Harman Patil (Editor)

Universal (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album)

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Length
  
49:40

Release date
  
2 September 1996

Universal (1996)
  
The OMD Singles (1998)

Label
  
Virgin Records

Universal (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen441Orc

Released
  
2 September 1996 (1996-09-02)

Recorded
  
Pre-recorded at The Factory, Dublin, JE Sound, and Johnny Juma, Los Angeles Recorded at The Townhouse, and Metropolis, London

Artist
  
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Genres
  
Electropop, Pop music, Britpop

Producers
  
Andy McCluskey, Matthew Vaughn

Similar
  
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark albums, Pop music albums

Universal is the tenth album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released in 1996. It spawned the group's first Top 20 hit in the UK for over five years with the track "Walking on the Milky Way". However, follow-up single "Universal" and the album itself performed poorly and this lack of success prompted singer Andy McCluskey to dissolve the band. It would remain their final album for over a decade until the group's reunion.

Contents

OMD co-founder Paul Humphreys, who had departed the group in 1989, served as principal songwriter on "Very Close to Far Away" and "If You're Still in Love with Me". Erstwhile McCluskey collaborator Karl Bartos (formerly of Kraftwerk) co-wrote "The Moon & the Sun".

Reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine in AllMusic remarked: "Universal is a rote collection of synth-pop and dance-pop from OMD, demonstrating only a fraction of the sophisticated craft that made its predecessor Liberator enjoyable, and none of the adventurous spirit of their '80s records." Trouser Press wrote that "the album quickly settles into the type of pop OMD has offered since Crush" and is "enjoyable enough for what it is".

Track listing

All tracks written by Andy McCluskey, except where noted.

Personnel

  • Andy McCluskey – vocals, keyboards, production, mix on tracks 8–9
  • Matthew Vaughan – keyboards on tracks 1, 4, 8, and 10, guitar on tracks 2, 3, and 5, piano on track 3, bass on track 9, production on tracks 1–7, and tracks 10–12
  • Breda Dunne – backing vocals on track 1
  • Phil Spalding – bass on tracks 1–3, track 5, and track 7, backing vocals on track 2
  • Chuck Sabo – drums and percussion on tracks 1–3, track 5, and tracks 7–9
  • Hannah Clive – backing vocals on track 2
  • Carol Kenyon – backing vocals on track 5
  • Richard Allen Singers – vocals on track 6, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
  • Jimmy Taylor – guitar on track 7
  • Maggie Keane – backing vocals on track 8
  • Anne Dudley – string arrangement for track 10
  • David Nicholas – production on tracks 1–7, and tracks 10–12, engineer, mix on tracks 2–10, and 12
  • Gregg Jackman – mix on tracks 1, and 11
  • Julie Gardner – engineer, assistant engineer
  • Neil Tucker – assistant engineer

    • Songs

    1Universal (album version)5:39
    2Walking on the Milky Way4:39
    3The Moon & the Sun3:37

    References

    Universal (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA