This live album, recorded during
last year’s excellent
Architecture & Morality shows,
is handily divided into two
parts. We say “handily”
because it demonstrates the
clear line between OMD’s early
and late periods.
Up to and including their
fourth album Dazzle Ships, this
forward-looking Liverpudlian
synth-pop unit were at the head
of the pack along with Gary
Numan and Cabaret Voltaire.
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. Perhaps it’s because
the songs are being played by
the original line up of Andy
McCluskey, Paul Humphreys,
Malcolm Holmes and Martin
Cooper that they are treated
with such respect. McCluskey’s
impassioned croon is
remarkably up to the job and
the music has been tweaked
only to a subliminal degree.
The remainder is made up
from “the hits”, which, while no
means bad, means there is a
noticeable drop in quality.
Songs such as Pandora’s Box
have been included at the
expense of more interesting,
less well-known material such
as Telegram. Fortunately, it’s
pretty hard to say anything bad
about a live album that ends
with Enola Gay, Electricity and
Romance Of The
Telescope.
