[…continued from last post]

“Where We Started” was a stately OMD mid-tempo ballad with Mellotron sample choral patches and striking the sine wave lead synth patch that has been very popular with the band of late. The McCluskey penned tune was one of two here where he wrote without co-writers. It featured a familiar vibe; similar to the great Thompson Twins deep cut “If You Were Here,” which served it well enough, and at 2:27, it certainly left one wanting more!

I couldn’t say that about the following “Veruschka.” It was another mid-tempo ballad built upon sustained string patches and harp glissandos. The biggest problem that I had with it was that it explicitly recalled the wealth of forgettable material from my least favorite OMD album, “Liberator.” The layering of vocal effects on McCluskey’s performance didn’t endear it any further with me. To its credit, there was no dreaded shuffle beat that would have thoroughly shackled it to the otherwise exact same vibe as a song from “Liberator” like “King Of Stone.” With the famous 60s model as its title, I had expected a lot of vivacity from this song and it thoroughly let me down.

I had similar issues with the very different track that followed. “Slow Train” sounded like a track that would have been kind of expected from 2010’s “History Of Modern” album. It hit like a perfect mashup of OMD’s own “Sailing On The Seven Seas Of Love” with Goldfrapp’s “Ooh La La” hit from 2005. Hearing it in 2023, one was struck with how dated and derivative it was. OMD had stood for so much more than this of late. The co-write between McCluskey and backing vocalist Katrina Kanepe suggested an old Genie Queen tune that was kicking around in Andy’s notebooks and used now to its detriment.

The inane, singsong nursery rhyme melody was only marginally better than the one of “Sailing On The Seven Seas” and if McCluskey was burying any subtle intelligence in the lyric, let me say that it was buried deep to the point of inscrutability. I like the Goldfrapp song. It revisited T-Rextacy with a bracing electro drag. “Slow Train” was late to the station in comparison… about 20 years too late.

The new recording of “Don’t Go” stands as the only one I’ve heard since I never got any copy of “Souvenir” back in 2019. The poise and crisp attack of the backing track suggested Kraftwerk at their cheeriest, while the juxtaposition of the anguished, if clichéd, lyric was strongly redolent of the band’s “break America” phase of the mid 80s. These are definitely not the lyrics I want to hear in OMD material; leaving the re-recording of “Don’t Go” looking like filler here.

The single fist-pumping, actually thrilling, OMD song to be found on “Bauhaus Staircase,” was the other McCluskey-penned song; “Kleptocracy.” It began with the most urgent intro imaginable, as a man’s voice shouted “Go!” with a pre-echo giving it a doppler shift dynamism that was unbelievable. It hit the ground running a full speed as McCluskey trained his cynical eye directly on the political hellscape of the now with unerring accuracy. I do think that this song might be the lyrical successor to Jarvis Cocker’s “…Running The World” for the song that best summed up our political predicament.

It also helped that it sported a classic OMD melody that was directly at odds with the tenor of the lyric, for loads of that cognitive dissonance that worked to their advantage on classics like “Enola Gay.” And like the very best OMD songs, there was a real bass guitar in McCluskey’s hands when this gem was recorded. The mixing on this one from David Watts [he also mixed “Slow Train”] showed that these songs were made or broken at the writing stage. On this song, Andy was on fire. This song was so irresistible, that even the electronically slurred vocals couldn’t put me off. When it stopped on a dime at a letter perfect 3:00 it could have lasted for twice as long for my tastes. I pray that this one will be a future single so that we’ll have an OMD extended version to listen to with all of the other lyrics that McCluskey trimmed to deliver this potent molotov cocktail of an OMD song.

More choral patches heralded the exquisite “Aphrodite’s Favourite Child” which took the prize here for the best of the five mid-tempo ballads. Its steady synth pulse and hi-hat gently driving the first verse until the drums and string patches converged in a dreamlike whorl while McCluskey delivered devastating lyrics like “can you hold me, closely, like a mother holds her dying only child.” The tasteful use of vocal effects only on his backing vocal ensured that Andy was front and center to make an emotional connection with the listener on this powerful number. The heartbreaking coda where McCluskey cedes the space to the Mellotron chorale was OMD at their melancholy, poignant best.

“Evolution of Species” had the band indulging in another of their science geek extravaganzas, complete with multi-lingual, Kraftwerkian synthetic vocals carrying the message forward. The band had revisited this trope from “Dazzle Ships” on the “English Electric” album of 2013 where it was a significant piece of the album’s foundation. It continued with a pair on the “Punishment Of Luxury” album, and in the here and now, it gave a sense slight desperation. It was notable for another Eastern European melody but when it ended after three minutes with the Voice Of Authority portentously intoning “extinction… extinction… extinction” you’d hopefully forgive me for noting its perfunctory air.

Dripping water foley effects added some interest to the intro of the somber ballad “Healing” that capped the album. The song began with string patches and piano but became progressively more electronic sounding as it progressed to its climax where McCluskey had the final word on what has been mooted as the last OMD album. The band had used a similar gambit on the preceding “Punishment Of Luxury” where “The View From Here” had a similar vibe while being a more memorable song. There was a sense of going to the well one time too many on “Healing.”

Next: …Bonus Disc