The follow-up album to OMD's commercially successful Architecture & Morality (1981), Dazzle Ships marked a departure in sound for the group, who contended with writer's block and record company pressure to duplicate their previous release. The album is noted for its experimental content, particularly musique concrète sound collages, and the use of shortwave radio recordings to explore Cold War and Eastern Bloc themes. It also concerns itself with the rise of technology in society. The record spawned two singles: "Genetic Engineering" and "Telegraph".
Dazzle Ships met with largely negative reviews and, despite reaching the top five of the UK Albums Chart, was regarded as a commercial flop. It nevertheless came to be recognised as a "cult classic", and an inspiration for many artists across electronic, rock and hip hop music. The music press gradually reversed its opinion of Dazzle Ships, praising the record as an underrated and misunderstood work, and an album ahead of its time.
In the year following the release of commercially successful predecessor Architecture & Morality (1981), co-founder and keyboardist Paul Humphreys had married, and he and singer Andy McCluskey were growing apart.[1] The pair had never expected the success they had achieved,[2] and elected to retire OMD, having purchased their first cars and homes in Wirral. McCluskey said, "After two solid years of work... we had written our final epitaph – ["Maid of Orleans" B-side] "Of All the Things We've Made" – and didn't think we'd ever work together again. And all of a sudden, we were quite rich."[1] However, Humphreys and McCluskey – who had delivered only three of their seven contracted albums for Dindisc[3] – felt a debt to their fanbase, and began discussing new musical ideas.[1]
Virgin Records, who had assumed OMD's contract following the collapse of independent subsidiary Dindisc,[4] attempted to influence the sound of the album. Humphreys told how the label tried to sway the band towards duplicating Architecture & Morality, while assuring them they would become "the next Genesis"; this compelled the group to change musical direction.[5] OMD were daunted by the pressure of matching the success of their previous release, and early sessions were not fruitful. Seeking refuge in their radio experiments of old, Humphreys and McCluskey came up with the sound collages "Dazzle Ships" and "Radio Prague".[1] Paradoxically, in light of the eventual critical reaction to Dazzle Ships, the more experimental direction taken on the record was partly a response to muted reviews of Architecture & Morality, which "forced [OMD] into new areas".[6]
At the band's Gramophone Suite studio in Liverpool, they reshuffled their inventory of instruments, introducing the E-mu Emulator.[1] Experiencing writer's block,[7] Humphreys and McCluskey moved to California for six weeks to live with the parents of Humphreys' wife. Upon returning to Liverpool, however, the pair had failed to produce any substantial ideas for the album.[1] They elected to exhume "Of All the Things We've Made" for inclusion, feeling it had been squandered as a B-side, and resurrected "Radio Waves", a holdover from OMD precursor group the Id (this track was considered as a single).[4] "The Romance of the Telescope (Unfinished)", which had appeared as a B-side to 1981's "Joan of Arc",[8] was remixed and the "unfinished" caveat removed.[4] Instrumentalists Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes grew dejected by the largely unproductive recording sessions, with Holmes stating, "This was the first time that OMD had reached a major stumbling block."[1]
"At one Virgin meeting, the head of A&R asked us, 'Come on guys, are you [Karlheinz] Stockhausen or ABBA?' Andy and I said together, 'Can't we be both?'"
The band were encouraged by critics to become more political.[10] As such, they used shortwave radio recordings to explore Cold War and Eastern Bloc themes, while oscillating between moody pop music and experimental, musique concrète soundscapes.[11][12] "Radio Prague" features the interval signal of the Czechoslovak Radio foreign service, including the time signal and station identification spoken in Czech. "Time Zones" is a montage of various speaking clocks from around the world. Neither "Radio Prague" nor "Time Zones" carry a writing credit, with OMD being credited only for arranging the tracks. "This Is Helena", "ABC Auto-Industry" and "International" also include parts of broadcasts recorded off the air (a presenter introducing herself, an economic bulletin, and news, respectively).[4] The record also explores the pros and cons of the rise of technology in society;[13][14] "ABC Auto-Industry" attempts to recreate "the monotony of production line car manufacture".[15]
For a time the group sought inspiration in a new studio, Phil Manzanera's White House (latter Gallery Studios) in Chertsey, and hired producer Rhett Davies. McCluskey said, "We intimidated [Davies] in the end. The songs were simply not up his street. They weren't conducive to being handled with slick touches and it ended up with arguments."[1] This did little to help band morale, as Holmes explained, "Both myself and Martin seriously began to doubt Paul and Andy's judgement... More and more, it was becoming Andy's album." The sample-based approach to compiling the tracks further alienated Cooper and Holmes; the latter would ultimately play on only three songs, which had been recorded during the earlier Gramophone Suite sessions. Holmes spent his time at the White House "playing video games and trying to convince [him]self that Paul and Andy knew what they were doing."[1] Part of the album was also recorded at Mayfair Studios in London.[4] McCluskey has cited Kraftwerk's Radio-Activity (1975) as a key influence on the record.[16]
Dazzle Ships peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart (remaining in the top 20 for six weeks),[18] and also reached the top-10 in New Zealand and Spain. The record achieved global sales of 300,000 copies; this figure represented a fraction of the sales of multi-million selling predecessor Architecture & Morality (1981).[19]Dazzle Ships was therefore considered a failure.[14][20] McCluskey recalled, "The painful joke at Virgin was that it shipped gold and returned platinum."[20]
Initial reviews of Dazzle Ships were largely negative,[7][29] with NME and other outlets making unfavourable comparisons to the work of OMD heroes Kraftwerk.[13][30] A scathing Mark Moses in The Boston Phoenix rechristened the album "Guzzle Shit by Offensive Manure in the Park".[31]Record Mirror's Jim Reid observed a "nightmarish" album "replete with the worst kind of futuristic nonsense",[25] while John Gill of Time Out labelled it "redundant avant-garde trickery".[1]Sun Times critic Michael Lawson dismissed the record's experimental content as filler, adding that "too much attention [is] given to soundtrack-like effects that only clutter what decent electropop baubles there are here."[32] There were sporadic appeals for listener perseverance: Paul Colbert of Melody Maker portrayed the album as "a challenge and a reward",[33] while Smash Hits reviewer Johnny Black argued that "the songs are waiting to be found and are as melodic, passionate and vital as ever."[26]
Although a critical and commercial disappointment upon release, Dazzle Ships came to be seen as a noble failure.[19] In The Rough Guide to Rock (1996), co-author Dave Castle said, "This austere evocation of modern alienation is the classic OMD album. Excellent use of samples and incredible synths on strong, melodic and above all highly intelligent pop music."[34] During the 2000s it was endorsed by Mojo as a "buried treasure" and an "ignored masterwork",[35] while Ned Raggett of AllMusic wrote that the "dazzling" record "beats Kraftwerk at their own game, science and the future turned into surprisingly warm, evocative songs."[21]Trouser Press remained unconvinced, describing the album as "impressive but not satisfying". The magazine noted "some amazing sounds and a powerful atmosphere", but felt that "found-tape gimmickry" had taken precedence over songwriting.[36]
Dazzle Ships met with critical praise upon its initial re-release in 2008.[37][38] Tom Ewing of Pitchfork wrote, "Luckily, you don't need a contrarian streak to love it... history has done its own remix job on Dazzle Ships, and the result is a richer, more unified album than anyone in 1983 could have imagined."[7] In a five-star review, Record Collector's Daryl Easlea observed "consistently eccentric" and "dark and detailed" content, calling the album "a weirdly satisfying listen".[24] Luke Turner of The Quietus said that it "stands the test of time as a heroic statement", and represents "a fine realisation of that desire to be both pop and important that OMD first hinted at with 'Enola Gay' and 'Electricity'."[39] In a later review, Uncut's Stephen Dalton referred to a "bold fusion of politically slanted electro ballads, sampled radio dialogue, musique concrète and otherwordly sound effects", hailing the album as a "brave experimental swerve" that has been "rightly recognised as a lost masterpiece of forward-thinking avant-pop."[28]
Legacy
Dazzle Ships has been championed by many artists, including producer, Mark Ronson.
Critics have acknowledged Dazzle Ships as an underrated and misunderstood work,[40][41] and a record ahead of its time.[42] John Bergstrom of PopMatters argued that while positive reappraisals of flop albums had become "all-too-common", the "prescient" Dazzle Ships lived up to the hype.[38]Quietus writer Stuart Huggett charted the record's journey "from 1983 release to 2016 Classic Album", stating that it features some of OMD's strongest material but is "likely to remain too off the wall ever to permanently join the general public's Classic Albums canon".[43]Dazzle Ships has nevertheless appeared in lists of 1983's best albums; The A.V. Club named it one of the year's "Great but Underappreciated Records".[a] It was included in that same publication's "Hall of Fame",[12] as well as the Chicago Tribune's "10 Essential New Wave Albums",[50] the 1980s edition of Uncut's "Ultimate Record Collection",[51] and music journalist Paul Roland's "Ten Essential CDs" of the decade.[52] The album maintained a cult following throughout the latter 20th century,[43] and has since been labelled a "cult classic".[41][53][54]
Dazzle Ships has been highly influential on other artists.[55][56] Critic John Earls noted how the "genius, yet wildly uncommercial" album went on to be cited by the chart acts Radiohead, Arcade Fire and the Killers;[9] comparisons have been drawn to Radiohead's experimental Kid A (2000).[b]Dazzle Ships inspired much of Death Cab for Cutie's Codes and Keys (2011), and was described by the band's former guitarist, Chris Walla, as the record that "everyone points to as [OMD's] magnum opus". Walla added, "It's really a gorgeous album. It's daring and it's weird and it leans a lot on the paranoia of the Cold War."[60]Saint Etienne and Future Islands identified Dazzle Ships as the template for their respective albums, Foxbase Alpha (1991) and In Evening Air (2010).[6][61] Singer Anohni was inspired and "changed" by the "scary, futuristic" record,[62][63] which also heavily impacted musician Telekinesis (and was later cited as his favourite album).[64] Elsewhere, Dazzle Ships has been influential on record producers:[62]Moby observed a "beautiful, experimental, inspiring" album, while Mark Ronson asserted, "I was just completely floored... It's just so elegant but a bit lo-fi at the same time."[65][66]
Several artists have borrowed directly from Dazzle Ships. The indie groups Another Sunny Day and Eggs released cover versions of "Genetic Engineering" (as 1989 and 1994 singles, respectively), with the latter's artwork being inspired by Dazzle Ships' inner sleeve; journalist Stuart Huggett saw both recordings as helpful to the album's "survival".[43] Arcade Fire orchestrator Owen Pallett arranged an encore of songs from Dazzle Ships for a 2006 solo tour, and declared the album the best ever made.[67][68] Pallett later said, "There have been certain records in my life that I feel have saved me. Saved my life... records that sound unique or try some new form of human expression. Records like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's Dazzle Ships."[69] A number of rap musicians have drawn from the album:[62]Kid Cudi sampled "ABC Auto-Industry" on his track "Simple As..." (2009),[20] while Lushlife recorded a 2012 cover of "The Romance of the Telescope".[70] Singer-songwriter Anton Barbeau referenced the album with his electronic piece "Slash Zed Zip" (2022), whose title is an anagram of "Dazzle Ships".[71]
Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox of Animal Collective stated that his band have listened to Dazzle Ships "on many tours".[72]Liars frontman Angus Andrew and Low singer Alan Sparhawk each listed the record among their favourites, with Andrew describing it as "such a cohesive statement, portraying a bleak and lonely environment of a different sort." He added, "It's such an incredible feat to feature experiments like 'Dazzle Ships, Pts. 1-3' [sic], and have them... enhance an album with more straight forward tracks like 'Telegraph'."[73][74] The record has received further endorsements from Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg,[75]Amanda "MNDR" Warner,[66]Terre Thaemlitz,[76] physicist/musician Brian Cox,[77] and novelist/visual artist Douglas Coupland, who called it "amazing" and one of his 12 "must-have" albums.[78] In The Quietus, critic Ian Wade noted that Dazzle Ships is also cherished by "a whole host of dance types".[55]
Band response
After the release of Dazzle Ships, OMD came to view the record as a creative mis-step. Humphreys lamented that "the good songs on it were lost in the overall presentation aspect." McCluskey assumed much of the responsibility, saying, "When the ideas man ran out of ideas, there was nothing left for the melody man [Humphreys] to work on." Band manager Gordian Troeller expressed regret over not insisting the album be re-recorded. He said, "I didn't fight, Virgin didn't either... I think some of the misgivings Paul felt about the work at the time were too easily overriden by Andy."[1] The disappointing commercial performance of Dazzle Ships prompted OMD to move in a more conservative musical direction on subsequent releases.[19]
By 1988, McCluskey and Humphreys had come to regard "The Romance of the Telescope" as their favourite of the group's songs.[79] Upon Dazzle Ships' initial re-release in 2008, McCluskey noted its improved critical standing: "The album that almost completely killed our career seems to have become a work of dysfunctional genius... it's taken Paul [Humphreys] 25 years to forgive me for Dazzle Ships. But some people always hold it up as what we were all about, why they thought we were great."[19] Humphreys later said, "When we re-released it a few years ago we got five-star reviews... so perhaps it was just a bit ahead of its time. I know fans still cite it as their favourite [OMD] record."[80] Both men have since placed Dazzle Ships in the top three of the band's albums, along with Architecture & Morality (1981) and The Punishment of Luxury (2017).[81][82]
Track listing
Label copy credits: All songs written and/or arranged by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (except "Radio Waves", by OMD/Floyd).
The "Manor Version" of "Telegraph" was recorded at the same time as Architecture & Morality. "Swiss Radio International" was dropped from the album at the last minute. Like "Radio Prague", it contains the call sign for a radio station and was once referred to as "The Ice Cream Song" by drummer Malcolm Holmes due to its similarity to the melodies played by ice cream vans. Another version entitled "Radio Swiss International" appeared on the Unreleased Archive: Vol. 1 disc, included in the Souvenir, 40th anniversary box set issued in 2019. The disc also featured further demos entitled "Violin Piece" "SMPTE" and "Guitar Thrash", all dating back to the 1982/83 recording sessions.
A 40th anniversary release of Dazzle Ships, featuring further bonus demos and rarities, was announced on 2 February 2023, and released on 31 March.[83] It was released on CD and on double 12" vinyl, as well as being made available on downloading and streaming platforms.
Bonus tracks on 2023 reissue
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Length
13.
"Telegraph 82" (Very Early Demo)
Humphreys, McCluskey
2:50
14.
"Silent Running" (Demo)
Humphreys, McCluskey
3:25
15.
"Sold Our Souls" (The Avenue Demo)
Humphreys, McCluskey
3:12
16.
"Shakespeare 82"
McCluskey
0:50
17.
"Untitled Instrumental 82"
Humphreys, McCluskey
3:22
18.
"In Heaven Above" (4-Neu Demo)
Humphreys, McCluskey
2:51
19.
"Telegraph" (Live 1984)
Humphreys, McCluskey
3:50
Personnel
Andy McCluskey – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizers
Paul Humphreys – keyboards, synthesizers, vocals, percussion
Engineered by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Rhett Davies, Ian Little, Keith Richard Nixon, Brian Tench
Produced by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Rhett Davies
Mastered at The Master Room by Arun Chakraverty
Designed by M. Garrett, K. Kennedy, P. Pennington, Peter Saville, and Brett Wickens for Peter Saville Associates.
Instruments
In terms of instrumentation, Dazzle Ships saw the band begin to explore digital sampling keyboards (the E-mu Emulator) in addition to their continued use of analogue synthesizers and the Mellotron.
^ abcAllMusic's review of Dazzle Ships uses prose by Ned Raggett, originally published in the All Music Guide to Rock (2002). The date of publication is noted here as Raggett's commentary is used in a historical context within this article.
^Eddy, Todd (May 2003). "The Synthesists (supplement)". Q. No. 202. ISSN0955-4955. [Dazzle Ships] stands alongside Architecture & Morality as a document of OMD's creative zenith [...] never again would McCluskey and co shine like they did on this transcendent record.
^ abReid, Jim (5 March 1983). "Blinded by the Light". Record Mirror. p. 21.
^ abBlack, Johnny (3–16 March 1983). "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Dazzleships". Smash Hits. Vol. 5, no. 5. p. 41.
^Houghton, Richard (2019). OMD: Pretending to See the Future (expanded paperback ed.). This Day in Music Books. p. 161. ISBN978-1-9161156-2-0. [Sounds'] Chris Burkham thought Dazzle Ships not that outstanding.
^ abDalton, Stephen (December 2018). "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Dazzle Ships". Uncut. No. 259. p. 47.
^ abKellman, Andy. "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Biography". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2023. Commercial suicide-turned-cult classic Dazzle Ships... was later embraced as a misunderstood and inspired work, a creative high point.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Bergstrom, John (8 April 2013). "OMD: English Electric". PopMatters. Retrieved 24 April 2022. Dazzle Ships... has in recent years been re-valued as a bold, ahead-of-its-time combination of popcraft and technology.
^Peel, Ian (May–June 2013). "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: English Electric". Classic Pop. No. 4. p. 93. Their fourth album, 1983's Dazzle Ships, was released... with age, it's become a true cult classic.
^Travis, Ben (1 September 2015). "OMD: Watch 'Genetic Engineering' Live from Dazzle Ships Show in Liverpool". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 23 May 2021. OMD... are set to release a live version of one of their most notorious records, 1983's Dazzle Ships. Recorded live at the Museum of Liverpool, the show captured the legendary electronic outfit recreating their cult classic LP.
Jennings, Harriet (23 March 2011). "A to Z: Telekinesis". DIY. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Ware, Martyn (11 June 2021). "Paul Humphreys". Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware. Episode 38. 57 minutes in. Anchor. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021 – via Podbay.fm.
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