Aardwolf

Comparing the eighteen-track edition I bought last year with the sixteen-track version I got twenty years earlier.

Retro Sixties surf instrumental O.M.D. cover.

“Dreaming” by Orchestral Manœuvres in the Dark was released thirty years ago today.  It was the last single to feature O.M.D.’s classic lineup.

"If You Leave" by Orchestral Manœuvres in the Dark, from the 1986 film Pretty in Pink, released as a single later the same year.  Music video directed by Howie Deutch.

A few years ago, when I was on an O.M.D. fan forum, I asked about the instruments used in "If You Leave."  Andy McCluskey himself dropped in and answered my question...and then some!

The misprinted preview cover was the first sign of trouble.

The Deluxe Edition of Junk Culture by Orchestral Manœuvres in the Dark is seriously flawed.  Universal Music is issuing replacements for Disc 2 to correct one of the mistakes (e-mail here).

This is old news, but you may not have heard about it.  I missed the brief statement posted on the official site.  The band's Facebook feed that keeps us posted on every little thing never said anything about this.  There's also a surprising lack of mentions in reviews.

I didn't hear about any of this until after I bought my copy.  My heart skipped a beat when the intro of "Tesla Girls" was different.  I mean I literally had a sudden rush of adrenaline from this disquieting surprise.  I did a bunch of searching online and the story gradually fell into place.  I hope this information will be helpful to those watching the O.M.D. tags.

The Deluxe Edition discs were pressed with incorrect versions of 4 of the songs.  The album version of "Tesla Girls" has been replaced by what appears to be an earlier mix from before the Fairlight effects were added to the intro.  The soaring piano measure near the beginning is only played once and leads straight into the first chorus without the record skip effect.  It is not, as some report, the same edit as the 7" single.  That version doesn't have the looped piano but does have the record skips.

"Love and Violence" contains a brief edit at the 3:30 mark, removing the line, "And I've tried, I've tried, but she always seems to know."  These two changes bring the album’s length from 43:15 to 42:51.

On Disc 2, "Wrappup" has been replaced with the album version of “All Wrapped Up.”  The exact same version of the same song is here twice.  Lastly, the extended version of "Talking Loud and Clear" has been trimmed from 8:50 to 6:12.  This isn't a serious loss, since the track is full of repetitive looping, but an official message says it's an error.

Later pressings of the Deluxe Edition have corrected the "Wrappup" substitution but nothing else.  I can't find if there's any way to tell if a copy is corrected without actually listening to it.  To compound the troubles, some copies were accidentally packaged with Disc 1 replaced by the corrected Disc 2.

There's plenty more to complain about, too.  The liner notes are full of typos.  The track listing isn't specific about the songs on Disc 2.  There were different cuts of the I.C.P. Studios rerecording of "Julia's Song" released on different versions of the "Talking Loud and Clear" single.  Nothing says which of those is included here.  Nothing says which of the 4 (or more?) extended mixes of "Tesla Girls" is included, either.  The plastic liner that says "Deluxe Edition" is so sticky that it damages the cover when you remove it to open the digipak.  There's just failure all over the place.

This is reportedly only one of many Universal Music releases with mistakes.  Piracy is driving the company toward bankruptcy, forcing deep cuts to the workforce.  It is difficult for the remaining skeleton crew to maintain quality.  But this shoddy treatment of a timeless masterpiece is simply inexcusable.

While playing around in Photoshop I accidentally created an O.M.D. album cover.

Record sleeves and a picture disc for various releases of the 1985 single "So in Love" by Orchestral Manœuvres in the Dark.  Designed by Peter Seville, the artwork draws from the imagery of Día de los Muertos, the Mexican celebration of All Saints' Day which incorporates pre-Columbian traditions.