Souvenir
had been inspired by some loop tapes of choirs tuning up - a tape lent by Dave
Hughes. Dave Hughes had used the studio facilities to make up tape loops from
a pre-recorded 8 piece choir tuning up. As thanks for the use of the studio, Hughes
left a copy of the loops behind. Paul Humphreys and Martin Cooper worked with
the loops to produce what was initially a very abstract song with just choirs,
chords and melody.
Despite the fine job Mike Howlett did in producing the song, the band were still not happy and consequently recorded another version from scratch in Advision Studios. But when they compared both versions, they were forced to agree that Mike Howlett's version yielded more depth and atmosphere than their version.
Motion And Heart originally featured on the Organisation album. It was briefly
considered as a possible second single (after Enola Gay) and the band subsequently
recorded a new version at Amazon Studios.
Souvenir proved to be OMD's biggest hit to date, reaching No. 3 in the UK charts.
It also managed to reach No. 1 in France, Spain and Portugal. The sleeve is unsual in that the centre has been die-cut so the
labels can been seen. The A Side features a picture of a Dusseldorf
street cafe scene. The record details are subtly picked out in grey
on the bottom of the sleeve. Initial copies of Souvenir also featured a silver/grey sticker
on the front stating the band's full name. The single releases from
Architecture And Morality had adopted the now-common shorthand of
'OMD' which may have confused some people, hence the stickers.
A limited number of copies of The Human League single 'Love Action' were misspressed
with Souvenir on the A Side.
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