Quite a few of my favourite bands were to see their albums sliced and diced and re-packaged for overseas markets. With no UK equivalent, these were interesting regional curiosities that the record industry of the time would throw up and were exotic manna for collectors such as I. Released in America only, this compilation is one such example, others being similar releases by Japan and Heaven 17. ‘O.M.D.’ pulled together much of the band’s debut, self-titled, album and their second, ‘Organisation’.
Track listing as provided by the sleeve and labels is as follows:
Side 1:
Enola Gay (3’31”)
2nd Thought (4’12”)
Bunker Soldiers (2’51”)
Almost (3’46”)
Electricity (3’32”)
Statues (4’08”)
Side 2:
The Misunderstanding (4’45”)
Julia’s Song (4’32”)
Motion And Heart (3’13”)
Messages (3’59”)
Stanlow (6’30”)
The devil is in the detail though. For ‘Bunker Soldiers’, the mix of this track appears to be unique to this compilation – breaking out the headphones once again and its very obvious this is mixed differently, with the instruments panned around the stereo field very differently by comparison to the more familiar debut album mix. There’s that extra note at the very end which is a dead giveaway too, the sound is very similar to the start of ‘Love Action’ by The Human League, at least to my ears.
More version craziness – this is an interesting selection with rich pickings when compared to the standard debut album, for example – comes in the mixes used for both ‘Almost’ and ‘Electricity’ – both of these are the Martin Hannett mixes instead of the mixes used for the debut album – so, ‘Electricity’ doesn’t have the organ on the intro (which they seemed to have forgotten all about when mixing! – read more about all that here) and ‘Almost’ is very much bathed richly in reverb/echo. And finally, we have the lush, Mike Howlett produced single version re-recording (in 7″ edit) of ‘Messages’ in preference to the debut album mix.
The sleeve design tastefully repurposes both the original debut album vinyl sleeve design with the ‘lozenge’ grid, in grey and orange, but also references ‘Organisation’ in its choice of typography for front and back. Neat. In fact, there is also a UK re-issue of the debut album that features an incredibly similar design but altered accordingly. I’m not sure which came first, though the entry on the discography section of the OMD Messages site dates the UK are-issue as being from July 1981 and that this ‘O.M.D.’ compilation coincided.
This compilation has never been issued on CD – perhaps no surprise, but it does mean that – as far as I know – this particular, unique mix of ‘Bunker Soldiers’ hasn’t been available since, on CD or other digital formats – unless anyone knows differently?
I first heard OMD on “The Import Hour” on a local radio station. It was apparently the 1980 reissue in the flat sleeve on DinDisc but that made me a believer in OMD. Then, the next year this appeared in my Central Florida record stores and I didn’t waste any time in buying it. OMD immediately became a favorite and I soon moved to the imports as they were available in the “right” record stores once I found copies. But I still have this LP, which I’ve not listened to in almost 40 years! I kept it for the [superior, for me] Hannett versions of “Electricity” and “Almost” as much for OMD geekery. It took many years for those two cuts to be available on CD.
But I had not played this LPs version of “Bunker Soldiers” since maybe 1982, though I remember that last, lilting note you reference perfectly from the hundreds of plays I gave this in ’81-’82. Yes – a patch just like the first note in “Love Action.” It may be time to remaster my “Optical Musical Data” boxed sets of rare material after reading this. And the 3rd UK pressing of the debut was released on Feb 22, 1980 with a cover very similar to this one, which appeared the next year in the US. So there we go. By September of 1981 I was all in on the import LP of the just released “Architecture + Morality.” That month was filled with astonishing albums being released all at once.
The Hannett mixes are good indeed – and September 1981 – what a month of riches indeed for album releases – impeccable!