OMD’s existing performance set-up with two Roland Fantom X8 workstations actually has its roots in the 1983 ‘Dazzle Ships’ Live Presentation.
Some of the more purist observers complain about the lack of analogue instruments in the current live shows but Andy McCluskey said recently: “Who says that digital can’t be a beautiful as analogue?”
Even in the pioneering days, OMD were thinking carefully about how best technologically to present themselves in a live context to an audience that was still growing accustomed to electronic based music.
It is well documented that the success of ‘Architecture & Morality’ tour had taken its toll on the band emotionally and functionally. Extended touring had robbed the band of time in their studio The Gramophone Suite to compose new material. As Andy once remarked: “you can’t sit up the back of a tour bus and strum your synthesizer…”. But there was also their reliance on the equipment they took out on the road. Paul Humphreys had his ever faithful Korg Micro-Preset but also the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 first used on the single version of ‘Messages’ and the subsequent ‘Organisation’ campaign.
In addition, there was the hefty sky blue Elgam Symphony dual action organ and the huge, even more cumbersome Novatron which was an updated version of the Streetly Mellotron M400 that had been during the recording of the album. “We used a Mellotron Mk1 on ‘Architecture & Morality’ but were advised that if we were going on the road to get a Novatron.” said Andy, “The Mk1 had a very bad whine created by the power supply. Streetly told us it was a design fault.”
The Mellotron aka Novatron was an electro-mechanical keyboard that played tape loops of sounds such as choirs, strings and brass.
The name Novatron was adopted for instruments produced after 1976 due to a legal blunder which meant the name Mellotron could not be used.
It was the dominant texture of ‘Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)’ as well as several other tracks on ‘Architecture & Morality’ so was considered a necessity on tour sonically. But it was extremely heavy, weighing in at 55 kg and due to its delicate systems, was vulnerable to malfunction under the heat of stage lights.
But there were also power supply issues as Andy recalled from a gig in Italy: “All the power was from a small generator and every time the lights got really bright on stage, the power supply to equipment reduced making the Novatron flywheel slow down so the notes went very flat. Once our lighting guy realised the problem, we did the rest of the show with reduced lights to keep the Novatron in tune.”
Meanwhile, the Prophet 5 had been a godsend as one of the first programmable polyphonic synths and used integrated circuits to make it more compact and versatile compared with say, a Polymoog or Yamaha CS50. It played an important role in the pioneering OMD sound as much as the Mellotron, with tracks such as ‘Romance Of The Telescope’. “’Romance…’ is actually a Prophet 5 factory preset for the out of tune brass sound but the choir is Mellotron” remembered Andy.
Previously, cheaper synths either had presets like Paul’s little Korg which restricted the number of sounds they could make, or they would have no memory like their Korg MS20. Synths like the latter were largely impractical for live use as a keyboard although Mal Holmes had the MS20 to generate fixed sounds for percussive effects triggered by his drum pads. But now with a programmable synth and patch memories at their disposal, a sound could be created or found, stored and then recalled for its corresponding song at a touch of a button.
However, it was still early days for developments in chip based technology and while the Prophet 5 was invaluable for studio work, the oscillators which generated the sound source would destabilise over the time it was switched on, thus causing tuning difficulties. Also the precious memories could be scrambled due to voltage spikes. To add an extra headache, the Prophet 5 had a reputation for reliability issues which necessitated two examples being taken out on the road.
Martin Cooper’s set-up included Roland SH09 and SH2 monosynths for basslines and melodies plus a Vox Jaguar organ for chords.
While this organ had been an essential part of the early OMD sound, especially on the first album, it was of 1960s vintage, large and of transistor construction. So again, it was extremely delicate and not suited for the perils of a world tour.
Mal Holmes’ percussion complex consisted of a big Tama bass drum, large Pearl snares and conventional Paiste hi-hat alongside an array of electronic percussion pads triggering the aforementioned Korg MS20 and a pair of Pearl Syncussion units which controlled two percussive timbres each. With minimised microphone spill allowing very loud acoustic drums to combine with the raw electronic noise, these helped give OMD a uniquely crunchy live sound.
But this system was also very fragile due to the exposed ceramic piezoelectric sensors on the pads. Ceramics are not a naturally malleable material so therefore prone to breakage when hit hard. Famously, a home made electronic kit designed by Paul Humphreys and Paul Collister fell to pieces while being used by Mal during OMD’s first show as a live quartet. “I hit the crystal microphone inside the pad and smashed it to bits!” remembered Mal.
The practicalities of a one and a half hour show had shown various shortcomings and provided unnecessarily stress for a group of young musicians still fighting with a music press and audience that didn’t consider synthpop real music and thought synth bands couldn’t play live! So with the future in mind, OMD looked for an instrumental set-up that was more streamlined and practical for live work.
They found it with the E-mu Systems Emulator. Founded in 1971 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum, E-mu began making modular synthesizers whose users included jazz virtuoso Herbie Hancock. At a convention, Wedge and Rossum saw the Fairlight CMI, the world’s first computerised digital sampling synthesizer and set about making a less expensive sampler.
The Emulator was released in 1981 at a price of £5000, considerably less than the £20,000 Fairlight.
It was a floppy disk-based keyboard workstation which enabled the recording of any sound to non-volatile media and allowed these samples to be played back as musical notes. As an instrument, the Emulator had no sound of its own.
Each aural palette had to be loaded into its memory separately, whether it was from a factory disk of sounds produced by E-mu themselves like the symphonic strings used on ‘Silent Running’, the sound of OMD’s own synths such as the Prophet 5, the voice of Andy McCluskey crooning “blue” on ‘Dazzle Ships’ or the bugle from the BBC Sound Effects record used on ‘This Is Helena’. But by wanting to make life easier for themselves on the road, OMD also entered the brave new world of sampling and were now able to realise some of their more musique concrete ambitions as was apparent on the ‘Dazzle Ships’ album.
But with regards touring, the Mellotron, Elgam, Vox Jaguar and the Prophet 5 could now be retired and replaced by two of these wonder machines on stage. However, the samples were low resolution and grainy at only 8 bits. While these sounds were suitable for chords and effects, the live punch required from the rhythm section meant that Martin’s Roland SH2 was retained as its phat twin oscillator bass sound was formidable in a live context.
Also kept was the similar looking but single oscillator SH09 which was OMD’s preferred synth bass in the studio. Meanwhile, Paul’s Korg Micro-Preset also remained. This was an important artistic gesture as when layered with suitable effects, it provided a cutting melodic bite that was in keeping with OMD’s original garage band ethos.
In that spirit, a reel-to-reel tape machine containing things such as the sequence of ‘Messages’ and the Speak & Spell Machine on ‘Genetic Engineering’ was still very much part of the line-up although this was upgraded to a new Tascam from the older Revox.
With Andy, there was no equipment change at all with his trusty Fender Jazz bass guitar. Martin however had his own Fender Jaguar bass for use on ‘Julia’s Song’ as Andy’s was strung in an unconventional manner with the lowest string ‘E’ at the bottom due to first learning to play on a left handed Wilson Rapier bass turned upside down!
For Mal, his new toy came with three Simmons SDS-V drum synths. Co-designed by LANDSCAPE’s Richard James Burgess, these replaced two of the pads hooked to one of the Pearl Syncussion units.
The Simmons was very sturdy, having already been road tested on tour by acts such as JAPAN and ULTRAVOX. It was also less of a headache to soundcheck than normal drums.
The SDS-V’s distinctive hexagonal pads were actually made from the same material as police riot sheets.Although he didn’t use the whole Simmons kit, Mal later complained of aching arms. This was from a ‘shock’ that came from hitting the Simmons pads as they did not have the natural give of skinned acoustic drums or even the earlier electronic pads that controlled the Syncussion units and MS20 which to all intents and purposes, were tiny but amplified drums!
Although a fuller Simmons kit was used subsequently on the ‘Junk Culture’ tour, it was only later as OMD made in-roads into breaking synthphobic America with the more conventional sounding ‘Crush’ that Mal started to use a full acoustic drum kit and was allowed to have one of the ultimate percussive symbols of rock ‘n’ roll, the cymbal! This would explain why Mal’s early drum kit always looked like it had been raided by thieves between the soundcheck and gig! Mal remembered “So many people like the road crew said ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with your drum kit but it looks really different! NO CYMBALS, THAT’S IT!’”
Although access to digital representations of their old synths and keyboards were now available using the Emulator live, the fledgling technology was prone to reading errors with the then state-of-the-art 5 ¼ floppy disks.
These visually did make interesting artefacts however as Peter Saville found when he saw NEW ORDER’s Emulator and designed the iconic ‘Blue Monday’ sleeve as a coded 12 inch floppy complete with cut-outs!
The Emulator would seem to take forever to load in the context of a show and the setlist needed be arranged to accommodate this. One interesting consequence of the Emulator’s loading time was that Andy’s between song banter increased to cover it up!!!
Later when the band upgraded to the Emulator II with its then innovative hard drive in 1985, Andy would often joke about Paul’s problems with his hard disk!!
Despite the expected glitches with the new Emulators, on the whole they gave the band less to worry about, especially after the difficult gestation of ‘Dazzle Ships’ and the critical mauling it received from the press.
It allowed for the band to deliver a more confident and professional performance that when combined with Ken Kennedy and Peter Saville’s impressive stage set, would later be recognised as their best live tour to date. But that’s another story although strangely, brass sections and America were only just round the corner…
Special thanks to Alex Machairas for his valued help and granting permission for the use of the archive photographs
‘Dazzle Ships’ is still available in a number of formats via Virgin Records
In these days of modern remixing, recordings are often reworked to oblivion with the end result being a pointless club track that bears little relation to the original.
In these types of reinterpretations, vocal samples might occasionally appear but everything else is as good as rendered unrecognisable. One of the worst early examples of this indulgence was the Transcendental Constant Viper Mix of OMD’s ‘Stand Above Me’ by Phil Kelsey from 1993… that case was made even worse because what had actually been reworked was another track altogether, namely ‘Dream Of Me’!
Who these versions are aimed at is often a mystery although an excellent article on How The Major Labels Sold ‘Electronica’ To America sheds light on how this madness may have started. And now today with reciprocal remix arrangements being used as part of a dual marketing tool, sometimes quite incongruous pairings are procured with the final outcome getting a mixed reception and often alienating both sets of fanbases.
However, some artists take a more sympathetic approach to the remix opportunity and offer beat enhancements, extra melodic parts and instrumental breakdowns to compliment a track in a far more classic tradition. Richard X, Mark Reeder, PET SHOP BOYS, THE MANHATTAN CLIQUE and FREEMASONS have proved to be fine purveyors of this more accessible song based interplay. But one duo who outstrip them all with their digi-electro style are Athens based synthgirls MARSHEAUX.
Together with their producers FOTONOVELA, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou combine their best synthpop sensibilities with both feet on the dancefloor to deliver some of the best received pop styled remixes of the last ten years with many established artists among their portfolio. These include official commissions, such as one for Katy Perry which has since become the biggest selling single recording that MARSHEAUX have been involved in, as well as bootlegs for their own club DJ sets.
The gift Sophie and Marianthi have when remixing is they always manage to enhance a song with their stamp while retaining the core essence of the original – simple in theory but in reality, not an easy thing to do! But when MARSHEAUX had a go at remixing OMD’s comeback single ‘If You Want It’, even their dainty craft work couldn’t turn that particular donkey into a racehorse!
So with a new album from Sophie and Marianthi still a while away, here then are MARSHEAUX’s best 18 remixes to check out, in alphabetical order by artist. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK believes this impressive collection would make a rather good compilation album. Perhaps it could be called ‘Dream Of A Disco’?
CLIENT Its Not Over (2008)
MARSHEAUX took their visual inspiration from CLIENT so when they toured Germany together in 2008, it was a most perfect pairing. On ‘It’s Not Over’, some Hellenic shine is added to CLIENT’s Cold War chic for a slice of electro perfection. Sarah Blackwood’s vocal is given space to breathe while the sharpened glitterball backing retains the fuzzy edge of the original but with some additional Eurocentric riffage.
Available on the CD EP ‘Its Not Over’ via Out Of Line Records Germany. Listen on YouTube http://youtu.be/P1A9d6kU7JE
This synth trio hail from Stockholm but with singer Paulinda’s Italian heritage, a Mediterranean flavour colours their cooler Nordic spirit. So with that in mind, come the bouncy remix of an already brilliant track, this version of ‘It’s A Game’ could easily be mistaken for one of Sophie and Marianthi’s own recordings.
Available on the download single ‘It’s A Game’ via Graplur Records Sweden
Already a magnificent brooding epic in its original form, this mighty opener to the ‘Playing The Angel’ album boasted “pain and suffering in various tempos” was brilliantly transformed by MARSHEAUX. They adding their own sparkling top end dynamic as well as an ominous bass rumble. Although never officially released, this was voted top remix in a poll of DEPECHE MODE fans.
The original first appeared in 2008 on an EMI Greece related compilation as part of the lead up to a full single release by Undo Records. However, this did not materialise and it wasn’t until Autumn 2010 that it was issued in its own right as an independent EP. The original was good but MARSHEAUX’s remix was even better. The girls toughened ‘Mirrorball’ up to an EU friendly dancefloor splendour with additional air-synth riffage and interluding attacks that added some extra energy to proceedings.
Available on the CD EP ‘Mirrorball’ via Eden Records
Gallic songstress Mylène Farmer is her country’s equivalent of Madonna if slightly less controversial and diva-ish. Her sound does seem to benefit from disco enhancements, having already scored a No1 in her own country with the MOBY / MANHATTAN CLIQUE collaboration ‘Crier La Vie’. Almost translating as “do more bitterness”, this ballad is given a dreamy uptempo facelift by MARSHEAUX which is pop perfection.
Like a post mid-life update of 1984’s ‘Louise’ for the new millennium, Philip Oakey says ‘Sky’ is about “meeting dead girls in bars”. Suitably sombre and monotone synthpop for ‘The Vampire Diaries’ generation, ‘Sky’ is proof that Da League can still come up with great tunes. MARSHEAUX’s busy pulsing adds more fortified Italo elements without disrupting the original’s wonderful melancholy and livens the tempo.
Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Adamson’s HI-NRG ditty underwent many manifestations having been originally part of their previous band DAGGERS’ live set. The fastest paced song in the HURTS catalogue, MARSHEAUX’s version hypnotised with its frenetic dancefloor friendliness and sequencing. Again retaining all the best euphoric elements of the song, this remix simply sparkles with optimism.
Ever wondered how ERASURE would have sounded doing ‘Go West’? Here it is in this highly uplifting collaboration with Greek duo IN-VOX. The original was fairly guitar driven but MARSHEAUX’s remix, which incidentally was their first, added a distinct electronic sheen to make it a pop masterpiece. Much better than the cover versions which Andy and Vince were attempting at this point.
Available on the CD single ‘Will I Ever?’ via Sony Music Greece and Columbia Records Austria. Listen on YouTube http://youtu.be/YvkwXKlvZwk
KID MOXIE give a cynical snarl waxing lyrical about how society accepts the culturally mundane and mediocre. With a tedious evening led by COLDPLAY, SNOW PATROL and ELBOW for Children In Need warmly received by the masses, this just rings so true. Thankfully, MARSHEAUX’s interpretation of ‘Medium Pleasure’ is anything but mundane and mediocre, with rhythmical life enhancement through exposure to cool female fronted electro guaranteed.
Adding some light into the dark industrialists’s repertoire, this bleepy reworking emphasises MESH’s sometimes hidden knack for rousing and catchy electronic tunes. With some of the rockier tendencies stripped away, it becomes club friendly gothic pop that retains the all the dynamic tension and synth soloing of its parent recording. It’s almost like DEPECHE MODE go disco, complete with a lift from ‘It’s No Good’!
Available on the Greek CD edition of ‘We Collide’ via Undo Records.
Christened the ‘Greek Girls Are Not Easy’ mix, Sophie and Marianthi turned MIRRORS’ most accessible track into a sensational neo-robotic danceathon. The as-yet-unreleased extended version added even more sharp synth counterpoints to the majestic singalong with the whole package proving that classic Synth Britannia influences are nothing to be ashamed of.
Available on the Greek CD edition of ‘Lights & Offerings’ via Undo Records. Listen on YouTube https://youtu.be/77f812hkDBg
The original version was used as the theme for the UK’s Formula 1 coverage for a few years in the noughties and while it doesn’t have the instant resonance that FLEETWOOD MAC’s ‘The Chain’ has in its association with motorsport, it is certainly an energetically rousing anthem. At a less frantic pace, MARSHEAUX’s remix with its firm octave shift drive is a regular staple in their DJ sets and always well received by clubbers.
Technically, this is not a remix as it started life as a cover version of the ‘Architecture And Morality’ classic. However, a new vocal by Andy McCluskey was added and this delightfully rounded with the angelic melancholy of MARSHEAUX’s own sweet timbres. Given a modern discofied softsynth facelift, this pretty duet is a fine example of how yesterday’s tomorrow can successfully meet the present and the future.
Katy Perry kissed a girl and liked it, but behind all the shock tactics was some quality songs written by Cathy Dennis and in the case of ‘Hot ‘N’ Cold’, Swedish megapop producer Max Martin. Taking its cue from the PET SHOP BOYS remix of THE KILLERS’ ‘Read My Mind’, this superb reworking by MARSHEAUX can only be described as truly banging! When presented to Katy Perry’s management, they were none too pleased but the lady herself loved it and sanctioned its release.
Available exclusively as an iTunes download single via EMI Records Greece
MARSHEAUX went to the Eurovision Song Contest with their electro assisted radio mix of this saucy uptempo number. Sakis Rouvas, who could be considered Greece’s own Ricky Martin, came 3rd in proceedings and went to No1 in his home country. While ‘Shake It’ is not exactly a work of genius, it is good fun and did considerably better than the UK’s entry which came 16th.
Available on the CD Single ‘Shake It’ via EMI Records
SALLY SHAPIRO is the Queen of Scandinavian electropop and has won many admirers. With her wispy vocal and discotheque tendencies, she shares a musical affinity with MARSHEAUX. Interestingly though, the original of this was more of a pretty crystalline ballad. So MARSHEAUX added a 2010 percussive backbone to give it disco potential and thereby construct an uplifting anthem in time for the new decade.
Greco Jordanian Tareq Souleiman was previously the lead singer of TECH SOIR and his vocal timbres make him electro’s answer to INXS’ Michael Hutchence as his cover of ‘Need You Tonight’ indeed shows. ‘Mosquito’ with its relaxed but pacey drum ‘n’ pop was the superb highlight from his first solo album ‘Cocoon’. Here though, MARSHEAUX take the pace down to a slower off-beat groove for an even greater chilled mood with Marianthi’s soft vocals, symphonic strings and KRAFTWERK’s Vako Orchestron choirs from ‘Radio-Activity’ added to the mix.
Dream laden electro from Copenhagen, TIGER BABY are another act who could be mistaken for MARSHEAUX with that synthpop vibe combined with sweetly gorgeous vocals from Pernille Pang. Stylistically, this has all the impressive hallmarks of the MARSHEAUX sound combined with the unmistakeable melodic sensibility that Scandinavian pop acts seem to naturally possess.
Available on the CD single ‘Girlfriend’ via Gunhero Records Denmark
Friends since childhood, Juho Paalosmaa (vocals, synths) and Tomi Hyyppä (synths, programming) discovered the joys of electronic instrumentation when they started playing around with a Korg MS10 that belonged to Tomi’s father.
Releasing their impressive debut album ‘Origin’ in May which became a Top 10 album in their home country of Finland, they have since been steadily gaining a legion of admirers including BBC 6Music’s Mark Jones who invited them to play the Back To The Phuture curated opening night at Bestival 2010 alongside HEAVEN 17 and HOWARD JONES.
However, the biggest accolade came with the invitation from OMD to be special guests on the UK leg of their ‘History Of Modern’ tour. “We heard from our manager that Andy McCluskey had heard our album and really liked it” recalls Juho, the duo’s singer and main songwriter; “And then we got information that OMD wanted us to do a remix. We made the remix, they liked it and then we heard they would like us to support them as well which was amazing. So happy about that”
Support slots can be the making or breaking of an act. On the one hand, they can provide wider exposure and an opportunity to increase the fanbase. Sales of CDs and T-shirts afterwards can help sustain a band financially and enhance their profile as they work their way through a tour, usually at their own expense. On the other hand though, many concert goers, particularly those in the UK, see the support act as an excuse to spend more time in the bar. Such short sighted behaviour can lead to missing out on what could be the next potentially great thing happening in the adjacent room!
Indeed, people should look towards the headline act and remember their own humble origins. What if OMD had been ignored when they supported Gary Numan in 1979? It is possible OMD would have made it anyway but their well-received opening slot enabled them to play their songs to a bigger audience who would later come to their own headlining shows.
It’s the often the prospect of discovering something new and seeing it through to its possible success that motivates many a true music enthusiast to arrive early. It is highly unnerving to play to a new audience but OMD’s fans have been primed.
Juho and Tomi contributed the best remix of the ‘History Of Modern’ launch single while many have hailed VILLA NAH as one of the brightest prospects in intelligent synthesized pop for many years. At least VILLA NAH are within the same genre of music as OMD, unlike some of the bizarre acoustic choices for support that have been made by other heritage electronic acts over the last few years.
VILLA NAH are no strangers to being the support act. In their home city of Helsinki, they recently opened for R’n’B starlet KELIS where one would have assumed the audience might be less receptive to their style of electropop: “With that” recalls Juho, “the organisers were gathering a wide kind of audience. They had different types of DJs as well. KELIS and R’n’B are not necessarily that well known in Finland. And it turns out KELIS is not really R’n’B anymore, she’s more into dance music now! It was good and we knew it was a surreal setting for us to support her but we took it as just a show for ourselves. In Finland, it’s quite easy as we have our own crowd to see us.”
Although on paper, an incongruous pairing, VILLA NAH’s popularity in Finland has enabled them to snare a high profile gig. In the rest of Europe though, it’s a slightly different matter. Although they weren’t headlining, they closed Back To The Phuture night at this year’s Bestival: “Bestival was quite intimidating because it’s a huge festival and we played after HEAVEN 17 on a really big stage. As we’re relatively unknown here, you don’t know how the crowd’s going to be. It wasn’t terrible, it was quite good. At that level, you can see from the crowd attendance if people start leaving, they hate you! But they didn’t, they all stayed so that was good.”
For the OMD tour, VILLA NAH’s day starts with some promotional duties and then soundcheck.
Preparations for the setlist were completed a while back with the inclusion of a new number: “It’s called ‘Lights Out'” confirmed Juho, “it may be on the new album but we are definitely working on new material and we have other new songs that we might play so it’s a nice chance to try different things”.
But there’s little time for sightseeing: “We’ll see because it’s hectic” laughed Juho, “I think we’ll have a bit of time, maybe a couple of hours but mostly it’s work! Every city is something I look forward to. I’ve been to the UK several times but I’ve always been in London so now it’s my chance to see every city.” And the places that he’s looking forward to visiting? “Liverpool for one because it is OMD’s home arena”.
VILLA NAH’s manager is Piers Martin. How does he see VILLA NAH’s potential? “This tour is opening them up to an audience who love their synthpop and want to invest in it. VILLA NAH are not a million miles away from OMD and Andy McCluskey is a fan. It stands them in good stead and takes them out of the NME / hipster market, into a market where people actually love their music and it just comes naturally.”
As a paradox to the well-known horror stories of how some established artists have treated their support acts, VILLA NAH are warmly welcomed by their hosts: “Paul Humphreys showed us round, that was really lovely and Andy McCluskey was really nice when he said ‘have a good show guys’ just before we stepped on stage” remembers Juho, “I’m hoping to meet them for a longer chat at some point”.
And it is without doubt that their wistful, subtle electronic dynamics that allow OMD’s audience to empathise with them. For the first gig at Brighton Dome Pavillion which happens to be a standing venue, VILLA NAH triumph. The response is ecstatic with cheers of recognition for intros of ‘Remains Of Love’ and ‘Ways To Be’.
“That was amazing.” Juho modestly remarked, “As far as I’m concerned, they don’t really know who we are, yet they know the songs! It’s just remarkable”. ‘Envelope’ goes down particularly well as it possesses the melancholic soundscapes that are most reminiscent of classic OMD. Tomi, the technical genius and quieter of the pair grins with his thumbs aloft and can’t hide his obvious delight with the audience’s response. Among the crowd was Alexa who’d come all the way to see OMD from Minneapolis: “I thought they were great, they were just naturals”.
They weren’t the only ones who had been won over by VILLA NAH’s Nordic charm. Those who know their electronic music history were very complimentary: “Excellent, very OMD, very KRAFTWERK, a little bit CHINA CRISIS” affirmed Darren; “a little bit of all the old electronic stuff in there but a modern twist, I loved that! I’ll be straight on Amazon after the gig”! His pal John was also impressed: “It was the first time I’ve heard of them, brilliant! Nothing more I can say… going to get the album!”.
Asked if VILLA NAH had approached these dates differently compared their own shows, Juho replied: “In practice not but maybe mentally. It’s different because we’re in the UK and obviously as a support act, the crowd are here to see OMD. The crowd here was amazing. Far better than I would have imagined”. With a nervous chuckle, he added “I don’t know if I’m a pessimist, but maybe I had expectations that people would be in the bar! But people were here and everyone was lovely, really receptive”.
There appears to be a whole international following just waiting to embrace VILLA NAH. South African Jenny McGregor was more than happy with what she saw: “I loved it, they were really brilliant. I loved his voice, it was really powerful. It was emotional as well and I Ioved the sound, it was really great. I’m going to buy the CD”.
Jenny’s best friend Alison was all smiles too: “The music was amazing. It was like a step back in time but also quite modern at the same time. It was just fabulous”. She also appeared to have developed a crush on Tomi: “I was watching and the guy playing the keyboards, you just want to go up to him and hug him!! He just looked divine!”
During the interval, quite a few copies of ‘Origin’ are being sold and one of those purchasing the CD was long standing OMD fan Gary Constable, accompanied by his son Ryan: “Very original, good dance music. Very creative” he said, “it was very good indeed, I had to buy the CD”. Young Ryan, aged 12 has obviously been brought up to the sound of the synthesizer and youngsters like him are the key to electropop developing into its next generation: “I thought they were really good. New dance songs, really good band. I’m looking forward to listening to the songs on their CD”. Who knows, this evening may even inspire Ryan to start making music and become a pop star of the future, just like Andy McCluskey did after seeing KRAFTWERK in 1975.
The merchandise area is a sight to see as a polite queue develops at the end of the evening for autographs and photos. Juho and Tomi are shyly acknowledging the chat from their new fans… it’s something they’re going to have to get used to. “I think it’s lovely, the fact that people come up and say they listen to our record and give us everyday life examples of how they listen to it in the car, it’s great” said Juho; “I know it s a cliche but when fans come up to you, that really makes it worth it. Even if you’ve had a bad day otherwise, that can really save your day when a fan comes up to you and says the music means something to them. And you remember there are people that get something out of it.”
With the positive reaction in Brighton, Juho was able to express some cautious optimism for the remainder of the tour: “I hope it goes like tonight, if people everywhere are this receptive, it’s going to be fantastic really”. He allowed himself another grin but there was one nagging concern: “We have a little less gear with us… I always fear something breaks down. We’re in the UK and we don’t have anything to replace”.
As the tour progresses, even in seated venues like Bristol Colston Hall and Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, the crowd offer their appreciation. Peter McCafferty who accompanied his OMD loving wife Corrie to the Nottingham concert said: “I thought they were quite interesting and enjoyable. I thought the songs were interesting enough without the need for the rather thudding beat. Considering I went in completely cold to them, I quite enjoyed it and they held my attention”.
On a day-off from the tour, rather than take a break, VILLA NAH play a headline show at the Soup Kitchen club in Manchester before heading for the cavernous Liverpool Arena. This turns out to be Tomi’s favourite gig of the tour: “People say big arenas are scary but I didn’t find it at all, it was quite cosy being on stage because the sound was good and there was room to breathe”.
The most anticipated date of the tour is the prestigious Hammersmith Apollo in London. There is just something about the art deco interior and magnetism of this one-time cinema formally known as Odeon. Even with the heavy corporate sponsorship that is now apparent, it is still one of the best concert venues in London. This was the one place Juho was really looking forward to playing: “It’s legendary and the fact that we are playing there is just mind blowing! For me, I’m a big fan of David Bowie and I think it was Hammersmith that he ‘killed Ziggy Stardust’… it’s remarkable!”.
However, while headline acts often flourish, it’s not always so straightforward for the opening act. The London crowd are perhaps a little less excitable than the other audiences on the tour. “I think it went alright” said Juho, “A London crowd can be a bit more harsh maybe. But they warmed up quite well and because we’re supporting, I’m not really expecting people to know the music that well so I thought it was alright”.
Despite the comparatively cool reception, VILLA NAH give the capital a couple of musical treats. First of all, there’s another new song ‘Love Chance’ which was premiered in Glasgow and has a more optimistic feel that hints at the wistful overtones of early CHINA CRISIS. Juho explained this was a reaction to his home surroundings: “Because we come from Finland… it’s a cold dark country, I’m particularly fond of anything that’s sort of warm and sunny. We had a really record breaking warm summer and I think that affected it. It is a little bit warmer in sound. Also, I was on holiday in Singapore so maybe it originated from there, that kind of oriental feeling in it”.
But to finish the set, there’s a trip from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station in the form of a superb Suomen translation of PET SHOP BOYS’ ‘West End Girls’. Juho told the story of how this came about: “The Finnish version is actually a cult classic where we come from in a small circle of people. We didn’t really invent the cover version but thought that would be appropriate because we love the cover and the original. It’s about this town called Turku. We first played it there and it was like a special moment. Tonight we thought for just half humouristic reasons, it would be appropriate to do it for London people. I don’t know how it went down really.”
Their crystalline cover of a cover actually goes down very well. Polite applause from the many rather than enthusiastic approval from just a few always sounds better and there are people who have been impressed by the way the boys from Helsinki have projected themselves tonight. Paul Tarr said of their set: “I thought they were excellent tonight. I’ve seen them once before on the tour in Brighton. They’re very, very entertaining for two guys that are supposed to be rather static. Once you get into the rhythms of what they do, they are a very entertaining act.”
The tour is almost over and for VILLA NAH, this has been the pinnacle of their international career so far. “It’s been amazing, I really mean it” Juho said “When we got onto this tour, we didn’t really know what to expect. And every town, all the crowds have just been so warm and acceptive. I think it’s the OMD crowd as well, they just have fantastic fans”. Tomi nods in approval and gave his thoughts: “It has been quite easy. All the arrangements have been a surprise for us so we are really enjoying ourselves.”
And with greater recognition comes more opportunities and a busier timetable but even a promising new act can’t be in two places at once. VILLA NAH have had to decline the offer of a support slot with another classic Synth Britannia band due to scheduling conflicts: “We were asked to support THE HUMAN LEAGUE on their UK tour but we can’t do it… I would have loved to have done it.” said Juho.
But despite this disappointment, things are looking rosy for VILLA NAH’s Way Of The Future: “We have some quite big shows in Finland, we’re going to play in a legendary rock club. But then we are slowing down to get into the studio to record. We’re just aching to do that.”
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to VILLA NAH and Piers Martin
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
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)
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
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
‘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’
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’
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.
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’.
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’
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’
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
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
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”?
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!
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’
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
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.
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
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
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”!
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’.
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:
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