Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: OMD Live – Architecture & Morality & More (Eagle DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B     Extras: C     Concert: B-

 

 

From 1985 – 88, OMD (aka Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) had a couple of Top 40 hits before their original line-up ended in end of the decade.  Two decades later, with the return of Paul Humphreys and the rest of the band, OMD Live – Architecture & Morality & More offers a 2008 release of this 2007 concert.  Though they are a little rough, this is not a bad reunion show overall.  The performances include:

 

1)     Architecture & Morality

2)     Sealand

3)     The New Stone Age

4)     Georgia

5)     She’s Leaving

6)     Souvenir

7)     Joan Of Arc

8)     Joan Of Arc (Maid Of New Orleans)

9)     The Beginning & The End

10)  Messages

11)  Tesla Girls

12)  Forever (Live & Die)

13)  If You Leave

14)  Pandora’s Box

15)  Talking Loud & Clear

16)  So In Love

17)  Locomotion

18)  Sailing On The Seven Seas

19)  Enola Gay

20)  Walking On The Milky Way

21)  Electricity

22)  Romance Of The Telescope

 

 

Known more for making If You Leave the big hit tune from the 1986 hit movie Pretty In Pink than the best band of the New Romantics/New Wave movement, there is likely to be curiosity interest in this concert and its not bad, but time has not stood still and this should be seen as more of a reunion hello than a trip back in time.  Now if you want to really see it, here it is.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has some good color and a few interesting shots, but definition and depth are not the best, though I bet a Blu-ray version would bring out more.  The DTS 5.1 mix is another story, with good, rich, warm sound that just passes the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes.  Extras include alternate edits of two tracks, two on-camera interviews (with the band and Hambi Haralambous) and a color booklet inside the DVD simply offering color images and a tracklisting.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo