Plans are already underway for a new CD which will feature 3 tracks recorded in 1978 by the pre-OMD band The Id. The Id at the time were the 'Mark II' outfit which featured Paul Humphreys, Andy McCluskey, Steve Hollas, Gary Hodgson and Mal Holmes.

This was the first time that Electricity, The Misunderstanding and Julia's Song had been recorded in a studio, during a session at the Open Eye studio in Liverpool. Julia's Song has already featured on the 1979 compilation album Street To Street.

A release date for the CD has not been finalised, but it could well be before the end of the year.

More Atomic Kitten news - Whole Again has just gone Gold in Germany. A US release for the single has also been scheduled for the Autumn.

Andy McCluskey has been interviewed for Billboard magazine looking at the Virgin record label, especially the Virgin subsidiary label Innocent (home of Atomic Kitten). Interestingly enough, Andy noted similarities between Innocent and DinDisc (the Virgin subsidiary that OMD were on in the 1980's).

Pat Fetty has updated his World Of OMD website with a streaming video of OMD's recent appearance on the Top Ten Electropop TV programme. Go to http://www.omdweb.com/omdtechno.wmv to see the video. Note that you'll need Windows Media Player to view the video.

Both Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys have been interviewed for a forthcoming article in Q magazine. The article is a 'where are they now' one exploring OMD's history and the current activities of both Andy and Paul.

Andy has also been interviewed for the Financial Times Sunday Supplement for an article looking at well-known musicians who are now writing for current artists.

Andy may also reappear on subsequent installments of The Look Of Love - The Story Of The New Romantics. As previously mentioned on the News page, this radio show looks at the New Romantics scene of the 80's. Andy was interviewed for his comments and more segements of his interview look likely to be used in the series.

The programme is on Radio 2 at 10.00pm on Thursdays.

Atomic Kitten have held their No.1 spot in Germany for 2 weeks running. But spare a thought for poor Natasha who has developed throat nodules. Get well soon, Natasha.

More reviews for Navigation, this time on Amazon.co.uk:

"....this is a purposeful collection of B-Sides dating from an era when filling-up the flipside with anything as lazy as dull out-of-house extended remixes would result in a sound lynching from the fanbase.".

Jim Shilts writes with an update on the OMD Covers Website. Roger Erickson (OMD fan and regular Forum contributor) has posted up four remixes to the site: Almost, Genetic Engineering, Sugar Tax and Messages. Jim also adds:

".. he is currently working on remixes of Was it Something I Said, and The Boy from the Chemist... This is really a great example of what a talented fan can do in their home using a personal computer."

Thanks to all those people who have ordered copies of the Navigation album via the website. Apologies if there is a slight delay with your orders. Virgin actually delivered the pre-release copies later than anticipated. We needed these copies early so that Andy could sign the sleeves prior to the release date. The good news is that Andy has been busily working through the sleeves this week and orders will be on their way soon.

On the subject of Navigation, the album has been reviewed by Dot Music. Click here to read the review: http://www.dotmusic.com/reviews/albums/

Atomic Kitten are now No. 1 in both Germany and Austria with Whole Again. The single has already sold over 200,000 copies in Germany alone. The Kitten's debut album Right Now has also been released in Germany and sales are expected to be very good indeed.

Navigation - The OMD B-Sides album is released today. The album features a selection of OMD's best B-Side songs, including the original vinyl mix of The Romance Of The Telescope and the previously unreleased version of Almost.

Copies are available for sale from our Merchandise section. As a bonus, all copies ordered via the OMD Website will feature Navigation : Additional Notes - an additional CD booklet exploring the background to the album, the songs and a B-Sides discography. Initial copies will also be signed by Andy McCluskey.

We'll also shortly be featuring new competitions to win copies of the album.

Andy McCluskey features on a Radio show being broadcast later this week in the UK. The Look Of Love - The Story Of The New Romantics looks at the careers of Duran Duran, The Human League and Spandau Ballet amongst others. Andy was interviewed for his comments on the scene at the time. The programme is on Radio 2 at 10.00pm on Thursday 17th May.

Bob Hanley writes with news on his band Invisible College (who did a good cover version of The Romance Of The Telescope some time back and are planning a CD of OMD covers in the near future). Bob is experimenting with streaming broadcasts from their studio (The Bunker) and is planning a weekly radio show.

"We plan to have a weekly radio show featuring a different album each week. We have tried this before but the software used back then didn't quite make the grade. So far everything seems good with the current setup though and we are anxious to get going with the show. The beta stream features some OMD "collectables" and runs in a loop of about 20 tracks."

Bob also adds that future broadcasts will feature Invisible College live from the Bunker studio, as well as a possible live broadcast from a live show in the future.

You can access the streaming broadcast here: www.invisible-college.net/radio.html

Amazon have posted up samples from the Messages OMD tribute album. Click here to hear them: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005CEOD/lexiconmagazin0e

Dave from Lexicon also wrote in to say that the album is at #10,770 on Amazon "highest I have ever had a CD go!"

We've had an email from CyberDyne informing us that a if you have received on the 8th of May 2001 an email from Matthew Greenway (long-time OMD fan from South Africa) with the subject 'Homepage', please note that it is a virus.

The email contains a new VBScript worm virus. This virus sends itself to all recipients in an infected user's Microsoft Outlook address book. To verify if this has infected your system, please check for and then delete any files detected as VBS.VBSWG2.D@mm or VBS.VBSWG2.X@mm.

CyberDyne are also at pains to point out that this email was sent by the virus, and not by Matthew Greenway himself. Thanks to CyberDyne for letting us know.

Should you have problems in removing this virus, email: technical@cyberdyne.co.za with details of your problem.

A new mini interview revolving around the forthcoming OMD tribute album Messages is now up. Click here to read the interview with Carol Masters who have covered Secret for the album.

Dave from Lexicon writes with details for ordering copies of the Messages CD by mail order.

"Cost is $18 for orders outside North America ($16 inside). People can send hidden US cash, postal money orders in US $ (most European postal systems have a way of "sending" money through the mail so it gets here as a postal money order) or checks in US $ on a US bank (might be hard to do)."

Dave also adds:

"If people want to use paypal they can do so under the name guerue@erols or David Richards. Lots of people use that service because it allows them recourse if they have a problem with their credit card (and also, Paypal processes the credit card, not me)."

On the subject of the Messages CD, congratulations to the winners of our recent competition to win promo copies of the album. The answers were:

• Q:Which Kraftwerk album did Neon Lights originally appear on?
• A:The Man Machine
• Q:Love's Theme was originally recorded by which artist?
• A:The Love Unlimited Orchestra
• Q:Which album did Two Chameleons originally appear on?
• A:Compass kum'pas by Dalek I Love You
• Q:Which film did the song The More I See You originally appear in?
• A:Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe

Stephanie from San Deigo - a regular on the OMD Forum - has posted up her own homepage featuring an OMD section. Click here to pay it a visit: www.geocities.com/kasekhet/

The Merchandise Section is now open for business accepting online orders for Navigation - The OMD B-Sides album. As well as online credit card transactions, we can also accept orders by post by cheque or money order. See the Merchandise Section for more details.

Details for the new OMD Fan Club will be posted shortly. In the meantime, people ordering the album before the 31st May will be entitled to a 10% discount on the cost of the Fan Club membership.

Although the Merchandise section will initially only be selling copies of Navigation, we're also looking at selling the OMD back catalogue in the near future. The idea is to provide a similiar bonus that website copies of Navigation offer - an additional CD booklet providing sleeve notes and details on the classic OMD albums. We'll post up more details as things develop, but we also welcome comments and suggestions as well.

Expect to see Andy McCluskey in the media a lot more with the impending release of Navigation, inlcuding interviews and TV spots. Record Collector magazine have interviewed Andy for a future issue in which Andy details how the B-Sides album reveals a different side to OMD. While the general public might be more familiar with the hit A-Sides, the B-Sides show that OMD were not afraid to be experimental and innovative.

OMD are also mentioned in an article in today's Guardian newspaper. In a feature called 'Pop's New Premier League', writer Peter Robinson explores the fact that a lot of chart-topping bands feature music written by 80's musicians. Andy's work with Atomic Kitten is featured with some interesting comments from Andy regarding shelving OMD for other projects: "There comes a point when you have to say, if I'm staying, I'll take a step sideways".

Mal Holmes is also keeping himself busy. Alongside Gary Hodgson (longtime OMD keyboard technician), Mally has been working with a new 5 piece girl band from the Wirral called Fusion.

The Official OMD Website has been busy working on various projects over the past few months. We're pleased to be able to annouce details of some of these projects here:

MESSAGES - THE OFFICIAL OMD FAN CLUB
The OMD Website will be featuring a brand new service designed to enhance the Official OMD Website, as well as making information available to those OMD fans without internet access.

Messages is the Official OMD Fan Club designed to provide exclusive information, articles, previews, competitions and more for its members.

With a paid subscription to Messages, members will receive:

• Copies of the Official OMD Magazine Messages. A new glossy magazine featuring news, interviews, photos and articles.
• Access to the Messages Website where members can view exclusive articles, competitions and get previews of OMD website features.
• Discounts on OMD Merchandise.

OMD MERCHANDISE SECTION
This will be online later this week and will be open for fans to order the following:

• Navigation - The OMD B-Sides album. Initial copies will be personally signed by Andy McCluskey. Every copy ordered via the OMD Website will also receive an exclusive additional CD booklet providing more details on the album and the songs.
• Messages - The Official OMD Fan Club Membership.
• Navigation/Fan Club Package: Join the Fan Club and order Navigation at the same time. You get an automatic discount on the price of the album as well as the additional CD booklet and the chance to obtain a signed copy of the album.

More details will be posted up soon.

Messages - The OMD Tribute Album is released today. The album features some classic OMD songs covered by modern synthpop artists including White Town, Ganymede and Color Theory.

Thnaks to all those that entered our recent Messages competition. We'll be announcing the winners soon, as well as posting details of a brand new competition in conjunction with Lexicon magazine.

More details on the Messages tribute album is available by clicking here: www.lexiconmagazine.com/omd.html