 2013, just before they performed at Coachella. Months later, Holmes left the band after he collapsed during a Toronto gig played in extreme heat; Stuart Kershaw consequently took over on drums. Dazzle Ships: Live at the Museum of Liverpool followed in 2015. The Punishment of Luxury, OMD's third post-millennial studio album, arrived two years later and became their sixth Top Ten U.K. LP (their first since Sugar Tax). OMD celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2019 with continued touring and an elaborate box set, Souvenir, covering their whole career”.
A decades-spanning group who have released more than a few classic albums, I am deciding which four are the essential buys, one that is underrated and well worth a listen. I am also including their latest studio album (I could not find a book about Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). If you are new to the wonders of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark or are a big fan, here is my view on their albums that you…
NEED to buy.
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The Four Essential Albums
Organisation
Release Date: 24th October, 1980
Label: Dindisc
Producers: OMD/Mike Howlett
Standout Tracks: Statues/The More I See You/Promise
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=30515&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3bouQtY9H1DP39yxqHuFf8?si=0EP7EuAwR3a2yj5FlrsIFg
Review:
“If OMD's debut album showed the band could succeed just as well on full-length efforts as singles, Organisation upped the ante even further, situating the band in the enviable position of at once being creative innovators and radio-friendly pop giants. That was shown as much by the astounding lead track and sole single from the album, "Enola Gay." Not merely a great showcase for new member Holmes, whose live-wire drumming took the core electronic beat as a launching point and easily outdid it, "Enola Gay" is a flat-out pop classic -- clever, heartfelt, thrilling, and confident, not to mention catchy and arranged brilliantly. The outrageous use of the atomic bomb scenario -- especially striking given the era's nuclear war fears -- informs the seemingly giddy song with a cut-to-the-quick fear and melancholy, and the result is captivating. Far from being a one-hit wonder, though, Organisation is packed with a number of gems, showing the band's reach and ability continuing to increase. Holmes slots into the band's efforts perfectly, steering away from straightforward time structures while never losing the core dance drive, able to play both powerfully and subtly. McCluskey's singing, his own brand of sweetly wounded soul for a different age and approach, is simply wonderful -- the clattering industrial paranoia of "The Misunderstanding" results in wrenching wails, a moody cover of "The More I See You" results in a deeper-voiced passion. Everything from the winsome claustrophobia of "VCL XI" and the gentle, cool flow on "Statues" to the quirky boulevardier swing of "Motion and Heart" has a part to play. Meanwhile, album closer "Stanlow," inspired by the power plant where McCluskey's father worked, concluded things on a haunting note, murky mechanical beats and a slow, mournful melody leading the beautiful way” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Enola Gay
Architecture & Morality
Release Date: 8th November, 1981
Label: Dinidisc
Producers: Richard Manwaring/OMD/Mike Howlett
Standout Tracks: She's Leaving/Joan of Arc/Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=30428&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6bR98XzGnklTORDvZ7Oc2i?si=fk85ZctkRiCWrqRj6uG6ag
Review:
“When the scared-to-its-wits opener draws to close, the album shifts to a completely new mood - the fresh, cooling pop charm of ‘She’s Leaving’ and then to the #3 hit 'Souvenir'. The latter is an exquisitely gorgeous classic, with gentle vocals, a feather-soft synth riff and hushed hints of the Mellotron choral sounds that permeate throughout the record. The group used a Mellotron heavily throughout recording, and it crops up in the background of most tracks. After taking in the nine tracks on offer, one can only reach the unreserved conclusion that it proved to be a strike of genius, as the refreshing, icy choral tones help tie everything together, and when combined with infectious synth lines, and OMD’s artistic vision, it all comes together to create a beautiful, consistent atmosphere, that leaves most tracks feeling pleasingly connected and close, despite their diversity. This concept is best witnessed on numbers like the anthemic ‘Joan of Arc’. Opening to a gentle, fluctuating choral hum, before washes of invigorating synth flood the track with an overriding anthemic feel (especially when married to the infectious vocal hook “without me”); the track builds on its simple opening with strong vocals and a subtle, rising melody that gets fuller and more glorious as it reaches the end of its three and a half minute, pop setting.
Truth be told, the album is, track-for-track, one of the strongest and most accomplished efforts the synthpop genre has ever produced. To be honest, the ‘synthpop’ tagline sells the album short, somewhat, as it suggests ‘Architecture & Morality’ is a collection of bouncy, electro-pop nonsense when it is, in fact, far from that assumption. Not to say that OMD don’t do electro-pop supremely well; just listen to ‘Georgia’ - at little over 3 minutes and featuring perhaps the most unashamedly, upbeat synth beats ever witnessed; it almost unnoticeably showcases the bands ingenuity with a bouncy, insanely catchy tune, that serves as a mask for the subtle, building background melody which comes to the forefront in the last 20 seconds of the track - all wobbly, unnerving synths and voices pushed so far back in the mix, they become inaudible, ending on, what is for 80% of its runtime an extremely jovial affair, on an odd, gloomy low - something which repeated listens helps articulate with close listening to the building background melody and ambiguous lyrics.
But what makes the album really special is the fact that it feels more important than the said ‘synthpop’ constraints would have you believe. Its aged extremely well, and the power of hits like ‘Joan of Arc’ still ring true. It’s far too considered and beautifully executed to be brushed off as an unnecessary product of electro-pop cluttered 80s Britain - it’s too clever, subtle and, more than anything else, gorgeous, to be ignored. A cohesive album that is extremely consistent in not only its tone, but also its quality; ‘Architecture & Morality’ is one of the great gems that many may have overlooked or missed - and that is simply a crime. If you’re unsure about the pretentiously named Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, or whether this record is worth the time; one can only plead to you as a fan of great music to another, to give it a chance - and if you’re a fan of electro-pop at any level, you may find that that chance may be one of the most satisfying you ever took” – Sputnikmusic
Choice Cut: Souvenir
Junk Culture
Release Date: 30th April, 1984
Label: Virgin
Producers: Brian Tench/OMD
Standout Tracks: Tesla Girls/Never Turn Away/Talking Loud and Clear
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=30481&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5Ulj58jjnrswKgnn2seFRn?si=-Qwt1zKYRu-z8T3jvZWPDQ
Review:
“Smarting from Dazzle Ships' commercial failure, the band had a bit of a rethink when it came to their fifth album -- happily, the end result showed that the group was still firing on all fours. While very much a pop-oriented album and a clear retreat from the exploratory reaches of previous work, Junk Culture was no sacrifice of ideals in pursuit of cash. In comparison to the group's late-'80s work, when it seemed commercial success was all that mattered, Junk Culture exhibits all the best qualities of OMD at their most accessible -- instantly memorable melodies and McCluskey's distinct singing voice, clever but emotional lyrics, and fine playing all around. A string of winning singles didn't hurt, to be sure; indeed, opening number "Tesla Girls" is easily the group's high point when it comes to sheer sprightly pop, as perfect a tribute to obvious OMD inspirational source Sparks as any -- witty lines about science and romance wedded to a great melody (prefaced by a brilliant, hyperactive intro). "Locomotion" takes a slightly slower but equally entertaining turn, sneaking in a bit of steel drum to the appropriately chugging rhythm and letting the guest horn section take a prominent role, its sunny blasts offsetting the deceptively downcast lines McCluskey sings. Meanwhile, "Talking Loud and Clear" ends the record on a reflective note -- Cooper's intra-verse sax lines and mock harp snaking through the quiet groove of the song. As for the remainder of the album, if there are hints here and there of the less-successful late-'80s period, at other points the more adventurous side of the band steps up. The instrumental title track smoothly blends reggae rhythms with the haunting mock choirs familiar from earlier efforts, while the elegiac, Humphreys-sung "Never Turn Away" and McCluskey's "Hard Day" both make for lower-key highlights” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Locomotion
History of Modern
Release Date: 20th September, 2010
Label: 100%/Bright Antenna
Producers: OMD
Standout Tracks: If You Want It/History of Modern (Part II)/Sister Maries Says
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=275514&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3lIoxoHDQxgpxQj1h1TPMd?si=fGhCNZ1sSqyfHGelDbW6cA
Review:
“Revisionists have got to grips with Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (let’s use OMD) recently, boiling them down to their more experimental passages on 1983’s serious electronic classic Dazzle Ships, glossing over later Brat Pack anthems ‘If You Leave’, ‘(Forever) Live And Die’ and the successful early-90s full-pop comeback ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’. Fat, singalong hits don’t fit with a narrative that rates OMD a profound influence on hip 21st century acts like LCD Soundsystem and The xx. And let’s not deny this footprint: OMD’s formative singles Messages, Electricity, Enola Gay and Souvenir – a roll-call of evergreen synth riffs – are a bedrock of modern 80s revivalism. It’s just that while they were toiling for the advancement of earnest electronica, they were also firing out whopping great mainstream chart bullets.
Their first album in 14 years, ‘History Of Modern’, from its austere title to its Peter Saville-designed cover, wants us to believe it’s an industrial monolith made by grey-shirted scholars with unfussy haircuts, but it’s as soaked in big late-80s chords as it is bound by strict electronic principles. Still, there’s nothing unwieldy about this combination; the fit is as smooth as OMD’s original progression. If you keep in mind they were always most at ease at the poppier end of the spectrum, there’s nothing to disappoint here.
Indeed, there’s oodles to delight. Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys still have a peerless knack for catchy music box synth signatures, poking familiar refrains onto ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’, ‘Green’ and opener ‘New Babies: New Toys’ – the last one cantering in behind some surprise guitar distortion that threatens that austere monolith after all. And they can still nail the sort of melody that occasionally escapes their natural successors. This skill’s a blessing and a curse – all good when they’re summoning the spirit of Malcolm McLaren’s ‘Madam Butterfly’ on the bewitching ‘Sometimes’ or coaxing a gloomy prettiness out of ‘Bondage Of Fate’; not so fab on the empowerment bluster of ‘If You Want It’ when they’re reminding you of McCluskey’s penance as Atomic Kitten Svengali” – DIY
Choice Cut: History of Modern (Part I)
The Underrated Gem
Sugar Tax
Release Date: 7th May, 1991
Label: Virgin
Producers: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark/Howard Gray/Andy Richards
Standout Tracks: Pandora's Box/Then You Turn Away/Call My Name
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=30573&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1J8e1dLKVmZbsyxpGa9lGg?si=zA6jF6J-SmG4DCDzTeU7bg
Review:
“With the split between McCluskey and the rest of the band resolved by the former's decision to carry on with the band's name on his own, the question before Sugar Tax's appearance was whether the change would spark a new era of success for someone who clearly could balance artistic and commercial impulses in a winning fashion. The answer, based on the album -- not entirely. The era of Architecture and Morality wouldn't be revisited anyway, for better or for worse, but instead of delightful confections with subtle heft like "Enola Gay" and "Tesla Girls," on Sugar Tax McCluskey is comfortably settled into a less-spectacular range of songs that only occasionally connect. Like fellow refugees from the early '80s such as Billy Mackenzie and Marc Almond, McCluskey found himself bedeviled in the early '90s with an artistic block that resulted in his fine singing style surrounded by pedestrian arrangements and indifferent songs. There was one definite redeeming number at the start: "Sailing on the Seven Seas," with glam-styled beats underpinning a giddy, playful romp that showed McCluskey still hadn't lost his touch entirely, and which became OMD's biggest single at home since "Souvenir." Beyond that, though, the album can best be described as pleasant instead of memorable, an exploration by McCluskey into calmer waters recorded entirely by himself outside of some guitar from Stuart Boyle. Without his longtime bandmates to help him, the results lack an essential spark (Holmes' drumming creativity being especially missed). In a tip of the hat to a clear source of inspiration, Sugar Tax includes a pleasant cover of Kraftwerk's "Neon Lights," with guest vocals by Christine Mellor, while "Apollo XI" uses Dazzle Ships-styled sample collages made up of moon-landing broadcasts, though the song itself isn't much. Even at its most active -- "Call My Name" and "Pandora's Box" -- Sugar Tax is for the most part just there” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Sailing on the Seven Seas
The Latest Album
The Punishment of Luxury
Release Date: 1st September, 2017
Label: White Noise
Producers: OMD
Standout Tracks: Isotype/What Have We Done/One More Time
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1230249&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2zAlIeSfwipohgoINJruZx?si=YLZOejBQR2q-hHVlMAAfnA
Review:
“The Punishment Of Luxury follows in the sonic footsteps of 2013's English Electric, in that it’s a gentle upgrade of that sculpted-from-marble early ’80s sound. Songs with more vigorous tempos—the quasi-industrial title track, robot-Jazzercise surge “Art Eats Art,” the Kraftwerkian “Isotype”—are crisp and focused, while dreamier moments such as “One More Time” employ lullaby-like synth latticework. Throughout, the record traces and mirrors OMD’s influence across the decades, at times recalling Yaz’s percolating new wave (“What Have We Done”) and Hot Chip’s playful synth-pop (“Robot Man”).
Lyrically, The Punishment Of Luxury is distinguished by its thoughtful examinations of power dynamics. Several songs chronicle breakups with humans (“What Have We Done”) and technology (“Robot Man”), while others concern the myriad ways by which humans are controlled, whether by each other or the things they create: On the droning “La Mitrailleuse,” the song’s lone repeated lyric (“Bend your body to the will of the machine”) gives way to the sound of gunfire and bombs, while the title track takes a self-satisfied look at greedy leaders getting their comeuppance.
It’s also preoccupied with the complicated relationship humans have with progress. “Isotype” concerns the changing ways people share words, art, and creativity today, lamenting that ephemerality rules, while “Precision & Decay” comments concisely but effectively on the impact of traditional manufacturing decline, using Dearborn, Michigan’s Ford Rouge Factory as an example. As a digitized female voice illustrates the sobering aftermath of the plant’s demise (“The highway of prosperity / To collapse and dismay”), the song shifts to a TV-newscaster-like figure who intones, “There is no such thing as labor-saving machinery.”
In the wrong hands, this kind of thing could come across as heavy-handed or detached, but The Punishment Of Luxury exudes warmth and empathy throughout. It shines through most on the glittering “Ghost Star,” a tender song about longing for a healing love, and hoping that one day, “when all the wild horses have been tamed / You will welcome me to bed.” OMD has always balanced its love of technology with unabashed sentimentality, and here it allows that vulnerability to become even more prominent, mitigating cynicism and crafting a vision of the future that’s clear-eyed, yet hopeful” – The A.V. Club
Choice Cut: The Punishment of Luxury