🎵 AotW Orhestral Manouevers In The Dark - CRUSH (SP-5077)

[LPJim]

Orchestral Manouevers In The Dark
CRUSH
A&M SP-5077

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "So in Love" (Humphreys, McCluskey, Stephen Hague) 3:29
2. "Secret" 3:56
3. "Bloc Bloc Bloc" 3:28
4. "Women III" 4:26
5. "Crush" 4:27

Side two
No. Title Length
6. "88 Seconds in Greensboro" 4:15
7. "The Native Daughters of the Golden West" 3:58
8. "La Femme Accident" 2:50
9. "Hold You" 4:00
10. "The Lights Are Going Out" 3:57

• Paul Humphreys – vocals, electronic keyboards, piano
• Andy McCluskey – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, electronic keyboards
• Malcolm Holmes – drums, electronic and acoustic percussion
• Martin Cooper – vocals, saxophone, electronic keyboards
• Kyle Green – additional vocals, piano, electronic keyboards
• Stephen Hague – electronic keyboards, guitar & producer
• Graham Weir – trombone, electric guitar
• Neil Weir – trumpet
• Maureen Humphreys – additional vocals

Entered the Billboard Top 200 on July 27, 1985
Charted for 53 weeks and peaked at # 38

"So in Love" reached # 26 as a single
"Secret" reached # 63 as a single

McCluskey & Humphreys wrote songs except as indicated

JB




OMD - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | home »

 

[jfiedler17]

Just saw these guys in concert last weekend (on a bill with Howard Jones ("No One Is to Blame," "Things Can Only Get Better," etc.) and Barenaked Ladies). It was the first time I've ever had a chance to see OMD live, and they were absolutely amazing. Andy McCluskey must have spent a good 2/3 of the set dancing around the stage, actually; the man has amazing energy! (His voice still sounds as good as ever, too.) They played "So in Love" and "Secret" from this album. (They also played "If You Leave," naturally, as well as "(Forever) Live and Die," "Dreaming," "Tesla Girls," "Locomotion," "Enola Gay," "Electricity," "Maid of Orleans," and "History of Modern.") Howard Jones and Barenaked Ladies were both extremely entertaining as well. Well worth the price of admission.

I've personally worn out two or three copies of Crush. The back half is admittedly a tad weaker (though "Hold You" and "La Femme Accident" are both fantastic), but Side One? I love every last song on that first side. "So in Love" and "Secret" are obviously both essential OMD singles, but "Bloc Bloc Bloc" is awfully fun, "Women III" is every bit as catchy as the singles, and the title cut is strangely addictive, extremely eccentric though it is. Underrated album.

 

[Bonnie Johnson]

Orchestral Manouevers In The Dark
CRUSH
A&M SP-5077

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "So in Love" (Humphreys, McCluskey, Stephen Hague) 3:29
2. "Secret" 3:56
3. "Bloc Bloc Bloc" 3:28
4. "Women III" 4:26
5. "Crush" 4:27

Side two
No. Title Length
6. "88 Seconds in Greensboro" 4:15
7. "The Native Daughters of the Golden West" 3:58
8. "La Femme Accident" 2:50
9. "Hold You" 4:00
10. "The Lights Are Going Out" 3:57

• Paul Humphreys – vocals, electronic keyboards, piano
• Andy McCluskey – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, electronic keyboards
• Malcolm Holmes – drums, electronic and acoustic percussion
• Martin Cooper – vocals, saxophone, electronic keyboards
• Kyle Green – additional vocals, piano, electronic keyboards
• Stephen Hague – electronic keyboards, guitar & producer
• Graham Weir – trombone, electric guitar
• Neil Weir – trumpet
• Maureen Humphreys – additional vocals

Entered the Billboard Top 200 on July 27, 1985
Charted for 53 weeks and peaked at # 38

"So in Love" reached # 26 as a single
"Secret" reached # 63 as a single

McCluskey & Humphreys wrote songs except as indicated

JB




OMD - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | home »

Being 68 I don't really keep up with music anymore, but, I remember their single If You Leave. Their really good, what would be considered to be their best albumn?

 

[jfiedler17]

It really kind of depends who you're asking, if only because their sound changed quite a bit over the years. For their first four albums (from 1980-1983), they were a much more avant-garde-pop band. They still had some good singles during that time ("Enola Gay" in particular is really good and surprisingly catchy for a band as experimental as they were in their early years), but their albums tended to be incredibly uncommercial, especially Dazzle Ships. After they signed to A&M in '84, their albums became a lot more commercially accessible and radio-friendly, so, naturally, a lot of music critics and early fans turned on them (for that reason, "If You Leave" actually was a flop overseas and was received really poorly by their earliest fans), but their sales in America went up substantially.

I suppose for people who disdain Top 40 pop and prefer their music to be a little more avant-garde, their best album would be Architecture and Morality. For those people who prefer more mainstream/radio-friendly pop, their best album is probably either Crush or The Pacific Age. (I've personally gone through at least two or three copies of the latter album from playing it so much. It definitely comes closest to sounding like "If You Leave" than any of their other studio albums, so if you're a big fan of that song, odds are you'll really enjoy The Pacific Age.) Their last album for A&M was a 1988 best-of package (simply called The Best of OMD) that does a nice job of compiling all their singles from 1980 through 1987 (giving you a sampling of both their more esoteric early material like "Enola Gay" and "Electricity" and "Joan of Arc" and their later material like "So in Love" and "If You Leave" and "(Forever) Live and Die"; it also includes a new/previously unavailable song called "Dreaming" that became an American Top 40 hit in its own right), so that's not a bad starter package for someone just beginning to explore the band's catalog.

 

[Bonnie Johnson]

It really kind of depends who you're asking, if only because their sound changed quite a bit over the years. For their first four albums (from 1980-1983), they were a much more avant-garde-pop band. They still had some good singles during that time ("Enola Gay" in particular is really good and surprisingly catchy for a band as experimental as they were in their early years), but their albums tended to be incredibly uncommercial, especially Dazzle Ships. After they signed to A&M in '84, their albums became a lot more commercially accessible and radio-friendly, so, naturally, a lot of music critics and early fans turned on them (for that reason, "If You Leave" actually was a flop overseas and was received really poorly by their earliest fans), but their sales in America went up substantially.

I suppose for people who disdain Top 40 pop and prefer their music to be a little more avant-garde, their best album would be Architecture and Morality. For those people who prefer more mainstream/radio-friendly pop, their best album is probably either Crush or The Pacific Age. (I've personally gone through at least two or three copies of the latter album from playing it so much. It definitely comes closest to sounding like "If You Leave" than any of their other studio albums, so if you're a big fan of that song, odds are you'll really enjoy The Pacific Age.) Their last album for A&M was a 1988 best-of package (simply called The Best of OMD) that does a nice job of compiling all their singles from 1980 through 1987 (giving you a sampling of both their more esoteric early material like "Enola Gay" and "Electricity" and "Joan of Arc" and their later material like "So in Love" and "If You Leave" and "(Forever) Live and Die"; it also includes a new/previously unavailable song called "Dreaming" that became an American Top 40 hit in its own right), so that's not a bad starter package for someone just beginning to explore the band's catalog.

Thanks a bunch, who knows if I can get some listening pleasure out of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, I might be able to get by with their none commercial LP's.