Between 1979 and 1983, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark made four appearances on Peel's program. The last show was transmitted on Feb. 21, 1983, one month before the release of the band's fourth and most experimental album, 'Dazzle Ships.' Of "Genetic Engineering," Peel said it was "a much more muscular sound than we're used to from OMD." Paul Browne, the man behind the OMD magazine 'Messages,' called this take "more robust and percussive" than the album version. He went on to say this version of "Of All the Things We Made" was "poignant and wistful." Peel always had a way of bringing out the best in a band, and he did it again here.
OMD - Genetic Engineering (Peel Sessions) (mp3)
OMD - Of All the Things We Made (Peel Sessions) (mp3)
7 comments:
Absolutely love this band, the first 5 albums are all uniformly terrific. Geat post, reminded me I need to pick this one
Dazzle Ships is possibly my favorite OMD album. Organization can jump in there on top at times as well. I am full on fan up until John Hughes caused a rift in their universe - and not for the better in my opinion.
It has been wonderful to see them back on form the past few years though and I hope they sustain the quality of recent output.
Uncle E and Echorich, thanks for checking in. Is it just me, or does it feel like 'Dazzle Ships' is getting a second listen by a lot of folks? I always felt like the album was the black sheep of the early stuff. I'm not so sure this is true these days.
I never would have believed in 2012 I could be looking forward to a followup to an OMD album.
The re evaluation for Dazzle Ships started, I think, when the reissue came out. Pitchfork even rated it quite high, which surprised me. They called it, and this is true, the Kid A of it's time. I always loved it but forgot about it until the reissue. And a TOan of 80s bands are getting reevaluated and releasing pretty decent efforts. The Fixx, Men Without Hats are only a couple examples.
Also as far as I can tell the 80s revival is hitting its peak now. It started a few years back, with bands like M83, Neon Indian and even 2011s Destroyer Album, Destroyer, which digs up The sound of China Crisis, of all bands. I'm quite enjoying this. Simple Minds, too, and English Beat enjoyed a bit of the limelight with nice box sets. And don't even get me started on Madness' last one!
I meant Kaputt by Destroyer. I'll stop now.
Uncle E,
Wow, I didn't even know any OMD albums had been reissued. I just looked them up... and wow! I own almost all of OMD's 12" singles through 'The Pacific Age,' but I don't have the extended version of "Telegraph." I see that it's on the reissue. That's very tempting. Thanks for the heads up.
You have just about convinced me to buy the new Fixx too.
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