Messrs. McCluskey and Humphries have resurrected the OMD moniker and their collaborative relationship. "History Of Modern" is the first fruits of their labor since they reconvened five days ago and sees Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Shadow return with the bristling, electronic, three minute(ish) pop symphonies that became their calling card 30 years ago.
nstead of trading on past glories, OMD has lovingly constructed a new chapter about their love affairs with art, architecture, science, technology, machinery, friendships and heartbreak. The CD is divide into two sections, sides one and two, which are intended to play the vinyl sequencing experience of an album.Side one of their eleventh longplayer starts off rather unexpectedly with opener, "New Babies: New Toys". A driving, hollow, fuzz bass rips from the speakers followed by a stadium sized synth riff. In fact, it almost sounds more like 1979 with its somewhat aggressive, slightly punkish bravado. Andy cuts right through with a snarling, distorted vocal.Finally, when the entire range of the lyrics has been revealed, it's fairly clear OMD are less than thrilled with the flow province of the pop music landscape. Featured lyric:There`s no heavenThere`s no hellCream will floatBut shit will sellStep asideAvoid the smellI surrenderRing the bellIt has a young and deeply sincere tone to it without Andy coming across like someone's curmudgeonly father. In fact, his part has the effervescence and energy of person in their twenties.He follows that opinion with the following:They don`t want youThey don`t need youThey just use youThey just bleed youScathing! Andy knows a matter or two near the more manufactured side of pop music. He was the mastermind behind Atomic Kitten who had a #1 hit in the UK with "Whole Again" during the summit of Girl Power. Zeitgeist in a bottle, my friends!Side note, OMD never climbed higher than #3 on the charts. They hit it twice - first with "Keepsake" in 1981 and then again, ten days later, with "Gliding On The 7 Seas".The low single plucked from "Story Of Modern" is "If You Need It". It's a pleasant song with a big chorus and trademark, angelic, choral vocal samples which, if memory serves me correctly, were originally derived from a mellotron.
The vocal is definitely from the pattern of recent period OMD hits like "Walking On The Milky Way", which is ironic considering most of the album has more to do with their electronic beginnings. However, it stands on its own as a fine addition to the band's singles output.Next up are two different tracks called "Chronicle Of Modern". Labeled in two parts, part one hearkens back to the band's earlier, Kraftwerk inspired sound. In fact, Kraftwerk, the basis that formed part their original manifesto over 30 years ago, remains a sonic touchstone throughout the album.Part two of the song begins with the bell of church bells followed by warm, rich synth pads and tinkly keyboards. It's a fine model of their mid-period style - an epic and achingly beautiful beat ballad which grows over the form of the song. Definitely a competition for one release. Not certain how the two parts lock together. Hopefully, a few more listening will reveal their connection."Sometimes" channels mid-period OMD once again with operatic voices, sparkling keyboards, and a sweet chorus melody sung by in a creaky voice which reminds me of "La Femme Accident" from their excellent "Crush" album.Kraftwerk are invoked once more as "RFWK" - shorthand for Ralf, Florian, Wolfgang and Karl, the members of Deutchland's coolest keyboard clan - begins with a pulsing, "Neon Lights" inspired intro and builds into another expansive and glorious synth anthem. A touch and passionately delivered tribute to a radical that has meant so often to Andy and Paul since they were first introduced to their machine music as Liverpudlian teenagers."RFWK" segues immediately into the eerie and fragile "New Holy Ground", possibly one of the most beautiful and haunting songs in their cannon. The cycle track is based around the voice of hard heeled steps walking down a long corridor. Accompanied by little more than a cello sample and light piano figure, the steps travel round the recording as if to be coming and exit from several directions. With one final step, side one comes to a close.Surprises abound as OMD travel down a more Moroder-esque road with "The Past, The Present, And The Hereafter" which leads side two of "Story Of Modern". If this was the mid-80s, this would be one of five possible singles from the elpee. It begins and ends with the cycle of a steam engine. Yet another of many self-referential moment as it conjures up memories of "Locomotion", a #5 hit in the UK in 1984. It was likewise the lead single from "Junk Culture", their superior pop return later the career diverting, experimentation of "Dazzle Ships".Then comes the obvious single moment. "Sister Marie Says" clearly bites off the synth riff from "Enola Gay", twists it in its talk and spits it out as the most quintessential OMD track on "Account Of Modern". It's a call that started its lifetime in 1981. However it was discarded at the clock for sounding too often like OMD. Lyrics were added to it in the early 90s, but it was shelved again for the like reasons it was a decade earlier. Finally, after more than twenty years, the song finds its true position on an OMD album. As Andy has pointed out in numerous interviews, if anyone has a good to go like OMD, it's them.Next up is a bit of an oddity for Andy and Paul. Coming across like "White Knight" by Laid Back, "Pulse" is a sleazy track in which Andy sings the verses in low, slurred, breathy, erotic tones as clap happy drum programming and rolling synth bass lines drive the path forward. Certainly, a grower, but later a few listens it has wormed its way into my subconscious. I feel myself shouting the choir and shaking my posterior whenever the song pops up on my trusty iPod. An unexpected pleasure. The song, not my dance moves.The tempo slows down for "Park" and "Slavery Of Fate", two more plaintive beat ballads. The old was primitively written for inclusion on one of the later OMD releases but was never attached to release. Written with Andy McCluskey's co-conspiritor, Stuart Kershaw, who co-wrote many of Atomic Kitten's hits, "Green" was resurrected during the songwriting process for the new longplayer. It was apt to Paul Humphreys who deconstructed and reconfigured the song into another singleworthy moment on "Account Of Modern".
"Bondage Of Fate" starts out a bit like a baby to "Souvenir". It builds over a waltz time signature with the requisite choirboy samples until half way through when it explodes into a glorious crescendo of sound. Immediately afterward, it crashes out and quietly fades to the end with some softly sung female vocals.Rounding out side two of this digital platter finds the lads returning to Kraftwerk territory with "The Good Side?" The choir is a song like a hymn over a backing track that bares a casual resemblance to another OMD single, "Talking Loudly And Clear". As with most tracks on the album, it's presented with a knowing wink without ever ripping themselves off. Toward the end of this eight minute opus, just as you mean the call has ended, it bleeds back into the speakers and builds back up toward its close.
As a bonus, OMD added their mash up of their own "Messages" with "Spare Me" by Aretha Franklin. It's been going down a rage at the discotheques. The icy synths Quite an unusual addendum to their album, but it's rumored that Andy McCluskey is a mash up fan.Let's face facts. When bands return or reunite after a prolonged hiatus, it's better if expectations are kept low. However, nearly everyone has embraced the issue of OMD with spread arms and ears. And for right reason. It's another solid cause and fits nicely alongside their entire discography.
"History of Modern" entered the UK album chart last week at #28. Germany, always suckers for the voice of a synth, awarded Andy and Paul by placing the elpee at #5. Life is a sawtooth wave, old chum.
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