Never Turn Away

History

The song was first featured on the band's "Showcase Tour" in September 1983 in an unfinished form with the unofficial title of "The Never Song". The short tour, intended to re-establish the band's name after the commercial flop of Dazzle Ships earlier in the year, also featured other new songs which would appear on the Junk Culture album in 1984, as well as the future Never Turn Away B-side "Wrappup". Although writing credits are attributed to "OMD" Never Turn Away was written by Paul Humphreys. In a 1998 interview Andy McCluskey stated that although the idea for the title was his, Humphreys wrote everything else, adding "I honestly don’t know what Never Turn Away’s about". It was the second single to feature Humphreys on vocals after Souvenir in 1981.

Critical reception

Reading Eagle writer Carl Brown Jr. named "Never Turn Away" as the standout track from Junk Culture, calling it "a soft, subtle song that succeeds from both a melodic and lyrical viewpoint". Conversely, Smash Hits reviewer Neil Tennant described the track as "sad, drifting music" and "boring", and felt that to lift a fourth single from the album was superfluous.

John Bergstrom in PopMatters retrospectively described the song as "beautiful". Ned Raggett in AllMusic singled out the "elegiac" number as one of the highlights from its parent album.

B-sides

The song "Wrappup" is a dubbed version of the song "All Wrapped Up" (which features on Junk Culture). The second B-side, a live version of "Waiting for the Man", only featured on the extended version of the single (the extended version of "Never Turn Away" has an extra verse added to the song). The live version of "Waiting for the Man" was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on the Junk Culture tour, featuring additional brass parts by Graham and Neil Weir who had worked with the band on the Junk Culture album. The 7" picture disc features a unique extended version of "Never Turn Away".

"Wrappup" is available on the bonus disc of the 2015 deluxe re-issue of the Junk Culture album, although on initial pressings "All Wrapped Up" was included in its place by mistake. The disc also includes the extended version of Never Turn Away.

Track listing

All tracks written and composed by OMD; except where noted.

1. "Never Turn Away" – 3:57
2. "Wrappup" – 4:00

1. "Never Turn Away" – 4:34
2. "Wrappup" – 4:00

1. "Never Turn Away" (extended version) – 6:31
2. "Wrappup" – 4:00
3. "Waiting for the Man" (live) (Lou Reed) – 3:31