in Eisigen Höhne

Looking back on 20 years of creative growth since the electro-pop band's inception, The OMD Singles is logically and chronologically arranged. The earliest recordings, 1980's "Electricity" and "Messages," prove electric messages were being channeled from such German pioneers as Kraftwerk and Neu! These English boys were enamored of melody, though, and it was not long before such dulcet, song-like structure became self-evident, as in 1984's "Tesla Girls." From then on, it is a steady climb in coherence, with synth rhythms downplayed in order to bring the melodic theme to the front. The pinnacle of this progression is OMD's memorable "So in Love" (1985) and "If You Leave" (from 1986's Pretty in Pink). The album closes with their last hit, 1996's glam-influenced autobiography "Walking on the Milky Way"…

With 2013's English Electric, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark made a record that paid tribute to their heroes Kraftwerk, while also embracing their own mid-'80s sound, which made them the darlings of the John Hughes set. They must have liked the formula they used to get that result, because they repeat it on 2017's The Punishment of Luxury. Now down to the duo of Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, they've once again crafted a sleek and shiny synth pop album that has all the clean lines of their original incarnation and all the gloss of their poppiest era. It makes for a very nostalgic listening experience, but it never feels like a museum piece, especially since neither man's voice sounds like it has aged a day…

Looking back on 20 years of creative growth since the electro-pop band's inception, The OMD Singles is logically and chronologically arranged. The earliest recordings, 1980's "Electricity" and "Messages," prove electric messages were being channeled from such German pioneers as Kraftwerk and Neu! These English boys were enamored of melody, though, and it was not long before such dulcet, song-like structure became self-evident, as in 1984's "Tesla Girls." From then on, it is a steady climb in coherence, with synth rhythms downplayed in order to bring the melodic theme to the front. The pinnacle of this progression is OMD's memorable "So in Love" (1985) and "If You Leave" (from 1986's Pretty in Pink). The album closes with their last hit, 1996's glam-influenced autobiography "Walking on the Milky Way"…

Curated by DJ/production duo Blank & Jones, the So80s ("So Eighties") series compiles 12" versions and rare B-sides of artists who had their heyday in the '80s. This collection features classic extended mixes of some of OMD's biggest tracks including 'If You Leave', 'Telegraph', 'Dreaming', 'So in Love', 'Tesla Girls' and many others. While the tracks were selected by Blank & Jones, none of the titles were mixed by them.

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields", a small, conductorless string group. The ASMF gave its first concert on 13 November 1959, in the church after which it was named. In 1988, the orchestra dropped the hyphens from its full name.