HELDER BARROS: Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark - Mais uma Banda dos Gloriosos Anos 80!

23/07/09

Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark - Mais uma Banda dos Gloriosos Anos 80!

O.M.D. - "Souvenir"

O.M.D. - "Souvenir" - (Moby Remix)

O.M.D. - "Souvenir" - (Brothers In Rhythm Mix)

O.M.D. - "Forever Live And Die" - (1986)

O.M.D - "ENOLA GAY" - (LIVE)

O.M.D - "ENOLA GAY" - (DIGITISED)

O.M.D. - "Dreaming"

O.M.D. - "So in Love"

O.M.D. - "Call My Name"

O.M.D. - "Messages Vídeo"

O.M.D. - "Electricity"

O.M.D. - "Messages" - (1980)

O. M. D. - "Secrets"

O.M.D. - "Everyday"

O.M.D. - "Then You Turn Away"

«Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Also known as	OMD Orchestral Manoeuvres OMITD
Origin	The Wirral, Merseyside, England
Genre(s)	New Wave, Synthpop
Years active	1978–1996, 2006– present
Label(s)	Virgin, DinDisc, Telegraph, Factory
Associated acts	VCL XI, The Id, Dalek I Love You, Godot, Games, The Listening Pool, Onetwo
Website	Official Website Official Myspace
Members
Andy McCluskey Paul Humphreys Malcolm Holmes Martin Cooper
Former members
Mike Douglas Dave Hughes Graham Weir Neil Weir Stuart Kershaw Lloyd Massett Nigel Ipinson Phil Coxon Abe Jukes
Notable instrument(s)
Mellotron Fairlight CMI E-mu Emulator Prophet V Korg Micro-Preset

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (often abbreviated to OMD) are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England. OMD record for Virgin Records (originally for Virgin's DinDisc subsidiary).
The group was founded by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, and they formed the core of the outfit until 1989, when the group split. McCluskey then retained the name and continued to record and tour as OMD with a new line-up.

In late December 2005, OMD's official website announced a 2006 reformation, for both live performances and a new album, with rehearsals beginning in summer 2006. The tour began in 2007, featuring the classic line up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper. Spring 2008 saw a further tour announced for October that year.

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[edit] Biography

[edit] Early roots

Founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys met at primary school, in West Kirby, Wirral, Merseyside, in the early 1960's, and in the mid-1970's, as teenagers, they were involved in different local groups.^[1]
By mid 1970's, McCluskey formed Equinox, as bassist and vocalist, alongside schoolmate Malcolm Holmes on drums, while Humphreys was their roadie. During that time

McCluskey and Humphreys discovered their electronic style playing influenced by Kraftwerk.^[2] After Equinox, McCluskey joined Pegasus,^[3]^[4] and, later, the short-lived Hitlerz Underpantz, alongside Humphreys.^[5]^[6] McCluskey would usually sing and play bass guitar, whilst electronics enthusiast Humphreys initially began as a roadie, graduating to keyboards. The pair shared a love of electronic music, particularly Brian Eno and Kraftwerk.

[edit] The Id

Main article: The Id

In September 1977,^[7] McCluskey and Humphreys put together seven-piece (three singers, two guitarists, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player) Wirral 'supergroup' The Id, whose line-up included drummer Malcolm Holmes and McCluskey's girlfriend Julia Kneale on vocals. The group began to gig regularly in the Merseyside area, performing original material (largely written by McCluskey and Humphreys). They had quite a following on the scene, and one of their tracks ("Julia's Song") was included on a compilation record of local bands called Street to Street. Meanwhile, Humphreys & McCluskey collaborated on a side-project called VCL XI (named after a misreading of a valve from the diagram on the back

cover of Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity album; the name of valve is actually written with Arabic numbers, VCL 11, and not roman numbers). This side-project allowed them to pursue their more bizarre electronic experiments, often working with tape collages, home-made kit-built synthesisers, and circuit-bent radios.
In August 1978, The Id split due to the traditional musical differences. The same month, McCluskey joined electronic Wirral quartet Dalek I Love You as lead singer, but quit in September.^[8]

[edit] Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's formation and first releases

In September 1978, the same month he left Dalek I Love You, McCluskey rejoined Humphreys and their VCL XI project was renamed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. They began to gig regularly as a duo, performing to backing tracks played from a Teac 4 track tape-recorder christened "Winston" (after the antihero of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-four). Their debut performance was in October 1978 at Eric's Club in Liverpool.^[9] Finding themselves on the cusp of an electronic new wave in British pop-music, they released a one-off single, "Electricity", with celebrated independent label Factory Records. The track was produced by the legendary Factory Records producer Martin Hannett under the pseudonym Chester Valentino, taken from a nightclub called Valentino's in

the nearby city of Chester. The single's sleeve was designed by Peter Saville, whose distinctive graphics provided OMD's public image well into the mid-80s. The unusual graphics that feature on the sleeve were partially inspired by Andy and Paul's original musical notation style. Unable to read or write music, they adapted a series of symbols, each one representing different instruments.^[10]
In 1979 they were asked to and supported Gary Numan on his first major British tour. They were always grateful to Numan for his help and support (he let them travel on his bus and use his trucks to transport their gear) They returned the favour some 13 years later when they asked Numan to support them on their arena tour in the mid 90s.

[edit] Classic line-up

Original UK 45 rpm single picture cover: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Messages

The eponymous first album (1980) showcased the band's live set at the time, and was basically recorded by the Humphreys/McCluskey duo, although included some guest drums from Id drummer Mal Holmes, and saxophone from Wirral musician Martin Cooper. It had a simple, raw, poppy, melodic synthpop sound. DinDisc arranged for the song "Messages" to be re-recorded (produced by Gong bassist Mike Howlett) and released as a single (right) - this gave the band their first hit. Dave Hughes a founder member of Dalek I Love You who joined OMD in early 1980 featured in the "Messages" video.
A tour followed, Winston the tape recorder was augmented with live drums from Mal Holmes, and Dalek I Love You's Dave Hughes on synths. Hughes then left OMD in November 1980, replaced by Martin Cooper.
The second album Organisation (perhaps a reference to the band which preceded Kraftwerk,

founded by Kraftwerk's original members Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hütter) followed later that year, recorded as a 3 piece with Humphreys, McCluskey and Holmes. It was again produced by Howlett, and saw a rather moodier, dark feel. The album spawned the huge hit single "Enola Gay", named after the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The song was originally intended to be included on the debut album, but was left out at the final selection, which may explain why the song is somewhat at odds with the darker feel of the second album. The tour for this album saw a 4-piece band line-up, with saxophonist Martin Cooper (another Dalek I Love You alum) recruited for keyboard duties. Howlett then presided over the recording of a further hit single, "Souvenir", co-written by Cooper & Humphreys. It ushered in a striking lush choral electronic sound. The song also became OMD's biggest hit to date.

November 1981 saw the release of their most commercially successful album in the UK and Europe - Architecture & Morality. The group went into the studio with Richard Mainwaring producing. Cooper then temporarily dropped out and was replaced by Mike Douglas, but this change was reversed by the time the album was released and a tour embarked upon. The album's striking sound saw OMD's original synth-pop sound augmented by the Mellotron, an instrument previously associated with prog rock bands. They used it to add very atmospheric swatches of string, choir and other sounds to their palette. Two more hit singles "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" (which became the most successful single of 1982 in Germany) were taken from the album, whcih eventually sold more than 3 million copies. A somewhat interesting footnote is that "Joan of Arc" and "Maid of Orleans" were originally both titled "Joan of Arc"; the name of the latter single was changed at the insistence of the publishers and to avoid confusion. It became "Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" and later simply "Maid of Orleans".
1983 saw the band lose commercial momentum somewhat, with the release of their more experimental Dazzle Ships album, which mixed melancholy synth ballads and uptempo synthpop with musique concrete and short wave radio tape collages. It was recorded by the 4-piece Humphreys/Holmes/Cooper/McCluskey line-up, and produced by Rhett Davies. Its relative commercial failure caused a crisis of confidence for Humphreys and McCluskey and brought about a deliberate move towards the mainstream.

[edit] American chart success

1984's Junk Culture was a return to a poppier sound and saw the band using digital sampling keyboards such as the Fairlight CMI and the E-mu Emulator. The album was a success, reassuring the group about their new direction. The "Locomotion" single returned the group to the top five in the UK and was a good indicator of the group's new found sound, notably the adoption of a classic verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, which is something the group had often previously avoided. In 1985 the band expanded to a sextet, featuring new band members Graham (guitar, trombone, keys) and Neil Weir (trumpet), and released Crush, produced by Stephen Hague. The success of the single "So in Love" in the US Hot 100 also led to some success for the LP which entered the American Top 40, establishing the group in the US as well as making Stephen Hague a sought-after producer.
Later in 1985, the band wrote the song "If You Leave" for the John Hughes movie Pretty in Pink. The song was featured on the soundtrack and became a huge hit in the US and Canada where it reached the Top 5. The same six piece line-up also released The Pacific Age in 1986, but the band began to see their critical and public popularity wane in the UK while they failed to capitalise upon their breakthrough in the US market.
The Pacific Age contained the UK #11 hit single, (Forever) Live & Die and other notable single releases, "Shame" and "We Love You". However despite crisp production from Stephen Hague and reasonable sales, OMD had lost cedibility by 1986; many of their followers from the Architecture & Morality era, were dissatisfied with the group's direction, accusing them of succumbing to blandness.

[edit] Classic line-up split - OMD in the 90s

During 1988 the band appeared poised to consolidate their US success. But despite a support slot at Pasadena Rose Bowl with Depeche Mode, a top 20 US hit with "Dreaming" and a successful "Best of" album, OMD broke in two. Co-member Paul Humphreys was the first to depart the group in 1989 because of OMD's new-found US commercial popularity sacrificing their musical delivery. The Weirs were downgraded to auxiliary members and soon left the fold, and Humphreys, Cooper, and Holmes left OMD to form The Listening Pool.
This left only McCluskey to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD banner. McCluskey's first album from the new OMD was the critically acclaimed Sugar Tax LP in 1991, which charted admirably at #3 in the UK. McCluskey recruited Liverpool musicians Lloyd Massett and Stuart Kershaw as collaborators on Sugar Tax, though not as full-fledged group members -- writing credits carefully distinguished between songs written by OMD (i.e. McCluskey) and songs written by OMD/Kershaw/Massett. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box", with lesser success on fellow chart entries, "Call My Name" and "Then You Turn Away".
McCluskey would then work with keyboardists Nigel Ippinson and Phil Coxon for the album Liberator (1993). Liberator's 5th track "Dream Of Me" was built around a sample from "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a track which was written and produced by Barry White.^[11] In order to release the "Dream of Me" track as an OMD single, however, McCluskey had to agree that the single release of the track would remove the actual "Love's Theme" sample, but still be officially titled "Dream of Me (Based on Love's Theme)", and furthermore would still give sole writing credit to White.
McCluskey returned with a rotating cast of musicians for the 1996 album Universal. For this last album, Humphreys returned as a co-writer of a few songs, though not as a performer or group member.
Though both Liberator and Universal produced minor hits and the latter also spawned their first Top 20 hit in five years with "Walking On The Milky Way" - also their final Top 20 hit), McCluskey retired the OMD name in late 1996, due to waning public interest in an 80's synth band at the height of the guitar-based Britpop era. A second singles album was released in 1998, and an EP of remixed material by such acts as Sash! and Moby.
Post-1996, McCluskey decided to focus on management and songwriting for such Liverpool based acts as Atomic Kitten and The Genie Queen. With McCluskey focusing his talents elsewhere, Humphreys decided to play many revival shows using the OMD banner, whilst also recording with Claudia Brücken, of the ZTT bands Propaganda and Act, as Onetwo.

[edit] Reformation

On 1 January 2006, Andy McCluskey announced plans to reform OMD with the McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper line up. The original plan was to tour the album Architecture & Morality and other pre-1983 material, then record a new album set for release in 2007.^[12]
In May 2007, the Architecture & Morality remastered CD was re-released together with a DVD featuring the Drury Lane concert from 1981 that had previously been available on VHS.
Through May and June, the band toured with the "classic" line up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper. They began their set with a re-ordered but otherwise complete restaging of the Architecture & Morality album. The second half of each concert featured a selection of their best known hits, and audience reaction was sometimes so positive (Bristol's Colston Hall, an all-seated venue, saw the crowd on its feet for the entire show) that the band seemed surprised and delighted by their applause.

Spring 2008 saw the release of a live CD and DVD of the 2007 tour, OMD Live: Architecture & Morality & More, recorded at the London Apollo Hammersmith, along with a 25th anniversary re-release of Dazzle Ships, including six bonus tracks. At the same time, a brief October 2008 tour was announced, partly to tie-in with the Dazzle Ships album's 25th anniversary. China Crisis supported OMD on this tour.
In June 2009 an orchestral concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic was given in Liverpool, in line with recent orchestral collaborations held across Germany and elsewhere in Europe. December will see a return to stadium touring as support for Simple Minds.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Current line-up

Andy McCluskey - vocals, bass guitar, keyboards
Paul Humphreys - vocals, keyboards
Martin Cooper - keyboards, saxophone
Malcolm Holmes - drums, percussion

[edit] Former members

Dave Hughes - keyboards (1980)
Michael Douglas - keyboards (1981)
Neil Weir - brass, keyboards (1984-1989)
Graham Weir - brass, keyboards (1984-1989)
Lloyd Massett - keyboards (1991)
Abe Juckes - drums (1991-1992)
Nigel Ippinson - keyboards (1991-1993)
Phil Coxon - keyboards (1991-1993)
Stuart Kershaw - drums (1993)

[edit] Discography

Main article: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark discography

Albums

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1980)
Organisation (1980)
Architecture & Morality (1981)
Dazzle Ships (1983)
Junk Culture (1984)
Crush (1985)
The Pacific Age (1986)
Sugar Tax (1991)
Liberator (1993)
Universal (1996)

Print

There were several fanzines about the band, including Winston and the successful Telegraph, (which McCluskey was heavily involved in) that were active during the post-split period. Telegraph designed by Phillip Marsh and Paul Browne folded in 1994 after 5 issues. Marsh recently started to run the bands Myspace whilst Browne went on to run the bands website and an official magazine called Messages which is still running.

The book Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, an unauthorised biography by Mike West, published in 1982.

The book Messages, written by Johnny Waller and Paul Humphreys' brother Mike Humphreys, details the career of the band up to the time of The Best of OMD.

[edit] In Popular Culture

"Enola Gay" was used in the BBC's television programme Ashes To Ashes (Series 1, Episode 4).
'Souvenir_(song)' was used in the BBC's television programme Ashes To Ashes (Series 1, Episode 2).
"Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)" was used in the BBC's television programme Ashes To Ashes (Series 2, Episode 8).
Enola Gay was also used for the Israeli Film Waltz with Bashir