ARCHITECTURE AND MORALITY
CATALOGUE DIDCDR12
FORMAT CD
LABEL VIRGIN
RELEASE DATE 10/03/03
CHART -
SLEEVE DESIGN Peter Saville & Brett Wickens. Architectural photography by Robin Roddey
RECORDED The Gramophone Suite, Liverpool & The Manor
PRODUCER Richard Manwaring & OMD
 
CURRENT VALUE £9
Highlighted tracks are available to play in Real Audio format. To play these tracks you will need the latest version of Real Player installed, available by clicking on the graphic to the left or going directly to www.real.com.
TRACK LISTING WRITERS PRODUCER RECORDED
THE NEW STONE AGE McCluskey Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
SHE'S LEAVING McCluskey/Humphreys Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
SOUVENIR Humphreys/Cooper OMD & Mike Howlett The Manor
SEALAND McCluskey/Humphreys Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
JOAN OF ARC McCluskey Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
JOAN OF ARC (MAID OF ORLEANS) McCluskey Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
ARCHITECTURE AND MORALITY McCluskey/Humphreys Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
GEORGIA McCluskey/Humphreys Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
THE BEGINNING AND THE END McCluskey/Humphreys Richard Manwaring & OMD The Manor
EXTENDED SOUVENIR Humphreys/Cooper Mike Howlett Wessex Studios
MOTION & HEART (AMAZON VERSION) Humphreys/McCluskey OMD Amazon Studios, Liverpool
SACRED HEART Humphreys/McCluskey OMD  
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELESCOPE (UNFINISHED) Humphreys/McCluskey OMD & Richard Manwaring The Gramophone Suite, Liverpool
NAVIGATION Humphreys/McCluskey OMD  
OF ALL THE THINGS WE'VE MADE Humphreys/McCluskey OMD  
GRAVITY NEVER FAILED OMD OMD  
 

This reissue featured remastered tracks taken from the original master tapes for the album. The reissue also boasts additional tracks along with sleeve notes, photos and restored artwork.

The New Stone Age was a radical departure from what people would expect from OMD with its use of guitars. The band were hoping people would take the record back to shops convinced it wasn't OMD!

She's Leaving, had a troubled history: the song had been written in January 1981 - and tried out on tour in Canada and France. But the band's attempts to record it resulted in them getting bored very quickly. It was only when they discovered an old version recorded at The Gramophone Suite that they tried again. Recording at The Manor, they slowed it down and made it a bit more simple. This song was suggested as the fourth release by DinDisc but the band disagreed, concerned that they were exploiting the album.

Souvenir was the first single released from the album and is the first OMD single that features Paul Humphreys on lead vocals.

Sealand takes its title from an RAF base on the Wirral. Although the song isn't about the location itself, Andy was struck by the visual strength of the name which seemed to conjure up a striking image of a place between the land and the sea.

Joan Of Arc was the second single from the album.

Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans) was the third single from the album.

Architecture And Morality. "We wrote the whole thing in the Manor Studio in three days. We decided to call it Architecture And Morality and then proceeded to throw onto tape everything 'architectural' and 'moral' that we could think of. Over the three days we gradually added and subtracted all manner of sounds until we had made something from all the noises" OMD (News Letter 1981)

The band had written a song called Georgia for the album but decided they weren't happy with the result and decided to shelf the song. They were happy with the title however and wrote a new song that they decided to name Georgia. The original Georgia was dusted down in 1988 and renamed Gravity Never Failed which featured as a B-Side to Dreaming.

The Beginning And The End was an old song dating from Andy and Paul's VCLXI days. Back then, the band had problems in getting it to sound right and they remarked in an issue of the OMD Newsletter that the version used on the album was "quite successful" but that perhaps they would do it again differently in the future.

Extended Souvenir is a longer version of the track that originally appeared on the album and originally featured on the 10" release of the single.

Motion & Heart (Amazon Version) appears as a B-Side track on the single release of Souvenir. It had originally been recorded during the Organisation sessions as a possible follow-up single to Enola Gay.

Sacred Heart was a B-Side track that originally appeared on the single release of Souvenir.

The version of The Romance Of The Telescope that features here originally appeared as the B-Side to the single Joan Of Arc.

Navigation originally appeared as a B-Side on the single Maid Of Orleans.

Of All The Things We've Made originally appeared as a B-Side on 12" releases of the Maid Of Orleans single.

Gravity Never Failed was recorded during the Architecture And Morality sessions, but shelved. It originally appeared as a B-Side track on the 1988 single Dreaming.

 

When Virgin embarked on this series of reissues they realised that they no longer had the artwork on file. This meant they had to recreate the original sleeve design.

Ironically, an article at the time in the design magazine Creative Review revealed where the original artwork was. Peter Saville was putting together a book that showcased his designs - including his sleeve design work. Photos in the article clearly showed boxes full of OMD album artwork!

The album title was suggested by Martha Ladly (of fellow DinDisc act Martha & The Muffins) after a book by David Watkins called Morality And Architecture. Ladly had originally thought of using the title for her solo album.