During the course of getting the OMD Peel Sessions albums signed, we decided to get an update on what Paul Humphreys has been occupying himself with recently. Paul has been writing songs with Propaganda's Claudia Brücken. One of the fruits of this collaboration is a song currently titled Anonymous - a song originally written by Paul and Andy during the writing of Universal. The song was shelved and forgotten about, until Paul took it out and reworked it. Claudia immediately began singing some words over it and the song quickly took shape. The song is a perfect example of Claudia Brücken's breath-taking vocals complementing a cracking good tune (If you've never heard Claudia Brücken sing then buy, beg, borrow or steal a copy of the single Duel - one of Propaganda's finest moments).

Claudia has also reformed Propaganda, with original members Michael Mertens and Susanne Freytag, and the band are considering various record label offers. More details from the Official Propaganda Website at www.propaganda.de.

Claudia and Paul are also musing over a separate joint project and have yet to decide whether or not to use Anonymous for this side project, or as a possible track for the new Propaganda album.

Claudia is also currently working with composer Andrew Poppy on a series of low-key live dates which will feature cover versions of some classic standards including Marianne Faithfull's Broken English and David Bowie's Drive-In Saturday. More info on Andrew Poppy is available from his website: www.andrewpoppy.com

Paul has also working on a soundtrack for a proposed science fiction/comedy film. Although the project has yet to be finalised, casting suggestions include Jack Lemmon, Meatloaf and Toyah Wilcox (there's a combination for you!).

Outside of those projects, Claudia and Paul have also recorded a rather funky cover version of This Is Not America for a planned David Bowie tribute album. They've also been working on a song called Gone For Good, written for Tina Turner.

Andy has been interviewed for a new BBC radio station called BBC New Music Service. This is a service which will be available world-wide on the Internet, on Sky Digital and on Digital Radio.

The interview with Andy will be partially used when the station plays OMD tracks, but they add that the entire interview would also work for an OMD special, possibly surrounding an OMD anniversary of some kind. We'll post up more details as they become available.

A major update to the OMD Discography is almost finished. Version 2.0 will cover every OMD UK album release from their 1980 debut Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark through to the Peel Sessions. As with the singles, each entry will provide a full track listing along with notes and trivia for each release.

A lot of people have written in to the website asking about the Peel Sessions and their availability through the site. Our plan at the moment is to make available exclusive signed copies of the Peel Sessions via the website and also by mail order for those fans who don't have internet access.

We are currently working on setting up a facility to allow people to order the album directly from the website as well via a secure server. We're also looking at making the OMD back catalogue available in the near future.

Finmusic have issued an update on the label's current activities. Mal Holmes has been keeping busy and cryptically refers to Fin acquiring some "cutting edge net technology" which would enable visitors to the site downloading "CD quality music and cinema quality video in just a few seconds!". Exciting stuff indeed. In fact, Fin have two videos on the way featuring artist Dean Johnson.

Fin are also releasing an album by Bush band member Nigel Pulsford called 'Heavenly Toast On The Paradise Road' and 'Delicimore' by David Schnaufer. This album demonstrates the sounds of the Dulcimer - a fretless 4 string box instrument and also features the vocal talents of Cyni Lauper on one track.

More details are available directly from www.finmusic.com.

Stanlow becoming a live venue? Perhaps there was something significant about the date of that posting... ;-)

A lot of people have written in asking about ordering the Peel Sessions album directly via the website. We're currently in the process of developing the merchandise section so you can do just that. More details to follow..

Stop press news: Apparently Stanlow oil refinery has been bought up by entertainment company April Entertainment with a view to developing a live entertainment venue on the site. The oil refinery has apparently been in financial problems for a number of years and its closure has been long predicted by experts in the oil industry. It's expected that the refinery itself will remain intact and that April Entertainment will exploit the industrial theme in the new venue. "You'd have to be a fool not to exploit this situation" said a spokesman.