Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive OMD album, 9 Aug 2005
I've been an OMD fan since buying the "Messages" single in 1980 and a quarter of a century later, I still stick an OMD CD on every now and then. I usually choose this CD, Architecture & Morality as, for me, it's the most complete album of t heir career.Album releases really were a whirlwind in those days and A&M was the third full length album in under two years for the dynamic Liverpool duo. That kind of release schedule would be unheard of nowadays, but back in the late 70's/early 80's that was par for the course. I'll get the singles out of the way first; there's the shimmering beauty of Paul Humphrey's Souvenir, one of the classic OMD singles in every sense complete with the obligatory choral voices which became their trademark around this period. Then there are the two Joan Of Arc singles. One was a great slice of up-tempo - popiness (Joan Of Arc) while the other (Maid Of Orleans took the lead from Paul's Souvenir with its wall of choral voices.
Almost without fail, every track could have been a potential single from the excellent Georgia with its added radio samples or the breathtaking She's Leaving. Why Virgin never released that as a single, I'll never know.
This is also the first OMD album where Andy McCluskey let's rip with his guitar and this adds yet another element to the OMD sound. The opener New Stone Age is virtually new wave!
If you're going to buy one OMD album, then make sure this is the one, with the added bonus tracks, it's even better value, particularly as the best EVER OMD track, The Romance Of The Telescope is included.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
OMD : Weird and Wonderful, 23 Feb 2004
By A Customer
This is arguably OMDs best album in that it is listenable and easy on the ear to the pop fan but still has that quirkyness that was apparent throughout their career.
Born out of the late 70s Liverpool scene , but sounding quite different from their peers like Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes and Mighty Wah! The big hit Enola Gay (after a few minor hits including one about a telephone box in Meols on the Wirral !!! - I said they were quirky) first brought them to national attention.
This album is very much in that vain and includes the wonderfully pretty "Souvenir",and excellent hits "Joan Of Arc" And "Maid of Orleans". "She's Leaving" is an album track that probably would have been a single had it been on any other record. "The Beginning and the End" is also a good example of experimenting but not betraying pop sensibility....Sealand (possibly about an area not far from their Wirral homeland near Chester) is one of OMDs weird tracks but still listenable.But that was always the problem with OMD. They could never decide whether they wanted to be like Abba and craft those perfect melodies or experiment with soundscapes and noise.
This is OMD at their most commercial and accessible...other than the Greatest Hits which should be your introduction to the band ,this is their Sgt Pepper. An almost perfect 'electropop' album in line with 'Dare' by the Human League and very reminiscent of the last 'Golden Age' of pop before sampling and rap left us without much originality.
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17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Peak OMD from 1981, with many bonus tracks, 4 Aug 2003
History hasn't been kind to OMD- the frequent geography teacher dancing analogy, the rather bland song they recorded for Pretty in Pink, the horror that was Locomotion, the fact that the band went AWOL leaving Andy McCluskey to become a solo act in all but name (then unleash the horror that was Atomic Kitten!). But from the classic Electricity (released on Factory) to 1983's commercial seppuku that was Dazzleships, OMD were a frequently interesting band. Like many UK bands of the era they had a punk-approach to synthesisers & many of their tracks easily stand up next to acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Depeche Mode, Heaven17/Human League & Simple Minds. Like many bands, they were using synthesisers earlier and in a more interesting manner than the bands often cited as electronica pioneers- notably Depeche Mode (again!) & Joy Division/New Order. These set of reissues of early OMD, as with Simple Minds'Early Gold compilation should hopefully get people to look again at OMD. Architecture & Morality was the commercial apex of early OMD, three of their biggest hits are here- the classic synthpop anthem Souvenier (also included is an extended version)& the bizarre hits centred around, of all things, Joan of Arc: the eponymous track & the drum-heavy Maid of Orleans (it's more Carl Dreyer than Otto Preminger, if we can make a film analogy!)She's Leaving is OMD's first step towards the commercial pop that they would become more famous for- eg Secret, If You Leave, Forever Live & Die etc; still, a rather pleasant song regardless. But the rest of the nine-track album is pleasingly weird, even when they did go commercial, OMD still made perverse/experimental tracks like Crush, The Dead Girls & White Trash. Opener The New Stone Age has a strange rhythm with what sounds like chiming banjos here- very much the New Order sound pre-New Order!- god knows what it's about though! The centrepiece of the album and the most interesting track is Sealand (a nod towards Neu!?)- which has a wonderful ambience and sits well next to tracks such as Burning Bridges by Japan & Kant-Kino by Simple Minds. Georgia sees them move again towards perky synth pop, though with odd subject matter- in line with early hit Enola Gay & later songs like Genetic Engineering. Listening to the title track & closer Beginning and the End, OMD strike you as rather a strange band...which I suppose they were! The bonus tracks make this budget reissue even more appealing- though owners of 2001's Navigation will be familiar with some of these tracks. There are even formative versions of tracks that would surface on the wonderful Dazzleships- their finest and most misunderstood moment! This reissue of Architecture & Morality should hopefully avert the lame Alan Partridge baiting (well, in light of what Steve Coogan's done since!) & prove that OMD were once a rather original band. There's a thin line between perversion and pop & OMD were yet to stray too far into the latter & away from the former. Both A&M and preceding album Organisation are worth checking out- merely to see where New Order got the sound for several of their tracks later on! (eg All Day Long, Your Silent Face) It still more than stands up alongside other classics of 1981: Dare!, Fourth Drawer Down, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, Penthouse & Pavement, Red Mecca, Sons&Fascination & Tin Drum. Proof that nostalgia isn't a complete waste of time!
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