I was never a big Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark fan growing up and aside from "Souvenir", I don't recall hearing their music in my youth. I think my lack of interest in the band may have stemmed from a perception that they weren't really a 'proper' electronic group. To some extent this notion is born out by this album as the only synthesisers used were the toy like Korg M500 Micro-Preset and a Korg MS-20. The majority of the noise on this record is created by bass guitar, lead guitar, organ, electric piano and saxophone. With the exception of the Roland CR-78 drum machine, everything is played by hand and there is no programming to speak of.
In fairness OMD weren't unique in this regard and, if you look at the charts for 1980, you will find surprisingly little music that was purely electronic. Artists such as Jarre, Vangelis and Kraftwerk came close to some sort of purity, but big chart singles of the day such as Visage "Fade to Grey", Devo "Whip It" and Ultravox's "Vienna" all relied heavily on traditional instruments. Early synth-pop gave the impression of being electronic, but if you lift the lid, it isn't nearly as sophisticated as you might think.
As a result of my electronic snobbery I didn't buy OMD's eponymous debut until about 2007 and I only purchased this vinyl when it was re-released in 2018. Whilst his record will never be my favourite by the band, I am now more accustomed to its style and can appreciate its charms.
Highlights on this record have to be the debut single "Electricity" and its b-side "Almost". "Electricity" was an attempt to copy the style of Kraftwerk but as it was recorded using a very restricted palette of sounds, it ends up sounding unique. "Mystereality" is a good song that can even withstand a noisy saxophone warbling over the top. The album version of hit single "Messages" is a little rough around the edges when compared to the single mix but it still satisfies. "Pretending to see the future" sounds slightly derivative but only the terrible "Dancing" deserves "nul points" from the jury.
The pop material on this album is definitely much stronger than the attempts at artistry or experimentation. I think this is probably my other issue with early OMD; they wanted to be experimental but didn't realise they were actually better as hitmakers. 2.5/5
