Today is the official release day of this long-awaited CD of a reunited Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. And the wait was worth it. OMD passes with flying colors with straight A’s in every category. Even though I know many of their tunes almost as well as they do, I can’t help but comment that if this music were newly released today, it would fit in perfectly.
This October will be the 30th anniversary of OMD’s beginning in Eric’s Club, a Liverpool basement club just opposite the Cavern Club, now a Beatles shrine. Eric’s was as well known as the Cavern Club, except Eric’s specialized in punk and post-punk groups. OMD was influenced and inspired by Kraftwerk, and their second CD, Organisation, was probably named after a band by the same name formed by Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter, and which preceded Kraftwerk.
OMD was one of the top heavyweights in the synthpop genre who came out of England at the time, and consisted of Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Mal Holmes, and Martin Cooper. The same lineup was reunited for Live and recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, on May 19, 2007. It contains all nine cuts of the original Architecture and Morality, plus an additional eight of OMD’s hits, including “Enola Gay,” their biggest hit. The CD totals just over 52 minutes, while a companion DVD of two hours and fifteen minutes is expected to be released in June.
OMD did a great job of recreating the '80s, but I have to say there were a couple places where the rust hadn’t quite been rubbed off. Considering it’s been nearly twenty years since they last played together, I’ll give them that. Live is still a fine, fine CD. Considering the enthusiasm of the crowd, heard occasionally in the breaks, they agree. Now if OMD would only schedule a few stops in the U.S. on their upcoming tour...
I also read somewhere that OMD are thinking of putting out a new CD. I have two hopes on that: First, that it happens, and second, that it lives up to the reputation they’ve made for themselves.
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