Pat Fetty adds the sheet music for Dreaming and Secret to his World Of OMD website. Meanwhile, Neil Taylor asks the question - Are You The Ultimate OMD Fan? at www.neiltaylor.co.uk

Atomic Kitten make the UK charts No. 1 spot yet again with their version of Eternal Flame, beating Destiny's Child in the process. Congratulations to the girls.

As previously mentioned on the News page, OMD fan Taoyoyo (aka Alan Platten) has generously offered to lend his copy of Messages out to fans around the world. Click on the thumbnail for a bigger pic.

The first step on this 'World Tour' will be Forum regular Stephanie in San Diego. Do you want to be on the list? Do you just want to watch the progress of the book? Drop by the OMD Forum to catch up.

An OMD Fan Get-Together is being organised for the August Bank Holiday weekend (25/26 August) in Liverpool. If you fancy coming along to see some of OMD's old haunts and enjoy a drink or two with other OMD fans, then email the website at // "> or pop by the special Forum for more updates.

Following on from the Messages album, yet another OMD tribute album is due for release shortly. Pretending To See The Future: a tribute to OMD is due for release by Shelflife Records on August 15th. Click on the thumbnail pic for a bigger sleeve shot.

The inspiration behind the album was, as Shelflife describe it themselves:

"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark continue to be one of the most influential electronic pop groups of the last century. Analog synths, radio sets and guitars combined with lyrics glorifying radar, atom bomb and radio wave imagery, give OMD songs a pleasing futuristic-archivist sensibility."

18 artists have contributed their versions of OMD classics as follows:

1. MAJESTIC - SO IN LOVE
2. MAHOGANY - BUNKER SOLDIERS
3. BRITTLE STARS - SOUVENIR
4. THE AUTUMN TEEN SOUND - TELEGRAPH
5. LAURA WATLING - SECRET
6. THE SATURDAY PEOPLE'S FRONT - SHE'S LEAVING
7. ACID HOUSE KINGS - ALMOST
8. SIMP¡TICO - JOAN OF ARC
9. OBJECT ORIENTED - 2ND THOUGHT
10. THE INBOUNDS - MESSAGES
11. THE IDEAL HUSBANDS - STATUES
12. LE COUPE - ELECTRICITY
13. FREE LOAN INVESTMENTS - IF YOU LEAVE
14. F.K.A. OEDIPUSAURUS REX - TESLA GIRLS
15. THE BABIES - ALL WRAPPED UP
16. GARLANDS - FOREVER LIVE AND DIE
17. SUSHI - PROMISE
18. BART AND FRIENDS - SO IN LOVE

Pat Fetty adds more videos to his World Of OMD website. The clips are all taken from the 1997 OMD Convention and feature interviews, partying, and "other nonsense". Pat also notes that he'll be adding sheet music to the site in the near future. Visit his site here : www.omdweb.com.

Meanhwile, Neil Taylor has added a new feature to his OMD pages with OMD Fan Profiles. Post up a little profile of your background and interest in OMD - you can even add a photo - or browse through the profiles already submitted. Click here for the details: www.neiltaylor.co.uk/vizbook/vizbook.htm.

Plans and ideas for OMD Fan Get-Togethers are already in progress following on from the new Forum on the subject. If you're interested in meeting other OMD fans for a drink in Liverpool on the August Bank Holiday weekend (25th/26th), then drop by the Forum and make a posting.

JohnE has suggested that anyone in the Southern Californian area might want to meet up on Wednesday, August 22nd at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. They have a summer concert series going on, and A Flock of Seagulls are playing that night. The concert starts at 6pm.

Back in the UK, Bluebird and Dan GTX are looking for people to meet up in the Portsmouth/Southsea area.

If you're interested in any of these get-togethers then let people know by posting a message on the Forum.

Alternatively, if you would like to organise something locally, post up your ideas and get others involved.

Another new OMD Forum is now open. The theme of this one is OMD Fan Gatherings. If you're interested in a a fan get-together, or perhaps you'd like to organise your own, then pay a visit to the Fan Gatherings Forum.

All change with the Unofficial Covers Page - the website created for OMD fans to share and exchange OMD cover versions. Founder-member Jim Shiltz writes: "We are looking for anyone who has the extra space and bandwidth to host the site". If you can help, please email Jim Shiltz at jshilts@netzero.net

Neil Taylor has unearthed some rare photos that he took during OMD's Dazzle Ships tour back in 1983. The photos, taken at the Manchester Apollo, are available by clicking here: www.neiltaylor.co.uk/dazzleships/index.htm

Jeff Biggs has started an ICQ community at http://groups.icq.com/music/group.asp?no=11953045. Once registered, you can discuss 80's artists and bands, as well as find links to their websites. Jeff also has a personal ICQ site where these weblinks will be stored at http://84683757.home.icq.com/.

Meanwhile, OMD Forum regular taoyoyo has embarked on a generous gesture : he's making available his personal copy of the 1988 OMD Biography Messages for OMD fans that haven't read it yet:

"i thought it might be cool to send my copy on an around the world sight-seeing trip to various omd fans who also wanted to read it and didn't have copies. the idea being that one person reads it and then mails it on to the next and so forth... various items might be added along the way (photos and a-hem, messages... *shrug*) and it might even make it back to me at some point! (though i figure that it's the journey that's important and not necessarily the destination )"

Discography update for the initial release of Junk Culture: Thanks to Brendan McDonnell for pointing out that specially printed Junk Culture carrier bags were issued on the release of the album. Have you got one of these carrier bags?

Atomic Kitten make a UK TV appearance on Late Night With Jerry Springer on Channel 5 at 11.10pm Friday 20th July. Thanks to RobB for the details.

The new OMD Forum expands with a new section dedicated to the forthcoming Unreleased Material album. Meanwhile, KevinR suggests an idea for a new OMD Competition - Think of a possible title for the Unreleased Material album. If you have an idea for a title, drop by the OMD Forum and post it up. If your title gets picked, you could well find yourself credited on the album sleeve.

OMD Forum regular Stephanie expands her website with the addition of a Guestbook. Which do you prefer? OMD or Egypt? Visit Stephanie's website at www.geocities.com/kasekhet/ to give your answer.

Atomic Kitten tribute band madness with The Automatic Mittens. You might have missed out on the chance to vote, but it's worth dropping by this site just to see what you could have won...

In case you missed it: Pat Fetty has added the OMD section of the recent Top Ten Electro Pop TV show to his video archive at www.omdweb.com.

The new Navigation Survey continues its battle to find out just what the best song on the album is. Have you voted yet?

All change with the next Atomic Kitten single Eternal Flame. You Turn Me On is now not going to be the B-Side, instead the track is being remixed with a view to it being a potential single in the future. Meanwhile, Andy McCluskey and Stuart Kershaw continue to work on all-new Kitten material in the studo. One new song called Don't Touch It, Andy describes as "See Ya goes Destiny's Child"(!).

Chiver - another Engine Records sign-up - had a feature in yesterday's Liverpool Echo.

The Unofficial OMD Covers Page expands with more downloadable versions of OMD classics: Roger Erickson adds his mix of The Boy From The Chemist, Ceaven supplies Julia's Song while Star Ink covers Maid Of Orleans. More at http://listen.to/omd.covers.

Marco Puckert gives his OMD fansite a fresh look. He's also added a Forum and a Guestbook. His site also features a link that looks at The Listening Pool which made for interesting reading. The feature is part of a website called Audio Paragon - a website dedicated to good, but obscure music. As well as The Listening Pool, the site features China Crisis, The Lotus Eaters and Propaganda. Marco's site is at www.puckert.de/omd2.htm while Audio Paragon is at www.audioparagon.com/tlp/tlp_body.htm

A brand new OMD Competition is now online. You can win a copy of Messages The OMD Tribute album simply by answering three OMD-themed questions. Visit the Competition page for more details.

Meanwhile, Messages has proven to be a popular album according to Lexicon scribe Dave Richards who adds that the album has sold "much better than I expected". More details on the album and how to order it are available via the Lexicon website at: www.lexiconmagazine.com.

Paul Tibbets - pilot of the Enola Gay - is featured in an interview for a TV programme going out in the UK tonight. Hell In The Pacific is a series looking at the World War II Pacific conflict. The programme is on Channel 4 at 9.00pm.

With the planned release of The Id EP, we've tracked down former Id member Steve Hollas for an interview. Click here to read about Steve's memories of The Id days.

What were your favourite tracks on Navigation? Visit the new OMD Survey to vote for your favourite song. A lot of the pages in Features section have also been spruced up, including the Survey and Guestbook pages.

Interesting threads starting on the new OMD Forum, including speculation on the unreleased material album.

Crosswords and Hangman with an OMD theme: Interactive stuff going on over at www.neiltaylor.co.uk. Compiled launch their own Forum at Compiled Forum. Messages - The OMD Tribute Album have T-Shirts available via www.cafepress.com/messages

A new OMD Forum is now online for a trial period. The new Forum features a cleaner, more organised look which we hope will prove popular. Here are some of the new features available:

• Password-protected postings.
• Avatars and signatures on postings.
• Personal messenger to contact Forum regulars.
• Password-protected profiles for users.

To visit the new Forum, follow this link : OMD Forum. Feel free to pay a visit, register and post your comments.

The existing Forum will remain open for now, allowing you to post on either version and we welcome comments and suggestions.

Thanks to all our beta testers: Sara H, Chris P, Jimmy M and Pat F. Special thanks to Neil Taylor for help, advice and suggestions well beyond the call of duty.