Dazzle Ships
Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark
Virgin, 1983
REVIEW BY: Michael R. Smith
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 11/02/2008
You might think you know all there is to know about the synth-pop act OMD, but you ain’t heard nothing until you’ve listened to their concept album, Dazzle Ships. Right from the very first song “Genetic Engineering,” you get the impression that Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys are trying so hard to get it just right and have this album be their masterpiece. With the help of producer Rhett Davies, they almost succeed. It certainly is unlike anything else from the early ‘80s, especially when you take the several brief, and often spoken, interludes that help to bridge the songs together. This type of formula would later be duplicated by Janet Jackson, who insisted in putting interludes and snippets of dialogue on virtually every one of her albums.
The overall theme of Dazzle Ships is how industry influences (and sometimes dominates) much of humanity. Throughout this densely packed affair, we hear radio transmissions, talking computers and even colliding foreign languages announcing the time of day. Intent of marketing the album as a whole, there weren’t any hit singles marketed to radio stations, so promoting the album proved to be a lesson in futility. Only by word of mouth (especially among the British) and critical reviews such as this would the public be let in on the secret that this was one album worth checking out. The best tracks, and the ones that should have been hits, are the two most upbeat ones, “Telegraph” and “Radio Waves.” In between such high points, the album is largely hit and miss, weighed down at times by too many ballads.
Still, Dazzle Ships succeeds because it is such a radical departure from OMD’s previous work. The otherwise low-key duo are really busting loose here, singing their hearts out on many of the tunes. The slow songs, particularly “International” and “Of All The Things We’ve Made” do add some emotional depth to the sterile tone of the album, though the music tends to be on the repetitive side and could use a little more variation in melody. That is a minor quibble, however, when considering the overall effect of the record as a whole. It is, by far, the most engaging and interesting thing OMD has ever done, though from what I hear, their live shows are also not to be missed.
Speaking of which, it was recently announced that OMD has reformed to do a farewell tour of sorts in the