New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Following a stand-out headline date at London's The O2
Arena last year, OMD have now announced plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their acclaimed album Junk Culture with a very special vinyl release, out June 20th on UMR/Virgin.
Originally released on April 30th 1984 and the band's fifth album, Junk Culture is arriving on vinyl for the first time since the late 80s and has been remastered from the original ½ inch reels and cut at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. The release follows 40th anniversary releases for the band's catalogue, including reissues for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1980), Organisation (1980), Architecture & Morality (1981) and Dazzle Ships (1983).
A consciously more melodic effort than its experimental predecessor, Dazzle Ships, the album was lauded across the board. Junk Culture has reached Gold status in the UK and landed in the UK's Top 10 album chart upon release. Produced by the band and Brian Tench (with additional contributions by Tony Visconti), Junk Culture was recorded at a variety of locations including AIR Studios in Montserrat, using the band's newly-acquired, state-of-the-art Fairlight CMI sampler keyboard, and mixed at Wisseloord in Hilversum, Netherlands.
The record also returned OMD to the upper reaches of the singles charts, with 'Locomotion' (top 5 in the UK and top 10 across Europe), 'Talking Loud and Clear' (No. 11 in the UK, top 5 in Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland), and the club hit 'Tesla Girls' (No. 21 in the UK, No. 8 in the Netherlands). All three remain live favourites. The version of 'Tesla Girls' here differs slightly from the one used on the original album at the request of the artist. "The final version we did for the original album was made out of the 12-inch extended version," explains Paul Humphreys. "For this reissue, we elected to use the Wisseloord edit version as it's the same arrangement that we play live, and I think it's the best one. The one on the original album goes around the piano riff twice in the intro but I think this Wisseloord edit was always the definitive version."
Junk Culture Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Junk Culture
2.
Tesla Girls
3. Locomotion
4. Apollo
5. Never Turn Away
Side 2
6. Love And Violence
7. Hard Day
8. All Wrapped Up
9. White Trash
10. Talking Loud And Clear
OMD have sold an astonishing 25 million singles and 15 million albums, which has established them as electronic synthesiser pioneers and one of Britain's best-loved pop groups.
