[…continued from last post]

ROCK G.P.A.: 2.8261

Six years ago, it would have been difficult for me to have imagined a more enjoyable modern OMD album than “The Punishment Of Luxury.” And history has certainly borne out this thought. After a decidedly upward trend of their artistic curve, the inevitable has happened, and it feels like OMD have backslid considerably on their latest opus. There’s one track that I found to be clearly classic material but a whole lot of adequacy, and some outright embarrassing chaff [“Slow Train”]. It’s been since 2010’s “History of Modern” that there have been OMD songs as vexing as that one.

Back then, the band had tentatively begun to move forward from their immediately preceding phase [OMD Break America] as well as the Andy Solo Era [1990-1996]. They had some questionable material, but eventually populated the album with some new OMD classics [“History Of Modern [parts 1+2],” “The Right Side?,” “New Holy Ground”] that had me gripped from day one. I listened to that album more than any other in the 21st century.

Then they moved from strength to strength with “English Electric” and “The Punishment Of Luxury.” They famously were determined not to repeat one of their key mistakes from the 80s; namely the ceaseless treadmill of album/tour/album∞ due to their enormous debt to Virgin Records perpetuating the worst circumstances for their art. They had no time to gestate valid ideas and instead wrote then songs that became the album; like it or not.

But after “History of Modern,” which had been written separately and apart by the pair, Andy realized that their best work was made in the same room together where they could respond to each other in real time. So they made the effort to write the last two albums while together. Of course, this album had been written apart under a pandemic. And I have to say, that not unlike the last Simple Minds album; also written under such conditions, the assembled dozen songs show signs of wear and tear that compromise the effectiveness of the end results.

That a 2018 new 40th single for their 40 year Greatest Hits compilation was re-recorded for “Bauhaus Staircase,” as well as sporting the song they co-write in 2011 with Fotonovela [“Aphrodite’s Favourite Child”] looks like any old port in a storm to these eyes. I’ve also read interviews with Andy McCluskey where he’s indicated that this one was difficult to write and that he’s thinking that this should be the final OMD album. Though I’ve heard far worse OMD albums, I think he should follow his instincts on that issue.

It’s a listenable album of adequate OMD material, for the most part. I’ve embedded the best and worst of it in this review for comparison and contrast, and in spite of my borderline antipathy, I find many of these songs getting stuck in my cranium. But that’s maybe an invalid measure of artistic success since I might simply be at fault, there. It’s just how my mind is. Some song has to fill it. But I’d rather it be with material I have greater enthusiasm and respect for.

OMD have great meaning to me as their artistic P.O.V. was unique when I first encountered it. Hearing OMD songs felt like getting a secret transmission intended for your ears only. Who else would write with such references to science, history, abstraction? OMD didn’t sh as they happened at exactly they away from statements rife with moral ambiguity, yet also packed with great melodies and hooks…while still finding space for avant-garde experimentation in the margins [“Annex”], and even sometimes in the foreground [“Dazzle Ships”]. The power and strength of their canon had insured that I consider them a Core Collection band; one of the standard bearers of my aesthetic bearing in that they happened at exactly the right time in my personal development.

And for that reason, it’s disturbing to hear a banal lyric like “Don’t Go,” which shortchanges the more lively music in a manner that suggests that Andy felt that the clock was ticking…even when it wasn’t. They are in charge and nothing can make them do things if they didn’t want to. That they did, is indicative of a problem. I say it’s better that they ride off into the sunset and do nothing further to cast a shadow on their legacy.

The album continued their upward commercial movement in the UK. Debuting at number 2 on the UK album charts. OMD’s highest placing ever; besting their 1988 greatest hits package. In a world where Taylor Swift exists, one cannot achieve anything more. There’s no time better than now to get off of the treadmill of competition and for OMD to leave the building. Leaving at a point where they are at their commercial apogee and suspended in mid-air before the more fickle pop audience moves on to the next shiny, new thing; leaving them to then plummet back to earth.

Their au currant production; reliant on soft synths and a DAW to assemble the music, doesn’t do them any favors. The previous three albums all had arrangements that showed that Paul Humphreys was trying his level best not to lapse into modern cliché. The last three albums could have sounded better had they been made with analog synths and a real studio board, but at least the material was stronger. The bottom seems to have dropped out on “Bauhaus Staircase.” It feels cheap and nasty as if the band didn’t care at this point. The mastering my Mike Marsh, or was that Mike Harsh, is a brickwalled mess. So much so, that the unmastered demo bonus disc sounded fantastico in comparison. And the demo disc brought up another factor, the simply inhuman sounding, quantized production of the songs. 

OMD were at their best when they were navigating their way through the emerging high-tech landscape with little more than a single Korg synth while their hearts were in the right place for them to manage to make incredibly affecting art. In direct opposition to the amount of technology in their studio. They used a Mellotron, as a point of emphasis! In 1981 a Mellotron was the antithesis of technological cool. That they went for it with gusto spoke to the spirit that made their reputation. As we crucially ask ourselves, if “Bauhaus Staircase” were OMD’s debut album would we bother to listen further? Well, any album with “Kleptocracy” would pass that test. The rest? Perhaps not. The sonic experimentation and excitement that a song like “Our System” or “Ghost Star” brought to the fore was conspicuously absent here. At most “Healing” called back to the foley rhythms of “New Holy Ground” with a sense of it all having been done before. “Bauhaus Staircase” feels perfunctory; a case of diminishing returns. So let’s hope that OMD follow the instincts that are telling Andy McCluskey that this is the wrap up for OMD. His knees will thanks him, and so will this lifelong fan.

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