Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

OMD's first full album won as much attention for its brilliant die-cut cover (another example of Peter Saville's cutting-edge way around design) as for its music, and its music is wonderful. For all that, this is a young band, working for just about the last time with original percussionist Winston; there's both a variety and ambition present that never overreaches itself. The influences are perfectly clear throughout, but McCluskey and Humphreys would have been the last people to deny how Kraftwerk, Sparks, and other avatars of post-guitar pop touched them. What's undeniably thrilling, though, is how quickly the two synthesized their own style. Consider "Almost," with its dramatic keyboard opening suddenly shifting into a collage of wheezing sound beats and McCluskey's precise bass and heartfelt, lovelorn singing and lyrics. The chilly keyboard base of "The Messerschmitt Twins" gets offset by McCluskey's steadily stronger vocal, while the swooping, slightly hollow singing on "Mystereality" slips around a quietly quirky arrangement, helped just enough by Cooper's at-the-time guest sax. Even the fairly goofy "Dancing" has a weird atmosphere at play in the metallic vocals and groaning tones. In terms of sheer immediacy, there's little doubt what the two highlights are; the original recording and arguably better version of "Electricity" is pure zeitgeist, a celebration of synth pop's incipient reign with fast beats and even faster singing. "Messages," though it would later benefit from a far more stunning reworking, still wears the emotion of its lyrics on its sleeve, with a killer opening line ("It worries me, this kind of thing, how you hope to live alone and occupy your waking hours") and a melody both propulsive and fragile. The mysterious chimes and spy-movie dramatics of "Red Frame/White Light" (inspired by a phone box) are almost as striking. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is just like the band that made it; perfectly of its time and easily transcending it.

The ID

The Id was a new wave/synthpop band from the Wirral, Merseyside, England formed in September 1977 by school and college friends Andy McCluskey (bass, vocals), Julia Kneale (vocals), Neill Shenton (guitar), John Floyd (vocals), Malcolm Holmes (drums), Steve Hollas (bass), Gary Hodgson (guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards). McCluskey and Humphreys had met each other at school, sharing interests in early electronic artists like Brian Eno and Kraftwerk and played together since 1975. Humphreys went to study electronics at Riversdale College, in Liverpool, where he met Steve Hollas and Gary Hodgson. The alignment was large, but lasted briefly, because Kneale, Shenton and Floyd quit very soon. The group began to gig regularly in the Merseyside area, performing original material largely written by McCluskey and Humphreys. They had quite a following on the scene.

In early 1978 The Id recorded some demos at the Open Eye studio in Liverpool after some advice from Eric's Club owner Roger Eagle. The three songs were "Electricity", "Julia's Song" and "The Misunderstanding". The Open Eye recordings of The Id were later released in December 2002 as an EP by Engine Records. In August 1978 the band split up. McCluskey joined Dalek I Love You the same month, but left within a month to reunite with Humphreys to form Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). In August 1979, a year after the band broke up; "Julia's Song" was included on a compilation record of local bands called Street to Street: A Liverpool Album. Other contributors were Big in Japan, Jaqui & Jeanette, Modern Eon, Activity Minimal, Dead Trout, Tontrix, The Accelerators, Malchix, Fun, The Moderates, and Echo & the Bunnymen. Radio One DJ John Peel, who contributed sleeve notes to the LP, played "Julia's Song" on his programme on 14 August 1980.

The three songs from the Open Eye sessions were re-recorded by OMD for their eponymous debut album in 1980 and "Electricity" was released as the first single. Holmes reunited with McCluskey and Humphreys in 1980 to record the Organisation album and became a member of OMD.

Red Frame White Light! Six Three Two Three Double O Three!

Those are the immortal words uttered by Andy McCluskey in Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s second single ‘Red Frame/White Light’, released in February 1980 and taken from their eponymous debut album. To listeners unfamiliar with the history of the band, the numbers mentioned in the track may sound a little random, but seasoned OMD fans will know that ‘6323003’ was in fact the number of the red telephone box on the Wirral that the band used as their ‘office’ in the early days of their career.

After the huge number of hits that my previous OMD post acquired I thought I would slip in this little beauty.