OMD, DVD

Mpresev · Post by **Mpresev** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:11 am

http://www.omd-dvd.com

They are one of the most important Synth Rock groups that came out from Liverpool England. If you don't know them, you owe it to yourself.
I know they are an 80's synthpop group but I liked the way they used synthesizers.

anyone seen it?

I've only seen them open up for Depeche Mode in 88(I was 12).

Post by **Jack Spider** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 1:19 am

Close, but OMD are actually from 'over the water' (the river Mersey) in the Wirral, which isn't part of Liverpool (my home town).

A Flock of Seagulls are from Liverpool though.

Synths and geography - is there anything VSE can't do?!

Re-Member · Post by **Re-Member** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:07 am

I enjoy their music, but I consider Dazzle Ships to be their creative peak. After that, it seems like they started focusing less on being innovative and more on sounding commercial.

To this day, most people I meet only know them for the songs "If You Leave" and "So In Love," but then again, I do live in America and most people here only know of whatever was in the Top 40's back then.

Post by **WDW** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:31 am

I'll throw in my vote for Organisation as the number one OMD album. But Architecture & Morality, Dazzle Ships and their self-titled albums are all fantastic as well.

WD

Post by **WDW** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:32 am

By the way, thanks for the link to the DVD. I knew nothing about it, but now my interest is piqued.

WD

vcs3 · Post by **vcs3** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:06 am

Architecture And Morality is their master piece: http://www.omd.uk.com/discography/albums/html/a_8.html

Listen to Souvenir and Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)

Yes it's a Mellotron.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:33 pm

Regarding the song Joan of Arc ; all the floating 'ahhs' are Mr. McCluskey singing falsetto. The chord swells after the intro are from the Prophet 5.

The simple bass line is probably played on the Roland SH-09 (or SH-2) 'cause McCluskey told me that they pretty much stopped using the MS-20 after the first album.

Micke

Mpresev · Post by **Mpresev** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 6:03 pm

WDW wrote:By the way, thanks for the link to the DVD. I knew nothing about it, but now my interest is piqued.

WD

Didn't even know till yesterday either.

Post by **Blue Monster 65** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:01 pm

Hmm ... that looks interesting and would make a good companion piece to the Sheffield doc. I'll have to think about it for the afternoon.

The first few albums were great! I've got the BBC Sessions CD, too, which is a great walk down memory lane. Funnily enough, it's been in my car all week - before this thread came up!

Woof! - Scott

pricklyrobot · Post by **pricklyrobot** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:19 pm

Damn, PAL Region 2 only!? I'd have to go out and get a region-free DVD player on top of the £19.99+£5.00shipping (about $50 these days what with our crappy dollar and all). The site doesn't mention the possibility of a US release, here's hoping.

Aside from the first four albums, which everyone seems rightly to agree are excellent, I also thought Sugar Tax wasn't half bad, somewhat of a return to form after those crappy mush ballads they got mired in for most of the '80s, and a decent cover of Neon Lights to boot.

vcs3 · Post by **vcs3** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:50 pm

Micke wrote:Regarding the song Joan of Arc ; all the floating 'ahhs' are Mr. McCluskey singing falsetto. The chord swells after the intro are from the Prophet 5.

The simple bass line is probably played on the Roland SH-09 (or SH-2) 'cause McCluskey told me that they pretty much stopped using the MS-20 after the first album.

Micke

Micke are you saying that it's not a Melotron?
I always thought it was and I think I read somewhere that was the Melotron type of sound.

But you are the expert.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:45 pm

No, there's indeed lots of mellotron to be heard on Joan of Arc (Maid of orleans) but not on Joan Of Arc.

Micke

http://www.youtube.com/user/JMPSynth · Post by **JMP** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:06 pm

All the synths in the world and they're still playing that Micro Preset.

The appeal is beyond me.

Cue Jugel.

Robonaut · Post by **Robonaut** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:15 am

I guess I'm in the minority, but I love all of OMD's output until Universal (Liberator was a bit borderline, though).

Even albums like Crush which have the (apparently) much reviled "So In Love" also had tracks like the very eerie and experimental "The Lights Are Going Out".

It'd be hard for me to pick a favorite album, but, if I had to, it would probably be either their debut or Junk Culture (I love that awesome synth choir sound that's all over that album--anyone happen to know what synth/sampler they used for that?).

Box · Post by **Box** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 12:32 am

Ahhh, Preety in Pink, what a good movie.

OMD, Simple Minds, etc.. all good stuff. Need to try and find some of their sheet music....