I had posted on this disc in it’s pre-release/announcement phase. But that didn’t mean that I heard it until almost three years later! Sure, sure. I’m usually all over OMD material like white on rice, but in 2021 I was trying to cut back on spending on music. And I succeeded. Then came 2022: the year of transformative home improvement upgrades. And 2023 was all about family issues and saving for the big Eurotrip in 2024. Well, all of that’s behind me now. And I still have been fretting over nabbing a copy of this in recent months, but thanks to a generous commenter’s care package from Scotland, it [and a few other other delightful releases] are now in my Record Cell. So of course I must wrote about this!

OMD: Architectire + Morality The Singles – UK – CD [2021]

1. Souvenir
2. Motion & Heart (Amazon Version)
3. Sacred Heart
4. Souvenir (Demo)
5. Choir Song (Rough Mix)
6. Motion & Heart (Live at Drury Lane, 1981)
7. Joan Of Arc
8. The Romance Of The Telescope (Unfinished)
9. Joan Of Arc (Live at Drury Lane, 1981)
10. Joan Of Arc (Rough Mix)
11. New Song (Georgia Demo)
12. She’s Leaving (Demo)
13. Maid of Orleans (The Waltz Joan of Arc)
14. Navigation
15. Sealand (Demo)
16. Submarines
17. Maid of Orleans (Demo)
18. Joan Of Arc (Maid of Orleans) (Live at Drury Lane, 1981)

For today’s review, we’ll stick to the material in bold that represents the tracks not previously released. The demo of “Souvenir” is much the same, wistful delight, but the production is less layered and more crisp and direct. The delay on the melody almost has a slapback effect to the sound/ The drum track is less thunderous on the godlike percussion break where only the choral tapes and the drums reign for a few bars. And Paul Humphreys’ vocal is less layered with overdubs and effects to stand out more from the mix.

It takes guts to put two versions of the same song on a row on a compilation, but in this case, the “Choir Song [rough mix]” revealed a form of the track before the name had been applied to it. The famous choral tapes that were the song’s genesis were still there, of course, but the production of the synths was more prominent and synthpoppy in attack. Sporting expressive countermelodies new to my ears. In fact, if you’ve ever heard Greek synth duo Marsheaux’s cover version of “She’s Leaving” the vibe here was much the same! The drum track here was crisper in attack, as was Paul’s vocal.

The rough mix of “Joan Of Arc” was not dramatically different from the final version, save for the more prominent and different, glockenspiel. The biggest change was the somewhat dissolute vocal from Andy McCluskey. Here he was not yet putting the passion of his final performance into the song. Well, that’s what rough mixes are for.

We got another peek beneath the cowling of the “A+M” album with a deep cut. “New Song [Georgia Demo].” They had not yet titled the tune at this point, but the music bed was not dissimilar to the final version. Again, the difference in Andy’s vocal performance was the big takeaway here. He sang the song in a lower register in the first few bars of each verse, but the last few bars still rose to the same pitch as the final mix; giving the song a wider dynamic range. And the soviet choral tapes and sound effects were of course, missing from this mix. And the tempo may have been ever so slightly slower.

The demo of “She’s Leaving” had a long, buildup of random synth waves before the doubled delay synth rhythm finally manifested and brought the song into sharper focus. Then the delay on the lead synth riff have the song an almost pizzicato effect that was delightfully crystalline. The lack here of rhythmic discipline gave the song some very scruffy edges that were very different. As was the character of McCluskey’s more insouciant vocal.

“Sealand” demo was a brief snippit at 3:04 of the Prog-length opus on the album. The rhythm track was the most basic snare loop imaginable. The lead synth almost sounded like an accordion duetting with a car horn. It was all very skeletal, but it sure nailed the melancholy vibe that they would eventually coax out of the song magnificently. Any fan would recognize it as “Sealand,” though it was but a précis at the time captured here.

The jittery new instrumental “Submarines” was touched by Moroderesque doubled leads and throbbing bass synth. It was a delight to hear this though I can see why it was put aside as the vibe was var more technopoppy than what the A+M album would eventually stand to represent. The wailing lead recalled the watery sound of a bosun’s whistle, so I really get the “Submarines” title. This might have had a more apt home of the “Dazzle Ships” album that followed, but it never came to that, surprisingly.

All of this material was a delight and of interest to this rabid OMD fan, but even I have my limits. And they were crossed by the “Maid Of Orleans [Demo.]” it staggered my mind to consider how the most thrilling of OMD’s performances [that can still make me weep with emotion after 43 years] could have initially been rendered as a tinpot Irish sea shanty with thin, cheesy synths that brought to mind MIDI karakoke files. I get on my knees and thank the OMD gods that they were able to transform this slightest of tracks into the magnificence that eventually was “Maid Of Orleans [The Waltz Joan Of Arc].” If I had heard this back then I would have said to dump it and move on!

Of course, that took care of the “new” material. The singles and B-sides, and live tracks fleshed this out into a delight auxiliary volume that allowed us to re-experience what was OMD’s most celebrated hour. The differences between the early versions and mixes illustrated how OMD were transitioning from the technopop and modernism of their first album to something in 1981 that used a perverse mix of new and old technology [like Mellotrons] to arrive at a unique sound that was paradoxical in that it utilized modern technology to sound centuries old.

I think it would be very possible to re-arrange A+M for completely acoustic instruments far predating the 20th century and have it still hit the listener’s ear with all of the impact of the 1981 album. The material here shows the development of the songs before they eventually wrapped their heads around the unique vibe that the “Architecture + Morality” album would eventually have. It’s also very common for significant albums like that one to get a huge boxed set reissue on their nth anniversary. How unlike the pack of OMD to instead curate a companion volume as delightful as this was.

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