Universal [Import]

 

 

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este album en mi pais es muy dificil de encontrar, lo encontre de casualidad en un supermercado de mi ciudad, estaba en la seccion de cassetes de 3 dolares, o sea los mas baratos de ese entonces.... ; yo inocentemente pense q si estaba tan "barato" era por que seguramente no era muy buena la musica, o no era muy popular, asi que decidi comprarlo a pesar de que no conocia ninguna cancion de ese album, ni siquiera un single, asi que lo compre con cierto temor de que me mi dinero fuera malgastado, ademas en esa epoca, yo compraba albumes siempre y cuando conocia alguna cancion, pero el tiempo me daria la razon, compre este album simplemente por que era OMD y yo ya era fan de OMD en ese momento, asi que luego de haberlo escuchado realmente me sorprendio de que no hayan pasado en las radios de Lima ninguna sola cancion de aca... realmente sorprendente pero ahora ya me di cuenta que la musica mas popular no necesariamente es la mejor, la mejor del album ? victory walz, y sobretodo, VERY CLOSE TOO FAR AWAY, cuando escuche por primera vez THE BOY FROM THE CHEMIST pense que era una cancion alegre, pero luego de escucharlo bien es una cancion triste,realmente buena tambien es la cancion semi a capella de THE GOSPEL, realmente, para llorar, OMD vuelvan, el mundo necesita musica asi

OMD didn't create any devastating waves with this final voyage home. There was no buzz about the last CD from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark when it landed here in the States. No radio attention. No tears wept by the dumbed-down MTV legions. Only the quiet whirring of a handful of CD players loosely scattered around the continent; CD players owned by a few loyal OMD followers who knew this was the last link in a fading chain.

Having been moderately unmoved, yet equally devoted to the two previous OMD albums (Liberator and Sugar Tax), I was hoping for a clean diversion from the too-commonplace pop that had seeped into Andy McCluskey's work as of late. What I heard was not the early OMD experimentalization that so many OMD disciples have traditionally called for, and that was fine by me (you can't go back to the way things were). More over, what I heard on Universal was not the poppy, simple melodies with over-instrumentalization that wore thin in recent projects, either. In fact, Universal didn't match up perfectly with any previous OMD CD at all, and that was precisely what I needed to hear.

It's easy on the ears, there's no denying that. And the sound is unmistakably OMD's (former OMD founder Paul Humphries even had co-writing credits on two of the songs here: "Very Close to Faraway" and "If You're Still in Love With Me"). But the approach was so stylistically sensitive that even now, in 2004, it makes more sense than half of the filler out there. Furthermore, it's probably the most emotionally genuine album I've ever heard from OMD, including their "roots" days back in the early 80's. "That Was Then" captures McCluskey at his most reflective and sincere ever, his voice harkening back to the vulnerability of Sugar Tax's "Was It Something I Said."

This disc is, note for note, the album I would've chosen to honorably conclude the evolution that was OMD's life.

Universal is one of the two best OMD albums--I can't quite decide whether I prefer the elegant chart-topper Sugar Tax or the kaleidiscopic unsung classic that is Universal... Both albums are beautiful, but where Sugar Tax was commercially successful, Universal was inexplicably not; perhaps it is not such a mystery, however, as rumour has it that Andy McCluskey (co-founder, songwriter, and frontman of OMD; he forged on under the OMD banner more or less as a solo artist from 1988-1996, producing three of OMD's greatest albums: Sugar Tax, Liberator, and Universal) had a wretched recording contract and little corporate support. OMD certaintly never received the mainstream radio or TV airplay that they deserved, at least in North America. This, combined with the steady and supreme vapidity that afflicts much of the international pop-youth culture music audience, has ensured that Universal is an unknown diamond-in-the-rough; a fabulous 12-track studded crown of artistic achievement whose relative obscurity and difficulty to obtain satisfies the effort all the more so. I LOVE THIS ALBUM. I can say that I absolutely love 6 of the 12 tracks, really enjoy at least another three, and like or am impartial to 3. At least 75% of the album is excellent material. It shares, with Sugar Tax, an impeccable and glorious, soaring edge of romantic desperation--if there is one thing that Andy McCluskey/OMD has been good at, it is weaving the keening sound of the wounded lover and souful reminiscer into songs that are at once urban-elegant, romantically impassioned, timelessly poignant, cinematically euphoric, sweetly melancholic, downright groovy and eminently danceable... Though the song-moods on this album are kaleidiscopic, there is a noble, heart-gracing bittersweet that lies below the surface and surfaces full-fledged periodically through the album. When Andy was writing this he was obviously hurting from love. My girlfriend and I broke up just in September and this was the album that most resonated with my spirit at the time--it carried me across the streams of tears that it helped foment, it awakened my heart fully, it sensitized the emotions and reminded me that a beauty can awaken in everything if the temperment is exquisitely tender for it... I really liked this album when I bought it 3 years ago, but now it has become, in a way, an inseparable part of me--reflecting in music some of the most special and intimate moments of my recent existence. If you have imagination and spirit, and any like for passionately-driven, heartfelt music that stylishly blends organic symphonics with excellent synthetics, is heavily dosed with irresistable rhythm and soaring pop melody, and can suit near any mood, from eurodance ebullience to sweeping, elegiac melancholy, BUY UNIVERSAL!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Universal by OMD
Another example of Virgin Records refusal to release something different in the American market. Andy's writing & performance have never been better, but this recording was... Read more

Published on Aug 13 2003 by Jay L. Muenich

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Ending for a Splendid Band
I first heard Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in 1978. I was working as a dishwasher in a restaurant just outside of Albany, NY. Read more

Published on May 11 2003 by John B. Martin

4.0 out of 5 stars Bought it, sold it and bought it again 4 years later
after buying this album again, i'm glad i did. at first listen i thought it was extremely depressing but i appreciate it more now. the songs are real and heartflet. Read more

Published on Feb 21 2002 by James Davis

5.0 out of 5 stars Last of OMD, yet not the least.......................
This is a fantastic album. Andy has done it again. Although I am sad that this was the last of OMD, it is certainly an album to remember. Read more

Published on Dec 20 2001 by shervin nooshin

2.0 out of 5 stars A Joke compared to Sugartax
This was their last ditch effort and all I can say is good riddance. After their Sugartax album they started going down hill from their and started to become more of a funky... Read more

Published on Oct 9 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Album
I think this is a very good album. It starts out etheral, and then kicks into a very catchy tune in "Universal" and continues in this fashion all the way through to the... Read more

Published on Jun 19 2001 by Paul H. Meijer

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful...
To be honest I only like a little more than half the songs on this album. But those songs are more than good enough to equal a strong star rating in my book. Read more

Published on Feb 20 2001 by Steven Alexander

5.0 out of 5 stars Just listen to the album-period!
This is a great album. Much, Much better than Liberator. I think what made it so special was that it was a duo again. Read more

Published on Oct 20 2000 by anthony

5.0 out of 5 stars OMD at its best - a superb swan song. They will be missed..
I am a long-time fan of OMD and have been distressd at the band's decreased output in the 1990's. Now that Andy McCluskey has said that OMD is no more, it is with great sadness... Read more

Published on Feb 23 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars OMD at its best - a superb swan song. They will be missed..
I am a long-time fan of OMD and have been distressd at the band's decreased output in the 1990's. Now that Andy McCluskey has said that OMD is no more, it is with great sadness... Read more

Published on Feb 23 1999

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