1985's "Crush" saw OMD develop their polished pop with one eye firmly set on American audiences. In order to pander to their new target demographic, the band engaged the services of producer Stephen Hague and scattered guitar, acoustic drums and brass over their synth-pop creations. The plan didn't really work for America and it certainly didn't work for me.
In my youth I didn't have a high regard for this album as it wasn't electronic enough. My immature palette required strong hooks and lots of synthesisers (I guess it still does really) and this album just didn't deliver. Today I can forgive the deficiencies in the execution and I have more patience to dig deeper, but this will never be my favourite OMD album.
"So In Love" and "Secret" are obvious radio friendly singles that would grace any album from the era. If you dare to investigate further you will find that songs like "Women III" are their equal in every way and deserve a bigger audience. "88 Seconds to Greensboro" really shouldn't be any good as it is largely a live recording of the band playing conventional instruments - clearly an outrage to synth-pop - but it actually sounds quite good.
On the downside, the profanity in the title track is unnecessary and pulls an already dull piece down into the mud. I also detest the superficial commerciality of "Hold On" as it is cheesier than a mouse's packed lunch. Still, there is enough here to keep this album credible. 3/5
