Wednesday 7 December 2011

o m g it's o m d

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - great band, great name, but fortunately for anyone writing about them OMD works just as well.

Founded by Wirral schoolfriends Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys OMD originally grew from the duo's first band, The Id.  But whilst The Id were at least trying to create vaguely commercial sounds, McCluskey and Humphreys also had a side project named VCL X1 which interested them more. Inspired by their love of Kraftwerk and Eno's experimental music Andy and Paul threw themselves into VCL X1 when the Id split in the summer of 1978.

Renaming the band Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark they set about working on new tunes and a new way of presenting the music. Backed only by tape loops of industrial rhythm tracks they played their new music on primitive synths - to emphasise the importance of the backing tapes to the band as a whole, the machine was even given a name, Winston. Across the Pennines the Human League were doing much the same thing, incorporating synthetic sounds into fragmentary pop songs, although OMD were arguably better at marrying the experimental with the commercial (the Human League only had success when they dropped the wilfully obscure sounds and went all out for pop stardom).

In late 1979 OMD prepared their self titled first album, an intriguing mixture of chirpy upbeat tunes with oddly downbeat lyrics, and a series of industrial inspired soundscapes overlaid with opaque, haunting vocals.

The opening two songs set the scene very well with "Bunker Soldiers" showing off OMD's trademark wonky keyboards and hissing rhythm tracks (plus some bizarre lyics) followed by the warmly buzzing synths and tender vocals of "Almost". As with most of the tracks on this album the percussion sounds seem to be taken from factory machinery, all hissing and clanking as if steam powered. It's like the vast machinery of Metropolis has been utilised for music. As well as the very successful moodier pieces there are a number of unlikely pop songs such as "Red Frame White Light" all about the 'phone box outside the studio and the frankly bizarre "Dancing", a woozy instrumental with extremely drunk sounding synths. Although "Mystereality" breaks up the mechanised sounds with a cheery saxophone it's the synth pop songs that are the most successful.

Both "Messages" and "Electricity" were re-recorded for single release but it's the album versions that are perhaps the most impressive. "Messages" is an unlikely song of lost love sung over a very Kraftwerkian melody (the single boosted the drums and beefed up the synths but it made the song less unique) and "Electricity" is a tribute to... well... electricity. Another very Kraftwerkian concept. 

Each side ends with atmospheric laments - "The Messerschmitt Twins" is a nickname that Andy and Paul once gave themselves and "Pretending To See The Future" is an ironic view of how their career might progress.

One song that wasn't quite complete at the time of recording the OMD album was "Enola Gay", perhaps the only pop song about the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Named after the aircraft that carried the bomb, the poetically grim lyrics reflect on the decision to use it and ask the listener to consider whether the bombings were necessary - "It shouldn't ever have to end this way" sings McCluskey. "It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been" refers to the precise time of the detonation of the Little Boy bomb over Hiroshima. For such a weighty subject it's perhaps odd that "Enola Gay" had perhaps the catchiest melody of any OMD song to date, and odder still when it became a top ten single. Surely the radio stations that continually played it during the autumn of 1980 can't have really understood what the song was about.

"Enola Gay" preceded OMD's second album, which was released in late October 1980. Named Organisation (after the collective of musicians that eventually became Kraftwerk ten years earlier) this was a much darker affair than the debut. Andy and Paul had also been influenced by Joy Division during the recording of this record and Ian Curtis' suicide had greatly upset McCluskey, leading to a much more sombre mood. The palette of instrumentation was widened too; the success of the debut album had enabled the duo to increase the scale of their synths and utilise ex Id drummer Malcolm Holmes (who now fully replaced the creaking Winston) and Martin Cooper who played additional keyboards. For the first time Paul Humphreys felt confident enough to take lead vocals on his self penned "Promise", his clear vocals contrasting with McCluskey's more exuberant style. The greater range of this album is apparent on nearly every track, but perhaps no more obvious than on the final piece "Stanlow". Once again celebrating the industrial, this track is named after a massive oil refinery at nearby Ellesmere Port and the harshly metallic sounds of the intro reinforce this - it sounds like heavy chains being dragged laboriously, as pistons gasp and whoosh. The grand epic scale of the rest of the track is magnificent.

Ending side one is smaller scale, minor epic."Statues" was written as a tribute to the late Ian Curtis and McCluskey wonders what went wrong - "I can't imagine, how this ever came to be" he sings. It is haunting, intensely moving and quite magical, and is arguably the finest song in OMD's catalogue.

After the success of Organisation OMD toured extensively, cementing their reputation as a fine live act. Then they headed straight back to studios for their third, and perhaps their best album. Architecture And Morality is the most consistent OMD album, with every track of a uniformly high standard. The complex sleeve, with geometrical patterns and photos glimpsed through cut-outs in the outer cardboard seems excessively fussy today, as does the tongue twisting title. But album titles made of deliberately contrasting words seemed all the rage in 1981 (see also Heaven 17's Penthouse And Pavement or Simple Minds' Empires And Dance amongst many others). The title for the OMD album was actually taken from a book, and was suggested to Paul Humphreys by Martha Ladly, one of two Martha's in Martha And The Muffins who shared the same record company as OMD.

The first track recorded for A&M was the beautiful "Souvenir". Constructed from a series of tape loops and supplemented with Mellotron choral effects "Souvenir" showcased Paul Humphreys' angelic voice as he sung the prettiest melody yet recorded by OMD. It was, deservedly, a massive hit single in the late summer of 1981. Although, as with "Enola Gay" it wasn't really representative of the album. When A&M was released a few months later in November listeners were surprised by the harshness of the opening song. "The New Stone Age" begins with hissing and scratching before launching into a fiercely strummed guitar part which is overlaid with discordant synths and McCluskey's hoarse vocal. It really is a stunning and totally unexpected track.

Things return to normal with "She's Leaving", which is certainly derived in spirit from "She's Leaving Home" by fellow Scousers, the Beatles. "Souvenir" follows and side one ends with "Sealand". The longest OMD track thus far, it begins gently and builds gradually for a couple of minutes until the most majestic tune bursts forth. Warm synths unfold slowly and lazily as they play for a truly beautiful couple of minutes. I could listen to this section all day. A short couple of verses follow before the music fades away leaving only an insistent drum beat which, after a short burst of incongruous metallic hammering, takes the song to its conclusion on gentle keyboards which drift the song away as imperceptibly as it arrived. One of the absolute essential OMD tunes. 

Side two begins with two songs called "Joan Of Arc". Both were issued as singles but the record company insisted on the second one being subtitled "Maid Of Orleans" to avoid totally confusing the public. The first is more conventional being yet another pretty song complete with mellotron samples and what sounds like a child's music box, but the second is frankly bizarre. Strange backwards tapes and unearthly noises give way to synths that sound like bagpipes playing a strident tune, accompanied by military drumming giving the whole song a very martial feel. And if that wasn't odd enough, it's in waltz time. 

The avant garde soundscapes of the title track make for an interesting interlude before we hit the home straight - "Georgia" shows OMD's commercial side once more but "The Beginning and the End" brings it down again with some choral loops creating a heavenly circular melody.    

OMD were at a crossroads. One the one hand they were scoring substantial chart success, but both Paul and Andy wanted to further the experimental side of the band, so they determined to see how far they could go whilst still retaining a commercial edge. The results became apparent on their fourth album Dazzle Ships. Produced by the band in collaboration with Roxy Music producer Rhett Davies, the album failed on almost every count.

To begin with the sleeve was horridly busy and off putting, and the clever die cut cardboard that worked on A&M seemed way too contrived here. Musically it seemed like Paul and Andy had not really taken on board what had worked on previous records, or perhaps they had but were determined not to repeat it. Either way the album contained far too much musique concrete, annoying clips of radio call signs and pointless sound effects. And these took up half the twelve tracks. The rest of the album featured "Radio Waves" (a song that the Id used to play) and "Telegraph", "Of All The Things We've Made" and the "Romance of the Telescope" which all dated from the A&M sessions leaving only two actual new songs - Dazzle Ships took over a year to complete, prompting the question - had OMD run out of ideas?

In both "Of All The Things..." and "Romance..." OMD had two of their finest songs ever, the former taking the repetitively strummed guitar of "The New Stone Age" but slowing and calming it down, adding a perfectly poised one finger piano motif, and the latter being all mellotron beauty and wistful vocals. Both had been issued in early draft forms as b-sides to A&M singles, but it is telling that these are by far the best songs on this album.

Dazzle Ships was a major disappointment, both critically and commercially. Andy and Paul had a rethink and when OMD returned a year later Junk Culture was simply a strong collection of 1984 pop songs. Although the album did contain a little of the previous experimentation it was clear which way OMD had decided to head. Me, I headed a different way...