Review of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Souvenir

Introduction

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. I first heard this name way back in 1980 and wondered just how a group with this evocative name would sound. I`d missed their first singles Electricity and Messages, so I had to wait for global smash Enola Gay about the plane that delivered the first atomic bomb.

Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys both hailed from the Wirral, near Liverpool, and preferred the darker precise electronic tones of Kraftwerk to the more popular Beatles from their home town. The duo played in some local bands going the more traditional band route before deciding they just wanted to do their own thing, experimental electronic music. OMD got a leg up via Tony Wilson who released Electricity via Factory Records, before his wife Carol signed them to DinDisc, a subsidiary of Virgin.

Using their debut album advance wisely, the duo created their own studio called the Gramophone Suite and from this dingy small studio came their debut eponymous album, heralding such gems as Messages, Bunker Soldiers and Red Frame, White Light - the latter a song about a public telephone box. Follow up album Organisation was much darker and melancholic bar the aforementioned Enola Gay, one of the catchiest singles of the 80`s. Mal Holmes had effectively joined the band on drums at this point, although touring partner Martin Cooper was yet to make the permanent shift into the band despite playing keyboards and saxophone. McCluskey and Humphreys now included songs about the big oil refinery near their homes with Stanlow and a tribute to Ian Curtis in Statues.

Their next album was where they really hit the big time though. Architecture And Morality, their seminal album, was a title suggested by Martha Ladly of Martha And The Muffins (Echo Beach, anyone?) and was preceded by the simply breathtaking Souvenir with Paul Humphreys finally taking lead vocals on a single. One of McCluskey`s ideas for this album was to have two songs called Joan Of Arc, although DinDisc kyboshed this idea and renamed the track Maid Of Orleans to avoid confusion. This trio of singles and this album put Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark firmly on the map. The album artwork also continued their partnership with Peter Saville with more striking artwork that was a staple of early 80`s music where it really mattered (Saville was also responsible for the loss-leading artwork on New Order`s Blue Monday, as well working with the likes of Ultravox).

Sadly, it then started to go wrong. Rather than make A&M MkII, OMD discovered the Fairlight and sampling. Despite tracks that would stand up to the best in their catalogue so far, the quirky sampled sound collages such as Radio Prague, ABC Auto-Industry and This Is Helena confused many a fan who didn`t quite realise at the time just how important this experimentation (which was where OMD were founded after all…) was and that such sampling would become common place only a few years later. Viewers of The Tube would also witness a rather bemused and indifferent audience reaction to first single Genetic Engineering, which sampled a Speak & Spell machine but had Martin Cooper inexplicably pretending to yell the words through a megaphone. Sales weren`t great and whilst their career recovered with the much more accessible Junk Culture, it only took two more albums before they all fell out and called it a day.

Losing to McCluskey for the rights to the name, Humphreys, Cooper and Holmes formed The Listening Pool and their own record label. Releasing one single and album, the mellow sounding record received a lukewarm reaction and that was that. McCluskey, however, got a bit of a second wind and released three more albums with co-writer Stuart Kershaw before unleashing Atomic Kitten on the world. Latterly, Humphreys teamed with Claudia Brucken (originally of German ZTT group Propaganda) to form OneTwo after a successful tour of the US together.

Now though, the time is seemingly ripe for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark to grace us with their presence again. Starting with a successful mini-set at the Nokia Night of the Proms backed by a full orchestra, the classic line up reformed and did a celebratory tour of Architecture And Morality, followed by a more expanded tour.

Film maker Rob Finighan followed Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys around for about a year and a half, documenting their attempts to get back on the musical treadmill as a quartet and also allowing the duo to tell their story and explore the places that were a mainstay of their early musical career.

Video

Full frame 4:3, nice picture that is both rich and sharp.

Audio

Soundtrack is in mpeg format, sounds fine and includes a nice mix of lesser known OMD tracks as background music.

Features

None.

Conclusion

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark are easily in my top three favourite bands ever, Ultravox and Alphaville being the other two. Fads may come and go, new bands replacing older ones, but favourites stand the test of time and OMD certainly do. Whilst some bands leave a brief recording legacy, OMD have a back catalogue of ten albums (three essentially McCluskey solo albums…) and notched up 13 top twenty singles. I`ve been waiting years for someone to come along and produce a decent documentary about one of my bands, the age of DVD means now that even the blandest of boy bands and X-Factor-ish winners get more out of this format than some of the true musical pioneers.

Rob Finighan, a documentary maker, fulfilled a life ambition and funded this documentary himself. What he`s produced is a fantastic document of a group refinding themselves and also telling you their story and sharing some of their secrets. We get to see the now decrepit Eric`s, the famous Liverpool club where OMD first played, and the room that was The Gramophone Suite, all the while watching Andy and Paul revelling in the memory of what once was. McCluskey also lets us in on some secrets from behind his studio mixing board, explaining how some of their most well-known tracks were put together. We can see just how the magic in the studio was worked, even if McCluskey is rather modest and self-critical about their playing and singing - let`s face it, we all know that studio magic can make stars out of just about anyone, so there`s nothing new there. This is history in the making though, not some single released as a cash-in after the latest X-Factor final.

McCluskey and Humphreys are quite relaxed in each others company, with the normally quiet Humphries being the more enthusiastic and giggly one. McCluskey is a little reserved and reticent, but frankly I don`t think he needs to justify what they did. History has recorded it and OMD have their place, even if McCluskey`s windmill impression dancing is now part of that legend (and yes, you do get to both see it and hear it being discussed).

There are shortfalls in this documentary, but they are essentially my quibbles. It lasts around 90 minutes but I could have watched this for nigh on three to four hours. Mal Holmes (back after major heart surgery) and Martin Cooper are never interviewed, which would have been nice. The main story stops after Architecture And Morality and the work around Dazzle Ships is glossed over as is the rest of their career after that. Seeing as I did the same in my introduction though, I can hardly complain. It`s just that looking back, I find that Dazzle Ships is now probably my third favourite OMD album after A&M and Organisation. I wasn`t a huge fan at the time, same as a lot of people, and I not only feel a little guilty for that and where OMD next went but also am really interested in how this album came about.

Still, quibbles. This is a superb documentary made by a fan for fellow fans. It`s been a while coming but anyone with even a passing interest in OMD would do well to pick up this limited edition release. Limited to 3,000 copies, it can be purchased from http://www.omd-dvd.com. Whilst some people may not see the worth of this documentary outside of fan circles, I think it has much wider appeal. It certainly has some of the detail that long-term fans would want, but it is also put together in an interesting way with some nice editing, the two stories of both OMD`s origins and reformation running in parallel throughout the running time. A joy to watch.

Recommended.