Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s 1983 album Dazzle Ships clocks in at just over half an hour, and it’s a marvel, combining lush synths, short-wave radio samples. and technologically ambivalent lyrics to create a bleak portrait of the Atari 2600 age. The larger-than-life “Genetic Engineering” is the album’s high point, with its crashing cymbals, choirs of confusion about the future, and Speak-N-Spell samples; “Telegraph” is just as grand, but it has a slightly sweeter pop sensibility thanks to a lilting keyboard line.
OMD – Genetic Engineering [MP3, link expired]
OMD – Telegraph [MP3, link expired]
WHEN will this be properly remastered and reissued, dammit.
I always loved Eggs’ cover of this song… it brought a sense of humanity to the whole concept (whether appropriate or not for such a technical title and original).