Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) – ‘History of Modern’ UK limited edition boxed set

Since my earlier post that documented the recent CD re-issue of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s first album raised the idea of doing an unboxing of their latest opus, it seemed only fair to oblige now that I have received my copy. Being something of a Peter Saville fan as well, it is good to see OMD heading back in the direction of earlier artwork styles. It does rather feel as if the whole box set thing is a bit over the top though, I have to confess. As for the album itself, I would describe it as rather schizophrenic, with a jumble of styles – some obviously aiming to re-mint the classic ‘Architecture & Morality’ sound via the Mellotron-saturated sounds, some coming on all ‘Sugar Tax’ era pop/dance style, while the shadow of Kraftwerk continues to hang over pieces such as ‘History of Modern’ (Part II), ‘RFWK’ and ‘The Right Side’.

I wasn’t quick enough off the mark to get the limited edition free t-shirt as well, otherwise this is the contents of the UK edition of the boxed set.

So, I’ll let the pictures tell the story on this post… You can click on each image to see a 640×480 enlargement.

Boxed set (front)
^ The front of the boxed set, unopened
The sticker detailing the contents (peeled off of the shrink wrap)
^ The sticker detailing the contents (peeled off of the shrink wrap)

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‘Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’ US die-cut sleeve re-issue CD (MicroWerks, MW060, 2010)

A new release this, as of June 2010 – an American re-issue of the first album by Orchestral ManÅ“uvres in the Dark, this time round packaged in something approaching the style of the original vinyl issue.

Front of sleeve, opened out
^ Front of sleeve, opened out

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves so you can see what the packaging is like. Musically, the CD is like the 2003 CD re-master except that it loses two tracks, the ‘Electricity’ and ‘Almost’ Martin Hannett/Cargo Studios versions. If you’ve already got the CD and aren’t overly fussed about the packaging, walk on by people, nothing to see here and you are losing two tracks. If however you have a thing for a miniature reproduction of such a fantastic sleeve design, this may well be softly cooing your name already…

Back of front cover and inner
^ Back of front cover and inner

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Bauhaus – ‘Mask’ original UK issue LP (Beggars Banquet, BEGA29, 1981)

What we have here is the original release of the second Bauhaus album, ‘Mask’, released in 1981. I say original because it was later re-released in a slightly altered sleeve and label design (presumably after the breakthrough success of the ‘Ziggy Stardust’/’Third Uncle’ single, though I don’t know that for sure). The front and back of the cover remained the same, but as you’ll spy from the accompanying photos the inner gatefold of this version features a single band photo and all text in blue. The subsequent re-issue features a spread of photos taken from the shoot for the ‘Mask’ promo video and all text is in white. Label-wise, the original came with the standard-issue Beggars Banquet labels of a 1981 vintage – the later copies had the white/black Bauhaus ‘face’ design labels.

Mask 1981 UK LP - front sleeve and original label design
^ Mask 1981 UK LP – front sleeve and original label design

View at a larger size

There have been a couple of CD re-issues in gatefold mini-LP sleeve reproductions for this album now. First to appear was the Japanese issue in 2004 (featuring the standard album tracks plus a selection of extra tracks from singles of the era) and then late in 2009 a boxed ‘Omnibus Edition’ was released – this featured the ‘Mask’ album on one CD with its original tracks only and in a reproduction gatefold sleeve, plus two additional CDs – one with singles/B sides/previously unreleased out-takes and the other with a 1981 live recording. Both the Japanese mini-LP edition and ‘Omnibus’ re-issues have used the later sleeve design for their covers as opposed to the original version featured here today. Continue reading “Bauhaus – ‘Mask’ original UK issue LP (Beggars Banquet, BEGA29, 1981)”

‘Dreams and Desires’ tape (Pleasantly Surprised, PS006, 1984)

‘Dreams and Desires’ was one the ‘Pleasantly Surprised’ series of various artist cassette compilations that appeared throughout the first half of the ’80s, this particular example hailing from late 1984. The sleeve design clearly has a nod and a wink to the Joy Division feel of ‘Closer’, while musically the selection is something of a feast for fans of the 4AD label, with demo/instrumental versions to be found from several of the then current 4AD stable.

Cassette - 'Dreams' side
^ Cassette – ‘Dreams’ side
Cassette - 'Desires' side
^ Cassette – ‘Desires’ side

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Ultravox ‘New Europeans’ Japanese LP (Chrysalsis/Toshiba EMI Ltd, WWS-81465, 1982)

The Japanese record industry, much to the delights of collectors such as I, always seems to have acted with impunity when it comes to its releases, never shying away from taking a grab-bag approach to compile releases which probably have the artists themselves holding their faces in horror. Yes, we are talking about these albums and mini-albums that have no equivalent releases elsewhere and the early ’80s in particular was  a great period for this.

Insert (front) and label
^ Insert (front) and label

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