OMD "History of Modern"

I did not discover Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark until 1983, just after starting work in the world of music retailing.  The album was "Dazzle Ships", and it just absolutely blew me away on a level that the Ol' Mad Rocker wasn't accustomed with.  It was electronics like I had not heard before.  A concept album based on computers and the Cold War, with shortwave radio transmissions and telephone time voices.  Bursts of brilliance throughout the record.  So much so that I went back and got the first three records.  I can't say I never understood why it wasn't a resounding success.  It was truly too far ahead of its time.  But I became a huge fan and the band proved me correct when they slipped into more of a pop realm and hit it big with "If You Leave" from the Pretty in Pink ST and their album "Crush."  I stuck with them through 1991's "Sugar Tax", which was a splintered OMD, and passed on the final two records before they gave it up.

Apparently, a couple of years ago found the mates getting together again for a brief tour which featured a track for track replay of what many consider their greatest record, "Architecture and Morality."  Things must have gone splendidly and so OMD puts out a record some fourteen years after the final studio release, but it's the core members first recording together since 1986.  And let me tell you, "History of Modern" is an absolute time machine trip back to their heyday of the mid-eighties.  If you have three or more OMD albums in your collection, you will certainly love this record.  The guys voices haven't aged one bit, and the music is vintage OMD, with some of the threads of the early years' loops and sound effects mixing perfectly with the pop structures that made them famous in the States.  The drum tracks are a bit more upfront early in the album, and allow me to submit the first single as evidence.  Then deep into the record, several tracks in, up pops a straight up dance track, "The Future, the Past, and Forever After," destined for remixing and club playlists around the world.  If this isn't the third single, I need to be their management company. 

"History..." is like one of your friends you haven't seen in a decade or two and they just don't look any different or older than the last time you met.  I am truly surprised.  Welcome back, old friend.