REVIEW: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Organisation (Remastered)

8 out of 10

Find it here.

He who doesn't like New Wave music is insensate. I've been a long time fan, it's what I grew up listening to. Mostly main stream New Wave bands when I was younger; Depeche Mode, The Cure, Thompson Twins, Duran Duran, Echo And The Bunnymen, etc. But the few that were slightly more obscure/exotic are some of my favorite bands of all time. Tones On Tail & Fad Gadget for instance (go ahead look them up, you'll won't regret it) were experimental genre benders with not so "straight forward" cheesy dance beats. Recently I purchased the "Cyprien" soundtrack, the second to last track was "Enola Gay" by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. I fell in love right away and made it a point to purchase the album it belonged to "Organisation".

"Organisation" is, in all fairness, a masterpiece. Every sound/noise/instrument has undergone some sort of synthesized experimentation. The vocals are outstanding/extremely melodic like you can generally expect from certain New Wave bands. But, instead of going for all the "high notes" all of the time, they bounce back and forth between bizarre sampling effects and "unhuman" sound treatments. The drums, Simmons style, which are more than just 4/4 timing, can be both coarse and delightful at times. And the synths, oh the "masterful" synths, are out of this world "unique" and at times lush.

At certain points when Listening to OMD you may be reminded of Japan meets Fad Gadget. And at other points Thompson Twins meets Jean Michel Jarre. However OMD, whom emanates the sound of a perfect New Wave band, also bring their own matchless flair to the mix.

Sometimes spacey, mostly up-beat and dancey, definitely unique, "Organisation" is not to be missed. Buy this if you're at all into New Wave music. Buy this if you're at all interested in earlier stages of experimental dance/industrial/electronic music. Buy this now, it's sooooo good. The Remastered edition of "Organisation" comes with 5 additional tracks, most which showcase OMD's amazing ability to play their music live almost better than the recorded tracks.

Standout Tracks: ALL OF THEM, "Organisation" in currently in my top 10 80's albums of all time.