Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - 66 And Fading (1983)

Thanks to Anon for reminding me what a great little band Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark were in their early days. Formed in 1978 by Andrew McCluskey and Paul Humphries, who had first worked together in Merseyside band The Id 1977, the paid were keen to experiment with with tape collages, home-made kit-built synthesisers, and circuit-bent radios. After The Id split, McCluskey joined Wirral outfit Dalek, I Love You as lead singer, but only lasted a month, and so rejoined Humphries to form Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - the name taken from a list of potential song lyrics on McCluskey's bedroom wall, and deliberately chosen so as not to sound like a punk band name. They released their first single 'Electricity' in 1979, and it was a breath of fresh air, coming as it did at the tail end of the punk boom, and I grabbed my copy straight away, ending up with one of the Factory copies with the textured sleeve - still a prized possession. Its success led to the band being signed by the DinDisc label, who re-issued the single, and followed it with a worthy successor in 'Red Frame, White Light', and when the debut album appeared the following year it easily lived up to the promise of those singles. 'Organisation' was another fine album, and 'Enola Gay' was their first mainstream hit single, at which point I usually tended to abandon a group that I felt had sold out the The Man, but with OMD I stuck with them for one more album, as 'Architecture & Morality' seemed a bit more experimental that its predecessor, but that was the end of my love affair with the band. Looking back at those early days, there were a few songs tucked away on b-sides which I hadn't heard before so I gave them a listen and found that I'd been missing out on some good stuff. The band also included a free 7" EP of demo recordings with the vinyl edition of their second album, so I've added that to the b-sides up to 1983, including the dub version of 'Messages', renamed 'Taking Sides Again', for this reminder of both the melodic pop songs and also the more experimental music that the band were producing at the start of their career.    

Track listing

01 Introducing Radios (from the free 7" EP with 'Organisation' 1980)
02 Distance Fades Between Us (from the free 7" EP with 'Organisation' 1980)
03 Progress (from the free 7" EP with 'Organisation' 1980)
04 I Betray My Friends (b-side of 'Red Frame White Light' 1980)
05 Waiting For The Man (b-side of 'Messages' 1980)
06 Taking Sides Again (b-side of 'Messages' 1980)
07 Annex (b-side of 'Enola Gay' 1980)
08 Navigation (b-side of 'Maid Of Orleans' 1981)
09 Sacred Heart (b-side of 'Souvenir' 1981)
10 66 & Fading (b-side of 'Telegraph' 1983)
11 4-Neu (b-side of 'Genetic Engineering' 1983)
12 Once When I Was Six (from the free 7" EP with 'Organisation' 1980)