Pool Of Sound - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Andy McClusky and Paul Humphreys

Following the split of Wirral band 'ID' in August 1978, Andy McCluskey joined the Wirral electronic band 'Dalek I Love You' as their lead singer, but quit the following month to join up again with Paul Humphreys and their side project 'VCL XI' which they renamed 'Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark'.
The pair created their own devices, with Humphreys "making things out of his aunt's radios cannibalised for the circuit boards" before eventually acquiring a basic Korg M-500 Micro Preset synthesizer, purchased via McCluskey's mother's mail-order catalogue for £7.76 a week, paid over 36 weeks. In October 1978, McCluskey and Humphreys hosted a live evening they considered to be a self-indulgent experiment in anti-music at Eric's club in Liverpool. It was here they launched their own unique style of catchy electronic melodies that helped form 'OMD's reputation for intelligent pop. They called the session 'Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark' and it was such a success they decided to "do this sort of thing on a more permanent basis."
Tony Wilson of Factory Records became interested in the band, predicting their subsequent success and releasing their debut single 'Electricity'. The track was supposed to be produced by the Factory Records producer Martin Hannett, but the A-side was the band's original demo produced by their friend and soon to be manager, Paul Collister (aka Chester Valentino) owner of a four track recorder they called 'Winston'. It was quickly re-released when Virgin Records subsidiary Dindisc signed them and its subsequent success allowed the band the chance to build their own studio near to Eric's in Liverpool.
In doing so they augmented their four-track recorder 'Winston' with real personnel, Malcolm Holmes (ex-'Equinox' and 'The Id') on drums on and Dave Hughes (ex-'Dalek I Love You') on synths.
In 1979 they were asked to support Gary Numan on his first major British tour. Paul Humphreys said "He gave us our first big break. He saw us opening for 'Joy Division' and he asked us to go on tour with him... we went from the small clubs to playing huge arenas. Gary was very good to us."

When Hughes left 'OMD' in November 1980 he was replaced by Martin Cooper ( ex 'Dalek I Love You').
The eponymous first album in 1980 showcased the band's live set at the time, and was basically recorded by the Humphreys/McCluskey duo, although it included some guest drums from 'Id' drummer Malcolm Holmes, and saxophone from Wirral musician Martin Cooper. It had a simple, raw, poppy, melodic synthpop sound. Dindisc arranged for the song "Messages" to be re-recorded and released as a single which gave the band their first hit.

Their second album 'Organisation' followed later that year, recorded as a three-piece with Humphreys, McCluskey and Holmes. Again produced by Howlett, it had a rather moodier, dark feel. The album spawned the hit single 'Enola Gay', named after the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The song was intended to be included on the debut album, but was left out at the final selection. The tour for this album had a 4-piece band line-up, Humphreys and McCluskey with saxophonist Martin Cooper, recruited also for keyboard duties, joining with Holmes on drums. In early 1981, Record Mirror named 'OMD' as the fourth-best band of 1980; NME and Sounds both named the group as one of the 10 best new acts of that year.

1984 line-up

'OMD's 3rd album, the ethereal 'Architecture and Morality' proved to be one of their finest moments. Blending choral effects and wistful melody, the album produced three classic singles: 'Souvenir' with its bittersweet Humphreys vocal, the religiously inspired 'Joan Of Arc' and its epic follow-up 'Maid Of Orleans'. All three singles secured a top 5 chart position and by 1982 had turned 'OMD' into household names and cover stars for the 'Smash Hits' magazine.

With 3 hit albums and a string of million selling singles it seemed that the band had a Midas touch but their 1983 album 'Dazzle Ships' was not a commercial success and perhaps led OMD taking a more conservative approach in the future.
The album 'Junk Culture' in 1984 saw the band steering closer to a more traditional approach. The instant pop of 'Tesla Girls', percussive dance flavour of 'Locomotion', and pastoral, dreamlike quality of 'Talking Loud And Clear', proved that they could still deliver classic 3 minute pop songs, while retaining a flavour for the unusual.

Producer Stephen Hague was drafted in for the 1985 album 'Crush' and the subsequent 1986 album 'The Pacific Age'. Hague managed to give the songs on both albums a polished edge, while retaining an essential energy that was vital to the songs. Singles such as 'So In Love' and '(Forever) Live & Die' drew on 'OMD's flair for writing engaging melodies, while demonstrating that they were taking much more of a traditionalist approach to song production.
This period also saw the band touring extensively in North America and finally achieving the chart success that had eluded them for so long in the USA. 'If You Leave', specifically written for the John Hughes movie 'Pretty In Pink', was a huge success globally (although strangely not in the UK). However, the consistent schedule of touring took a toll on the band, both professionally as well as personally, and 'Dreaming', released in 1988, was to be the last single written by Humphreys and McCluskey.
'OMD' ended an era in 1989 with the departure of Humphreys, Holmes and Cooper leaving only Andy McCluskey to forge ahead under the 'OMD' banner. Andy recalled, "We were all in agreement that something was wrong. How to fix it was where we disagreed." Andy decided to carry on, essentially becoming a solo artist working under the OMD and in 1989 recruited in 1989 Liverpool musicians 'Raw Unlimited' (Lloyd Massett, Stuart Kershaw and Nathalie Loates) as collaborators for the making of his first dance-pop album 'Sugar Tax'. This was released in May 1991 and charted at No.3 in the UK. This iteration of the group was initially successful with hits like, 'Sailing On The Seven seas' and 'Pandora's Box' with Andy in late 1990 forming a live band with Nigel Ipinson on keyboards,  Phil Coxon also on keyboards and Abe Juckes on drums from late 1990. Smash Hit readers voted 'OMD' the sixth-best British group of 1991. The group disbanded shortly after the release of 'Universal' in 1996. Critic Ian Peel wrote that the band "defied expectations by updating their sound and becoming, if only briefly, relevant in the 90s". Since their 2006 reformation, their material has been seen as more akin to their early output and they are quite rightly regarded as pioneers of electronic music, combining an experimental minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities and becoming central figures in the late 1970s/early 1980s emergence of Synth-pop.

In 2017 the telephone kiosk on Greenwood Road, Meols was restored, the subject of the band’s second single release, 'Red Frame/White Light' in 1980. The band used the kiosk to make calls to organise their early gigs in the late 1970s and the number of the telephone, 632 3003, is a key feature of the song lyrics.

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