🎵 AotW O.M.D. - JUNK CULTURE (SP-5027)

[LPJim]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
JUNK CULTURE
A&M SP-5027

1 Junk Culture 3:51
2 Tesla GirlsVocals – Maureen Humphreys 3:54
3 LocomotionArranged By [Brass] – Tony ViscontiPiano – Gordian TroellerTenor Saxophone – Jan VennikTrombone – Bart Van LierTrumpet – Jan Faas 4:06
4 Apollo 3:40
5 Never Turn Away 3:56
6 Love And Violence 4:40
7 Hard Day 5:40
8 All Wrapped UpArranged By [Brass] – Tony ViscontiTenor Saxophone – Jan VennikTrombone – Bart Van LierTrumpet – Jan Faas 4:24
9 White TrashSynthesizer [Roland Jp8] – Gordian Troeller 4:35
10 Talking Loud And Clear 4:19

• Backing Vocals – Brian Tench
• Bass, Percussion [Latin] – Andrew McCluskey*
• Drums, Electronic Drums, Percussion [Latin], Drum Programming – Malcolm Holmes
• Engineer – Peter Wolliscroft*, Ronald Prent
• Engineer [I.c.p.] – Steve 'Wolf' Jackson*
• Engineer [Wisselord] – Michel Diericks*
• Mixed By – Brian Tench, Ronald Prent
• Piano – Paul Humphreys
• Producer – Brian Tench, O.M.D.*
• Synthesizer – Andrew McCluskey*, Martin Cooper (2), Paul Humphreys
• Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Marimba – Martin Cooper (2)
• Vocals – Andrew McCluskey*, Paul Humphreys

Recorded at: Air Studios, Montserrat.

Engineered at I.C.P. Studios, Brussels & Wisselord Studios, Hilversum.

Mixed at Wisselord Studios, Hilversum.

Available as CD 5027 or 3325

Entered the Billboard Top 200 on November 24, 1984
Charted for 6 weeks and peaked at # 182


JB


Here's a live version of "Talking Loud and Clear" recorded at the Loft in Atlanta GA on March 14, 2011. I was in the audience that evening for this tour stop, which featured the classic lineup:

 

[jfiedler17]

I find that this album (their first through A&M; their previous efforts had been issued in the U.S. through Epic Records) tends to really be a dividing line of sorts for O.M.D. fans - they have a huge faction of fans (especially abroad) who consider this to be their last great album, and then they have another huge faction of fans (mainly here on this side of the Atlantic) who consider this to be where their albums really start to get good. There is a logical explanation for that discrepancy, though: the band's style changed quite a bit during that time - their pre-Junk Culture albums tended to lean towards heavily experimental and avant-garde pop (a lot of the band's earliest songs really lack traditional song structures and are based more around repeating synth riffs than proper choruses) whereas everything after Junk Culture tended to sort of weld their more avant-garde new wave tendencies to a more commercial pop/soul sound. The change really worked in America, of course - they'd go on to score four Top 40 hits Stateside in the late '80s - though it apparently alienated a lot of their European fan base. (I've read in interviews that the reaction from their European fans to "If You Leave" was so negative that they avoid playing the song entirely these days whenever they play a concert in Europe!)

For me, personally, I do like quite a few of their earliest singles ("Enola Gay" and "Genetic Engineering" especially), but I think this is the first of their albums that's truly accessible enough to have a fair amount of appeal to your average pop fan (not to say that the earlier albums weren't good - they're just a bit spottier and often just downright unnervingly bizarre, especially Dazzle Ships), and it's a bit of a mystery why the singles from this album failed to register more of an impact here in this country. "Tesla Girls" is absolutely dynamite and is just full of non-stop hooks from start to finish. "Locomotion" makes for a pretty fun singalong number. "Talking Loud and Clear" is one of the band's best laid-back numbers. And "Love and Violence" easily has to be one of my top favorite non-singles in the band's catalogue.

The band's next two full-length releases for A&M are even better in my opinion. (The Pacific Age in particular should have been a much, much bigger album than it was. Both my sister and I have been through more than one copy of that album.)