Destroy: "Dazzle Ship". Never understood what was so fantastic about that one. And the fans at the time obviously agreed with me, as it flopped completely.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:55 (nineteen years ago) link
but i think DS has long been critically reacclaimed as the classic it is, don't you?
it is a dense, beautiful, experimental, dark, intelligent and heartbreaking album. and if we are going to reduce everything to melody: beat "the romance of the telescope".
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:02 (nineteen years ago) link
and if someone said, right, play me an album that will give me the best idea of where your tastes lie and what you like, dazzle ships would be it.
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― mzui (mzui), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:19 (nineteen years ago) link
and time zones ... time zones! melody without melody! rhythm without rhythm! oh, exquisite genius.
god, i love that album so much.
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:31 (nineteen years ago) link
e.g 'She waited for so Lo-o-ong" (She's Leaving)'Her dream's to give her heart away...etc' (JoA, Maid Of Orleans)'Now she's on her wa-ay to another la-and' (JoA, the other one)
That all of these examples are from A&M, make it my fave OMD LP. I unreservedly love the goofy Liverpool catholic thing,choirs of angels synths on the pop stuff and all the clanking about on the 'industrial northern landscapes' ones (Sealand etc). Fantastic band.
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:15 (nineteen years ago) link
and yes, "goofy liverpool catholic thing" sums it up wonderfully; although i do still prefer the solving-all-the-world's-problems approach of dazzle ships (key andy quote from the time: "countries are a very inefficient way of organising things.")
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 17:42 (nineteen years ago) link
crush, as i remembered, is a bit meh.
but jesus christ, woah, the pacific age! it's fucking amazing! what was i playing at, selling my CD copy ten years ago? it's a lost overblown eighties classic. recorded in paris with stephen hague, so you can imagine it already ... big, lush, horribly digital in parts, but ridiculously ambitious in a down-to-earth stylee ... hellfire, if i didn't know i'd regret it, i'd call it a sequel to dazzle ships.
and i've only listened to the first side.
wow. i'm gobsmacked. i need to be getting me a copy of junk culture, just in case it turns out to be good as well.
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 21:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 23:50 (nineteen years ago) link
-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), April 6th, 2003.i loved it and expected a full album .can't get into them before "junk culture".i thought "liberator" was great and "universal" was their best.i play the greatest hits more than anything.
― katomicaitten, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:10 (nineteen years ago) link
p.s. omd's middle eights are brilliant, love the key changes and ad-libs.
― katomicaitten, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:11 (nineteen years ago) link
greatest hits (with dreaming) 9
― katomicaitten, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:15 (nineteen years ago) link
insanity. how can an album with souvenir on it rate a 3? that song along rates it as a 6.
― keith m (keithmcl), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 02:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 03:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 03:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 05:14 (nineteen years ago) link
Goofy is right. I remember watching them perform the splendiferous Forever Live and Die on TOTP in 1986 - and you know the bit half-way through, where the music suddenly cuts out and there's a little bass slide into the next verse? Presumably by prior arrangement, the camera zoomed in on McCluskey at that precise moment, and he just could not stop himself from making a wacky "oooh" face. It was kind of like Michaelangelo inviting people in to view the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and then tricking them into sitting onto whoopee cushions.
The good news is that, having made do for years with the greatest hits compilations, I have been inspired by this thread to purchase Organisation and Architecture and Morality. (Would have bought Dazzle Ships too, but HMV only had the non-remastered version in stock.)
― Palomino (Palomino), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:50 (nineteen years ago) link
fuck.
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― mzui (mzui), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 16:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Sunday, 28 May 2006 18:57 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_nsoF_1AI&search=OMD
― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Sunday, 28 May 2006 18:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 May 2006 19:09 (eighteen years ago) link
Search "Organisation", "Architecture And Morality" and a good singles compilation.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:26 (eighteen years ago) link
Oh god, "Souvenir" is just killing me right now. So swoonsome!
― Drew Daniel, Friday, 15 February 2008 03:21 (sixteen years ago) link
I was thinking of that very song on the way home this evening! :-)
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 15 February 2008 03:24 (sixteen years ago) link
The new live album, Architecture & Morality And More is a great listen. It's just what I was in the mood for. Also, I'm looking forward for the release of the dvd.
― van smack, Thursday, 1 May 2008 01:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, still don't see the fuss about a collection of tapes from Easten European radio stations, combined with (eek!!) lots of digital synths in an era where digital synths were mostly not around in pop music yet.― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:13 (3 years ago)
i've never felt the need to do this before, but geir, you are crazy. there is not one digital synth on this album, unless you count the emulator which i imagine was used mainly for all the radio samples. do you even own this album? there's a list of all the synths used in the sleeve. i know you've gone into great detail about how you dislike hard synth sounds, but this album practically defines warmth
― rio (r1o natsume), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 21:10 (fifteen years ago) link
this album = dazzle ships
Dazzle Ships is so great; I wish I'd heard it before yesterday! The chords in "Of All The Things We've Made" are heartbreakingly gorgeous.
― wacky spelling error (Euler), Thursday, 17 September 2009 07:57 (fifteen years ago) link
My favourite OMD album by a long shot - and I quite like their stuff. Greyish, unbalanced, icy and emotional, conveying this almost 50's cold war paranoia, eerily prescient - so great indeed.Like I read somewhere, it is the sound of Joe Meek teaming up with Kraftwerk.
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:37 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm listening through their discography now, and it's amazing, though I keep wanting to put on Dazzle Ships between the other albums. Between "Genetic Engineering", "The Romance of the Telescope" and the "Of All The Things We've Made" plus the interludes gluing things together, I can't get enough. I gather the lyrical subject matter is weighty but I'm not yet at the point of attending to that, not when there are chords and progressions as overwhelming as these.
― wacky spelling error (Euler), Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:45 (fifteen years ago) link
As I said over on the DzSh thread, when they made "Locomotion", I liked the song a lot, but knew they would never do 'experimental' a'la Dazzle Ships again, and felt sad.
― Mark G, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:46 (fifteen years ago) link
After listening to the first four albums + the Peel sessions over the last couple of days, I wanted to go back and relisten to them but tried "Locomotion" off the next album just to see. And it seems to be a move away from the lush swoon of the earlier albums, esp. Dazzle Ships. I'm kinda reluctant to go further for now, in fear of having the spell broken; but for now it's puppy love and I'm relistening to Architecture & Morality and starting to hear the influences more, e.g. Joy Division especially. I'm having a "where have you been my whole life" moment with this band right now.
― wacky spelling error (Euler), Thursday, 17 September 2009 14:40 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm kinda reluctant to go further for now, in fear of having the spell broken
With OMD, that's a very wise approach. There is stuff worth hearing in the post-Dazzle Ships albums -- hell, I'll rep for most of The Pacific Age (see above!) -- but the magic had vanished and they're fundamentally a different band.
And whatever the fuck else you do, don't go and see them live: OMD to tour Architecture And Morality
― What do you want? This ain't an egg shop (grimly fiendish), Thursday, 17 September 2009 14:54 (fifteen years ago) link
So what came first, OMD's 'The Boy From the Chemist is Here to See You' or Pulp's 'Disco 2000'. Same year, too similar to be a coincidence?
― MC Hamer Hall (S-), Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:04 (fifteen years ago) link
OMD, frm Universal (1996).
Disco 2000, 1995
So, there you go.
― Mark G, Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:10 (fifteen years ago) link
lolhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HuSDV9mnjU
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 13 October 2009 15:53 (fourteen years ago) link
having listened to almost all of dazzle ships (thanks to the ILM 80's poll), holy shit how had I not heard this band before? there is so much music to hear; fortunately i am of a mind to set aside a while for these guys
― Puddle of Thudd (acoleuthic), Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Architecture & Morality is even better imo
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Quite frankly LJ I am a little shocked at this. <3 OMD. Also, I think that Scooter clip made my ears bleed.
― bear say hi to me (ENBB), Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:29 (fourteen years ago) link
as a massive fan of early ultravox!, rio, new gold dream and others of that ilk it seems so obvious that i ought to have heard them earlier
'the romance of the telescope' is particularly stunning
― Puddle of Thudd (acoleuthic), Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:38 (fourteen years ago) link
OMG 'STATUES'
― Puddle of Thudd (acoleuthic), Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:42 (fourteen years ago) link
I am enjoying bearing witness to this new discovery of yours btw.
― bear say hi to me (ENBB), Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:43 (fourteen years ago) link
i see people compare dazzle ships to kid a
'the romance of the telescope' is *miles* better than anything on kid a
― Puddle of Thudd (acoleuthic), Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:46 (fourteen years ago) link
and Organisation is right up there with A & M, too.
Really, though, you can't go wrong with everything up to and including Dazzle Ships.
― big darn deal (Z S), Sunday, 29 November 2009 23:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Hey any fans of OMD, what record would be good to get into if I like "A souvenir (extended version". Only song I'm overly familiar with.
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Sunday, 12 February 2017 20:37 (seven years ago) link
if you like Souvenir, you will very likely enjoy Architecture & Morality and Organisation as well.
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 12 February 2017 20:43 (seven years ago) link
Thanks Karl, I'll check them out :)
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Sunday, 12 February 2017 20:44 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, start with Architecture & Morality, followed by Organisation and Dazzle Ships. Then try the debut, and then Junk Culture or English Electric.
― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Sunday, 12 February 2017 21:07 (seven years ago) link
figured I'd get caught up on these dudes in anticipation of the new record...English Electric is really quite nice, isn't it?
― frogbs, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 13:44 (seven years ago) link
It is. Saw them live last Friday -- absolutely wonderful show. They get away with playing songs exactly like the studio arrangements more than most, because they make it all work so well live.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 13:54 (seven years ago) link
They're so great live, I saw the first comeback gig at the Hammersmith Apollo back whenever and it completely ruled to hear all of A&M and all the big hits.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 14:43 (seven years ago) link
If the forthcoming new album is as good as English Electric, I'll be happy!
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:08 (seven years ago) link
I was at the same show as Ned, they were excellent live, blown away. New songs were great (they played two of them). Looking forward to the new album, as the other two post-reunion albums were both great as well. Underrated band.
― akm, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:41 (seven years ago) link
Of all the bands that reformed and put out new material this decade, I've been very happy with what OMD and Suede have been offering.
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 19:47 (seven years ago) link
yeah, both, good point. they've really been true to their strengths and it hasn't been a nostalic money grab.
― akm, Thursday, 3 August 2017 04:45 (seven years ago) link
Can anyone comment on the quality of the remastered reissues on vinyl?
― brotherlovesdub, Tuesday, 13 November 2018 16:59 (five years ago) link
Well, I bought the S/T album and can confirm it sounds terrific. Outer & inner sleeves are high quality. Overall i'm very happy. Will likely buy the Organization and Dazzle Ships reissues to replace older copies.
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 14 November 2018 17:45 (five years ago) link
I haven't heard any of the remastered vinyl reissues, but based on your feedback I might just check 'em out... sounds promising!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Wednesday, 14 November 2018 18:00 (five years ago) link
Do they have the same packaging/labelling as the original Dindisc vinyl, with the die-cut sleeves etc.?
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Wednesday, 14 November 2018 18:02 (five years ago) link
Yes, they are all replicas of the first pressings. Die-cut, nice inners, labels replicated as well.
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 14 November 2018 18:52 (five years ago) link
Do you get the 7" with Organisation also?
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 14 November 2018 19:22 (five years ago) link
I don't think Organization has the 7".
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 14 November 2018 21:31 (five years ago) link