|
The title track, for instance, "Universal" starts with a long "factory intro" before turning into a raw-sounding dancish song. It's actually one of the better songs, I think, although the bitter lyrics are odd for OMD. I should get used to it, though. In more than just sounds, this really isn't an OMD album. In fact, it sounds a lot like other groups or styles at times, almost too much. A lot of the time, this sounds like it could be an Ultravox song with McClusky singing the lyrics, especially when the little guitar solo really gets going. Similarly, "Walking on the Milky Way" has a psychodelic Beatles-y feel to it that is a little too obvious to be a mere coincidence. Not bad, but sounds kinda familiar, if you know what I mean. "The Moon and the Sun" is also a kinda darker psychodelic, with prominant guitar and an almost Doors-ish sound. Odd choices for a prominent light New Waver of impeccable pedigree, but obviously Andy was tired of doing things the way he had been, and was probably disappointed in the reception of Liberator anyway. I'm not sure going for a neo-hippy approach to synthpop was the way to win any new converts, but at least (I hope) Andy had a better time putting this album together. Luckily, some of the influences he chose on other songs worked a little better than these two. For instance, the darkly melancholy "The Black Sea" with it's depressing lyrics and pretty much only a few sounds (cello and flute, and a bit of fuller string sound on the chorus) sounds neo-classical, but is a tenderly beautiful song. It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the songs we've heard so far, but that's another trademark of Universal: songs are thrown together with incredibly disparate elements to such an extent that Andy's voice is the only commonality between them, and even that can vary substantially. For instance, "Very Close to Far Away" has vocals that sound vaguely OMD-ish, while the rest of the song sounds a little like an early 90s U2 song with some Arabic influences tossed in just for the heck of it while "The Gospel of St. Jude" is a straight-up gospel song. Yeah, not a fusion of gospel and synthpop ala Depeche Mode's "Get Right with Me," just a simple gospel song that is completely a capella and includes an honest to goodness gospel choir. However, most of the songs are pop songs, at least, and songs like the next one, "That Was Then" (I give up; I can't pinpoint the influence here, although it sounds familiar too) aren't bad, although with little to it that would lead me to call it synthpop. "Too Late" is a bit more synthpoppy, although the drums sound definately live, and piano and live bass feature as well. This one could almost be an earlier OMD song, except the tone and mood are completely wrong (not bad, just not OMD really...) and "The Boy From the Chemist is Here to See You" (obviously Andy is in competition with Neil and Chris to come up with the longest title of a song here) with it's rawer bassline and prominent piano riff sound like it could have been a promising new direction for OMD since it's the most like an old-fashioned song here. It's even almost danceable! In fact, the chorus reminds me a bit of OMD's earlier classic "Dreaming" and the song has a lot of energy and life. Then, the interesting baroque string quartet with Andy's lyrics added in, "If You're Still In Love With Me." Well, I never said the entire rest of the album was pop songs, did I? "New Head" feature some more "alternative" sounds sorta like a U2 song (like the other U2 soundalike, it features some Eastern influences, although this is more Indian than Arabic.) It has a shuffling beat and really raw, "guitarish" sounds, and some silly psychodelic nonsense lyrics right before the chorus. The final song, "Victory Waltz" isn't too out of place, as a slow pop-song featuring mostly piano and Andy.
I suppose my reaction to the CD is still mixed, even though I've had it for a while. I like some of the new directions Andy went, even if they were usually rip-offs of some other sound rather than truly original sounds, but many of the others are completely off. The bitter lyrics about aging and disappointment are sometimes tiring, and the moods and themes are ones that were probably best left for another name than OMD, since they have absolutely nothing to do with that venerable institution, except briefly in songs like "The Boy From the Chemist, yada yada yada." However, if it were another name, I'd probably think the experiment was interesting, at least, if nothing else, so I guess the album isn't a complete flop. There are even times when I think it approaches brilliance, but there are times when it's downright silly in its derivativeness.
|