OMD Albums
THE BEST OF OMD
sleeve
CATALOGUE MDOMD1
FORMAT MINIDISC ALBUM
LABEL VIRGIN
RELEASE DATE 12/03/88
CHART 15
SLEEVE DESIGN Stylorouge. Photography by Andrew Catlin
CURRENT VALUE £10-20
TRACK LISTING WRITERS PRODUCER RECORDED
ELECTRICITY Humphreys/McCluskey Chester Valentino & OMD Cargo Studios, Rochdale
MESSAGES Humphreys/McCluskey Chester Valentino & OMD The Gramophone Suite, Liverpool
ENOLA GAY McCluskey Mike Howlett & OMD Ridge Farm & Advision Studios
SOUVENIR Humphreys/Cooper Richard Manwaring & OMD The Gramophone Suite, Liverpool
JOAN OF ARC McCluskey Richard Manwaring & OMD The Gramophone Suite, Liverpool
MAID OF ORLEANS McCluskey Richard Manwaring & OMD The Gramophone Suite, Liverpool
TELEGRAPH OMD Rhett Davies & OMD  
TESLA GIRLS OMD Brian Tench & OMD  
LOCOMOTION OMD/Troeller Brian Tench & OMD  
TALKING LOUD AND CLEAR OMD Brian Tench & OMD  
SO IN LOVE OMD/Hague Stephen Hague Amazon Studios, Liverpool
SECRET OMD Stephen Hague Amazon Studios, Liverpool
IF YOU LEAVE OMD OMD & Tom Lord Alge Larrabee Studios, Hollywood
(FOREVER) LIVE AND DIE OMD Stephen Hague Studio De La Grande Armée, Paris
DREAMING OMD OMD Amazon Studios, Liverpool
GENETIC ENGINEERING OMD Rhett Davies & OMD  
WE LOVE YOU (12" VERSION) OMD/Hague OMD & Stephen Hague  
LA FEMME ACCIDENT (12" VERSION) OMD OMD  

NOTES

'Electricity' is a remixed version. The original plan was to overdub some new drumming according to Andy, "But we found that the playing that we had recorded in 1979 was so bad that the more perfect we got the sounds, the more inept the playing seemed to become!". As a result, they just settled for remixing the track.

'Messages' is actually the 10" single version.

The version of 'Tesla Girls' used on this release is slightly longer than the original 7" release, although shorter than the album version that appears on the 1984 album Junk Culture.

The CD release features 4 extra tracks: 'Telegraph', 'Genetic Engineering', 'We Love You (12" Version)' and 'La Femme Accident (12" Version)'.

The CD also has a slightly different track order ('Tesla Girls' and 'Locomotion' precede 'Talking Loud And Clear').

The version of Telegraph used here is a unique version which only features on the CD, MD and DCC releases.

 

TRIVIA

This release was on a new format: DCC (Digital Compact Cassette) - a format produced by Phillips designed to introduce digital recording onto a cassette format - an attempt to compete with the established DAT format (Digital Audio Tape - the industry standard for recording studios). However, the DCC also suffered competition from Sony's more practical MiniDisc.

Despite both companies hopes for the new formats, pre-recorded titles were eventually phased out.

The only other OMD title that was issued on DCC was Sugar Tax in 1991.

Both this release and the MiniDisc version are exceptionally rare.

The Australian version of the album actually featured 'We Love You' as the song was a big hit when it was originally released there.

Messages, the OMD Biography, was in the process of being written when The Best Of OMD was in the planning stages. At that stage, the album also had the title of Messages which featured a proposed track listing as follows: Side One: 'Electricity', 'Messages', 'Enola Gay', 'Souvenir', 'Joan Of Arc', 'Maid Of Orleans', 'Telegraph'. Side Two: 'Locomotion', 'Tesla Girls', 'Talking Loud And Clear', 'So In Love', 'Secret', '(Forever) Live And Die', 'If You Leave'.

Messages, as an album title, was eventually used for the 2008 compilation album.