Name: Architecture & Morality
Brand: UMC - Virgin Domestic
SKU: 116601362
Availability: OutOfStock

Architecture & Morality

Rating

Album: Architecture & Morality
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The New Stone Age	More Info...	0:03
2)	She's Leaving	More Info...	0:03
3)	Souvenir	More Info...	0:03
4)	Sealand	More Info...	0:07
5)	Joan of Arc	More Info...	0:03
6)	Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)	More Info...	0:04
7)	Architecture and Morality	More Info...	0:03
8)	Georgia	More Info...	0:03
9)	The Beginning and the End	More Info...	0:03

Album: Architecture & Morality
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The New Stone Age	More Info...	0:03
2)	She's Leaving	More Info...	0:03
3)	Souvenir	More Info...	0:03
4)	Sealand	More Info...	0:07
5)	Joan of Arc	More Info...	0:03
6)	Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)	More Info...	0:04
7)	Architecture and Morality	More Info...	0:03
8)	Georgia	More Info...	0:03
9)	The Beginning and the End	More Info...	0:03

Performer Notes

Full performer name: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Andrew McCluskey (vocals, guitar, reed horns, organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, bass, percussion, electronic percussion, programming); Paul Humphreys (vocals, melodica, piano, organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, percussion, electronic percussion, programming).
Additional personnel: Martin Cooper (saxophone); Michael Douglas (piano, organ, synthesizer); Malcolm Holmes (bass synthesizer, drums, percussion, electronic percussion).
Producers: Richard Manwaring, OMD, Mike Howlett.
Includes liner notes by Paul Browne.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's eponymous debut and its follow-up, ORGANISATION, were pioneering synth-pop albums. However, some of the sonic experiments sounded forced and the band's ideas occasionally seemed to outstrip their abilities. That's definitely not the case here. Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys integrate their electronics gracefully into the format of the pop song, and Malcolm Cooper's live drums do much to keep the album from sounding too machine-made.
The album's centerpiece is the two-part "Joan of Arc"/"Maid of Orleans" suite, OMD's most memorable, as well as prettiest, achievement at that point. The single "Souvenir" is nearly the equal of those two songs, and the eight-minute atmospheric exploration "Sealand" shows the duo's experimental bent remains strong.

Professional Reviews

Uncut (8/03, p.119) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A luxuriously bleak collage of avant-garde lullabies..."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Their combination of a clear-sighted use of emergent technology and techniques to write pop music that was at once futuristic and classicist was, and still is, a winning formula."