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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

One of the earliest New Romantics -- ergo, one of the earliest bands that could be considered modern New Wave, OMD was formed in Liverpool in 1978. In September 1979 their first single came out -- "Electricity" to be followed up quickly by an album, and then a string more. The group was initially a duo, Andy McClusky and Paul Humphries, although it quickly became a quartet. Following "Electricity" OMD had almost ten good years, with only one "dud" album, Dazzle Ships, which fundamentally changed the way OMD made music. Mind you, it's not that Ships was a bad album, but after two commercially successful albums, it was a disappointment to the band. They backed off of the experimental approach somewhat after that, and even teamed up with star producer Stephen Hague for their last two albums, Pacific Age and Crush. The last days of the old OMD came in January of 1988 when the group released the single "Dreaming."

OMD came to my attention in 1986 when they penned the hit song for the equally hit movie, Pretty in Pink -- the classic "If You Leave" which plays twice in the movie, incidentally, once on the radio in the car, and once during the prom and during the closing sequences. The earlier albums are nicely encapsulated, along with those two hit singles on the CD The Best of OMD, but their history doesn't end there.

After three years of silence following the release of "Dreaming," OMD came out with another album, Sugar Tax. Oddly enough, the lineup had changed, and the only familiar face in the group was Andy McClusky. The three albums I will review are the three that he made with the OMD name after Paul Humphreys left the band.

OMD had a unique vision and sound -- as one listens to The Best Of one is treated to various iterations of the same sense of style as they progressed through ten years. From the tender, delicate, romantic, and dreamlike sounds of songs like "Souvenir," "Joan of Arc" or the other Joan of Arc song, whose name was changed to "Maid of Orleans" for the single release, to the more uptempo, traditional pop-song format sounds of songs like "Tesla Girls," "Secret," or "Dreaming" there are some constants throughout the first phase of OMD work. All of the songs possess a certain fragility, an ethereal quality, tender romantic sensibility that gave them that unique OMD touch.

As we'll see as we dive into the reviews, it's obvious that Andy tried to keep that up for a little while as he made his second phase OMD work, but that he also wanted even more to gain popular appeal. Unfortunately, he did so at a time when the world was turning it's back on traditional New Wave music in favor of Alternative music, Eurodisco, and other more derived sounds.