Retro Spins: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark still remains relatively uncharted territory for me. After deciding one day I needed their entire 80's discography, I still don't understand why, I played through their 1981 released Architecture & Morality. That Retro Spin didn't go as planned, with me not coming away with anything more than one song. I noted in that post that it was all the more disappointing because of the volume of albums, and their overall price, which was a premium.

Disappointed, I put the band on hiatus until today, where I'm going to make a push to get through them. While my plan is to go through all six in chronological order, back to back, I may need to take a break (or two) in between this process to not fatigue myself.

I already talked about the band's inception in my aforementioned post (you can follow the above link for that), so there's not much to say about their history at this point without regurgitating that. Instead, I'll just dive right into their self titled debut.

Synth pop is definitely in its infancy on this one. It sounds experimental, and I can feel the excitement that would have been happening in 1980 from this up and coming style. Was it for me? Not necessarily. This type of music always sounds like unfinished demoes to my ears. Like there should be a lot more instruments edited in instead of just a drum machine and synthesizer.

With that said, I did find some joy in the track Electricity, mainly for the keyboard hook which led the tune from start to finish. While I hoped to find more like this tucked between the ten tracks, this unfortunately never happened. I wasn't necessarily hearing bad stuff, but neither was anything of particular interest to me.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark mainly stayed popular in the UK during their first year. As a result, their first two albums weren't readily available in the US. Instead, a compilation album, O.M.D., would be released in 1981, compiling the "best" tracks from their self titled debut and follow up, Organisation. However, their biggest breakthrough wouldn't come until their inclusion on the 1986 soundtrack, Pretty In Pink, with their massive hit, If You Leave.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
December 13, 1980

 

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
December 13, 1986