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18 April 2011 / electricityclub

Some Not So Great Albums By Some Great Acts

While opinion is totally subjective and in the mind of the beholder, in the same way that a footballer can occasionally fluff a shot, then a musician can also score their equivalent of an own goal. The less than impressive albums on this list have generally been derided by both fans and critics. In most cases, these recordings were made by established acts with sure-fire reputations at the height of their career; or they were part of a much vaunted comeback.

But as can be expected with the highs and lows of the music industry, a number were produced during difficult periods in an artist’s creative dynamic following personnel changes or record company pressures. So in hindsight, poor results were often predictable and inevitable. However, based on the standards of their strongest work, most of the talents mentioned here should have known better.

But even in the face of informed criticism, some musicians can be terribly stubborn and unrepentant. Reacting to negativity surrounding his infamous ‘Metal Machine Music’ double album of feedback and electronic screeching, Lou Reed famously snorted: “if they don’t like it, they can go eat rat sh*t”! Oh well, would you like fries with your rat sh*t?

Inspired by the Q Magazine article ‘Can I Have My Money Back?’ from 1996, here are 20 of the better known creative blips, in alphabetical order. It should be noted that ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK actually bought all but 5 of these albums, so make of that what you will!

KARL BARTOS Electric Music (1998)

Proof that pioneering geniuses lose their way once in a while. Following his ‘Esperanto’ album in 1993 with Lothar Manteuffel of RHEINGOLD under the moniker ELEKTRIC MUSIC which many accepted as a KRAFTWERK record in all but name, Karl Bartos went to work with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on ELECTRONIC’s ‘Raise The Pressure’. He found the experience liberating and on his return, adopted the guitar for his next ‘Electric Music’ album.

Speaking in 2005, he said that when he started playing music as a teenager, it was in his bedroom with his guitar pretending to be Chuck Berry and this album was him getting back to all that. ‘Young Urban Professional’ was actually a song originally written for KRAFTWERK, but is turned into THE SMITHS’ ‘Hand In Glove’ with vocoder! ‘Sunshine’ is typical of the clumpy rock that marred NEW ORDER’s 2001 comeback ‘Get Ready’ while the rest of the album is pretty much the same. Only ‘Call On Me’ possesses any kind of spark as a song. Bartos himself described ‘Electric Music’ as an “exploration of the sound of the sixties – guitar pop out of the computer” and thanks Johnny Marr in the credits! Luckily, Bartos returned to synths and was back on form with 2003’s ‘Communication’, delivering a collection that showed his former cycling partners over at Kling Klang a thing or two.

Best track: ‘Call On Me’

‘Electric Music’ was originally released by SPV Records

http://www.karlbartos.com/

DEPECHE MODE Sounds Of The Universe (2009)

Following a return to form with ‘Playing The Angel’, much was expected of ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ when the band’s biggest world tour to date was announced in 2008. Unfortunately, the lacklustre ‘Exciter’ from 2000 appeared to be the musical template and the tracks that leaked were not particularly promising. The resultant album lacked spark, dynamics and creative tension. It was dreary mid-paced electro blues that dominated on this turkey.

The outstanding track from the sessions ‘Oh Well’ was a spicy uptempo Moroder-esque collaboration between Martin Gore and Dave Gahan but only appeared in the 4CD deluxe box set while the fact that the two best tracks on the main feature were a ballad voiced by Gore and a short instrumental said it all! But this became rather trivial when Gahan was diagnosed with a life threatening illness while on out on the road in Athens!

Best tracks: ‘Jezebel’, ‘Spacewalker’, ‘Oh Well’ (deluxe box set only)

‘Sounds Of The Universe’ was originally released by Mute Records

http://www.depechemode.com

DURAN DURAN Thank You (1995)

This covers album was recorded at the behest of EMI Records who were strangely impressed by DURAN DURAN’s rather strained cover of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND’s ‘Femme Fatale’ from ‘Wedding Album’ and eager for a quick cash-in on their 1993 renaissance. Among the songs attempted were ironic takes on ‘White Lies (Don’t Do It)’ and another drug dependency tale ‘Perfect Day’, as well as songs by Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Sly Stone!

The covers of Iggy Pop’s ‘Success’ and THE DOORS’ ‘Crystal Ship’ were actually quite enjoyable but among all the ham reinterpretations of established standards, the band actually covered themselves in a new version of ‘The Chauffeur’ entitled ‘Drive By’! Often regarded as one of the worst albums ever recorded, this disaster was dubbed “No Thank You” by many fans! Worse was to come for DURAN DURAN though as John Taylor left the band and EMI UK then refused to release their 1997 album ‘Medazzaland’. It would take a reunion of the classic line-up in 2004 to get them back on track and it wasn’t until 2011’s ‘All You Need Is Now’ album that they fully recaptured their former artistic glories.

Best tracks: ‘Success’, ‘Crystal Ship’

‘Thank You’ was originally released by EMI Records

http://www.duranduran.com

ERASURE Loveboat (2000)

In a poor period for Andy and Vince, this was a close run thing with their covers album ‘Other People’s Songs’ but at least with the latter, there were quality songs on show even if some of the versions left a lot to be desired. The problem wasn’t just the emphasis on guitar driven dynamics, it was also severely lacking in the usual ERASURE charm. Andy Bell admitted how shocked he was when he heard how “weird and indie” Rob Kirwan’s final mix sounded.

Despite production by Flood, it was all very muddy. And even the album’s one potentially great song ‘Moon & The Sky’ was missing an uplifting chorus which was only later added to the Heaven Scent Radio Re-Work version that was released as a single. The redeeming consequence though was that despite these tough times creatively, ERASURE took to soft synths and made one of their best albums in 2005 with ‘Nightbird’.

Best tracks: ‘Freedom’, ‘Moon & The Sky’

‘Loveboat’ was originally released by Mute Records

http://www.erasureinfo.com

HEAVEN 17 Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho (1988)

‘Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho’ were the affectionate nicknames given by Terence Trent D’Arby respectively to HEAVEN 17’s Martyn Ware, Glenn Gregory and Ian Craig Marsh. The conventional sounding ‘Pleasure One’ released in 1986 had been given a lukewarm reception, while Martyn Ware’s success as a producer for artists such as Tina Turner and Mr D’Arby himself may have started to spread his creative energies just a little too thinly.

Whatever, when ‘The Ballad Of Go Go Brown’ was released as lead single and Glenn Gregory appeared on the album cover wearing a Stetson and cowboy boots, the writing was on the wall. A lot of the album features the blue eyed soul of the times but with younger acts like WET WET WET, AZTEC CAMERA, HUE & CRY and even PERFECT DAY (featuring a certain Mark Jones of Wall Of Sound fame!) gaining the public’s attention, HEAVEN 17 then went on hiatus for the next nine years before returning with the electronically driven triumph ‘Bigger Than America’.

Best tracks: ‘Big Square People’, ‘Train Of Love In Motion’

‘Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho’ was originally released by Virgin Records

http://www.heaven17.com

THE HUMAN LEAGUE Crash (1986)

Work had started on ‘Crash’ in 1985 with producer Colin Thurston but the results were not deemed suitable for release by Virgin Records. To overcome the creative block, THE HUMAN LEAGUE were despatched to Minneapolis to record with top producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Here, they became part of the manufactured R’n’B conveyor belt that had already seen success for Janet Jackson and Alexander O’Neal.

Ian Burden in particular was considered surplus to requirements by the producers. Disconcertingly, the album’s two strongest numbers ‘Human’ and ‘Love Is All That Matters’ had no songwriting input from any of THE HUMAN LEAGUE themselves… but then, they weren’t involved in the album’s two stinkers either! The David Eiland composed ‘Swang’ was horrible while ‘I Need Your Loving’ surely had to have been a Janet Jackson reject? Eventually, Oakey and co went home leaving Jam and Lewis to finish ‘Crash’. ‘Human’ was an American No1 and helped keep THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s profile up Stateside while the album’s end results sounded nothing like them with Phil Oakey’s voice left exposed as it was not really suited to the dynamics of soul. It would take almost ten years for them to regain momentum with 1995’s ‘Octopus’.

Best tracks: ‘Human’, ‘Love Is All That Matters’, ‘Money’

‘Crash’ was originally released by Virgin Records

http://www.thehumanleague.co.uk

JAPAN Rain Tree Crow (1991)

This was the much heralded reunion of David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri aka JAPAN, a band who many considered had broken up before their time following the highly acclaimed ‘Tin Drum’ album in 1981. However, the split was due to personal rather than artistic differences when Karn’s girlfriend Yuka Fujii left him for Sylvian. Time eventually healed wounds and the quartet gathered together in France.

Under the Sylvian inspired Native American moniker RAIN TREE CROW, the idea had been to compose and record as a group through improvisation as opposed Sylvian being sole songwriter and studio dictator which had previously been the case during the JAPAN days. However, Sylvian’s stubborn imposing character led to a return to old ways. Supported by a huge budget from Virgin Records, unbelievably it was exceeded. So Virgin gave them an ultimatum where no more money would be forthcoming unless the project was presented under the name of JAPAN. The others agreed but Sylvian refused. Walking off with the tapes to mix the album under his own finance and supervision, he refused to let any of his bandmates in on the sessions! The result was an unfocussed set consisting of progressive avant jazz and self-indulgent ethnic instrumental pieces tha sounded unfinsihed. Only the magnificent single ‘Blackwater’ bore any kind of relation to JAPAN’s brilliant legacy. The quartet never worked together again and with Mick Karn’s sad passing, never will.

Best track: ‘Blackwater’

‘Rain Tree Crow’ was originally released by Virgin Records

http://www.nightporter.co.uk

JEAN MICHEL JARRE Sessions 2000 (2002)

It is always going to end in tears when an artist embarks on a jazz odyssey! And so it was when Jean-Michel Jarre came up with what appeared to be an attempt to break his then recording contract with Sony Music. ‘Sessions 2000’ contained six tracks named presumably after the days they were composed. Recorded by Jarre with collaborator Francis Rimbert, all had deliberate chill-out lounge jazz undertones and unfortunately, a distinct lack of melody.

‘June 21’ just plods along aimlessly for over six minutes while ‘September 14’ aims at the atmosphere of ‘Twin Peaks’ but does nothing in its excruciating nine! Haunting piano and detuned tones colour the Ryuichi Sakamoto influenced ‘May 1’ but any potential is unrealised. Only ‘March 23’ has any kind of musical shape with a distinct rhythmic pulse textured with synthetic brass and slide guitar samples but is far too long. Jarre eventually got back up to speed with the improved but still laid back ‘Geometry of Love’ and the dance driven ‘Teo & Tea’.

Best track: ‘March 23’

‘Sessions 2000’ was originally released by Sony Music

http://www.jeanmicheljarre.com

KRAFTWERK Tour De France Soundtracks (2004)

The first new material from KRAFTWERK since the disappointing ‘Expo 2000’, this was Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider’s opportunity to reconsolidate their position as electronic godfathers. However, it was also 14 years since the departures of percussionists Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, and it showed. One of the weakest links in ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’ was the rhythm programming which lacked punch and neither encouraged excitement or dancing.

Ironically, for an album about cycling, ‘Tour De France Soundtracks’ was strangely pedestrian. Everything was tightly sequenced and structured but noticeably absent was the humanity and humour which were two of KRAFTWERK’s strongest suits, even on tracks like ‘Sex Object’ and ‘Boing Boom Tschak’ from 1986’s lacklustre predecessor ‘Electric Cafe’. The reworkings of the original 1983 ‘Tour De France’ track are the best things on here while Karl Bartos’ ‘Communication’ album, which happened to be released a few weeks later, was infinitely superior.

Best track: ‘Tour De France’, ‘Tour De France Etape 1’

‘Tour De France Soundtracks’ was originally released by EMI Records

http://www.kraftwerk.com

NEW ORDER Waiting For The Sirens’ Call (2004)

NEW ORDER’s musical strength was fusing the spirit of punk into electronics and dance. However, with keyboardist Gillian Gilbert leaving the band on their recorded return, Messrs Sumner, Hooky and Morris filled the void with a bunch of stodgy rock numbers on 2001’s ‘Get Ready’. For the next album, the trend towards rock continued although there were marginally more synths this time although the array of producers involved confused matters.

As possibly the worst song NEW ORDER have ever recorded, ‘Who’s Joe?’ had none of the spirit of their best guitar numbers. Even the lead single ‘Krafty’ was uninspiring NEW ORDER by numbers while its follow-up ‘Jetstream’ featuring SCISSOR SISTERS’ Ana Matronic was terribly lame despite being produced by Stuart Price. Only the title track and ‘Dracula’s Castle’ have any flashes of their classic brilliance. Legend has it that when Peter Saville was commissioned to design the sleeve, he was so unimpressed by the quality of the album that he decided to send an ironic message to warn any potential punters!

Best tracks: ‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’, ‘Dracula’s Castle’

‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’ was originally released by London Records

http://www.neworder.com

GARY NUMAN Warriors (1983)

Things had looked promising with Gary Numan returning to the live stage after retiring in 1981. Bill Nelson was slotted in to produce ‘Warriors’, but the pair fell out very early on in the sessions. Nelson then had his more trebly cutting mixes wiped by Numan so asked for his name to be taken off the credits! With the alien embracement of jazz and funk influences, ‘Warriors’ ended up a well played if confused, characterless body of work.

The use of some top flight session musicians was a major part of this mess. Dick Morrissey played saxophone solos whether they really ought to have been there or not, while Joe Hubbard’s slap bass was at times self-indulgent and wholly incongruous with the Numan sound. Although there were a couple of good tracks like the dreamy ‘The Iceman Comes’ and the synthetic THIN LIZZY of ‘My Centurion’, this was the start of a creative dip that Gary Numan wouldn’t truly recover from until 1994. In between, he appeared far more interested in flying than his music career.

Best tracks: ‘The Iceman Comes’, ‘My Centurion’

‘Warriors’ was originally released by Beggars Banquet Records

http://www.numan.co.uk

OMD Liberator (1993)

Following the success of ‘Sugar Tax’ in 1991, remaining sole OMD founder Andy McCluskey was on a commercial roll and decided to continue this well trodden poptastic path. As a result, ‘Liberator’ featured lots of busy modern dance effects. “It was an album for kids” lamented McCluskey later to Jens Lindell on Swedish radio in 1996. But by the time of its release in 1993, Da Kidz were worshipping acts such as TAKE THAT and EAST17 who were closer in age to the intended demographic.

An album of C-sides, ‘Stand Above Me’, ‘Everyday’, ‘Love And Hate You’ were all painfully poppy and not exactly the strongest songs in the OMD canon. Meanwhile, opinions are still divided about the synth MOR tune ‘Dream Of Me’, based on LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA’s ‘Love’s Theme’. The confused schizophrenic nature of the album’s concept was compounded by the pure genius of darker, more traditional OMD numbers like ‘King Of Stone’ and ‘Christine’. The muted reception to ‘Liberator’ led to the brave but conventional and ultimately doomed ‘Universal’ in 1996, before McCluskey retired the OMD brand. Bruised, he then set his sights on launching ATOMIC KITTEN! And that is a story in itself!

Best tracks: ‘King Of Stone’, ‘Christine’, ‘Best Years Of Our Lives’

‘Liberator’ was originally released by Virgin Records

http://www.omd.uk.com

PET SHOP BOYS Release (2002)

With pun totally intended, ‘Release’ was marred by the input of THE SMITHS’ famed guitarist Johnny Marr who had already used his influence to fill the last ELECTRONIC album ‘Twisted Tenderness’ with harmonica, getting Bernard Sumner rock out again in the process and even inspiring Karl Bartos to use guitar on every track of his ‘Electric Music’ album… note the irony with both band monikers!

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe meanwhile attempted a collection of understated songs which were not only free of club derived beats but also of hooks and melodies! ‘Release’ certainly had none of the quality of their other understated album ‘Behaviour’. ‘I Get Along’ comes over like a camp version of Oasis while the worthiness of ‘Here’ wasn’t revealed until PET SHOP BOYS’ own dance remix for ‘Disco Vol3’. ‘The Night I Fell In Love’ is a lyrically amusing narrative about Eminem having a gay fling with a fan, but apart from the uptempo ‘The Samurai In Autumn’, this album is mostly plodding six-string led numbers devoid of any of the mastery that made them great. They were wearing someone else’s clothes and they didn’t fit. Ironically, ‘Release’really was PET SHOP BOYS ‘Being Boring’! And did you know that Johnny Marr in French (J’en Ai Marre) means “I am fed up”?

Best track: ‘The Samurai In Autumn’

‘Release’ was originally released by EMI Records

http://www.petshopboys.co.uk

SIMPLE MINDS Street Fighting Years (1989)

Lambasted for embracing stadium rock, one thing though about 1986’s ‘Once Upon A Time’ was that it was an enjoyable uptempo synthetic rock record that successfully exploited its commercial possibilities with its sharp radio friendly outlook. However, when they took the album out on the road, Jim Kerr and co persisted with overlong, pompous arrangements and hectored the audience with tiresome repeated shouts of “show me your hands” and “higher”!

For the ‘Street Fighting Years’ album, the band retreated to the tranquillity of rural Scotland to inspire a more earnest, political direction… unfortunately, the overlong, pompous arrangements remained! Instrumentally, the bombast and synths were replaced by brushes, rootsy bottleneck guitar and Hammond organ flourishes that were ubiquitous of the period. But the songs meandered along formlessly at over six minutes at a time. Their only UK No1 single ‘Belfast Child’ outstayed its welcome by at least four and a half minutes! Even the production skills of Trevor Horn and Stephen J Lipson, who were recruited because Jim Kerr was a fan of PROPAGANDA’s ‘A Secret Wish’, couldn’t save this one!

Best track: ‘Wall Of Love’

‘Street Fighting Years’ was originally released by Virgin Records

https://www.simpleminds.com/

SPARKS Terminal Jive (1980)

Following the success of the singles ‘The No1 Song In Heaven’, ‘Beat The Clock’ and ‘Tryouts For The Human Race’ from the Giorgio Moroder steered album ‘No1 In Heaven’, SPARKS were despatched by Virgin Records to record a swift follow-up. Although Moroder was still nominally at the helm, ‘Terminal Jive’ was more ‘Hot Stuff’ than ‘I Feel Love’. Harold Faltermeyer of ‘Axel F’ fame took up a large part of the production duties as Moroder started to lose interest.

The songs were mostly lethargic synth assisted FM rock numbers. ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll People In A Disco World’ seemed to reflect the confused direction both lyrically and musically. Ironically, despite featuring more guitars and therefore a more American friendly sound, ‘Terminal Jive’ was the only SPARKS album that wasn’t issued in the US on its original release. The highlights were ‘When I’m With You’ which was a massive hit single in France and the satirically pervy ‘Young Girls’. However, the lack of quality material, as summed up by the inclusion of the instrumental version of ‘When I’m With You’, was the real problem. Disillusioned, SPARKS left Europe and returned to the States where they attained some varied domestic success having been previously ignored by their compatriots. They wouldn’t be seen much in Europe again until 1994 when the brilliant ‘When Do I Get To Sing My Way’ became as smash and gave them an unexpected career renaissance.

Best tracks: ‘When I’m With You’, ‘Young Girls’, ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’

‘Terminal Jive’ was originally released by Virgin Records

http://allsparks.com

TANGERINE DREAM Cyclone (1978)

So this was a great idea, a TANGERINE DREAM album with vocals and flute! Featuring Steve Jolliffe on those said two colours, the first 13 minute track ‘Bent Cold Sidewalk’ came over like GENESIS and JETHRO TULL with its mystical lyrics and Hobbit vocal delivery. The uptempo ‘Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender’ actually sounded like ULTRAVOX, but unfortunately in their Foxx-less and Ure-less ‘Ingenuity’ guise fronted by the best forgotten Sam Blue!

The progressive rock overtones took a breather on the more traditionally cosmic instrumental ‘Madrigal Meridian’ which saved the show, but most TD fans had probably headed down to the second hand stores by the end of side one. Although not well received, such was Messrs Froese and Franke standing at the time, ‘Cyclone’ was TANGERINE DREAM’s sixth best-selling album in the UK.

Best Track: ‘Madrigal Meridian’

‘Cyclone’ was originally released by Virgin Records

http://www.tangerinedream.org

TEARS FOR FEARS Everybody Loves A Happy Ending (2004)

‘Everybody Loves A Happy Ending’ saw TEARS FOR FEARS’ original nucleus of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith reunited for the first time since the tedious ‘The Seeds Of Love’ album from 1989. Friends since childhood, Orzabal’s domination of those sessions proved too much for Smith and it would be many years before they would even speak again. However, the reunion was already in trouble when Arista Records, who had signed the duo, pulled the comeback album.

But it was easy to see why… the album consisted of dull derivative compositions with little flair. The title track was another attempt at THE BEATLES pastiches from the last time Orzabal and Smith recorded together. Americana was one of the main templates with ‘Call Me Mellow’ basically a retread of THE LAs’ similarly influenced ‘There She Goes’. Eventually released on Gut Records after a year’s delay, only the original closing track ‘Last Days On Earth’ had any redeeming features but even that sounded like The Isley Brothers. As further a sign of their lack of creative juice, the duo even took to using Gary Jules’ arrangement of ‘Mad World’ from the ‘Donnie Darko’ soundtrack when performing the song live! Anyone who expected the sixth form synth angst of ‘The Hurting’ or even the MTV friendly rock of ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ was going to be disappointed.

Best track: ‘Last Days On Earth’

‘Everybody Loves A Happy Ending’ was originally released by Gut Records

http://www.tearsforfears.net

ULTRAVOX U-Vox (1986)

Also known by fans as “The Dreaded Pink Thing”, the signs had not been good when drummer Warren Cann was booted out of the band for preferring to use computer generated percussion while in the wake of his successful solo career, Midge Ure was dictating a more back-to-basics approach. Paradoxically though, soulful backing vocalists, funk bass, orchestras, brass sections and sax solos all entered into the equation, resulting in a totally unfocused sound.

‘Sweet Surrender’ was frankly a bit of a mess while ‘Moon Madness’ didn’t know whether it should have been rock or jazz. Backed by The Chieftains and featuring no synthesizers at all, ‘All Fall Down’ polarised listeners with its Celtic folk roots and anti-war message. But the poor title ‘U-Vox’ summed it all up… a band with something missing! However, ‘The Prize’ was as good as anything TEARS FOR FEARS or SIMPLE MINDS did in their stadium phase, ‘Time To Kill’ retained some European cool despite the acoustic guitars and the epic ‘All In One Day’ was the best thing Scott Walker never recorded.

Best tracks: ‘The Prize’, ‘Time To Kill’, ‘All In One Day’

‘U-Vox’ was originally released by Chrysalis Records

http://www.ultravox.org.uk

VISAGE Beat Boy (1984)

Midge Ure and Billy Currie had both left VISAGE in 1982, leaving Steve Strange and Rusty Egan with the VISAGE name and ownership of a very expensive Synclavier computer synthesizer. Despite the promising edgy electro-disco of interim single ‘Pleasure Boys’, the direction chosen for ‘Beat Boy’ was an ill-advised sojourn into rock with a group of session musicians filling in slots vacated by the former members of ULTRAVOX and MAGAZINE.

Without Ure’s production guidance, Steve Strange’s singing was all over the place. Neither ‘Only The Good Die Young’ nor the dreadful title track knew when to finish, while ‘Can You Hear Me?’ didn’t know when to actually start. And the backing vocals by guitarist Andy Barnett on the gross heavy metal of ‘Casualty’ were truly appalling! The eight tracks that made up ‘Beat Boy’ were all far too long although ‘Questions’ possessed a funky energy while ‘Love Glove’ could have easily come off ‘The Anvil’. However, this poor album led to the end of VISAGE. Rusty Egan went to work for U2 while Strange formed the unsuccessful STRANGE CRUISE and sadly later experienced some well documented personal difficulties.

Best tracks: ‘Love Glove’, ‘Questions’

‘Beat Boy’ was originally released by Polydor Records

http://therealvisage.com/

NEIL YOUNG Trans (1982)

Many of the albums mentioned have had the disaster of synth based acts adopting more conventional colours. This was one which where it happened the other way round. ‘Trans’ was Neil Young’s 1982 excursion into synthesizers, Linn Drum computers and vocoders. Despite the noble gesture of wishing to artistically express the difficulties of communicating with his son Ben who had cerebral palsy, ‘Trans’ didn’t work.

‘We R In Control’ and ‘Computer Cowboy’ both sounded like Metal Mickey fronting THE EAGLES while ‘Sample And Hold’ was an excessively long robotic march. However, there was an almost ethereal ‘Neon Lights’-like beauty in ‘Transformer Man’. Although there were still enough essential elements for ‘Trans’ to be nothing but a Neil Young album, it baffled his fans and was lambasted by the real music brigade. “I could never get anybody to believe that the f***ing idea was any good” said Young looking back, perhaps because it wasn’t in Young’s instinctive musical DNA to effectively use electronics. Indeed, he was later sued by his label Geffen Records for producing “deliberately uncommercial and unrepresentative work”!

Best Track: ‘Transformer Man’

‘Trans’ was originally released by Geffen Records

http://www.neilyoung.com

Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th April 2011

ANDY McCLUSKEY Interview

30 January 2011 / electricityclub

In 2007, OMD reformed to play a series of concerts focussing on their most successful album ‘Architecture and Morality’ and their much-loved catalogue of singles such as ‘Electricity’, ‘Messages’, ‘Enola Gay’ and ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’.

Featuring the classic line-up of Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Malcolm Holmes and Martin Cooper, although the shows had an obvious nostalgic element, it was always the intention to eventually release new material.

In 2010, this finally happened with the release of ‘History Of Modern’, a 13 track collection of songs that captured elements of OMD’s past, present and future. Since its release, ‘History Of Modern’ has seen OMD re-established as a relevant pioneering force that has influenced a variety of new synthesizer powered acts like KLEERUP, MIRRORS, VILLA NAH and MARSHEAUX as well as less likely alternative bands such as THE XX, in much the same way that OMD were inspired by KRAFTWERK.

Incidentally, one song on the album which gave an affectionate nod to the Düsseldorf Fab Four came in the form of ‘RFWK’, the title of which was made up from the first initials of the four classic line-up members Ralf, Florian, Wolfgang und Karl.

Following a successful jaunt around the UK and Europe in the Autumn of 2010, the ‘History Of Modern’ tour will soon be heading Stateside. While finalising arrangements for the territory that gave them one of their biggest international hits in ‘If You Leave’, OMD’s leader Andy McCluskey took time out to speak about how the campaign was progressing and where he hopes OMD will head next.

Now you’ve had time to reflect, how do you think things have gone with the ‘History Of Modern’ album and tour?

The general consensus within the band is that the tour was our favourite since we reformed, possibly because we are now comfortable that we know how to do it and the audience still likes us. It was wonderful to be playing some new material, it felt like the tour was relevant and it slotted so well into the setlist. The only downside was my bloody knee which I’m still in the process of rehabilitating. The reviews for the gigs were fabulous.

The album was received wonderfully as well which is quite remarkable if you compare it with the reception to many of our previous albums, even the ones that are now considered classics! It’s now sold over 100,000 and counting which is not too bad. I was reliably informed that it has sold more in Europe that either of the last two DURAN DURAN albums *laughs*

‘History Of Modern (Part I’) looks like it’s become a live favourite?

Yes, I would say in terms of live favourites, ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ and ‘Sister Mary Says’ went down very well like it was a hit single from years ago; it was incredibly well received live considering the bitching that was done about it prior to the album’s release. I think that ‘New Holy Ground’… people never go bananas at the end of a slow quiet song, but the feedback has been that it slotted into the kind of ‘Statues’ / ‘The Beginning And The End’ section after ‘Maid Of Orleans’ really well.

Why was ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ not originally chosen as the lead single?

The radio stations in the UK and Germany were offered four tracks; ‘If You Want It’, ‘Sister Mary Says’, ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ and ‘New Babies: New Toys’. Most of them came back and said either “we can’t choose because they’re all good” or ‘If You Want It’. So we went with ‘If You Want It’ just because the radio stations said they’d play it… and then most of them failed to play it which was a bit frustrating *laughs*

I think ‘Sister Mary Says’ in particular was the obvious second choice and judging by the support we had from Radio2, maybe we should have gone with that first, I don’t know. ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ now as the third single, it’s probably a bit late. We have struggled everywhere except Radio2 in the UK to get airplay. There’s this perception that OMD are “a heritage act and they play live, their fans will buy the album but we’re not going to play it our radio station because we only play classic hits or current hits, we’re not going to play something new by OMD!”, I think ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ will probably struggle at radio.

‘If You Want It’ was dropped during the tour? Was there any reason for that?

Yes, it was an absolute tw*t to sing in its original key!

The melody line and chorus are in quite a high octave register, are you able to tell me who it originally written for?

Err! NO! I’m not going to tell you! *laughs*

It’s very high, it sounds great in that key on the recording but doing it live… we did it in Brighton and it was hard to sing. And as an encore, it just felt like you wanted something people knew better. So we swapped it over with ‘Walking On The Milky Way’. The dilemma we’ve got now is we’ve got a setlist that works and finishing with ‘Walking On The Milky Way’ and ‘Electricity’ bloody well works just as closing the main set with ‘Enola Gay’ works.

But we put ‘If You Want It’ back in for Germany and we dropped it down two semi-tones… it was a lot easier to sing but it didn’t sound as good, that was the problem. It didn’t soar quite as well. So it was a problem to play live.

There’s only one other song we’ve shifted the key in and that was ‘The Native Daughters Of The Golden West’ for the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra show because some of the vocals are just so high. But I am quite proud of the fact I think I must be one of the only men of my age who still sings songs in the original key. If you ever go onto YouTube and look at bands singing old songs, it’s in an awfully low key!! *laughs*

‘Save Me’ effectively launched the History Of Modern campaign but appeared to confuse some of the audience, especially with it being a mash-up of ‘Messages’ with Aretha Franklin and not being included on most versions of the album? What do you think now?

Difficult to say, I still think it’s a brilliant piece of music. I can see the argument that if you’re trying to re-establish yourself as a credible current record making act, possibly a mash-up is not the most credible way to relaunch yourself. However, everyone who heard it who wasn’t a die-hard OMD fan just went “that’s a hit!”.

People wanted to play it, but the cool people and the fans were largely reluctant about it so in the end, as we weren’t going to release it as a single, we chose to hold it off the album and have it as a bonus thing on iTunes. However, the Americans insisted they wanted it on their album. And if you want my opinion, I think it should still be released as a single in the summer or something.

Germany appears to be as responsive as ever to OMD, more so than the UK. Why do you think that is?

Several reasons, we have always had a strong following in Germany. We probably get even more radio play of the old songs in Germany than we do in the UK. But for this campaign, there were two elements that really helped us. As soon as Rough Trade / Good To Go in Germany heard the album, they came straight in with a big offer of an advance to secure the album so we could put together an independent promotion team.

Strangely enough, most of them have previously worked promoting DEPECHE MODE. And they then made contact with Pro-SiebenTV in Germany who offered us a deal to put together a massive TV campaign which gave us huge TV advertising with a major station on prime time… that certainly helped.

‘New Babies: New Toys’ is probably the nearest you’ve come to ‘Radio Waves’ and the motorik aesthetic of that NEU! / LA DÜSSELDORF axis for a while. You wrote ‘4-Neu’ which was your first love song to a German band. How influential have they been to the OMD sound in the past?

I think ‘Electricity’ was probably our first love song to a German band. As I said to Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür, ‘Electricity’ was really just ‘Radio-activity’ sped up and they said “yes, we know!” *laughs*

I am a huge fan of that driving motorik thud… yes, you’re right, ‘New Babies: New Toys’ probably is the closest we’ve come back to it. It’s been an element that we’ve had for years; ‘Radio Waves’, ‘Genetic Engineering’, ‘The New Stone Age’. Just occasionally, we do something that drives straight down the middle in a kind of linear fashion.

Have you heard that lost unreleased ‘Neu! ’86’ album that was reworked by Michael Rother and issued recently?

No, I haven’t managed to listen to it because I’ve been away so consistently, I haven’t managed to update my laptop… my iTunes store hasn’t worked for several months! Most of last year was just mental, I’ve forgotten how busy you are when you’re pretending to be a popstar, AND a husband and a father at the same time! *laughs*

So what did you think of it?

I thought some of it was just brilliant, there’s a track on there called ‘Euphoria’ which sounds like a lost OMD demo but of course, there was a couple of those mad Klaus Dinger sound collage things!

Ah!

So did you yourself have any reservations about resurrecting unreleased material such as ‘Sister Mary Says’, a song that was recorded for ‘Universal’ in 1996 or ‘The Future, The Past, and Forever After’ which was rooted in the ‘Sugar Tax’ era?

No I didn’t because I thought the songs were really strong. There are a few elements on ‘History Of Modern’ which I knew in advance were going to p*ss people off; like the hi-hat programming sounded like the Alesis HR16 drum machine from 1991… perish the thought! But to be perfectly honest, by calling the album ‘History Of Modern’, it gave ourselves the right to do that. I’m very happy with ‘History Of Modern’ considering it was a clearing of the decks album, it was getting us started again. Paul and I have described this is our John The Baptist album… it’s the one that speaks of the one who will come after! *laughs*

… back to the old religious imagery again! *laughs*

Yes! It was a very strong album but both Paul and I are excited now about the prospect of a new album. We’ve used up all the stuff we’ve had lying around. It was good stuff but stylistically, maybe a few people can moan that “it wasn’t early 80s, it was early 90s”… shock, horror! I think ‘Sister Mary Says’ is f*cking great but if there’s one song on the album that I sometimes blow hot and cold over with, it’s ‘The Future, The Past, and Forever After’.

But speaking of modern, there was a throbbing, almost feminine electro dancefloor vibe on ‘Pulse’. How did the GENIE QUEEN members Abi Clancy and Anna Ord come to be involved?

That song is sort of a semi-cover version. It was originally given to me for GENIE QUEEN, that’s how they come to be on it. And I always loved it. The GENIE QUEEN girls cut some vocals on it and then it never got used for them and it was lying around, I just kept coming back to it. So I threw away all of the verse vocals, redid my own verse vocals in what my wife calls ‘the dirty phonecall song’ and I kept Anna and Abi in it.

The Danish girl was off the original demo that was sent to me. Essentially in a very modern and thieving way, I robbed somebody else’s song and turned it into our own.

What did you think of some fans reaction to it?

I think we can still p*ss people off!

Have you thought about getting another girl group to do it, because there’s possibly a hit single there if it was done by the ladies?

Yes, I think you’re right. I’ve actually got a few other tracks lying around that I would like a girl group to do, but having been through ATOMIC KITTEN, GENIE QUEEN and helping other young artists get established, just about the last f*cking thing I want to do in the world is to try and sell an act or songs to a record label. It fills me with horror, I have nothing but disdain for 95% of people in the music industry.

The mistake I made with GENIE QUEEN was, I should have just released it myself. The amount of time and money I spent on it, I should have gone straight in with ‘What A Girl Goes Through’, made a single and video, had a hit and then had people begging me to sign them!

‘New Holy Ground’ probably represents what is great about classic ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK as opposed to OMD. On the new songs you have written with Paul Humphreys, how have your collaboration methods changed from when you were doing it at The Gramophone Suite? And do you intend to work in this more collaborative manner in the future.

The initial way we worked, I have to be honest and both would agree, it wasn’t terribly effective. We thought we could solve the problem of the geography by sending files through the internet. It works but it’s just too slow. And I think Paul would admit as well that you need to stay on his case. Left to his own devices, he always got something else to do. I think we’ve discovered that the ideal way for us to work is for me to demand he’s in the same room as me. And that way, things happen a lot more quickly. And there’s a spark and chemistry as we patently discovered with ‘New Holy Ground’.

With ‘Green’, it was one you did sending files across?

I played him that song in its original demo when he came to my studio. He said it was a good song but we both agreed the music was pants. So he said “send me the vocal and I’ll rework the backing track” and he did a brilliant job. There is one other song I’ve got that I might do with Paul that has a great lyrics but the backing track doesn’t quite work. I think ‘Green’ worked because there was already a blueprint in the sense that we had a vocal and arrangement that worked, but Paul had to come up with a backing track that would tie the whole thing together. But it’s quite a slow process working with Mr Humphreys.

The demo of ‘Green’ actually had that movement on the lovely end section that was influenced by ROXY MUSIC’s ‘If There Is Something’.

Yes, which we decided to keep. What we basically did on that one, we just cut the demo tape and flew the stereo track onto the end of ours and just put overdubs on it! It’s a brutal piece of editing! *laughs*

What is it about the early ROXY MUSIC stuff with Brian Eno and later, the ‘Stranded’ album that makes them so special for you?

I think the pure energy of the uptempo songs and the pure melancholy of the slower songs. I think the reformed ROXY MUSIC that came back with ‘Manifesto’, ‘Flesh and Blood’ and ‘Avalon’, it’s was beautiful and very slick, but it took me a while to get my head round it. But it was almost like a different band, because everything they did before was completely different. It was like they’d turned into STEELY DAN! It was almost two different bands, even more so than early OMD and 90s OMD!

I have a soft spot for ‘In Every Dream Home A Heartache’, that is so clever, so well done. It’s so touching and so raw.

I liked the raw honesty of what BRYAN FERRY used to do. People raved to me about his new ‘Olympia’ album and I did get it. Apart from the single ‘You Can Dance’ and the very last track ‘Tender Is The Night’, I thought the rest of it sounded like a bunch of out-takes from ‘Avalon’ but with lyrics where Bryan really couldn’t be a*sed!

Will you be checking ROXY MUSIC out on this ‘For Your Pleasure’ 40th anniversary tour?

I might try and go to that. But if he plays any of ‘Olympia’, I’ll be going to the bar! I’m a huge Ferry and Roxy fan but I was disappointed. I guess in the same way everyone was nervous when ‘History Of Modern’ came out, you want it to be great and then if you hear something and it isn’t, you’re like hmmm!

There were some KRAFTWERK inspired synthesizer tunes on the album. How did you get the vintage Vako Orchestron choral sound on ‘The Right Side?’

It actually a mixture of a Mellotron, a Roland string and an actual CD-ROM sample of female sopranos, the same ones that were used on ‘Sister Mary Says’. It’s a mixture of the three that creates the harmonic blend that actually works.

What did Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür think of ‘RFWK’?

Karl loved the old synthy sound and was quite flattered. And Wolfgang, I never found out because he came to the Cologne gig and we didn’t get to meet him afterwards because he found the gig was so hot and full that he ended up feeling ill and leaving! Unfortunately, something similar happened to Karl Bartos as well. The gig in Hamburg was so full, he and his partner Bettina couldn’t get in, they were listening to it from the foyer and after a few songs they just thought “b*llocks” and left! *laughs*

So unfortunately, both of them came to the gigs and I didn’t get to see them because they couldn’t get into the venues properly!

This was one of the problems with the German tour, some of the gigs were not quite sold out while others were over sold! The gig in Leipzig, there were 300 people who had to spend the whole gig in the foyer! Next time, we’ll be having someone clicking numbers on the door!

Wolfgang Flür has said his book ‘I Was A Robot’ and the ‘Synth Britannia’ documentary about how the young OMD came backstage at The Liverpool Empire in 1975 to tell KRAFTWERK that they had shown you the future. Is this actually truth or just legend?

It’s legend! I was the only one who saw them play at The Liverpool Empire. And I didn’t go backstage. I was 16, I wasn’t going to be hanging about backstage! And also, they were building the Mersey Rail underground at the time and I had to get the bus back so I couldn’t hang around. The first time I met them was 1981 at the Zeche Club in Bochum, Germany so it’s an apocryphal urban myth. Wolfgang sort of got his story mixed up there! *laughs*

So should the KRAFTWERK brand continue on and record new material?

My thing is KRAFTWERK will always be God to me as far as I’m concerned, But if Ralf Hütter is going to do an album that sounds like ‘Vitamin’ and ‘Aerodynamik’, then I’m not interested. The problem for me with Ralf Hütter is he’s distilled his concept of KRAFTWERK to the point where it’s like distilled water, it has no taste. It was all the vagaries of the human playing and not so perfect electronic instruments that gave the earlier albums a real humanity.

If you listen to them now, you can feel the human touch on them as we’re so accustomed now to programmed music. I’m sure they wished they weren’t, that they were programmed by robots in the first place. The more Ralf gets to his ‘nirvana’, the worse the music is unfortunately.

With that in mind, can you therefore relate to why some OMD fans may have been disappointed with ‘History Of Modern’?

I can see why a few tracks would be not what they wanted because I know the hardcore fans wanted something that sounded like the first four albums and nothing else. So I can understand why some of the songs didn’t tick all their boxes. However, I think that if Ralf Hütter released something that sounded like ‘Vitamin’ but had a f*cking great lyric and melody, I would lap it and I wouldn’t sit there going “there’s the hi-hat programming that was on the reworked Mix album which I didn’t really like in 1991…”

I thought some of the nit picking was excruciatingly anal and said much more about them than the quality of the music that was on the album. And I’m sorry, I think that anything less than 4 out of 5 stars is b*llocks.

‘History Of Modern’ is better than almost all the albums OMD have ever done apart from the first four. I was very comfortable with the album and I think most people recognised that, regardless whether you thought it was a real Korg or a Pro-Tools version, or right or wrong hat! I thought the songs were brilliant and for middle aged men, I think it p*ssed over most people’s comeback albums.

I’m entirely unrepentant Chi, I think it was a f*cking great album, especially when you consider it was the first one we’d done in how many? years. If KRAFTWERK made an album like ‘History Of Modern’, I would be over the moon. Yeah, I might decide that this particular track isn’t my favourite but I would die for KRAFTWERK to do something as good as I believe ‘History Of Modern’ is.

How do you think the support acts VILLA NAH and MIRRORS went down with the OMD faithful?

I thought they were both great, very well received and rightly so.

It was really nice that both acts included samples of ‘Messages’ into their songs during their sets.

NO! YOU’RE KIDDING ME?

VILLA NAH had it on the end of ‘Ways To Be’ and MIRRORS had it running through ‘Ways To An End’…

Well! I’m freaked out now because I don’t remember hearing any of that but to be perfectly honest, when you’re backstage, the sound isn’t that clear!

You weren’t too keen on some of the female electro artists like LA ROUX and LITTLE BOOTS who found fame in 2009. But you’ve found a bit of love for ROBYN. And what do you think of 2010’s generation of male electronic based acts like HURTS or DELPHIC?

HURTS and DELPHIC are ok. I like Stay by HURTS but in some respects, HURTS sound a bit to me like a millennial boyband with synthesizers, although a lot of the album doesn’t sound as simple and as spartan as ‘Wonderful Life’. DELPHIC? I’m sorry but they don’t quite press my buttons either.

But the more I listen to the ROBYN stuff… I’ve gone backwards now and I’ve fallen in love with ‘Konichiwa Bitches’ from the ‘Robyn’ album which I really wasn’t that bothered about. And the video is funny as f*ck! And of course, I’ve started doing a bit more homework because I’ve been sat here. And I’ve now become a huge fan of KLEERUP who she did ‘With Every Heartbeat’ with.

KLEERUP’s album is brilliant. If there’s anyone who’s got the OMD sound nailed for the 21st Century, it’s him!

Yeah, I think so. Basically, the vocal melodies on his songs are like they’re derived from synth melodies so they have that sort of OMD sound. It’s often a clear, often slow developing vocal melody. I’m very slow off the mark, just literally in the last week I’ve started listening to KLEERUP. I absolutely love it and even to the point of wondering about whether or not we should be doing some work, or some mixing or producing.

So in hindsight then, do you think that Mike Crossey was the best choice to mix ‘History Of Modern’? Although he has had enormous success, his track record ie RAZORLIGHT, THE FOALS, THE KOOKS didn’t indicate an empathetic ear for electronic based pop music. Could ‘History Of Modern’ have sounded better with say either KLEERUP or FOTONOVELA (who produce MARSHEAUX) behind the studio desk?

I suspect you might be right. I think Mike improved the mixes he was given.

He fattened them out, got some better effects, got a better balance. I think Mike’s dilemma was he had me hovering over his shoulder! I think it might be better to give something to somebody and say “do your version of it” and then we’ll spend time adjusting to whether we think it works or not. Because that was the other thing with Mike, we didn’t really have time to allow him to go off, he was just mixing what we gave him.

Maybe we should think about being a bit more pro-active with people like KLEERUP and the FOTONOVELA boys, and saying “we like what you do, we’re not far away from each other so just do something like that”. But they’ve both got very different sounds; FOTONOVELA have got a much more crystal clear digi-analogue sound… very bright, very wet. KLEERUP has got a much more grungy electro sound which is quite interesting actually because I quite like the lo-fi-ness of some of his drum sounds. But they’re absolutely incredibly present loud lo-fi drums… it’s not distant sh*t drums, it’s right in your face!

You and Paul did quite a few promotional live sets as a duo recently which harked back to the Eric’s days and you both appeared to be very comfortable with the format. Have you considered touring in this guise, perhaps in territories where OMD may a following but not have a particularly large foothold? I’m thinking in America…

I think the feeling is if we’re a band, we’re a band. We generally only do the two piece thing when that’s really just not practical like in-stores or a charity concert where we can turn up and do a short gig. I don’t think the two of us and a laptop would really want to do a full hour and a half OMD set, it wouldn’t be right. But obviously we could tour places like Japan and Australia, and probably not lose the kind of money we would do if we took the whole band. Y’know, we’ll think about it.

You’re touring North America in March. How important is it for OMD to play the USA again?

I don’t think we treat it like The Holy Grail like people used to. Paul Humphreys always says: “We broke America, but America broke us!”. I think we’re realistic about it, but it seems right that we finally get to go and play in America. We’re doing this with the band and crew on a sleeper bus, no lights, no PA, just house systems, whatever they’ve got. No LEDs, no projections, just pure and simple. Here’s the band, here’s the audience, here’s the music… GO!

Having spent the last three and a half years playing so successfully, I would love to tour the whole world. I want go to Asia, Australia and South Africa again. And I want to go to places in Europe that we don’t seem to be able to get into. And I want to go to South America. It pains me not to be touring the world but it’s purely and simply the financial logistics of taking the whole band and the crew, and what the local promoters are prepared to pay. You’re absolutely right… if me and Paul went, we could do it for peanuts and OMD as a two-piece could tour the world. But it just seems wrong, there would be two versions of OMD publically.

Your cover of Mercury winners THE XX’s ‘VCR’ has been premiered on Soundcloud, but you’ve recorded a magnificent version of ‘Shelter’ as well…

I think ‘Shelter’ is even better than ‘VCR’! It beautiful because it’s got that suspended choir chord that sounds like KRAFTWERK and the piano. It’s been quite interesting learning THE XX’s songs because when you listen to them, your initial impression is they’re quite meandering and unfocussed.

But once you get past the ‘stoner’ presentation that they have, they actually have quite simple, specific arrangements. They are arranged, they have a format but the sheer minimality of it is really quite impressive. I have to say it took me quite a few listens to get into THE XX. It was a bit like I had to acquire the taste.

But having stripped down and analysed their songs, strangely enough I think it’s going to have a good influence on OMD because things like ‘New Holy Ground’, ‘VCR’ and ‘Shelter’ have encouraged us to be confident in the quality of the minimal work again. People go how did OMD influence THE XX… but have you listened to ‘4-Neu’? Have you listened to some of the really simple, stripped down B-sides?

What were they recorded for?

The record company thought it would be very cool to ask THE XX to do a mix for us. Of course, everybody and their dog last year wanted THE XX to do a mix for them. The NME were planning to do a covers compilation album of THE XX’s songs so the band said “if you cover one of our songs, we’ll do a mix for you” in a reciprocal deal. We did ‘VCR’ which I loved playing the bass on and then they went “Oh God, not ‘VCR’… everyone’s doing ‘VCR’!” so we did ‘Shelter’. So that’s why we did two of their songs, but the album never happened.

So will ‘Shelter’ be the B-side of ‘History Of Modern (Part I)’?

No, ‘VCR’ is one of the B-sides… ‘Shelter’ we have got up our sleeves for future reference to tease people with. I’m glad you loved it, ‘VCR’ is good but ‘Shelter’ is f*cking gorgeous!

And what next for OMD?

We have the North American and German dates. A lot depends on this American tour… if its successful, we may go back in the Autumn.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Andy McCluskey

‘History Of Modern (Part I)’ is released on 28 February 2011 as a limited edition 4 track 10 inch vinyl single and an extended CD EP which includes all the previous ‘History Of Modern’ period B-sides. Both formats also feature OMD’s cover of ‘VCR’.

The album ‘History Of Modern’ is still available

OMD’s 2011 North American tour includes:

Toronto Phoenix Concert Theatre (5 March), Montreal Le National (6 March), Boston Paradise Rock Club (7 March), New York Webster Hall (8 March), Washington DC 9:30 Club (9 March), Chicago Park West (12 March), Atlanta The Loft (14 March), Houston House of Blues (16 March), Dallas Granada Theatre (20 March), Denver Bluebird Theater (22 March), Salt Lake City The Depot (23 March), Los Angeles The Music Box (25 March), San Francisco Mezzanine (26 March)

They also play the following German dates in 2011:

Erfut Thueringerhalle (22 June), Leipzig ParkbÜhne (23 June), Dresden Elbufer (26 June), Cologne Tanzbrunnen (1 September), Hamburg Stadtpark (2 September), Bochum ZMF (4 September), Berlin IFA Sommergarten (5 September), Schwerin Freilchtbuehne (6 September)

https://www.omd.uk.com/

https://www.facebook.com/omdofficial

https://twitter.com/OfficialOMD

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
30th January 2011

DER DEUTSCHE FAKTOR

8 December 2010 / electricityclub

“From all over the world comes inspiration. We have been very lucky, because the music we envisioned, the ideas we had of The Man Machine and electro music, have become reality and technology has developed in our direction… and electro is everywhere”: Ralf Hütter, KRAFTWERK

Despite the resurgence of sophisticated electronic pop in 2010 with its own new classic sounding acts such as HURTS and MIRRORS plus the long awaited return of OMD and THE HUMAN LEAGUE, it would appear that British ears are still largely oblivious to the distinct musical quality on offer.

However, across the Channel in mainland Europe, the artful sound of the synthesizer is being embraced again, especially in electronic music’s spiritual homeland of Germany. So why is this? Is it ‘Der Deutsche Faktor’?

Is Germany more likely to accept synthesized pop presented in a stylish, modernistic manner purely because of its own electronic tradition? And is it really all down to KRAFTWERK? But then if that is the case, why has the majority of the best electropop been produced in the UK where its cultural significance is still mostly ignored by critics and public alike?

The British have always had a strange attitude to its own cultural intelligencia, be they musicians, composers, film makers, artists or writers. The ordinary public somehow see having ideas, values and style as being pretentious or elitist while traits like ignorance and shallowness are somehow embraced. Britain has always looked towards its American cousins for trends in popular music and the street credibility of the scruffy drug fuelled rocker or the expletive laden misogynistic urban spokesman is always somehow seen as more preferable.

But with a heritage of classical and contemporary art all of its own, Europeans didn’t take so kindly to American influences such as rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm ‘n’ blues being brought over in the second half of the 20th Century.

In Germany, this post-war reaction was even stronger. Despite the apparent freedoms compared with their compatriots in the East, Die Bundes Republik was effectively an occupied territory and this provoked a backlash within the student population.

At its extremes, this meant the brutal violence of the Baader-Meinhof gang and Red Army Faction. But on the other side of the coin, young Germans were inspired to be creative either in film as with Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and Rainer Fassbinder, in art as with Anselm Kiefer and Sigmar Polke, or in music. The Germans have always had a history of self-definition through art and music has often been the centrepiece.

So eschewing blues scales, acts such as CAN, TANGERINE DREAM, CLUSTER, NEU! and KRAFTWERK looked towards the avant-garde traditions of Karl-Heinz Stockhausen for their inspiration and used new instruments such as electronic keyboards, synthesizers and rhythm units to create a whole new German aesthetic.

Although these all acts used electronics in some form, it was KRAFTWERK who in 1975 first fully embraced making music exclusively in this manner, eventually adopting a Gilbert & George demeanour of short hair, suits and ties. Their new pioneering musical form featuring a strict percussive base and an accessible melodicism in the European classical tradition was the antithesis of what had come previously via the North Atlantic.

However, despite KRAFTWERK’s influential success internationally, along with their fellow exponents of this experimental music, they were largely ignored in their homeland.

The instrumentalist nature was simply too abstract for some and although innovative, very rarely did Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos write actual pop songs. That was the mantle that the UK was about to take up.

David Bowie and Brian Eno were among the first British artists to adopt these new Mitteleuropa colours with the albums ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ each featuring fine examples of their collaborative zenith during an inspired sojourn in West Berlin. As a result, one of the focal points of this expanded interest became The Blitz Club in London where their resident DJ Rusty Egan played this neu musik von Deutschland at its regular ‘Bowie Nights’. Similar scenes were developing throughout post-punk Britain.

Although artists such as ULTRAVOX, TUBEWAY ARMY and THE HUMAN LEAGUE used KRAFTWERK as an important reference point and had synthesizers dominating their sound, the first British act to aspire to KRAFTWERK’s retro-futurist blueprint was ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK. Alongside their suitably clean and tidy presentation, OMD subconsciously put a pop element into the Kling Klang quartet’s electronic template. There was now an emotive lyrical focus incorporated into what had been perceived as the mechanical chill of Teutonic electronic music… the morality with the architecture if you will.

OMD’s music ultimately connected with Germanic ears who traditionally loved strong musical melodies and precise rhythmical frameworks. At its worse, this could mean embracing folk laden schlagermusik but as a positive, opening up to songs sung in a plethora of languages. The eventual result was ‘Maid Of Orleans’ reaching No1 in Germany and becoming the country’s biggest selling single in 1982; this at a time when the West German market was the largest in the world after America and Japan.

A precedent had already been set in 1981 when via The Blitz Club, VISAGE’s ‘Fade To Grey’ reached No1. Although ‘Maid Of Orleans’ and ‘Fade To Grey’ were both Top 10 hits in Britain, neither song has been held with the high regard and cultural gravitas that they both are in Germany.

‘Fade To Grey’ was recently voted ‘Song of the Decade’ on the prestigious German music show ‘Hit Giganten’ while it was an invitation to perform ‘Maid Of Orleans’ on a celebratory edition of RTL’s ‘Ultimative Chartshow’ in 2005 that was the beginning of the current OMD reunion. Often less judgemental and commercially orientated than the UK, the German market also later allowed other synthesizer acts such as DEPECHE MODE and PET SHOP BOYS to achieve significant success. And more recently, British electro acts such as MESH and CLIENT have been more welcomed here than at home.

Fast forward to 2010 and with the release of their new album ‘History Of Modern’, OMD’s musical legacy in the spiritual homeland of electronic music led to an innovative record deal with Saturn, one of Germany’s leading technology superstores, and a promotional schedule predominantly concentrating on that territory. With the majority of the European tour focused on Germany too, OMD have managed to recapture the hearts of an audience that still recognises intelligent artistic integrity whatever the age of the performer and doesn’t get into debates about how real music doesn’t use synthesizers, or how thoughtful presentation is arty!

In 2010, Germany has again shown itself to be more discerning. The magnificent ‘Wonderful Life’ by Manchester duo HURTS stayed at No2 for several weeks while the song struggled to reach No24 in Britain where they were accused of style over substance. Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson’s ‘Bros Go To Bavaria’ imagery and cinematic grandeur have obviously struck a chord.

Attending HURTS’ show in Cologne, Lola said: “I was surprised that so many people went to see them. I came to the venue just a half hour before doors opened and I didn’t expect so many people to be outside waiting. So I was late and ended up standing behind a gang of very tall people. I couldn’t see that much, but the music was fantastic of course! I loved the charming nature of their performance and their way of communication with the audience. It’s beautiful pop music, I like it”

Following the success of HURTS, one UK act now set to crack the German market are MIRRORS who have strong KRAFTWERK and OMD based principals. The quartet comprises of James New, Ally Young, Josef Page and James Arguile. OMD’s Paul Humphreys had already witnessed their potential: “I went to see them in Camden at Proud. They’re lovely blokes and I was absolutely blown away by them. Their songs are brilliant.”

Playing as support to OMD on their European tour, MIRRORS have been able to showcase their majestic electronic pop-noir such as ‘Hide & Seek’, ‘Fear Of Drowning’ and ‘Into The Heart’ to a crowd that was almost tailor made for them.

However, when asked about this in the summer, their singer James wasn’t getting too presumptuous: “We’ll have to up our game won’t we? I don’t know. It’s going to be really interesting to see how Germany reacts to it. I have every hope that they’re going to really like it.”

And like it they did. Lola attended three shows including Cologne and Hamburg to report:“Support bands often have problems to get enough respect, especially if the crowd is waiting for the main act. But not MIRRORS… the Germans loved them! I’ve heard from a lot of people that they were absolutely delighted with them. It’s not only because of their influences like KRAFTWERK, OMD or any other band. I listened to some tracks before the tour thanks to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and their great taste in music. I expected a fantastic support act for OMD but I must admit MIRRORS were more than that. Their music is emotional, melodic, epic, intelligent and also powerful and fresh. Well, simply beautiful!”

“Of course the crowd loved MIRRORS!” added Nella who saw the band’s appearance in Hannover, “Great mixture, they had a KRAFTWERK-feeling mixed with Andy-dancing, CHINA CRISIS-singing and HURTS-looking. They will surely be a successful band. They really did a good job… first time ever I thought at a concert: ‘oh, sad, the support act has finished? I want to hear and see more!’ They got lots of applause”. She wasn’t alone in that feeling: “I also heard some ‘Zugabe’ chants after MIRRORS left the stage” remembered Lola.

Photo by Lars Diegmann

In Stuttgart, Lars was also impressed: “I think most of the audience really did like the MIRRORS. We stood in front of stage but we could see the concert hall was well filled as they started to play. Most reactions were very positive. It was a small but very effective stage show. Very charismatic guys, it was fun to watch them make music. Powerful and moving electro-pop with a small theatrical touch… stoic and minimalist. They sound like KRAFTWERK should sound in 2010”.

MIRRORS’ stage presence and presentation are key factors in their appeal: “I was so fascinated by the way Ally played his synthesizer and James’ passionate dancing… I was having flashbacks of Ian Curtis! Oh, and I forgot to mention his excellent voice. Very cool performance!” recalled Lola, “I’m really looking forward to seeing them back in Germany as a main act.” Asked why she thought MIRRORS and also HURTS had got into the heart of the Germans, Lola smiled and gave a Teutonically direct answer: “It’s because Germans like good music!”

But they also connected with the audience: “I’m sure their tour EP sold very well, especially with the autographs they gave at the same time. So everybody had the chance to talk to them. Very nice! I also met them backstage after the Cologne concert. They are such nice and good-looking guys! Those guys are just amazing, adorable and very talented.”

So is the intelligent sartorial elegance of acts like MIRRORS and HURTS more likely to appeal to the Germans? “Possibly…” Lola replied, “but I myself must admit, I like their smart style”

Of their European jaunt, James New from MIRRORS said: “This tour with OMD has been a complete revelation for us. For the most part, our journey in the UK has been fantastic but in Germany and Europe the reaction to our music has been genuinely overwhelming. People’s enthusiasm has only fed our own and I think we would all say that these past shows have been the best of our career so far.”

OMD’s Andy McCluskey himself remarked enthusiastically during the tour: “MIRRORS are doing brilliantly… good guys and really great music.” However, with the way MIRRORS have been impressing, there clearly appears to be a changing of the guard happening right before German eyes.

This was reflected by OMD’s drummer Mal Holmes who amusingly said: “MIRRORS do OMD better than OMD do OMD… they look and sound great!” Lola summed things up by saying: “I must admit, I will always love OMD’s music. But it seems that MIRRORS could be their worthy successors.”

Just as when THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s Philip Oakey appeared on stage with LITTE BOOTS at Heaven in 2009 and HEAVEN 17 performed with LA ROUX on BBC 6Music, the electro torch is steadily being handed over. Synth Britannia’s elder statesmen are playing their part in helping the youngsters take electropop into the next generation.

In the meantime, HURTS have reached No2 with their ‘Happiness’ album and will reinforce their success by touring Germany again in 2011. The pair even commented: “we’ve been in and out of Germany like it’s our back garden”.

And with a superb debut album ‘Lights & Offerings’ ready to be released by Skint Records early next year, MIRRORS look set to gain a foothold in mainland Europe. Whether the UK wakes up and decides to join in the party with its EU neighbours remains to be seen.

Text by Chi Ming Lai
8th December 2010

SYNTH BRITANNIA

27 March 2010 / electricityclub

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

Synth You’ve Been Gone…

BBC4’s marvellous ‘Synth Britannia’ celebrated the rise of the synthesizer and how it changed popular music forever, particularly in the UK.

Superbly produced and directed by Ben Whalley with interlinking cultural commentary provided by ‘Rip It Up And Start Again’ author Simon Reynolds, it was an empathetic documentary that captured the spirit of a golden era.

The contributors to the programme read like a ‘Who’s Who?’ of electronic music: Wolfgang Flür; Daniel Miller; Richard H Kirk; John Foxx; Gary Numan; Phil Oakey; Martyn Ware; Andy McCluskey; Paul Humphreys, Martin Gore; Vince Clarke; Andy Fletcher; Midge Ure; Dave Ball; Alison Moyet; Susanne Sulley; Joanne Catherall; Bernard Sumner; Neil Tennant; Chris Lowe.

They were to become the heroes of the revolution, rebels with a cause, poster boys and girls of the VCO! Although there were a few errors, especially with regards dates like when OMD signed to Factory and the single of ULTRAVOX’s ‘Vienna’ was released, this was an entertaining 90 minutes.

The new attitude brought about by punk in 1977 was still a bit too rock’n’roll for some like the young Daniel Miller, learning three chords was still three too many! But armed with newly affordable silicon-chipped technology by Korg and Roland from Japan, the true DIY spirit encouraged by the new wave would be fully exploited. Wonderful and weird sounds could be made using just one finger, knob twiddling would become the new art! Daniel Miller and Martyn Ware gleefully tell of their first synth purchase, in both cases it was the Korg 700s. The accessibility of the budget priced synthesizer offered the ultimate challenge to musical convention. It was electric dreams over acoustic nightmares!

Like some on this programme, my first introduction to the sound of the synthesizer came via KRAFTWERK and Walter (now Wendy) Carlos. In the summer of 1976, my junior school teacher was the young and pretty Miss Neilson.

She’d already shown her Bohemian colours by naming our pet guinea pig ‘Bilbo’!! But one day in PE, she made Class4 interpret movement to ‘Autobahn’ and the soundtrack to ‘A Clockwork Orange’!!!

Although too young to really appreciate what was going on, my aural palette was being shaped by this fantastic cacophony of electronics. Novelty instrumental hits like Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Oxygene Part VI’ and SPACE’s ‘Magic Fly’ soon followed and caught my pre-teen futuristic mind as I eagerly waited for the next episode of ‘Space 1999’! The importance of science fiction in the development and imagination of electronic music cannot be underestimated with ‘Dr Who’ and the writings of JG Ballard being particularly important influences.

Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ was Year Zero for modern electronic pop music as we know it. Producer Giorgio Moroder‘s throbbing sequencers and dance beats were “the future of the future”.

But Gary Numan’s first appearance in May 1979 on ‘Top Of The Pops’ was for many including myself, their ‘Ziggy Stardust’ moment in the birth of synthpop, ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ was cold and detached, the discordant Moog machinery and the haunted vocal sneer connected with many during this gloomy period in Britain. It seems unbelievable now, but it was the talk of school the following morning. Electronic music had just found its first pop star!

Unemployment in the UK was at an all time high. Margaret Thatcher was now in power while across the Atlantic, Ronald Reagan was “President Elect”! With fascist gods in motion, the Cold War had heightened to the point where no-one’s future on this earth could be guaranteed. Whilst OMD’s ‘Enola Gay’ related to the nuclear holocaust paranoia of the time via some incongruous melodic warmth, there were a number of other pop-orientated bands just around the corner.

Photo by Deb Danahay

The new Mk2 version of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, SOFT CELL and DEPECHE MODE all possessed a defiant spirit of optimism in the face of adversity because ultimately “everybody needs love and affection”! The music was emotive and avant, all at the same time! “We never wanted to be KRAFTWERK” says Phil Oakey, “we wanted to be a pop band!”

The use of synthesizers was a statement of intent, like an act of artistic subversion. But as Marc Almond once said, you can only truly subvert when you have access to the mainstream. How can you change the world if no-one hears you? Musically, the best way to achieve this was going to be through pop songs! Whilst owing a debt to KRAFTWERK and taking advantage of the door opened by Gary Numan, these acts managed to appeal to people who didn’t necessarily know what a Linn Drum Computer was! Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley amusingly recalled when the UK’s first Linn LM-1 was delivered to Martin Rushent’s Genetic Studios for the making of ‘Dare’: “They were all very excited… OK boys!”

There are several technology driven insights like Paul Humphreys playing ‘Enola Gay’ on the Korg Micro-Preset, John Foxx demonstrating the ARP Odyssey and Daniel Miller operating the ARP 2600 which was used on all the early DEPECHE MODE albums. There were often misconceptions about how this stuff worked though. “The number of people who thought that the equipment wrote the song for you: ‘well anybody can do it with the equipment you’ve got!'” remembers Andy McCluskey, “F*** OFF!!”

“You’ve got to remember it was the first time ever that someone could sit and make a record on their own” says Midge Ure, stating the recording of EURYTHMICS ‘Sweet Dreams’ in a basement on an 8 track tape machine as an example! But as the success of synthesizer continued, the backlash set in. Numan was particularly the victim of some venomous media attacks; not only was he doing electronic music but he had none of the anti-hero stance of punk… he wanted to be a popstar: “I don’t speak for the people because I don’t know them!” he exclaimed!

Andy Fletcher tells of the Battle Royale that DEPECHE MODE were always having with the press. People insisted it wasn’t proper music. The Musicians Union even tried to ban the use of synths in studios and live performance!

I remember fellow classmates unceremoniously smashed up and burned a copy of ‘Cars’… AND THEN presented me with the remains! If I wasn’t already feeling isolated, then this sort of intimidation was certainly going to seal it!

Martin Gore quotes a disgruntled rock journalist who described the genre as being for “alienated youth everywhere, and Germans!” As an outsider with a typical post-war ‘Boys Own’ fascination for Airfix kits and Messerschmitts, this music would define me! What did these narrow-minded hooligans know?

Worshipping America was not what I wanted! To me, soul and jazz funk (much like R’n’B today) was the horrid soundtrack of the school bully! SYNTHPOP and its Mittel Europa romanticism appealed to my sense of elitism. I could wear my intelligence on my sleeve, it would become my badge of honour! Pretentious… MOI?

Photo courtesy of Alex Machairas

The move towards today’s electronic based dance music as pioneered by Giorgio Moroder is symbolised by the success of NEW ORDER and PET SHOP BOYS. Legend has it that KRAFTWERK were so impressed by the sound of ‘Blue Monday’, they sent an engineer down to Britannia Row Studios to check out the equipment only to find out it was comparatively unsophisticated! But ‘Synth Britannia’ actually goes on to suggest that the success of the third generation acts like Howard Jones and THOMPSON TWINS was the death of this fantastic period. “There was too much synthpop around, it was all very well being on a synth but actually the melodies and how some of the songs were structured was quite traditional and trite…” sighs Simon Reynolds, “it wasn’t that inventive as electronic music!” – he was right!

Unfortunately by the mid-80s, most of our heroes had given up the fight and went conventional. “We were all a bit lost by then” says Phil Oakey, “like we didn’t have anything to prove!” After declaring in 1980 that ‘Travelogue’ contained “synthesizers and vocals only”, THE HUMAN LEAGUE had by the disappointing ‘Hysteria’ credited Jo Callis with “guitars, keyboards, vocals”, sadly in that order!

Meanwhile OMD went from listing all their equipment on their ‘Dazzle Ships’ and ‘Junk Culture’ albums to Paul Humphreys simply being on “vocals, electronic keyboards, piano” for ‘Crush’! The lure of dollars to water down the synthesized sound for synthobic America just couldn’t be resisted anymore! This classic era of quality synthpop was sadly now over!

However, while the others fragmented, DEPECHE MODE got darker and stuck to their electronic blueprint, eventually achieving massive success in the US from 1988. So it would seem these pioneering acts’ original Eurocentric electronic manifestos had been right after all.

Their legacy is evident today: LITTLE BOOTS and LA ROUX have hit the Top 10, and collaborated on the marvellous BBC6 Music ‘Back To The Phuture’ live sessions with Gary Numan and HEAVEN 17 respectively; rock band MUSE credit “synths and programming” on their new album while featuring a song that sounds like ‘Vienna’; and a girl group cover of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ is a ‘Comic Relief’ charity single!

Meanwhile, the synthpop era’s big international No1s ‘Don’t You Want Me?’ and ‘Tainted Love’ are still being played at weddings and night clubs, ironically often being sung along to by the same bully boys who were setting fire to Gary Numan records years earlier!! “It was exciting to be part of a musical movement that had never been done before, it was a fine time” smiles Vince Clarke.

Photo by Deb Danahay

‘Synth Britannia’ ends appropriately enough with ‘Together in Electric Dreams’ and this final quote from Andy McCluskey: “We were trying to do something new, that is specifically why we chose electronics, we wanted to sweep away all of the rock clichés! And then what happens towards the end of the 80s and even worse, the mid 90s? Everybody decides guitars are back, synthesizers are somehow old fashioned AND, we get Oasis!!”

McCluskey holds his hand to his head in despair but today, most of the acts featured in ‘Synth Britannia’ are still playing to packed audiences around the world. What was originally an electric dream is now a full blown reality. JUSTICE and a job well done 🙂

Ohm Sweet Ohm! The ‘Synth Britannia’ Soundtrack

DEPECHE MODE New Life
WENDY CARLOS William Tell Overture
WENDY CARLOS Title Music from ‘A Clockwork Orange’
KRAFTWERK Autobahn
THE CLASH White Riot
THE NORMAL TVOD
THE NORMAL Warm Leatherette
THE FUTURE 4JG
THE HUMAN LEAGUE Being Boiled
DONNA SUMMER I Feel Love
CABARET VOLTAIRE Seconds Too Late
CABARET VOLTAIRE Nag Nag Nag
OMD Messages
OMD Enola Gay
JOY DIVISION Atmosphere
JOHN FOXX Underpass
THROBBING GRISTLE Still Walking
THROBBING GRISTLE Hot on the Heals of Love
FAD GADGET Back to Nature
SILICON TEENS Memphis Tennessee
TUBEWAY ARMY Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
GARY NUMAN Cars
VISAGE Fade to Grey
THE FLYING LIZARDS Money
DEPECHE MODE New Life
DEPECHE MODE Just Can’t Get Enough
DEPECHE MODE Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead
THE HUMAN LEAGUE Don’t You Want Me
HEAVEN 17 – Penthouse & Pavement
CABARET VOLTAIRE Landslide
SOFT CELL Tainted Love
YAZOO Only You
YAZOO Don’t Go
OMD Maid of Orleans
EURYTHMICS Sweet Dreams
ULTRAVOX Vienna
KRAFTWERK The Model
DEPECHE MODE Everything Counts
DEPECHE MODE Master and Servant
PET SHOP BOYS West End Girls
NEW ORDER Ceremony
NEW ORDER Blue Monday
PHILIP OAKEY & GIORGIO MORODER Together in Electric Dreams

Text by Chi Ming Lai
27th March 2010

Tag: Kraftwerk (Page 13 of 13)

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