Peter Saville's design exhibition is
on at the Design Museum in London from 23rd May to
14th September. More details via www.designmuseum.org
Meanwhile, Peter Saville's book Designed By Peter Saville
will be released on 23rd May. More info via: www.magmabooks.com.
The Questions And Answers section boasts a new
update featuring your OMD questions answered including direct responses by Andy McCluskey.
For those who can't wait, the new Q&A'S are below:
SONGS
I have been searching the origins of the intro to Walking on the Milky Way. Is it a new composition or is it classical music ?
Richard Bekdouche
"It's similar to many "classical" rock song chord sequences that take their inspiration from Air On A G String by Bach. For example Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procul Harum and Roll Away The Stone by Mott The Hoople".
Hi guys, can anyone
tell me what the girls are singing in the background in the second half of the
Dead Girls, I've tried everywhere and it is driving me and my Grandson insane.
Gary J Rowlands and Jordy
"Essentially it's the chorus repeated in French and also the intro of the song is the chorus in French time-stretched. Aliss Terrell (who was an American girl living in France at the time) translated the lyrics. She also sang it".
Was just wondering who the song Pandora's Box was about?
Catherine Black
Pandora's Box was inspired by the silent film star Louise Brooks and the song
is named after her most famous film - Pandora's Box (1929) which was directed
by the German film-maker GW Pabst. The plot revolves around a femme fatale played
by Louise Brooks and actually incorporates two stories originally written for
the stage, Pandora's Box and The Earth Spirit.
Who is singing lead on the Moby remixes of Souvenir?
It's most definitely not the original vocal track.
Jon Whitney
"It's not the original vocal but it is Paul Humphreys singing. The original
vocal on Souvenir was triple-tracked to improve on Paul's singing. Unfortunately,
for some reason, Moby only used one of the 3 tracks and it sounded weak so Paul recorded a new vocal for this version".
RECORDS
I managed to track down Sailing On The Seven Seas (Drowning mix) on Napster. The quality is not 100%, but it is a really good version of Seven Seas. Since this mix was never released on the standard UK formats at the time, does anybody know on which format, where it was released, and how available the Drowning Mix is/was?
Stuart
Drowning On The Seven Seas was one of several remixes produced during the Sugar Tax sessions. Many of the remixes had been the work of Phil Coxon (who had originally been drafted in to assist on the demo for the
song Sugar Tax). Some of these remixes had featured on special US issues and Drowning On The Seven Seas appeared on Virgin promo releases at the time.
MISCELLANEOUS
What's the possibility of arranging a day and time
for fans to chat to Andy in the chat room on Neil Taylor's website?
Wendy O'Sullivan
I'm still up for that at some point.
Is there an OMD DVD available? Thanks!
Ivan Davis, Brazil
There are no current plans for an OMD DVD.
Are there any members of the group currently writing or performing anywhere. Also are there any plans for a OMD reunion concert?
Mike Osborne
Andy and Stuart have recently written and produced two songs for Jennifer
Ellison. Paul Humphreys is currently writing with Claudia Brücken. Mal Holmes
is working with both Jo Mooney and Dean Johnson. There are no plans for an OMD
reunion concert at the moment.
Could you please tell me who got custody of Winston? I know you've probably been asked this question hundreds of times in the past but I've never been able to find out!
Dave Stevenson
Paul Collister was the original owner of Winston and he kept hold of him after he stopped working with OMD. Interestingly, Paul Collister has recently been in touch with Andy with a view to passing Winston back to him.
I heard that Andy McCluskey wanted to start a career as a single singer. Is that right?
Stefan Iwanowski, Munich
"No, I have no intention of performing alone or as OMD - at least not at the moment".
What football team does OMD support?
Ted Cikowski, Detroit, Michigan
"I support Liverpool. Paul Humphreys supports Manchester United. Nigel Ipinson and Stuart Kershaw are Liverpool fans. From memory, the Weir brothers were Hibs supporters. I can't recall Mally or Martin having a particular interest in football".
PRODUCTION
I have been enjoying your music for as long as I can remember. Also, I am a *huge* Fairlight CMI freak and I was wondering if Joan of Arc was actually done with a Fairlight CMI as I think it is? The beginning of this song gets my heart pounding!
I will hopefully get my second CMI in a few months. How DID you create the beginning sound of Joan of Arc?
What do you think about the Fairlight CMI Series III? (be nice, I have one ;-)
Did you know what happened to your CMI?
Eric vanLuijk, Monroe, NY
"Joan Of Arc did not employ a Fairlight - we only got a Fairlight in 1983 when we started work on Junk Culture. The intro to Joan Of Arc is actually me singing falsetto double-tracked. I then added random Glockenspiel over it and then wrote the song!
The intro to Maid Of Orleans on the other hand featured distorted Mellotron and organ.
I've never used a Series III. The Series II was great at the time and without it we wouldn't have written many of the songs we wrote at the time. But by 1990 even the Series III was being surpassed by the new music sequencers for PC's and stuff like the Akai.
To answer the last query, our Fairlight is currently In storage".
Do you think it's likely that Virgin will ever remaster any OMD using formats such as multi-channel CD's (i.e. SACD)? It seems your music, with its effects and techniques, would be a good candidate for multi-channel. Also, if given a choice to remaster one in SACD, which would you pick?
Chris Del Plato Long Valley, USA
"I'm not interested in pursing multi-channel sounds because it would mean digging out the tapes and remixing them. It sounds like a lot of work for very few sales in return. But I might change my mind in the future".
I wonder where the space/piano/speak/choir collage on Georgia comes from.
Are the collage pieces created by OMD or sampled from other artists?
Bo Nordin
"They're all various samples recorded from the radio when we were in The Manor recording Architecture And Morality. In fact, I recently rediscovered the original tape. The samples were randomly spliced using the best bits (including a French news broadcast ! ) and this was dropped in for the chorus".
What is the first keyboard that appears on The Romance Of The Telescope? Is it a Mellotron sound? It's a beautiful sound - I can imagine that the song wrote itself once you'd played the first 3 chords!
Steve
"It was a Prophet 5 - one of the factory presets. But you're correct, once we'd laid down the chords, the rest of the song just fell into place".
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