Junk Culture

A very different perspective than the reviews I've read here is that  Junk Culture  is OMD's peak! This release very successfully blends the 'art' with the 'pop'. The previous release,  Dazzle Ships , doesn't have hooks to demand the listener play the album over and over, while the next release,  Crush , is contaminated by the peppering of crassly calculated careerist "hit singles" (soulless Stephen Hague produced and banished all quirk factor, except Andy McCluskey's distinctive(!) voice) that unapologetically commenced OMD's short wade into mainstream impotency. In my mind,  Junk Culture  is their final chapter, with a few of the more interesting tracks from  Crush  as an addendum. DISCLAIMER OF ADOLESCENT SUBJECTIVITY: this lp took over my turntable in 1985 when I was developmentally in "teenage sponge mode". Still, objectively speaking, it is the culmination of their intelligent quirky art-pop aesthetic. Beautiful arranging/production, and Peter Saville design, too!

This review is for the 2CD Deluxe Edition. The remastering is fantastic and I'm thrilled to be hearing some new songs previously unreleased though. My only complaint is that 1) they screwed up the song order on the original disc and also, they list 'Wrappup' as a song on disc 2. Wrappup was previously released as a b-side and is a much different version of All Wrapped Up. What is on disc 2 though is simply 'All Wrapped Up' and not Wrappup. Didn't anybody review this stuff before releasing an expensive disc collection? Somebody should be fired over stupid errors like that. Dumb dumb dumb. Junk Culture holds a special place in my heart and the deluxe edition is overall a superb collection.

This album blew me away so hard when it came out--more innovative and original than anything at the time. OMD did have their own quirky vocal flavor, which may explain their limited popularity. Personally, I loved this album then and I still do. These guys were simply genius. I'm listening to this album as I write this. It's the first time I've heard it in more than ten years. It still strikes as intelligent and honest, with a waterfall of soul and emotion coming through compelling electronic sounds.

After the commercial failure of "Dazzle Ships" OMD made a conscious decision to aim more directly at the market. They also acquired samplers. This might be thought of as the "transitional" album between the early monophonic-synth and hand-played stuff and the later, perfectly polished US-oriented pop hits. But they had had a flair for strong melody and arrangement right from the start, even on the earliest singles, and they never totally abandoned their more 'experimental' side ... to wit, the fact that this 'pop' album opens with an instrumental that mixes synths, avant-jazz horn lines, and weird vocal sound effects. So this is simply a different mix of their pop craft and oddness than the others; if you like it elsewhere, there's a very good chance you'll like it here. "Tesla Girls" feels like a dance-oriented response to the club-ready beats of New Order's "Blue Monday" but typically of OMD is far more upbeat and sunny-sounding. "Locomotion" putters along nicely. I've rediscovered a liking for "White Trash" ... sax break, sampled stutter-vocals, child's mobile bell melodies, weird frog croak samples, and all. There's also a pretty perfect sunny day love song to close it all out in "Talking Loud and Clear". Recommended.

OMD's Junk Culture was the first album of theirs I bought years ago. I love the fact it was remastered and had an extra disk of remixes and B-sides to join their previous four albums. 10 to 1 is a wonder b-side that eventually morphed into the album track "Love and Violence". Very well done!

This is what every remastered reissue should be like! The remastering itself is flawless. But the extra disc is like having a whole new OMD album that sounds like a lost release from that time period. Brilliant. I hope some of the other gems from the OMD back catalog get the same treatment.

This has always been one of my favorite albums. I love the bonus material, several songs I have never heard and some excellent extended versions.

This is a classic OMD album. I am so glad Amazon has this in stock. I highly recommend this album for lovers of 80's music.

Très satisfait du produit. En tant que fan, je suis comblé

Um es vorweg zunehmen. Ich mag OMD seit meiner Kindheit (damals viele Singles und alle LPs, nie aber Maxis gekauft, weil ich damals Maxiverseionen einfach nicht mochte), aber ich bin mit Sicherheit kein Fan, der die einzelnen Unterschiede auf Anhieb heraushören würde, beispielsweise ein Fade-out, das einige Sekunden vorher beginnt.Voller Interesse habe ich die Kritiken hier gelesen und abgewartet, denn das mit dem All Wrapped Up (doppelt vorhanden) ging m.E. absolut nicht.Mittlerweile ist dieser Mangel übrigens behoben, ich mußte auch keine "Nachbesser"-CD bestellen, die war schon in der Packung.Was die meisten negativ bewerten, war für mich aber entscheidend: "Tesla Girls" in dieser verkürzten Edition. Mich hat bei den Best Ofs immer geärgert, dass andauernd nur die Albumversionen verwendet wurden, aber nie die 7". Endlich ist sie da, und, anscheinend sogar noch einmal - ausdrücklich auf Wunsch von OMD selber - editiert, weil die Verion in der jetzigen Form wohl die geplante Urversion ist. Und, was soll ich sagen, sie gefällt mir am besten von allen mir bekannten Versionen.Aber das ist Geschmackssache. Natürlich kann man argumentieren, dass eine Neuauflage eines Albums zuerst auch einmal das Album im "Urzustand" beinhalten sollte und dann etwaige abweichende Mixe oder Versionen als Bonus draufgepackt werden.Zum Klang der CDs kann ich auch nichts negatives feststellen, ich finde ihn druckvoll, dynamisch.Den Ärger über die "Deluxe-Beklebung" teile ich, da wäre die alte Lösung, wie sie auch bei den ersten Mike Oldfield - Delux-Editionen war, mit dem Plastikschuber drumherum weitaus besser. Ich habe das Problem aber dahingehend gelöst, dass ich das Band auf dem Cover gelassen habe und zum Öffnen der CD einen Cutter verwendet habe.Fazit: Die aufgrund der ersten wichtigen Fehlpressungen schlechten Bewertungen kann ich in einigen Punkten nachvollziehen, aber an der überarbeiteten Version, wie man sie jetzt 2016 bekommt, gibt es nichts zu meckern, zumal man ja nun weiss, was einen erwartet. Die "Kürzung" von "Tesla Girls" hat meiner Meinung nach dem Titel gut getan - aber, wie gesagt, Geschmacksache.

L'originale uscì nel 1984 e mise gli OMD di nuovo in classifica dopo quel disastro commerciale che fu Dazzle Ships(ora giustamente reverito) l'anno prima. Ottimo album che riesce a mescolare il pop (Locomotion, Tesla Girls, All Wrapped Up) con cose più sperimentali. Questo nuovo deluxe contiene 2 CD - il primo con l'album originale, il secondo con i B side, remix e degli inediti interessanti dell'epoca. Packaging soddisfacente. Peccato che non era disponibile in auto-rip al momento dell'acquisto.

Es así porque la edición tiene un error y va a ser retirada y sustituida. La quinta canción del disco 2 no es "Wrappup - Dub Version Of 'All Wrapped Up'" si no "All Wrapped Up" que es la octava canción del disco 1. (...)

I first heard this when it was released in 1984 and loved it then and still do. I disagree that they sold out on this album. While it may be more mainstream than Dazzleships it still retains the OMD sound and quirkiness of previous albums. It is a great collection of songs and nobody else was making electronic music like this at the time.Still has elements of experimentation and good lyrics. I agree Crush and Pacific Age are more pop orientated (although still have some good songs)but this album is brilliant and should be in every OMD fan's collection.