Electronic music worshipping and serious album buying start here..
Some people would describe their life changing moments as having their first baby, meeting the life-long partner for the first time or having a car crash or whatever...which are all true in my case but another one I'd have to add to the list is ..seeing OMITD (abbreviated for convenience) performing Messages on TOTP (abbreviated for convenience)..I'd heard Electricity over the previous winter and most probably Red Frame / White Light earlier in the year and even a John Peel session, but the single version of Messages and even more so seeing the band on telly really brought the message home and, well, changed my life. As a band they were slightly geeky, they played synths (geekiness guarantee), the singer/bassist had an unfashionable natural perm (duly cropped within the year) the drummer only had one drum and they had a tape recorder (which also had a name, Winston) as part of the band.
Oh dear thought many but naturally I loved 'em, and the song was brilliant too. The doot doot doot doot doot doot that starts up the track (on tape) and continues throughout, the drums that come crashing in to drive it along with the guitar-bass line, the synth hook chorus (it didn't have a sing-along chorus), and the angstful lyrics (It worries me, this kind of thing..) about a finished, but not quite over, love affair strewn with coded messages and poison letters were all combined in sheer brilliance. The verse with "I'd write and tell you that I'd burned them all..but I've kept them anyway" says it all. Sort of like 10cc's I'm Not In Love "I keep your picture upon the wall, it to mess and stain just lying there.." the love was over but somehow preserved. A lover's lament, and an electro-classic was born.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – the album
Oddly, I decided not to buy the single but go straight for the album as this was a band I wanted to hear more of, plus I'd read about the stylish Peter Saville cover..the one with holes in, and felt it was a must have. Much to my chagrin I failed to find said artefact but only an erstaz sleeve edition which was still suitably mysterious and stylish. Bunker Soldiers, Almost (heard for the first time), Mystereality, Electricity, The Messerschmitt Twins...all brilliant even on first listening. But imagine my disappointment in hearing the album version of Messages! A lot more 'weedy' and primitive, not the one I'd seen on TOTP or heard on Kid Jensen at all...but of course I learned to love this version too, together with all the rest.I love Messages, I love the album Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Messages chart stats: here
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