• Artist: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
• Flags: Lyrics are included with the album
• Rating:
• Styles: New Romantic, New Wave, Pop
• Track Picks: "Genetic Engineering," "International," "Radio Waves"
• Similar Albums: Telekon, Complete Madness, Presents the Rise & Fall, White Feathers, Naked Eyes, Madness [1983], Standing in the Light, Off the Coast of Me, The Luxury Gap, A Flock of Seagulls, I Just Can't Stop It, I Want Candy

Review

OMD's glistening run of top-flight singles and chart domination came to a temporary but dramatic halt with Dazzle Ships, the point where the band's pushing of boundaries reached their furthest limit. McCluskey, Humphreys, and company couldn't take many listeners with them, though, and it's little surprise why -- a couple of moments aside, Dazzle Ships is pop of the most fragmented kind, a concept album released in an era that had nothing to do with such conceits. On its own merits, though, it is dazzling indeed, a Kid A of its time that never received a comparative level of contemporary attention and appreciation. Indeed, Radiohead's own plunge into abstract electronics and meditations on biological and technological advances seems to be echoing the themes and construction of Dazzle Ships. What else can be said when hearing the album's lead single, the soaring "Genetic Engineering," with its Speak & Spell toy vocals and an opening sequence that also sounds like the inspiration for "Fitter, Happier," for instance? Why it wasn't a hit remains a mystery, but it and the equally enjoyable, energetic "Telegraph" and "Radio Waves" are definitely the poppiest moments on the album. Conceived around visions of cryptic Cold War tension, the rise of computers in everyday life, and European and global reference points -- time zone recordings and snippets of shortwave broadcasts -- Dazzle Ships beats Kraftwerk at their own game, science and the future turned into surprisingly warm, evocative songs or sudden stop-start instrumental fragments. "Dazzle Ships (Parts II, III, and VII)" itself captures the alien feeling of the album best, with its distanced, echoing noises and curious rhythms, sliding into the lovely "The Romance of the Telescope." "This Is Helena" works in everything from what sounds like heavily treated and flanged string arrangements to radio announcer samples, while "Silent Running" becomes another in the line of emotional, breathtaking OMD ballads, McCluskey's voice the gripping centerpiece. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	iTunes	Composers	Performers	Time
Radio Prague	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(1:18)
Genetic Engineering	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(3:37)
ABC Auto-Industry	...	Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(2:06)
Telegraph	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(2:57)
This Is Helena	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(1:58)
International	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(4:25)
The Romance of the Telescope	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(3:27)
Silent Running	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(3:34)
Radio Waves	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(3:45)
Time Zones	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(1:49)
Of All the Things We've Made	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(3:27)
Dazzle Ships, Pts. 1-3	...	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	(2:21)

Credits

Arun Chakraverty (Mastering), M.H. Cooper, Rhett Davies (Producer), Rhett Davies (Engineer), Malcolm Holmes, Maureen Humphreys (Vocals), Tony Lawrence (Engineer), Ian Little (Engineer), Andy McCluskey (Guitar), Andy McCluskey (Keyboards), Andy McCluskey (Vocals), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Arranger), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Producer), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Engineer), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Main Performer), Brian Tench (Engineer), Paul Ward (Engineer), Paul Humphreys (Percussion), Paul Humphreys (Keyboards), Paul Humphreys (Vocals), Paul Humphreys, Dirk Hohmeyer (Engineer), Jean-Michel Reusser (Engineer), Mike Stark (Engineer), Andy Dunkley (Engineer), G.A. McCluskey, Keith Richard Nixon (Engineer), Sue Sawyer (Engineer)

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