Jase on Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

- another page from Jase's CD Collection -

The first OMD song I recall hearing was "If You Leave". I remember the radio DJ making fun of the band's name. "This band's name is Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark," he said. "Boy I'm glad the shortened it to OMD!" My sister bought The Best of OMD when it came out, and I think I recognized about half of the songs. That CD is now one of my favorites.

OMD is credited with being one of the first synth-pop bands and a big influence on future Euro-pop artists. The group started as a duo: Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphries. Andy was the musician; Paul was the electronics expert. The duo picked up and dropped several members along the way. When the Best of OMD album came out, the band consisted of Andy, Paul, Martin Cooper, and Malcolm Holmes. The band broke up, and Andy worked alone but kept the "OMD" name. Paul, Martin, and Malcolm formed The Listening Pool.

Since I don't have any entire OMD albums prior to The Best of OMD, it's hard to compare what Andy has done on his own. I have one of the three albums he has put out since the band broke up. I heard parts of Liberator, and I wasn't too impressed. Universal came out in 1996, but I haven't heard it. Likewise, I haven't heard anything by The Listening Pool.

Andy contributed keyboard work on the Lightning Seeds album Cloucuckooland.