Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark [OMD]: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1980)

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, also known as OMD (or, as some people wrote back in the early 80s, OMITD), is one of my favourite bands from the 1980s. They have been called "The Beatles of synth pop." Right from the first note of the first song of their debut self-titled record, I was hooked, when I heard it sometime after 1980. My only regret is that I have a Canadian pressing rather than the original and brilliant UK die-cut jacket, created by Pete Saville, who did amazing graphic design work with Factory Records.

The band has been very open about taking some musical cues from Kraftwerk for this record, and that is apparent when listening. I can't say enough good things about this record. All tracks are amazing, but the one that people are most likely to recognize is Electricity. Other strong tracks are Bunker Soldiers, Messages, The Messerschmitt Twins, Red Frame/White Light, and Dancing.

Later, the band took a more commercial route, but even then I found the music interesting. Oddly, the band enjoyed success in the UK as a pop band, getting what I think was frequent airplay. In North America, they were relegated to "alternative" status -- back when alternative meant something - and so one had to listen to college/university radio or CFNY to hear OMD.

I do remember the day when a friend of mine came over and turned the tuning dial to my dad's console stereo system from 104.5 CHUM-FM or Q107 to 102.1 CFNY, the Spirit of Radio. That was quite the day. Momentarily disoriented to the odd sounds coming fro the stereo, I eventually found a new friend though I did not give up the old staples. That little station from Brampton made an enormous impact on me, and no other radio station experience, no other forays into new music, for that matter, has ever been so important as that early exposure to a world of unique music. That station was my constant friend, until everything blew up in the late 1980s. Now, radio is in the hands of corporations and fools. "And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools..."