Put The Needle On The Record - Week #44

Put The Needle On The Record Week #44 OMD - Architecture & Morality

For this weeks feature we go back to March 1981 and the OMD album "Architecture & Morality".

Well what can I say about this album....it is a masterpiece! One of my most played records ever, I am a massive fan of OMD and they are the band I have seen in concert more than any other band or artist, mainly in the 1980s and 1990s, I saw them on the tour for this album at the Manchester Apollo, the second OMD concert I attended, one of the best live bands out there and a band that has given us so many massive melodic hits over the years and of course they are still going strong today. I bought the album from HMV on Market street in Manchester during one of my many excursions to record stores during my lunch breaks from work.

The album is the biggest selling OMD album selling over 4 million copies and is a an album that has been showcased live quite a few times by the band over recent years.

It has so many stunning tracks, as well as, the singles that were released, it included some of my favourite OMD songs, such as, "She's Leaving", "The Beginning And The End" (what a song this is!), a brilliant closing track for the album and "Georgia" all of which could have been released as singles, and of course the brillaint and epic "Sealand". "She's Leaving" was released as a single in the Benelux region. The only track I am not keen on is the opening track on the album "The New Stone Age".

In all 3 singles were released, "Souvenir", one of my favourite tracks on the album, was released in August 1981 (which reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart), "Joan Of Arc" (which reached number 5 in the UK Singles chart and contained the wonderful B Side "The Romance of the Telescope (Unfinished)" and "Maid of Orleans (The Waltz Joan of Arc)", (which reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in several European countries, including Germany, Spain, Holland and Belgium).

The album reached number 3 on the UK album chart.

Track Listing

The New Stone Age
She's Leaving
Souvenir
Sealand
Joan Of Arc
Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)
Architecture & Morality
Georgia
The Beginning And The End

If you have this album in your collection, dig it out and give it a spin!