by Jan Burnett
In the first edition of our reinvigorated 'Echoes of the Past' column, Spare Snare founder Jan Burnett expresses his passion for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s ‘Architecture and Morality’.
Of course I had already heard ‘Enola Gay’ and ‘Electricity‘, but they passed me by, initially. One day though ‘Souvenir’ appeared on a car radio. The sun was shining. My Dad must have been driving and it must have been my Gran’s car. We didn't have one.
It was a song that made an impression. I bought the 7”, then the 10” extended version, which came with a whole extra verse. Then the album came out. “What a fucking weird title”, I thought. I bought the cassette, probably from Boots or maybe it was John Menzies, I cannot recall. It wasn't until later that I bought the classic Peter Saville sleeve with the cut out window. I remember dissecting the album, on my mono hand held Ferguson cassette player, over and over, both in my room and in our tiny garden, repeatedly perusing the album credits. Where was this Gramophone Suite? It's from this album that I then ventured backwards, buying all their previous singles and first two albums, and investigating bands they name checked or covered such as Kraftwerk, Velvet Underground, and, inevitably, the Factory Records catalogue.
I could talk about each track on the album in some depth, and what each one means to me, but that would be a bit pointless. Instead, go and download the album, or better still buy the CD, where you get all the relevant B sides and a 'Live At Drury Lane' DVD from that year’s tour. Press play and be shocked by the static that initially comes out, then a pop hit that never was, ’She's Leaving’. It was a single in France. I never understood why.
Risky and lengthy detailed soundscapes appear on each side of the record, and in terms of mood, it serves as a great template for any album, whatever the style. Reading the reissue sleeve notes as a warm up for this piece, it's interesting to read that the band didn't use computers to mix the album, worrying about them crashing, instead doing everything manually. In my opinion, that's the differential, what give this album its warmth, missing from some later albums. The Fairlight had its moments, but it was a bastard.
I am, perhaps, obsessed, but I must mention that I have four versions of ‘Architecture and Morality’ on CD that have appeared over the years. The different Saville colour tones that appeared on different issues nudged the collector in me. The regular sandy yellow is nice but you look out for the green and blue editions too. It is a record I can always go back to, and depending on my mood, can actually weep too. I never saw them on the supporting tour, I was a bit too young to go to the big town on my own, but when you have got ‘Architecture and Morality’ on your headphones, we can chat about the follow up, ‘Dazzle Ships‘, and that I when I did finally see OMD live, in Edinburgh. It was the night before my English O-Level. I failed. I don't care.
Jan Burnett is the founder of Spare Snare and last year, under the name The Grand Gestures, he released a collaborative album with some of Scotland's top acts. Spare Snare was founded in the very early 90s and the band has released nine albums to date, mostly on their own Chute Records. They were voted the 46th best Scottish band of all time.
https://sparesnare.bandcamp.
www.thegrandgestures.com
