The problem with a successful album is that it's never good enough for the label. Once you have one, they want you to top it. The expectation grows, the pressure increases, and it can become a make-or-break period for a lot of artists.
Such was the case for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark after their 1984 album, Junk Culture. Virgin Records wanted a follow-up album, and they wanted it, "now". Keep striking while the iron was hot. Their main goal was to finally break the band in the US, which despite all of the pushing, the band did just that.
Leaders, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys , wanted to take a more spontaneous approach to the writing of new material, and this turned out to be productive, with the two churning out a new song every two days. They would also bring in to new members to the fold, brother Graham and Neil Weir. With a full band in place, the album would also strip away a lot of the sound effects, in lieu of adopting a more organic instrumentation sound. Though everything was not roses. During recording, Humphreys would reach a breaking point and briefly quit the band. It was a foreshadowing of things to come, as he would ultimately leave again in 1989.
Upon its release, Crush did exactly what Virgin wanted to do. It broke O.M.D. Into the US charts with the single, So In Love, which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number twenty-five. It would also become the band's first album in Canada to receive a sales certification, reaching gold status. It would also go on to be listed as one of the best, and most played releases of 1985 by CFNY-FM listeners.
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Still riding my high from Junk Culture, I immediately dove into Crush, only to be greeted by the hit single. This was followed by Secret, a nice hidden gem for me, but the band's second single from the album which peaked at sixty-three on the Billboard Hot 100. This is followed by the upbeat Bloc Bloc Bloc, which I initially tuned out, but then got brought back into it when my ears heard the almost Jamaican sounds of the synthesizers and horns.
It was a hit or miss listening session for me. While it started strongly, the songs that followed were either easily forgettable, or good enough to listen to, but not necessarily memorable. The standout tracks, if you could call them that, were Woman III, and Hold You. I want to say La Femme Accident, and The Lights Are Going Out were serviceable as well, but something in my mind still wants to label them as not. As a whole, this was a disappointing album. Especially, considering how much I really liked 1984's Junk Culture. I don't know, I guess I was just expecting them to go into orbit based on the massive success of the previous.
Towards the end of 1985, John Hughes would ask O.M.D. To contribute a song to his up-and-coming film, Pretty In Pink. Initially, they provided Goddess Of Love, which was to be played during the ending of the movie. However, when test screenings resulted in negative response to the original ending, it was reshot, and a new song was needed. Within twenty-four hours, the guys presented, If You Leave. It would become their highest charting single ever, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.
Unfortunately, this massive success would not translate to the band's final album of the era, The Pacific Age, which would be critically panned. McCluskey and Humphreys would point to the label consistently pushing to have new albums, stating they were burned out, and creatively drained. The end result was an album that they felt had some good material but mostly consisted of songs that ten years prior to their release they would have been embarrassed to write and perform.
Well, I guess we'll dive into that mess tomorrow and wrap up my journey through Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS December 17, 1983 |
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS December 17, 1988 |
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