1.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (album)
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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is the self-titled debut album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released in 1980. It peaked at number 27 in the UK Albums Chart, Electricity and Red Frame/White Light were low charting singles taken from the record. A re-recorded version of Messages provided OMD with their first hit in the UK, the album was remastered and re-released in 2003, with six bonus tracks. The record has received favourable reviews, although later releases by the group were more warmly received. It has nonetheless been named as one of the best electronic albums of the 1980s, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is also the title of a 1981 compilation album of tracks from this release and Organisation, issued only in the United States. Rather than hire studio time for the album, OMD used their advance from Dindisc to build their own Liverpool recording studio, the band predicted that they would be dropped by the label due to disappointing sales, but would at least own a recording studio. Still generally a duo performing alongside a TEAC 4-track tape recorder christened Winston, OMD enlisted Malcolm Holmes, according to keyboardist Paul Humphreys, the primary influences on the record were Brian Eno, Neu. and Kraftwerk. The sleeve was designed by graphic designer Peter Saville and interior designer Ben Kelly and it featured a die-cut grid through which the orange inner sleeve was visible. Saville and Kelly won a Designers and Art Directors Award for their work on the album, reviews of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were positive. Paul Morley in the New Musical Express wrote, How fine and different their melodies can be, how detailed, there is a constant change in emphasis and dynamics. Orch Mans debut LP is one of the best of the year, in his review for Sounds, Des Moines declared the album as a debut musical statement to be proud of. Melody Maker journalist Ian Birch called the record Unpretentious, tuneful, the elegant Messages stands out next to the records often sparse, minimalist soundscapes. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is just like the band made it -- perfectly of its time. Musician Vince Clarke has cited the album as one of his primary influences, ZZ Tops fondness of the album also led to the band borrowing McCluskeys distinctive on-stage routine – dubbed by the BBCs Stuart Maconie the Trainee Teacher Dance. It was listed in Slicing Up Eyeballs Best of the 80s in March 2013, in 2016, Dave Segal in The Stranger wrote that the record remains a masterpiece of enchanting melodies, fascinating rhythms, and cherubic vocals. All songs were written by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, except where noted, on the remastered album two versions of both songs are present. The band chose to perform Dancing on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1980, despite the fact that the song was never released as a single. I Betray My Friends, Taking Sides Again, and Waiting for the Man were B-sides to Red Frame/White Light and Messages, Taking Sides Again is an instrumental dub version of Messages
2.
Andy McCluskey
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George Andrew Andy McCluskey is an English musician, songwriter and record producer who is best known as the singer, bass guitarist and co-founder of synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Within OMD, McCluskey is noted for his voice, manic onstage dancing, multi-instrumentation. McCluskey also founded girl group Atomic Kitten, for whom he served as a principal songwriter, a pioneer of electronic music in the United Kingdom, McCluskey is an Ivor Novello Award-nominated songwriter whose work has topped charts in the UK and internationally. McCluskey met Paul Humphreys at Great Meols Primary School, in Elwyn Road, and played him in several bands, including Hitlerz Underpantz, VCL XI. McCluskey then attended Calday Grange Grammar School in West Kirby, McCluskey briefly joined Dalek I Love You as their lead singer, but left because he wanted to sing his own songs. McCluskey teamed up with Humphreys again to form OMD in 1978, Humphreys and the rest of the band split with McCluskey in 1989, with McCluskey retaining the OMD name, he disbanded the group in 1996. McCluskey developed a popular and distinctive onstage dance routine, dubbed by the BBCs Stuart Maconie as the Trainee Teacher Dance. Rock group ZZ Top, who shared a studio with OMD on a 1980 edition of BBC2 show The Old Grey Whistle Test, Maconie wrote that the jerky, leg-snapping dance became the dance-floor routine of choice for teaching students in the early-to-mid 1980s. Rolling Stone observed the infectious energy of frontman Andy McCluskey. McCluskey himself said, I find that it becomes part of the show and its got to a point where I am now in a shamanistic shaking ritual. In live shows, McCluskey often plays guitar and occasionally, keyboard instruments. He is right-handed, but originally learned to play guitar on a left-handed model. As a result, he plays with the strings upside down, McCluskey and Humphreys reformed OMD for a performance on German TV in June 2005, with the promise of more gigs to follow. 2007 saw the first tour of the reformed OMD, including Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes, the album itself was remastered and re-released to coincide. A compilation of their singles and videos, Messages, Greatest Hits, was released to coincide with the tour, on 20 September 2010 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released their 11th studio album History of Modern, their first in 14 years. In 1998, McCluskey founded the UK pop group Atomic Kitten and their song Whole Again, co-written by McCluskey, was his first UK No.1, and he and his fellow songwriters were nominated for the Ivor Novello Award for excellence in songwriting. McCluskey was also a writer of the Atomic Kitten hits Right Now, See Ya and he parted ways with the group during the recording of their second album, Feels So Good. McCluskey subsequently formed the White Noise records and publishing label where he worked with Liverpool girl group and he also bought a recording studio, the Motor Museum, in Liverpool
3.
Paul Humphreys
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John Doran in The Quietus remarked, If, roughly speaking, McCluskey is the intellect and inquisitive nature in the group, then Humphreys is the heart. Humphreys provided synthesizer/keyboard work and vocals from the inception in 1978 until his 1989 departure, seven years before their dissolution. Despite this period of absence, his songwriting contribution features on all of the studio albums. Humphreys sang lead vocals on several OMD tracks, including the singles Electricity, Souvenir, Never Turn Away, Secret and Live and Die. He fronted spin-off band The Listening Pool from 1989 to 1996, Humphreys grew up on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England, during which time he developed an interest in German electronic music such as Kraftwerk, Neu. He was also influenced by the work of Brian Eno and early ambient styles of music, OMD became one of the leading bands in the synthpop movement, though they developed largely independently of others such as The Human League. OMD enjoyed considerable commercial success internationally during the 1980s, Humphreys was a more reserved individual than McCluskey, of their partnership, the latter said, We always had this joke that two Pauls wouldnt get anything done and two Andys would kill each other. Humphreys left OMD in 1989, but continued to pen songs for the band and he co-wrote the 1993 single Everyday, and was the main writer of two tracks from Universal, Very Close to Far Away and If Youre Still in Love with Me. Sugar Tax is the album in the OMD catalogue not to feature the songwriting contribution of Humphreys. In 2005 McCluskey and Humphreys reunited OMD for a gig on German TV and they decided to reform OMD which McCluskey had continued with from 1989 until winding up the band in 1996 disillusioned by the prevalence of Britpop. 2007 finally saw the return of OMD in their classic line-up on stage and they have toured extensively since having received an enthusiastic,2010 saw the release of Humphreys first album with OMD for 24 years, titled History of Modern. Next album English Electric featured a vocal from Humphreys on the track Stay With Me. Humphreys continued to write and record with Holmes and Cooper under the name The Listening Pool, however this project did not meet with any commercial success, though an album, Still Life, was released. The sound was less electronic than even later OMD and is in marked contrast to the later sound of Onetwo. In 1996 Humphreys began a collaboration with German musician Claudia Brücken. The pair lived together in London, recording and performing live under the name Onetwo until their personal and professional separation in March 2013, Humphreys main instruments are electronic keyboards. Due to the nature of the equipment available to Humphreys and McCluskey they resorted to invention and innovation. On the track Souvenir Humphreys used recordings of a tuning up to create the ethereal
4.
Meols
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Meols /ˈmɛlz/ is a village on the northern coast of the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is contiguous with the town of Hoylake, situated immediately to the west. Historically in Cheshire, since 1 April 1974 it has been a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the county of Merseyside. The 2001 Census recorded the population of Meols as 5,110, the population of Meols was no longer recorded at the Census 2011. For more general statistics see Meols, Meols was named as such by the Vikings, its original name from the Old Norse for sand dunes was melr, becoming melas by the time of the Domesday Survey. Impressive archaeological finds dating back to the Neolithic period suggest that the site was an important centre in antiquity. Since about 1810, a number of artefacts have been found relating to pre-Roman Carthage, the Iron Age, the Roman Empire, Armenia, the Anglo-Saxons. These include items as varied as coins which belonged to the Coriosolites in Brittany, also, tokens, brooches, pins, knives, glass beads, keys, pottery, flint tools, mounts, pilgrim badges, pieces of leather, worked wood and iron tools. They came to be discovered after the beginning of large-scale dredging started to cause sand erosion along the coastline near Meols. These finds suggest that the site was used as a port as far back as the Iron Age some 2,400 years ago, thus trading connections are believed to have reached far across Europe. Some of these artefacts are on display locally, at the Museum of Liverpool, in the 1890s the local authorities built the first sea wall. The rapidly eroding coastline was saved, but the sea wall changed the currents, the remains of a submerged forest off Dove Point have now also disappeared but they were visible until the spring of 1982. The ship had been uncovered in 1938 during excavations for a car park. Workers at the covered the ship over again so as not to delay construction. Meols was formerly called Great Meols and it was a township in West Kirby Parish of the Wirral Hundred, becoming part of Hoylake cum West Kirby civil parish in 1894. Great Meols had a population of 140 in 1801,170 in 1851 and 821 in 1901, the name Great Meols survives in the name of the primary school and the Anglican church. It was still in general use up to the 1960s, for instance in postal addresses and on the destination indicators of buses from Chester. There also used to be a village called Little Meols, on Meols Drive between Hoylake and West Kirby The name Little Meols fell out of use in Victorian times, having been absorbed by Hoylake
5.
Wirral Peninsula
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Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in northwest England. It is bounded to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey, the roughly rectangular peninsula is about 15 miles long and 7 miles wide. Historically, the Wirral was wholly within Cheshire, in the Domesday Book, however, since the passing of the Local Government Act 1972, only the southern third has been in Cheshire, with the rest in metropolitan borough in the county of Merseyside. The name Wirral literally means myrtle corner, from the Old English wir, a tree, and heal. It is supposed that the land was overgrown with bog myrtle, a plant no longer found in the area. The name was given to the Hundred of Wirral around the 8th century, whether the name should be preceded by the definite article is the subject of debate, as is whether something should be described as being in the Wirral or on the Wirral. In 2014, a poll of Liverpool Echo readers indicated that 73% of respondents would use the phrase on the Wirral in everyday conversation. The earliest evidence of occupation of the Wirral dates from the Mesolithic period. Later Neolithic stone axes and pottery have found in Oxton, Neston. At Meols and New Brighton there is evidence of continuing occupation through to the Bronze Age, around 1000 BC, before the time of the Romans, the Wirral was inhabited by a Celtic tribe, the Cornovii. Artefacts discovered in Meols suggest it was an important port from at least 500 BC, traders came from Gaul and the Mediterranean seeking minerals from North Wales and Cheshire. There are also remains of a small Iron Age fort at Burton, around 70 AD, the Romans founded Chester. Evidence of their occupation in the Wirral has been found, including the remains of a road near Mollington, Ledsham and this road may have continued to the port at Meols, which may have been used as a base for attacking the north Wales coast. Storeton Quarry may also have used by Romans for sculpture. By the end of the Roman period, pirates were a menace to traders in the Irish Sea, and soldiers may have been garrisoned at Meols to combat this threat. Although Roman rule ended with the departure of the last Roman troops in 410, later coins, the Celtic names of Liscard and Landican both suggest an ancient British origin. The name of Wallasey, meaning Welsh island, is evidence of British settlement, the Welsh name, both ancient and modern, for the Wirral is Cilgwri. In Welsh mythology, the ouzel of Cilgwri was one of the most ancient creatures in the world, the Anglo-Saxons under Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria, laid waste to Chester around 616
6.
Merseyside
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Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. Merseyside, which was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, Merseyside spans 249 square miles of land which border Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and the Irish Sea to the west. North Wales is across the Dee Estuary, there is a mix of high density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Merseyside, but overwhelmingly the land use is urban. For the 12 years following 1974 the county had a system of local government. The county council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts are now effectively unitary authority areas, Merseyside is joined by the neighbouring borough of Halton to form the Liverpool City Region, which together forms a local enterprise partnership and combined authority area. Further areas, including Widnes and Runcorn, were added to the Special Review Area by Order in 1965, draft proposals were published in 1965, but the commission never completed its final proposals as it was abolished in 1966. This would have included four districts, Southport/Crosby, Liverpool/Bootle, St. Helens/Widnes, in 1970 the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive was set up, covering Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral and Knowsley, but excluding Southport and St. Helens. The Redcliffe-Maud Report was rejected by the incoming Conservative Party government, a White Paper was published in 1971. The Local Government Bill presented to Parliament involved a substantial trimming from the White Paper, excluding the northern and southern fringes of the area, excluding Chester, following the creation of Merseyside, Merseytravel expanded to take in St Helens and Southport. Between 1974 and 1986 the county had a system of local government with the five boroughs sharing power with the Merseyside County Council. However, in 1986 the government of Margaret Thatcher abolished the county council along with all other county councils. The eastern part of Merseyside borders onto Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, the territory comprising the county of Merseyside previously formed part of the administrative counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. The two parts are linked by the two Mersey Tunnels, the Wirral Line of Merseyrail, and the Mersey Ferry, to express location within the Merseyside area by the preposition on – thus on Merseyside as opposed to in Merseyside – was traditionally the more usual. Therefore, more recent usage tends to draw distinctions between the geographical Merseyside – for which on is considered appropriate – and the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, Merseyside contains the metropolitan boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helens and Wirral. This is a chart of trend of gross value added of Merseyside at current basic prices published by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. This also has a usage by some local authorities and organisations and is used by Geographers A-Z Map Company for their Merseyside Street Atlas. However, a separate City region, comprising Merseyside and Halton, has official recognition as being Greater Merseyside. Halton also forms part of the Merseyside NUTS region, List of Lord Lieutenants of Merseyside List of High Sheriffs of Merseyside 1911 Liverpool general transport strike List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Merseyside Dickinson, Joseph
7.
Electronic music
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In general, a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, purely electronic sound production can be achieved using devices such as the theremin, sound synthesizer, and computer. During the 1920s and 1930s, electronic instruments were introduced and the first compositions for instruments were composed. Musique concrète, created in Paris in 1948, was based on editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds, Music produced solely from electronic generators was first produced in Germany in 1953. Electronic music was created in Japan and the United States beginning in the 1950s. An important new development was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music, algorithmic composition was first demonstrated in Australia in 1951. In America and Europe, live electronics were pioneered in the early 1960s, during the 1970s to early 1980s, the monophonic Minimoog became once the most widely used synthesizer at that time in both popular and electronic art music. In the 1980s, electronic music became dominant in popular music, with a greater reliance on synthesizers, and the adoption of programmable drum machines. Electronically produced music became prevalent in the domain by the 1990s. Contemporary electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music. Today, pop music is most recognizable in its 4/4 form. At the turn of the 20th century, experimentation with emerging electronics led to the first electronic musical instruments and these initial inventions were not sold, but were instead used in demonstrations and public performances. The audiences were presented with reproductions of existing music instead of new compositions for the instruments, while some were considered novelties and produced simple tones, the Telharmonium accurately synthesized the sound of orchestral instruments. It achieved viable public interest and made progress into streaming music through telephone networks. Critics of musical conventions at the time saw promise in these developments, ferruccio Busoni encouraged the composition of microtonal music allowed for by electronic instruments. He predicted the use of machines in future music, writing the influential Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, futurists such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo began composing music with acoustic noise to evoke the sound of machinery. They predicted expansions in timbre allowed for by electronics in the influential manifesto The Art of Noises, developments of the vacuum tube led to electronic instruments that were smaller, amplified, and more practical for performance. In particular, the theremin, ondes Martenot and trautonium were commercially produced by the early 1930s, from the late 1920s, the increased practicality of electronic instruments influenced composers such as Joseph Schillinger to adopt them
8.
Synth-pop
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Synth-pop is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the Krautrock of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the new wave movement of the late-1970s to the mid-1980s. In Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestras success opened the way for bands such as P-Model, Plastics. The development of polyphonic synthesizers, the definition of MIDI. This, its adoption by the acts from the New Romantic movement, together with the rise of MTV. Synth-pop is sometimes deployed interchangeably with electropop, but electropop may also denote a variant of synth-pop that places emphasis on a harder. In the late 1980s duos such as Erasure and Pet Shop Boys adopted a style that was successful on the US dance-charts. Some artists and bands were criticised for gender bending, Synth-pop was defined by its primary use of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, sometimes using them to replace all other instruments. Borthwick and Moy have described the genre as diverse but, many synth-pop musicians had limited musical skills, relying on the technology to produce or reproduce the music. The result was often minimalist, with grooves that were woven together from simple repeated riffs often with no harmonic progression to speak of. Early synth-pop has been described as eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing, using droning electronics with little change in inflection, common lyrical themes of synth-pop songs were isolation, urban anomie, and feelings of being emotionally cold and hollow. Synthesizers were increasingly used to imitate the conventional and clichéd sound of orchestras, thin, treble-dominant, synthesized melodies and simple drum programmes gave way to thick, and compressed production, and a more conventional drum sound. Lyrics were generally optimistic, dealing with more traditional subject matter for pop music such as romance, escapism. According to music writer Simon Reynolds, the hallmark of 1980s synth-pop was its emotional, at times operatic singers such as Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Annie Lennox. Because synthesizers removed the need for groups of musicians, these singers were often part of a duo where their partner played all the instrumentation. Later synth-pop saw a shift to a style influenced by other genres. Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, the portable Minimoog, which allowed much easier use, particularly in live performance was widely adopted by progressive rock musicians such as Richard Wright of Pink Floyd and Rick Wakeman of Yes
9.
New wave music
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New wave is a genre of rock music popular from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s with ties to 1970s punk rock. New wave moved away from smooth blues and rock and roll sounds to create pop music that incorporated electronic and experimental music, mod, initially new wave was similar to punk rock, before becoming a distinct genre. It subsequently engendered subgenres and fusions, including synth-pop, college rock, common characteristics of new wave music include the use of synthesizers and electronic productions, the importance of styling and the arts, as well as diversity. In the mid-1980s, differences between new wave and other genres began to blur. New wave has enjoyed resurgences since the 1990s, after a rising nostalgia for several new wave-influenced artists, subsequently, the genre influenced other genres. During the 2000s, a number of acts explored new wave and post-punk influences, such as the Strokes, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand and these acts were sometimes labeled new wave of new wave. The catch-all nature of new music has been a source of much confusion. The 1985 discography Whos New Wave in Music listed artists in over 130 separate categories, the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock calls the term virtually meaningless, while AllMusic mentions stylistic diversity. New wave first emerged as a genre in the early 1970s, used by critics including Nick Kent and Dave Marsh to classify such New York-based groups as the Velvet Underground. It gained currency beginning in 1976 when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin Glue and newsagent music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express. In November 1976 Caroline Coon used Malcolm McLarens term new wave to designate music by bands not exactly punk, the term was also used in that sense by music journalist Charles Shaar Murray in his comments about the Boomtown Rats. For a period of time in 1976 and 1977, the new wave. By the end of 1977, new wave had replaced punk as the definition for new music in the UK. As radio consultants in the United States had advised their clients that punk rock was a fad, like the filmmakers of the French new wave movement, its new artists were anti-corporate and experimental. At first, most U. S. writers exclusively used the new wave for British punk acts. Music historian Vernon Joynson claimed that new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, in the U. S. the first new wavers were the not-so-punk acts associated with the New York club CBGB. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal, referring to the first show of the band Television at his club in March 1974, said, furthermore, many artists who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed new wave. A1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name features US artists including the Dead Boys, Ramones, Talking Heads, New wave is much more closely tied to punk and came and went more quickly in the United Kingdom than in the United States
10.
Experimental music
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The practice became prominent in the mid-20th century, particularly in North America. John Cage was one of the earliest composers to use the term and one of experimental musics primary innovators, utilizing indeterminacy techniques and seeking unknown outcomes. Also, in America, a distinct sense of the term was used in the late 1950s to describe computer-controlled composition associated with composers such as Lejaren Hiller. Harry Partch as well as Ivor Darreg worked with other tuning scales based on the laws for harmonic music. For this music they developed a group of experimental musical instruments. Musique concrète, is a form of music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. Elements of experimental music include indeterminate music, in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. The Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète, under the leadership of Pierre Schaeffer, publication of Schaeffers manifesto was delayed by four years, by which time Schaeffer was favoring the term recherche musicale, though he never wholly abandoned musique expérimentale. John Cage was also using the term as early as 1955, according to Cages definition, an experimental action is one the outcome of which is not foreseen, and he was specifically interested in completed works that performed an unpredictable action. Rebners lecture extended the concept back in time to include Charles Ives, Edgard Varèse, nyman opposes experimental music to the European avant-garde of the time, for whom The identity of a composition is of paramount importance. David Cope also distinguishes between experimental and avant garde, describing music as that which represents a refusal to accept the status quo. That is, for the most part, experimental music studies describes a category without really explaining it and this was an attempt to marginalize, and thereby dismiss various kinds of music that did not conform to established conventions. In 1955, Pierre Boulez identified it as a new definition makes it possible to restrict to a laboratory. He concludes, There is no such thing as experimental music … and it is therefore not a genre, but an open category, because any attempt to classify a phenomenon as unclassifiable and elusive as experimental music must be partial. Furthermore, the indeterminacy in performance guarantees that two versions of the same piece will have virtually no perceptible musical facts in common. The term experimental music was used contemporaneously for electronic music, particularly in the early musique concrète work of Schaeffer, a number of early 20th-century American composers, seen as precedents to and influences on John Cage, are sometimes referred to as the American Experimental School. These include Charles Ives, Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger, Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, for this music they both developed custom-built musical instruments often characterized as experimental instruments. La Monte Young is known for using this technique when he began working on his minimal drone pieces which consisted of layers of sounds in different pitches
11.
Virgin Records
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Virgin Records is a British-founded record label originally founded by English entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992, today, the operations of Virgin Records America, Inc. are still active and headquartered in Hollywood, California, as it operates exclusively under the Capitol Music Group since 2007. US artists include Knox Hamilton, LTric and Rise Against, in fact the first real store was above a shoe shop at the Tottenham Court Road end of Oxford Street. After making the shop into a success, they turned their business into a fully fledged record label, the name Virgin, according to Branson, arose from Tessa Watts, a colleague of his, when they were brainstorming business ideas. She suggested Virgin – as they were all new to business – like virgins, the original Virgin logo was designed by English artist and illustrator Roger Dean, a young naked woman in mirror image with a large long-tailed serpent and the word Virgin in Deans familiar script. A variation on the logo was used for the spin-off Caroline Records label and this was soon followed by some notable krautrock releases, including electronic breakthrough album Phaedra by Tangerine Dream, and The Faust Tapes and Faust IV by Faust. The Faust Tapes album retailed for 49p and as a result allowed this relatively unknown band to reach number 12 in the album charts, other early albums include Gongs Flying Teapot, which Daevid Allen has been quoted as having never been paid for. Under the guidance of Tessa Watts, Virgins Head of Publicity, shortly afterwards, the Notting Hill record shop was raided by police for having a window display of the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Heres the Sex Pistols in the window. After modified versions of the label came the red, white and blue design introduced in 1975. The current Virgin logo was created in 1978, commissioned by Simon Draper, brian Cooke of Cooke Key Associates commissioned a graphic designer to produce a stylised signature. In 1983 Virgin purchased Charisma Records, renaming it Charisma/Virgin, then later Virgin/Charisma, before folding the label in 1986, in the process they acquired Genesis and comedy group Monty Python. The Charisma label was reactivated in the US in 1990 and enjoyed success with such as Maxi Priest, Right Said Fred,38 Special. When this Charisma label was retired in 1992, all of its artists were, as before, in 1987, Venture Records was created for new age and modern classical artists including Klaus Schulze, who had been associated with Virgin since the early 1970s. 10 Records Immortal Records Delabel Caroline Records was a label used from 1973 to 1977. The name and logo were used for some American editions of Virgin records in the 1980s and 1990s. Caroline was primarily used for independent distribution until the label was reactivated in 2013, today, Caroline Records acts as an independent label taking the place of EMI Label Services, after Virgins former parent company EMI was purchased by Universal Music Group. Front Line Records was a label for issuing Jamaican and English reggae music from 1978 to approximately 1987, a short-lived associated label, Dindisc, had Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Monochrome Set during its brief existence, after which its recordings became part of Virgins catalogue. Noo Trybe Records was a hip hop label that existed from 1994 to 1999
12.
Factory Records
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Like the label 4AD Records, Factory Records used a creative team which gave the label and the artists recording for it a particular sound and image. The label employed a unique cataloguing system that gave a not just to its musical releases. At that time there was a label in Manchester called Rabid Records, run by Tosh Ryan. It had several successful acts, including Slaughter & The Dogs, John Cooper Clarke, after his seminal TV series So It Goes, Tony Wilson was interested in the way Rabid Records ran, and was convinced that the real money and power were in album sales. With a lot of discussion, Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton and Alan Erasmus set up Factory Records, the Factory name was first used for a club in May of that year, which featured local bands including The Durutti Column, Cabaret Voltaire from Sheffield, and Joy Division. Peter Saville designed advertising for the club, and in September Factory released an EP of music by acts who had played at the club called A Factory Sample, in 1978, Wilson compered the new wave afternoon at Deeply Vale Festival. The Factory label set up an office in Erasmus home on the first floor of 86 Palatine Road, singles followed by A Certain Ratio and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The first Factory LP, Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures, was released in June, in January 1980, The Return of the Durutti Column was released, the first in a long series of releases by guitarist Vini Reilly. In May, Joy Division singer Ian Curtis committed suicide shortly before a tour of the USA. The following month saw Joy Divisions single Love Will Tear Us Apart reach the UK top twenty, in late 1980, the remaining members of Joy Division decided to continue as New Order. Hannett left the label, as he had wanted to open a studio instead. Saville also quit as a due to problems with payments. Wilson, Erasmus and Gretton formed Factory Communications Ltd, the Haçienda opened in May 1982. Adjusting bar prices failed to help matters as by the crowds were increasingly preferring ecstasy to alcohol. Therefore the Haçienda ended up costing tens of thousands of pounds every month, in 1983 New Orders Blue Monday became an international chart hit. Saville noted that nobody at Factory expected Blue Monday to be a successful record at all. 1985 saw the first release by Happy Mondays, New Order and Happy Mondays became the most successful bands on the label, bankrolling a host of other projects. Factory, and the Haçienda, became a hub of the emerging techno and acid house genres
13.
A&M Records
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A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent label by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989. Today, A&Ms catalog releases are managed by Verve Records, Universal Music Enterprises, A&M Records was formed in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. Their first choice for a name was Carnival Records, under which they released two singles before discovering another label had already taken the Carnival name, the company was subsequently renamed A&M, after Alperts and Mosss initials. From 1966 to 1999, the headquarters were on the grounds of the historic Charlie Chaplin Studios at 1416 North La Brea Avenue. Marc Benno, Liza Minnelli, Rita Coolidge, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Bobby Tench, Hummingbird, Toni Basil, folk artists Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and Gene Clark also recorded for the label during the 1970s. Billy Preston joined the label in 1971, followed by Andre Popp, in the 1970s, under its manufacturing and distribution agreement with Ode Records, A&M released albums by Carole King and the comedy duo Cheech & Chong. On March 10,1977, A&M signed the Sex Pistols after the band had dropped by EMI. However, A&M dropped the band within a week, within a decade of its inception, A&M became the worlds largest independent record company. A&M releases were issued in the United Kingdom by EMIs Stateside Records label. From 1969, A&M set up their own UK base appointing John Deacon as General Manager - a post he held until 1979, A&M releases were also issued in Australia through Festival Records until 1989. A&M Records Ltd. was established in 1970, with distribution handled by other labels with a presence in Europe, A&M Records of Canada Ltd. was also formed in 1970, and A&M Records of Europe in 1977. In 1979, A&M entered an agreement with RCA Records in the USA. A&M was bought by PolyGram in 1989, Alpert and Moss continued to manage the label until 1993. In 1998, Alpert and Moss sued PolyGram for breach of the integrity clause, in 1991, A&M launched Perspective Records as a joint venture with producing team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jam and Lewis stepped down as CEOs of the imprint in 1997, in 1999, the label was absorbed into A&M. In the mid-1990s, A&M began distributing its PolyGram sister label Polydor Records in the USA, ceCe Peniston, Intelligent Hoodlum, Dred Scott, Ridel High and the Gin Blossoms. The company released the soundtracks Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, The Three Musketeers, Sabrina, The Living Sea, Demolition Man, and Lethal Weapon 3
14.
Epic Records
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Epic Records is an American record company owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. Epic was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953 and it later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of musical genres, including pop, R&B, rock and hip hop. Historically, the label has housed popular acts such as Boston, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Shakira, Anastacia, and Sly & the Family Stone. Along with Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainments three main record labels, L. A. Reid has served as chairman and CEO of Epic since July 2011. Sylvia Rhone was appointed president in March 2014, Epic Records was launched in 1953 by Columbia Records for the purpose of marketing jazz, pop and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe, pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epics bright-yellow, black, and blue became a familiar trademark for many jazz. By 1960, the musical base had been expanded to include all genres. This was done in part to prevent the roster of Columbia Records from being overstuffed with newer artists, subsequently, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, The Yardbirds, Lulu, July, Helen Shapiro and Jeff Beck. Also during the 1960s, Epic oversaw the smaller subsidiary CBS labels including Okeh Records, in 1968, Epic recordings began being distributed in the UK by CBS after the distribution deal with EMI expired that year, Epic itself launched in England around 1971. Epic was involved in a trade of artists. Graham Nash was signed to Epic because of his membership in The Hollies, when the newly formed Crosby, Stills & Nash wanted to sign with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis whereby Richie Furays new band Poco would sign with Epic. Also contributing to the success was its distribution of Philadelphia International Records. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987, and the company was renamed Sony Music in 1991. In 2004, Sony merged with another powerhouse music distributor, BMG, bringing labels such as RCA, Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, in February 2009, singer and songwriter Amanda Ghost was appointed president of Epic Records. Later in the year, Sony BMG Music merged Epic and Columbias operations, Sony BMGs Legacy Recordings reissues the companys classic and catalog titles
15.
Atomic Kitten
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Atomic Kitten are an English pop girl group formed in Liverpool in 1998 whose current members are Natasha Hamilton, Kerry Katona and Liz McClarnon. The band was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark frontman Andy McCluskey, sugababes singer Heidi Range was included in the original line-up but was replaced by Hamilton. The groups debut album Right Now was released in October 2000, after four top ten singles, Katona quit the group and was replaced by former Precious singer Jenny Frost. Whole Again, their single, became their most successful single when it topped the UK singles chart. The group re-released their debut album, with some tracks re-recorded with Frosts vocals, in the UK, the album hit number one, going double platinum after selling over 600,000 copies. Between 2002 and 2004, the released a further two studio albums, Feels So Good and Ladies Night, and a greatest hits album before announcing a break following their 2004 tour. The group split up in 2004 after selling over 10 million records worldwide, Frost was unable to take part in the comeback because of her pregnancy, but Hamilton has since confirmed that Frost would be welcomed back if she wanted to rejoin the group in the future. Atomic Kitten was first conceived in 1998 by British musician Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and he has stated that Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk suggested he create a new band as a vehicle for his songs following the dissolution of OMD. McCluskey served as a songwriter on Atomic Kittens studio recordings in the late 1990s. The original lineup featured Liz McClarnon, Kerry Katona, and Heidi Range, the groups debut single, Right Now, was released in late-November 1999 and reached #10 on the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, See Ya followed in March 2000 and was a bigger success. Following this initial success, Atomic Kitten performed an Asian tour, in 2000 they also recorded a cover of The Locomotion for the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The album was unsuccessful upon its first release, peaking at #39 on the UK Albums Chart, There were no initial plans to focus on the global market and Atomic Kittens label, Innocent Records, was even considering dropping them because of their limited success. However, the company was persuaded to let the group release one more single from the album. That single, Whole Again, became their first #1 hit in the United Kingdom and stayed at the top for four consecutive weeks. Due to this success, Whole Again was released globally, and reached #1 in 18 other countries, including 6 weeks in Germany, the song and video for Whole Again originally featured Kerry Katona, but several days before the singles release, she left because of her pregnancy. Former Precious singer Jenny Frost replaced her in the line-up and the music video was re-shot. The Katona-Frost switch led to the decision to partially re-record and re-release the Right Now album which went to #1 in the UK in August 2001
16.
Architecture & Morality
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Architecture & Morality is the third album by British electronic group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released in 1981. Hailed as a masterpiece and the seminal work, it has appeared in various best albums lists, The Morning News named it the finest record of 1981. The album also became a success, selling over 4 million copies by 2007. The record spawned three hit singles, which sold more than 8 million copies combined. According to the credits, its title was suggested to the band by Martha Ladly, formerly of Martha. Remixes of The Romance of the Telescope and Of All The Things Weve Made appeared on OMDs next album, Dazzle Ships, All of the albums songs were included in the first part of the setlist on OMDs 2007 comeback tour. The artwork was produced by Peter Saville and Brett Wickens, Architecture & Morality was released several times with varying artwork, most notably in yellow, blue and grey but even green versions are available. The original cover from 1981 is light yellow/orange in a die-cut sleeve, Architecture & Morality yielded three singles, all of which charted in the UK Top 5, Souvenir, Joan of Arc, and Maid of Orleans, a retitled Joan of Arc. The three singles sold more than 8 million copies combined, lynden Barber in Melody Maker criticised Architecture & Morality, writing, I dont believe the Orchs even care about this record. The style is the same, the content profoundly different, the onslaught of emptiness, frivolity disguised by furrowed brows, in his review for The Cavalier Daily, Brad Scharff applauded the LP for its interesting musical structures and vocals but opined that it occasionally lapses into tedium. He concluded, While it is an album, the positive aspects certainly outweigh its faults. Record Mirror journalist Daniela Soave had at first resisted the album and she said, Because it falls between creating one overall mood and a collection of classic pop Architecture & Morality requires more effort on the listeners part. Although I had misgivings initially Architecture & Morality is no disappointment and we didnt think it got the respect it deserved, said McCluskey in 1983. We put a lot into it and we loved it. Anything which undermines our own unstable balance creates a problem for us, other journalists have since called the record a masterpiece as it has come to garner critical acclaim. Raggett saw the album as an indicator the groups future sonic adventures, saying, he heartbreaking Sealand and Georgia hint at where OMD would go next, with Dazzle Ships. In an enthusiastic review for Pitchfork, Scott Plagenhoef described the record as a bridge between synth-pops more bleak, industrial beginnings and the shimmer and shine of ambitious New Pop. John Doran in The Quietus called the LP astonishing, and asserted and this is one of the finest 1980s pop albums
17.
Dazzle Ships (album)
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Dazzle Ships is the fourth album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released in 1983. The title and cover art alluded to a painting by Vorticist artist Edward Wadsworth based on dazzle camouflage, Dazzle Ships was the follow-up release to the bands hugely successful Architecture & Morality. OMD, then at their peak of popularity, opted for a departure in sound on the record. The album is noted for its highly experimental content, particularly musique concrète sound collages, in contrast with its predecessor, Dazzle Ships met with a degree of critical and commercial hostility. Opinion of the record has transmuted in the years since its release, however, it has come to be regarded as a masterpiece and a lost classic, the album has also been cited as an influence by numerous artists. Frontman Andy McCluskey recalled, We wanted to be ABBA and Stockhausen, the machinery, bones and humanity were juxtaposed. However, the album did also contain six conventional pop songs, two of them, The Romance of the Telescope and Of All the Things Weve Made were remixed versions of songs previously issued on B-sides to earlier singles. Radio Waves was a new version of a song from McCluskey and Paul Humphreyss pre-OMD band, two singles were released from the album, Genetic Engineering and Telegraph, which achieved moderate chart success in the United Kingdom and on American rock and college radio. Both were also released as 7 vinyl picture discs, the bands former record company, the independent Dindisc label, had recently ceased trading, and so the bands contract was transferred to DinDiscs parent company, Virgin Records. However, to maintain the image of being signed to an indie label, the album was released on LP, compact cassette and compact disc. The Radio Prague track is the interval signal of the Czechoslovak Radio foreign service, including the time signal. Time Zones is a montage of various speaking clocks from around the world, neither Radio Prague nor Time Zones carry any writing credit at all, with OMD being credited only for arranging the tracks. The This Is Helena, ABC Auto-Industry and International tracks also include parts of some broadcasts recorded off-air, the track Genetic Engineering is an overt homage to Kraftwerk, with the vocal arrangement drawing heavily on the structure employed on their track Computer World. The cover painting, Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool, is in the collection of the National Art Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, critics were bewildered by the experimental Dazzle Ships. John Shearlaw in Record Mirror cautioned, To describe the LP as difficult, too much attention given to soundtrack-like effects that only clutter what decent electropop baubles there are here – and there is indeed some good, if limited, work. Sounds critic Chris Burkham referred to a continual start-stop effect as songs rub themselves up the wrong way, bob Stanley in The Guardian commented on its initial lack of success, contained no obvious hits and soundtracked the cold war at its coldest. No one bought it, mind you, so Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Darks Dazzle Ships came to be viewed as a heroic failure – the ultimate commercial suicide, entered the charts at No 5, then dropped like a stone. Critical opinion of Dazzle Ships has since shifted to a more favourable stance, with the record garnering positive retrospective appraisals from Record Collector, PopMatters, club, Q and The Quietus, among others
18.
Junk Culture
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Junk Culture is the fifth album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released in 1984. After the commercial disappointment of the groups experimental 1983 album Dazzle Ships, OMD, the record spawned four singles, including the chart hits Locomotion and Talking Loud and Clear. Core members Humphreys and McCluskey decided to move away from their own Gramophone Suite studios in Liverpool, starting on new tracks instead in Highland Studios in Inverness and in Lincolnshire. The group then performed a series of live shows in September 1983 partly in order to reassure their public. These included early versions of All Wrapped Up, Tesla Girls, Junk Culture, Never Turn Away, The Avenue, the group then returned to the studio with producer Brian Tench. A single release was considered for the end of 1983. Fundamental to the sound was also the Fairlight CMI sampler keyboard which the group started using in Montserrat. The group then returned to Europe to finish off the album at Wisseloord Studios in The Netherlands. Junk Culture was released on 30 April 1984 and entered the UK Albums Chart a week later, limited pressings of the vinyl LP came with a free one-sided 7 single featuring the track The Wheels of the Universe, thus boosting initial sales. The album entered the UK chart at no,9, outselling the new album by contemporaries The Cure, although beaten by fellow Liverpudlians Echo & the Bunnymen whose Ocean Rain entered at no.4. All three albums gradually dropped down the charts in successive weeks, sales of Junk Culture were boosted once more during the release of the second single Talking Loud and Clear, although it dropped out of the Top 40 all together in August. As with previous albums, the artwork was designed by Peter Saville Associates. Junk Culture was the first OMD album to be released contemporaneously on all three formats of vinyl, cassette and compact disc, Junk Culture met with a mostly unfavourable reaction from the English music press. NME wrote that the album is never fresh or dynamic – all too predictable, while What Hi-Fi, felt it seems to lack some of the substance of previous albums. Melody Maker asked, Is there anyone who will care about OMD now having been let down again and that publications Lynden Barber disapproved of the lyrically aggressive White Trash, calling it offensive, irresponsible garbage. Johnny Black in Smash Hits portrayed the record as more accessible than the last album. But still reveals some brave moves and he added however that moments that turn excellence into magic are fewer and further between. Reviews among Englands mainstream press were more positive, the mood is enhanced by the bands deft use of experimental techniques
19.
Sampler (musical instrument)
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The samples are loaded or recorded by the user or by a manufacturer. These sounds are played back by means of the sampler program itself. Because these samples are stored in digital memory, the information can be quickly accessed. A single sample may often be pitch-shifted to different pitches to produce musical scales, often samplers offer filters, effects units, modulation via low frequency oscillation and other synthesizer-like processes that allow the original sound to be modified in many different ways. Most samplers have polyphonic capabilities – they are able to more than one note at the same time. Many are also multitimbral – they can play back different sounds simultaneously, prior to computer memory-based samplers, musicians used tape replay keyboards, which store recordings on analog tape. When a key is pressed the tape head contacts the moving tape, to change sounds a new set of tapes had to be installed in the instrument. The emergence of the sampler made sampling far more practical. Bruce Haack built a digital sampler which he demonstrated on Mister Rogers Neighborhood in 1967, the home made synthesizer device included a built-in sampler which recorded, stored, played back and looped sounds controlled by switches, light sensors and human skin contact. EMS Musys system, developed by Peter Grogono, David Cockerell, the system ran on two mini-computers, Digital Equipment PDP-8s. These had 12,000 bytes of memory, backed up by a hard drive of 32k. EMS equipment was used to control the worlds first digital studio, the E-mu SP-1200 percussion sampler progressed Hip-Hop away from the drum machine sound upon its release in August 1987, ushering in the sample-based sound of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Akai pioneered many processing techniques, such as crossfade looping and time stretch to shorten or lengthen samples without affecting pitch, during the 1980s, hybrid synthesizers began to utilize short samples along with digital synthesis to create more realistic imitations of instruments than had previously been possible. Examples are the Korg M1, Roland U-110, Yamahas SY series, samplers, together with traditional Foley artists, are the mainstay of modern sound effects production. Using digital techniques various effects can be pitch-shifted and otherwise altered in ways that would have required many hours when done with tape, usually a sampler is controlled by an attached music keyboard or other external MIDI controller or source. Each note-message received by the sampler accesses a particular sample, often multiple samples are arranged across the keyboard, each assigned to a note or group of notes. Keyboard tracking allows samples to be shifted in pitch by an appropriate amount, each group of notes to which a single sample has been assigned is often called a keyzone, and the resultant set of zones is called a keymap. For example, in Fig 1, a keymap has been created four different samples
20.
If You Leave (song)
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If You Leave is a 1986 song by the British synthpop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. It was recorded for the soundtrack to the film Pretty in Pink, along with 1980s Enola Gay, the track has been described as the bands signature song. If You Leave is the groups highest-charting single in the United States, the song was also a Top 5 entry in Canada and New Zealand, and charted at number 15 in Australia. A distinguishing track of the 1980s, it has had a presence on radio. The band wrote If You Leave after John Hughes decided to change the ending to Pretty in Pink after poor test audience reactions. Hughes had asked the band for a song for the new ending two days before they were due to begin a tour, and If You Leave was written and recorded in under 24 hours as a result. The song was written at a tempo of 120 BPM, to match the speed of Dont You. Despite this songwriter Andy McClusky later noted that an editing error meant that the dancing appears out of sync regardless, the original ending featured another OMD song, Goddess of Love, which was released on The Pacific Age later in 1986. In later years, Trouser Press called the song a dull ballad, mike DeGagne in AllMusic named If You Leave as the best track from Pretty in Pink, adding that its adult feel and smooth transition from stanza to chorus makes it most memorable song. Stereogum critic Ryan Leas considered the track to be among the best songs of the 80s, andrew Unterberger in Stylus Magazine said that the gorgeous song makes the final scene of Pretty in Pink one of the best in cinematic history. Listeners in OMDs native UK – where the band had gained an audience with edgy, frontman Andy McCluskey commented, Its a blessing to have such a big hit, but a shame that it overshadows so many other good songs for the US audience. We have many European fans who hate the song, If You Leave has been included in various greatest songs listings, KOOL-FM named it the third-best new wave song of the 1980s, while Time Out ranked it the 10th greatest song of 1980s cinema. The Canadian teen drama Degrassi, The Next Generation, which was known in its early seasons for naming each episode after a 1980s hit song, on Modern Family, If You Leave is Phil and Claire Dunphys song. However, Claire forgets this and thinks their song is True by Spandau Ballet, in the Season 2 finale of The Goldbergs the song is played as Erica boards the plane on her way to her summer music school. Cover versions of the song have also used in film. If You Leave was covered by pop-punk band Good Charlotte for the soundtrack of Not Another Teen Movie, a cover version by Nada Surf was used on an episode of The O. C. It is played as a tribute to the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink where the original OMD version of the song appeared and it was released on Music from the OC, Mix 2. LMP covered the song on their album A Century of Song, indie rock band Rafter covered the song for the compilation album Guilt by Association Vol.2, released in 2008
21.
The Best of OMD
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The Best of OMD is a compilation album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released in 1988. It was a success, becoming a Top 5 hit across Europe. Dreaming was released as a single and made impact on the UK charts. 50, but it was a hit in the US, Germany, the version of Electricity used is the same as the one featured on their debut album. The band was going to use their very first version of this song. Messages is the more popular 10 single version, tesla Girls and Talking Loud and Clear are both 7 edited versions. The Australian version of the album featured We Love You since that song had been a hit there. There was also a compilation released with the promo videos of some of the songs featured on the album. According to Andy McCluskey, OMD made the album in order to pay off debts owned to Virgin Records, robert Christgau noted that the album includes technocratic dance-kitsch as amusing as Electricity and Enola Gay, and Talking Loud and Clear, their cutest and catchiest romantic medium-tempo. He added that the others here included will certainly entertain the hookily inclined. All songs written by OMD, except Locomotion written by OMD, so in Love written by OMD and Stephen Hague. Electricity and Dreaming are produced by OMD, messages, Enola Gay and Souvenir are produced by OMD and Mike Howlett. Joan of Arc and Maid of Orleans are produced by OMD, telegraph and Genetic Engineering are produced by OMD and Rhett Davies. Tesla Girls, Locomotion and Talking Loud and Clear are produced by OMD, so in Love, Secret, Live and Die, We Love You and La Femme Accident are produced by Stephen Hague. If You Leave is produced by OMD and Tom Lord Alge
22.
Dance-pop
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Dance-pop is a pop and dance subgenre that originated in the early 1980s. It is generally up-tempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable, the genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions. Dance-pop borrowed influences from other genres, which varied by producer, artist, such include contemporary R&B, house, trance, techno, new jack swing, funk, synthpop, electropop and some forms of europop. Dance-pop is a mainstream style of music and there have been numerous pop artists. As the term started to go out of fashion by the late 1970s to early 1980s, other terms were commonly used to describe disco-based music, such as post-disco, club. Dance-pop music emerged in the 1980s as a combination of dance and pop, or post-disco, Dance-pop music was usually created, composed and produced by record producers who would then hire singers to perform the songs. In the beginning of the 80s disco was an anathema to the mainstream pop, according to prominent Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Madonna had a huge role in popularizing dance music as mainstream music, utilizing her charisma, chutzpah and sex appeal. Erlewine claimed that Madonna launched dance-pop and set the standard for the genre for the two decades. The staff of Vice magazine stated that her debut album drew the blueprint for future dance-pop, in the 1980s dance-pop was closely aligned to other up-tempo electronic genres, such as Hi-NRG. Prominent producers in the 1980s included Stock, Aitken and Waterman, during the decade, dance-pop borrowed influences from funk, new jack swing, and contemporary R&B. Other prominent dance-pop artists and groups of the 1980s included the Pet Shop Boys, Mel and Kim, Samantha Fox, Debbie Gibson, by the 1990s, dance-pop had become a major genre in popular music. Several dance-pop groups and artists emerged during the 1990s, such as the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Backstreet Boys, during the early 1990s, dance-pop borrowed influences from house music, as well as contemporary R&B and new jack swing. Additionally, also in 1998, Cher released a song called Believe which made usage of a technological innovation of the time. An audio processor and a form of pitch modification software, Auto-Tune is commonly used as a way to correct pitch, since the late 1990s, the use of Auto-Tune processing has become a common feature of dance-pop music. Celine Dion also released a dance-pop song Thats the Way It Is by the end of 1999 and it has a moderately slow tempo but an up-beat song. At the beginning of the 2000s, dance-pop music was still prominent, nonetheless, as R&B and hip hop became extremely popular from the early part of the decade onwards, dance-pop often borrowed a lot of its influences from urban music. Dance-pop stars from the 1980s and 1990s such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Janet Jackson, in Madonnas case, her album Music contained elements of Euro disco, especially the successful eponymous lead single. Britney Spears album Blackout contained influences of Euro disco, the mid-to-late 2000s saw the arrival of several new dance-pop artists, including Rihanna, Kesha, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry
23.
Sugar Tax (album)
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Sugar Tax is the eighth album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released in 1991 on Virgin Records. It was the groups first studio album since 1986, and the first of three recorded without co-founder Paul Humphreys, who had departed in 1989. The album charted at No.3 in the UK Albums Chart and it had sold over three million copies by 2007. Sugar Tax is the album in the OMD catalogue not to feature the songwriting contribution of Paul Humphreys. Richard Riccio described the record as being sprinkled with gems in his review for the St. Petersburg Times and he added, Sugar Tax is classic OMD, and after a four-year absence marks a triumphant return for one of new waves original invaders. A review in Q magazine called Sugar Tax an unflappable album of quality songs which re-establishes OMDs credentials as masters of synthesized melancholia, trouser Press found the record to be simply ordinary and mediocre, a disappointment from a once-captivating band. The album does not include the title track Sugar Tax, as it was not ready in time for release and it was instead included as the B-side to the single Then You Turn Away. All tracks written by OMD, except where noted
24.
Alternative rock
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Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
25.
Girl group
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A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. All-female bands, in which also play instruments, are usually considered a separate phenomenon. These groups are sometimes called girl bands to differentiate, although this terminology is not universally followed, with the advent of the music industry and radio broadcasting, a number of girl groups emerged, such as the Andrews Sisters. The late 1950s saw the emergence of all-female singing groups as a force, with 750 distinct girl groups releasing songs that reached US. The Supremes alone held 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 during the height of the wave, in later eras, the girl group template would be applied to disco, contemporary R&B, and country-based formats, as well as pop. A more globalized music industry saw the popularity of dance-oriented pop music led by major record labels. This emergence, led by the US, UK, South Korea, also, since the late 2000s, South Korea has had a significant impact, with 8 of the top 10 girl groups by digital sales in the world originating there. The ladies were together from 1923 until the early 1940s, and known for their harmonies, as well as barbershop style or novelty tunes. The Three X Sisters were also especially a notable addition to the music scene, the Boswell Sisters, who became one of the most popular singing groups from 1930 to 1936, had over twenty hits. The Andrews Sisters had musical hits across multiple genres, which contributed to the prevalence, the rise of girl groups appeared out of and was influenced by other musical movements of the time period. Importantly, the first successful girl groups of this era were typically white and this era was also advantageous to the beginnings of girl group music because of the newfound prevalence of the radio as well, which allowed this style of music to spread. Also, the Lennon Sisters were a mainstay on the Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 on, in early 1956, doo-wop one-hit wonder acts like the Bonnie Sisters with Cry Baby and the Teen Queens with Eddie My Love showed early promise for a departure from traditional pop harmonies. With Mr. Lee, the Bobbettes lasted for 5 1/2 months on the charts in 1957, building momentum and gaining acceptance of all-female. However, it was the Chantels 1958 song Maybe that became arguably, the mixture of black doo-wop, rock and roll, and white pop was appealing to a teenage audience and grew from scandals involving payola and the perceived social effects of rock music. However, early groups such as the Chantels started developing their groups musical capacities traditionally, through mediums like Latin, the Shirelles solidified their success with five more top 10 hits, most particularly 1962s number one hit Soldier Boy, over the next two and a half years. Motown would mastermind several major groups, including Martha and the Vandellas, the Velvelettes. Other songwriters and producers in the US and UK quickly recognized the potential of new approach. Phil Spector recruited the Crystals, the Blossoms, and the Ronettes, while Goffin, phil Spector made a huge impact on the ubiquity of the girl group, as well as bringing fame and notoriety to new heights for many girl groups
26.
Cock rock
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Cock rock is a genre of rock music that emphasises an aggressive form of male sexuality. The term is used in a derogatory way. The style, developed in the later 1960s, came to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, Cock rock is a musical genre. Philip Auslander uses Simon Friths description of cock rock characteristics, cock-rock performance means an explicit, crude, cock-rock performers are aggressive, boastful, constantly drawing audience attention to their prowess and control. Mikes and guitars are phallic symbols, the music is loud, rhythmically insistent, built around techniques of arousal, lyrics are assertive and arrogant, but the exact words are less significant than the vocal styles involved, the shrill shouting and screaming. The meaning of the term cock rock has changed over time, Led Zeppelin have been described as the quintessential purveyors of cock rock. Other formative acts include the Rolling Stones, The Who and Jim Morrison of The Doors, in 1981, Frith described the characteristics of cock rock in a way that could apply to female performers, not just male ones. In 2004, Auslander used this description of characteristics to show that Suzi Quatro is a female cock-rocker. Since the 1980s, the term has been sometimes interchangeable with hair metal or glam metal, examples of this genre include, Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Warrant, Extreme, Cinderella, Pretty Boy Floyd, Jackyl, L. A. Guns, and Poison. Despite the name, many of these bands had or have large numbers of female fans, the spoof documentary This Is Spinal Tap is an acclaimed parody of the genre. In the 21st century, there was a revival of the genre with the metal movement in Sweden. Robert Plant Suzi Quatro Led Zeppelin Arena rock Tringali, Juliana, love Guns, Tight Pants, and Big Sticks. Who Put the Cock in Rock
27.
Kraftwerk
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Kraftwerk is a German electronic music band formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1969 in Düsseldorf. In the 1970s, they were among the first successful pop acts to popularize electronic music and are considered to be innovators and pioneers of the genre. The band was fronted by both Hütter and Schneider until Schneiders departure in 2008, following the releases of Computer World and Electric Café, member Wolfgang Flür left the group in 1987. They released their final album Tour de France Soundtracks in 2003, founding member Schneider departed in 2008. According to The Observer, no other band since the Beatles has given so much to pop culture, in January 2014, the Recording Academy honored Kraftwerk with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. As of 2016, the members of Kraftwerk continue to tour. The duo had performed together as part of a quintet known as Organisation. This ensemble released one album, Tone Float in 1969, issued on RCA Records in the UK, Schneider was more and more synthesizers by keyboards, a new electronic intrument that had recently arrived on the market, and decided to acquire one in 1970. While visiting an exhibition in their hometown about visual artists Gilbert and George, the same year, Hütter and Schneider start bringing everyday life into art and form Kraftwerk as critic Jude Rogers remarked it. Hütter, who left the band for eight months, played synthesizer and their first three albums were free-form experimental rock without the pop hooks or the more disciplined song structure of later work. Post-production modifications to these recordings were used to distort the sound of the instruments, particularly audio-tape manipulation, live performances from 1972 to 1973 were made as a duo, using a simple beat-box-type electronic drum machine, with preset rhythms taken from an electric organ. These shows were mainly in Germany, with shows in France. Later in 1973, Wolfgang Flür joined the group for rehearsals, with Ralf und Florian, released in 1973, Kraftwerk began to move closer to its now classic sound, relying more heavily on synthesizers and drum machines. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Kraftwerks first use of the vocoder, Kraftwerks futuristic and robotic sound was influenced by the adrenalized insurgency of Detroit artists of the late 60s such as MC5 and the Stooges. The input, expertise, and influence of producer and engineer Konrad Conny Plank was highly significant in the years of Kraftwerk. Plank also worked many of the other leading German electronic acts of that time, including members of Can. As a result of his work with Kraftwerk, Planks studio near Cologne became one of the most sought-after studios in the late 1970s, Plank coproduced the first four Kraftwerk albums. The release of Autobahn in 1974 saw Kraftwerk moving away from the sound of its first three albums, Hütter and Schneider had invested in newer technology such as the Minimoog and the EMS Synthi AKS, helping give Kraftwerk a newer, disciplined sound
28.
Electronics
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Electronics is the science of controlling electrical energy electrically, in which the electrons have a fundamental role. Commonly, electronic devices contain circuitry consisting primarily or exclusively of active semiconductors supplemented with passive elements, the science of electronics is also considered to be a branch of physics and electrical engineering. The ability of electronic devices to act as switches makes digital information processing possible, until 1950 this field was called radio technology because its principal application was the design and theory of radio transmitters, receivers, and vacuum tubes. Today, most electronic devices use semiconductor components to perform electron control and this article focuses on engineering aspects of electronics. Components are generally intended to be connected together, usually by being soldered to a circuit board. Components may be packaged singly, or in more complex groups as integrated circuits, some common electronic components are capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes, transistors, etc. Components are often categorized as active or passive, vacuum tubes were among the earliest electronic components. They were almost solely responsible for the revolution of the first half of the Twentieth Century. They took electronics from parlor tricks and gave us radio, television, phonographs, radar, long distance telephony and they played a leading role in the field of microwave and high power transmission as well as television receivers until the middle of the 1980s. Since that time, solid state devices have all but completely taken over, vacuum tubes are still used in some specialist applications such as high power RF amplifiers, cathode ray tubes, specialist audio equipment, guitar amplifiers and some microwave devices. The 608 contained more than 3,000 germanium transistors, thomas J. Watson Jr. ordered all future IBM products to use transistors in their design. From that time on transistors were almost exclusively used for computer logic, circuits and components can be divided into two groups, analog and digital. A particular device may consist of circuitry that has one or the other or a mix of the two types, most analog electronic appliances, such as radio receivers, are constructed from combinations of a few types of basic circuits. Analog circuits use a range of voltage or current as opposed to discrete levels as in digital circuits. The number of different analog circuits so far devised is huge, especially because a circuit can be defined as anything from a single component, analog circuits are sometimes called linear circuits although many non-linear effects are used in analog circuits such as mixers, modulators, etc. Good examples of analog circuits include vacuum tube and transistor amplifiers, one rarely finds modern circuits that are entirely analog. These days analog circuitry may use digital or even microprocessor techniques to improve performance and this type of circuit is usually called mixed signal rather than analog or digital. Sometimes it may be difficult to differentiate between analog and digital circuits as they have elements of both linear and non-linear operation, an example is the comparator which takes in a continuous range of voltage but only outputs one of two levels as in a digital circuit
29.
Brian Eno
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Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, RDI is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, writer, and visual artist. He is best known for his work in rock, ambient, pop. He has been described as one of musics most influential. Born in Suffolk, Eno studied painting and experimental music at art school in the late 1960s before joining glam rock group Roxy Music as synthesizer player in 1971. He took part in frequent collaborations with such as Robert Fripp, Cluster, David Bowie on his Berlin Trilogy. In subsequent decades, Eno continued to record albums, collaborate, and produce for other artists, including U2, Coldplay, Laurie Anderson, James, Grace Jones. He continues to release music, produce, and write, the unusual surname Eno, long established in Suffolk, derives from the French Huguenot surname Hennot. Maria had already had a daughter, and together William and Maria would have two children, Roger and Arlette. In school, Eno used a tape recorder as an instrument and experimented with his first, sometimes improvisational. From that collaboration, he involved in Cornelius Cardews Scratch Orchestra. The first released recording in which Eno played is the Deutsche Grammophon edition of Cardews The Great Learning, Another early recording was the Berlin Horse soundtrack, by Malcom Le Grice, a nine-minute,2 ×16 mm-double-projection, released in 1970 and presented in 1971. He then progressed to appearing on stage as a member of the group. He quit the band on completing the tour for the bands second album, For Your Pleasure, because of disagreements with lead singer Bryan Ferry. If Id walked ten yards further on the platform, or missed that train, or been in the next carriage, during his period with Roxy Music, and for his first three solo albums, he was credited on records only as Eno. Eno embarked on a career almost immediately. Between 1973 and 1977 he created four albums of electronically inflected art pop, Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain, Another Green World, and Before and After Science. Tiger Mountain contains the galloping Third Uncle, one of Enos best-known songs and these four albums were remastered and reissued in 2004 by Virgins Astralwerks label. Due to Enos decision not to add any extra tracks of the original material, in 1972, Eno and Robert Fripp developed the Frippertronics tape delay system, a year later, the pair released the proto-ambient album
30.
Radio-Activity
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Radio-Activity is the fifth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in October 1975. Unlike Kraftwerks later albums, which featured lyrics, only the titles differ between the English and German editions. A concept album, Radio-Activity is bilingual, featuring lyrics in both languages, the album peaked at number one in France, becoming Kraftwerks first album to reach a number one spot. The hyphenated album title displays Kraftwerks typical deadpan humour, being a pun on the themes of the songs, half being about radioactivity. More word plays are evident in the listing, Radio Stars, which as a title could refer to pop stars. All the music was written by Hütter and Schneider, with Emil Schult collaborating on lyrics, Schult also designed the artwork – a modified illustration of a late-1930s Deutscher Kleinempfänger radio. Notably, it provided the sounds on the track Antenna. The bands custom-built electronic percussion also featured heavily in the sound, the usual synthesizers were present, and Hütters Farfisa electronic piano made a return on Transistor. For the first time the group did not use flute, violin or guitars, by 1975, Hütter and Schneiders previous publishing deals with Capriccio Music and Star Musik Studio of Hamburg had expired. The compositions on Radio-Activity were published by their own newly set up Kling Klang Verlag music publishing company, also, the album was the first to bear the fruit of Kling Klang as an established vanity label under the groups new licensing deal with EMI. The album reached #59 in Canada, in February 1976, the title track Radioactivity was released as a single, and became a hit in France after it was used as the theme to a popular music show. The song was later re-recorded by Kraftwerk for their 1991 album The Mix and it was further remixed, for subsequent single release, by William Orbit and François Kevorkian. Radioactivity, was released as a single in 1976, Radio-Activity is sonically muted, at times fragile and beautiful. Radio-Activity opens with the pulse of the minute long intro Geiger Counter. Geiger Counter then segues into the title track Radioactivity, the song refers both to radioactivity, the process by which the nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting radiation, and the act of listening to recorded sounds and the radio. It is followed by a song about the radio, entitled Radioland, Radioland links into a tone that quickly increases in pitch which kicks off the fast-tempoed Airwaves, which is a song about a modern communication. Airwaves segues into a 38 second long Intermission, which goes into News. News features simulated radio recordings of German-language news about radioactivity, side two opens with The Voice of Energy, which is based on Werner Meyer-Epplers Stimme der Energie
31.
Roman numerals
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The numeric system represented by Roman numerals originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers in this system are represented by combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, Roman numerals, as used today, are based on seven symbols, The use of Roman numerals continued long after the decline of the Roman Empire. The numbers 1 to 10 are usually expressed in Roman numerals as follows, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, Numbers are formed by combining symbols and adding the values, so II is two and XIII is thirteen. Symbols are placed left to right in order of value. Named after the year of its release,2014 as MMXIV, the year of the games of the XXII Olympic Winter Games The standard forms described above reflect typical modern usage rather than a universally accepted convention. Usage in ancient Rome varied greatly and remained inconsistent in medieval, Roman inscriptions, especially in official contexts, seem to show a preference for additive forms such as IIII and VIIII instead of subtractive forms such as IV and IX. Both methods appear in documents from the Roman era, even within the same document, double subtractives also occur, such as XIIX or even IIXX instead of XVIII. Sometimes V and L are not used, with such as IIIIII. Such variation and inconsistency continued through the period and into modern times. Clock faces that use Roman numerals normally show IIII for four o’clock but IX for nine o’clock, however, this is far from universal, for example, the clock on the Palace of Westminster in London uses IV. Similarly, at the beginning of the 20th century, different representations of 900 appeared in several inscribed dates. For instance,1910 is shown on Admiralty Arch, London, as MDCCCCX rather than MCMX, although Roman numerals came to be written with letters of the Roman alphabet, they were originally independent symbols. The Etruscans, for example, used
32.
Circuit bending
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Circuit bending usually involves dismantling the machine and adding components such as switches and potentiometers that alter the circuit. Circuit bending is often practiced by those with no training in circuit theory or design. Inexpensive keyboards, drum machines, and electronic toys are commonly used. Haphazard modifications can result in short circuits, resulting in the risk of fire, burning, aesthetic value, immediate usability and highly randomized results are often factors in the process of successfully bending electronics. Circuit bending is typified by inconsistencies in instruments built in an unscientific manner, while many pre-fitted circuit bent machines are on offer for sale at auction sites such as eBay, this somewhat contravenes the intention of most practitioners. Results are monitored through either the internal speaker or by connecting an amplifier to the speaker output. If an interesting effect is achieved, this connection would be marked for reference or kept active by either soldering a new connection or bridging it with crocodile clips. This is repeated on a trial and error basis, other components added into the circuit can give the performer more expressiveness, such as potentiometers, photoresistors and pressure sensors. The simplest input, and the one most identified with circuit bending, is the body contact, often metal knobs, plates, screws or studs are wired to these circuit points to give easier access to these points from the outside the case of the device. Since creative experimentation is a key element to the practice of circuit bending, there is always a possibility that short circuiting may yield undesirable results, including component failure. In particular, connecting the power supply or a capacitor directly to a chip lead can destroy the chip. For safety reasons, a circuit bender should have a few basic electronics tools and it is advised that beginner circuit benders should never bend any device that gets its power from mains electricity, as this would carry a serious risk of electrocution. Circuit bending can also be carried out in interactive electronic audio games, people modify their electronic games to enhance the quality of recordings used for fan-made projects or to change the speed of the game which results in a pitch change. This makes the gameplay easier, especially if the game gets impossibly fast, although similar methods were previously used by other musicians and engineers, this method of music creation is believed to have been pioneered by Reed Ghazala in the 1960s. Ghazalas experience with circuit-bending began in 1966 when a toy transistor amplifier, by chance, shorted-out against an object in his desk drawer. Prior to Marks and Reeds experiments other pioneers also explored the idea, one of the earliest being Thaddeus Cahill whose telharmonium. Ghazalas How-To Ghazalas official website tutorial GetLoFi a circuit bending blog with a lot of circuit bending tips and resources
