Soundtrack4Life: The Best Albums of 2017 - #16 The Punishment of Luxury - OMD

One of my good friends Alyson is an absolutely huge fan of OMD so I have a feeling she will be quite delighted to see that this has made my Top 20 albums of the year. 

There are a few links below where you can listen to more music from OMD.

It's amazing to think that Andy McClusky and Paul Humpreys have been on the go since 1978 and this year saw them under the banner of OMD unleash their 13th Studio Album and they still sound as fresh and vibrant as they did when their Debut Single Electricity first came to our attention way back in 1979.

The Punishment of Luxury became the first OMD album since 1991's Sugar Tax to enter the Top Ten of the UK Album Charts selling almost 10,000 copies in its first week alone.

The Punishment of Luxury - OMD

100% Records

Produced by OMD

Released September 2017

UK Chart #4

Listen to the album here:

I was not always keen on a lot of the Electro-Pop stuff that was coming out at the tail end of the 70s and into the 80s but OMD was always a band I kept my ears open to because they did manage to release a substantial amount of really good quality records and their albums were always quite interesting loaded with ideas that you wouldn't normally associate with Pop Music. 

The band folded in 1996 but rose from the ashes again a decade later after a request from a German TV Show for them to perform. Now, it was quite customary at the time with a number of bands from the 80s to be getting back together and go back out on the road and basically be a nostalgia act and for awhile they did that going out and playing the Architecture & Morality album as well as other songs from their vast songbook but the aim of the band was always to record brand new music. That came to fruition with the release of History of Modern (2010), followed by English Electric (2013) and now this brand spanking new album The Punishment of Luxury.

I have to say that I was very, very impressed with the album from the first listen and with each hearing my estimation for it continues.

 OMD 

Live In Leicester

5th November 2017

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 121 - Junk Culture - OMD

Junk Culture was the fifth studio album from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. It was released on this day 32 years ago!

Now, for the record I will state that I probably know very little about OMD, I do have a few albums and love a few singles (Electricity still sounds so wonderful - especially the original Factory Release!) so I thought I'd ask a friend to share a couple of thoughts about the Junk Culture album. So, without further ado, step forward Alyson Waite.

Alyson is probably the biggest OMD fan I know. She actually has some tidy tastes when it comes to music especially her love for Ultravox (the John Foxx years of course!). Add to that a genuine passion for the Electronic Sounds of the 80's and she's the perfect person to ask to do this:
   

"I loved Junk Culture immediately. Admittedly, it was a departure from previous albums and seemingly the antithesis of Dazzle Ships in particular. Even though Junk Culture was so much more commercial , and the first three singles in particular (a conscious effort after the way Dazzle Ships was received I suspect), I never got the impression that OMD were compromising or 'selling out' in the unforgivable way some bands of a similar genre chose to go during that time.

I adored the uptempo 'poppy ' Locomotion and Tesla Girls and I still to this day can't quite understand how they manage to mix the mainstream and the experimental so beautifully - that's their charm and the reason I've loved them so much all these years."

Junk Culture - Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark

Virgin

Produced by Brian Tench and OMD

Released 30th April 1984

UK Chart #9

US Chart #162

Personnel
Group members:
    Paul Humphreys: vocals, Roland Jupiter 8, E-mu Emulator, Korg M-500 Micro Preset, acoustic piano, Fairlight CMI, celeste, Prophet 5
    Andy McCluskey: vocals, bass guitar, guitar, Roland Jupiter 8, E-mu Emulator, Fairlight CMI, Latin percussion
    Martin Cooper: Prophet 5, E-mu Emulator, tenor and soprano saxophones, Roland SH2, marimba
    Malcolm Holmes: acoustic and electronic drums, Latin percussion, drum computer programming

Additional performers:
    Gordan Troeller: piano on "Locomotion", Roland Jupiter 8 on "White Trash"
    Maureen Humphreys: vocals on "Tesla Girls"
    Jan Faas, Jan Vennik, Bart van Lier: brass section on "Locomotion" and "All Wrapped Up"
    Tony Visconti: brass arrangements on "Locomotion" and "All Wrapped Up"

Singles from Junk Culture

    01. "Locomotion"
    Released: 2 April 1984

UK Chart #5

   02.  "Talking Loud and Clear"
    Released: 4 June 1984

UK Chart #11

    03. "Tesla Girls"
    Released: 28 August 1984

UK Chart #21

   04.  "Never Turn Away"
    Released: 29 October 1984

UK Chart #70

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

Alphabet Beats #100: O is for.... Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

O is for....

Especially for Alyson W. still one of the biggest OMD fans that I have ever met!

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English new wave/synthpop group formed in 1978, whose founding members, Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, North West England. While steadily eschewing pop star status, the band cultivated a fanbase in the United Kingdom from 1978–1980. They gained popularity throughout Europe with the 1980 single "Enola Gay", and achieved broader recognition via album Architecture and Morality (1981) and its singles. OMD also garnered acclaim for their experimental recordings.

Although retrospectively lauded, their album Dazzle Ships (1983) eroded European consumer interest during the mid 1980s; Junk Culture (1984) marked a shift toward more pop-oriented songwriting. Concurrently, OMD reached their peak in the United States and had a major hit with 1986's "If You Leave", written for the film Pretty in Pink. Humphreys departed in 1989 with Martin Cooper (various instruments) and Malcolm Holmes (drums) to form The Listening Pool, leaving McCluskey to lead the outfit; Sugar Tax (1991) and its initial singles were sizeable hits in Europe. By the mid 1990s, however, synthpop had become unfashionable amid the guitar oriented musical climate, and McCluskey dissolved the band in 1996, months after their last successful single, "Walking on the Milky Way". He founded pop group Atomic Kitten in 1998.

The band reformed in 2006 and began releasing new material in 2009. Their European fanbase remained steadfast: History of Modern (2010) became the group's biggest hit on the German chart; English Electric (2013) their largest in the UK since Sugar Tax. The group have sold over 40 million records. Despite limited mainstream support for their works, OMD have carved a unique legacy within popular music, being regarded by critics as the synthpop counterpart of The Beatles, and a pioneering and highly influential act. The Quietus magazine editor John Doran once remarked: "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are not one of the best synth bands ever: they are one of the best bands ever."

 The Music
    Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)
    Organisation (1980)
    Architecture and Morality (1981)
    Dazzle Ships (1983)
    Junk Culture (1984)
    Crush (1985)
    The Pacific Age (1986)
    Sugar Tax (1991)
    Liberator (1993)
    Universal (1996)

The OMD Singles (1998)

Peel Sessions 1979-83 (2000)

Navigation: The OMD B-Sides (2001)

Messages: The Greatest Hits (2008)

OMD Live: Architecture and Morality and More (2008)
    History of Modern (2010)

Live in Berlin (2011)

So80s Present OMD - Curated by Blank and Jones (2011)
    English Electric (2013)