A long time OMD fan hoping for great things, i agree the band lost their way in the mid to late 80's but still managed the odd corker and stayed brilliant live. reformed a couple of years ago toured again. They still cut it live but need good new material, debut new single disapointing but other snippets sound more promising. I guess we cant expect the rawnesss of the 1st 4 albums. Got mine on order already and i betting many other fans will have too.

OK, so presumably John Doran has the advantage over the rest of us by having had a review copy of the album which isn't out until the 20th September. But I HAVE heard the single "If You Want It" (released on the 6th), and a few other tracks which have become available - in particular "New Babies: New Toys" which John bizarrely compares to "If You Leave" (for those of you who don't know one or both tracks, that's a ridiculous comparison - "If You Leave" is a mellow, movie-soundtrack love song whilst "New Babies: New Toys" is more a brash, raucous anti-establishment rant).

To claim OMD "only travelled in the wrong direction since Dazzle Ships" ignores the six Top 30 albums and ten Top 30 singles released in the following 13 years, including the 1991 comeback releases which reached number 3 in both the album and singles charts.

Unlike John, I had the privilege to hear the whole album at its official launch party this week (interestingly, the day before John's review - perhaps he's upset at not being invited?) and, although a busy nightclub isn't the best listening environment, most of the tracks sounded great.

Although the crowd at the launch was obviously partisan, the reaction to both the album and the live performance clearly showed that OMD are back on form.

"History of Modern" boasts several potential singles (some more instantly catchy than "If You Want It") and plenty of hooks. In conclusion, I'd invert John's strap-line and say "A few lows aside, this is a great return from the 80s (& 90s) hit-makers".

But don't take my word for it, and certainly don't take John's - listen for yourself. And if you want to hear both new songs and the classic hits in a brilliant live show, OMD are on tour in early November.

Felt the need to post a few comments here and very unlike me. I'm a huge OMD fan and have followed them since 1984, enjoy reading comments on the OMD website but keep my distance from posting as keep myself to myself.

However, having heard almost the whole album I find the above review utterly bizarre to be honest! Almost as if the reviewer has spun it for a couple of mins per song and had a deadline to meet.

After a 14 year absence (or 24 if you prefer the full original line up), this album is far more than could have expected. The likes of 'History of Modern parts 1 and 2, New Babies, New Toys and If you want it' are classic OMD from the thumping drum lines, Andy Mc hitting the high notes through to the (always) catchy synth hooks. These two blokes have hit 50 and are still teaching the new pop farts how to write and structure elctronic pop!

I see no reason why there shoudn't be some cracking pop tunes included, last time I looked OMD were still a pop group. I'm more than happy that theres a mixture of styles such as 'Sugar Tax' and 'Organisation' and frankly, a remake of Dazzle Ships would just disappear without trace.

This is shaping up to be a great album and a great comeback. Andy Mc, I would seriously consider pitching 'New Babies, New Toys' (to be known forever as 'If you Leave pt2') to go up alongside the X-Factors Xmas single ;)

PS - Being compared to the songwriting of Neil Hannon (a la 'My lovely Horse') is no bad thing considering he's a genius! :)

I have been a fan of OMD since 1979 and I am really looking forward to this new album, even though Doran seems to think that it is rubbish. He clearly thinks that he is funny, comparing Andy McCluskey's song writing to Father Ted but may be it is Doran's skills as a so-called reviewer that should be ridculed instead. I am not sure that Doran is expecting from the band but I wish that the BBC had picked somebody more suitable and able to review the album. From what I have heard it is great and their tour this Autumn will be just as good. If the BBC decide to do a gig review of the History of Modern Tour then please God they don't send Doran - he would be better of going to review jedwood: they might be right up his street, whoever he is...

Having heard 4 tracks in full I am intrigued by the review as I am looking forward to hearing the whole album with great impatience. The single "If you want it" might not be an early OMD fan favourite but I can imagine it going down well live. History of Modern Pt1 is full of catchy synth sounds and stays in your head. It reflects OMD's ability to produce a tune you find yourself whistling hours later. New Babies New Toys is raw and catchy as well as an insightful comment on manufactured pop. New Holy Ground is a slow classic, full of beautiful sounds. 4 songs 4 different sounds and styles so far, roll on the 20th for more surprises.

I am still nonplussed that John Doran can go from nodding to the "genius" of the first four albums of OMD to head-butting their latest child, The History of Modern.

This is, quite simply, the best OMD album since Architecture & Morality; the one that globalised their musical genius.

Thei return is also the much-missed classic line up of OMD - and what a return to the glory days!

This new album makes the 80s children glow with memories of the best of OMD, but with a modern twist. Like any OMD classic, there are songs to dream to and songs to dance to.

And all of those unique electronic bleeps and washes are back, not from a new band inspired by the masters, but by the masters themselves.

It has never been cooler to love OMD music and OMD-inspired songs, so why not be TOTALLY cool and get it "at source", by OMD themselves? Buy History of Modern and rejoice the 80s as if they had only started yesterday...

I have to say I was surprised to read such a rude review of what I consider an amazing album! Yes, I've been a fan since I first heard them in 1982 so could that make me a bit biased...perhaps. But many of the comments here don't match what I'm hearing. Being from America, I'm FAR too familiar with "If You Leave" and New Babies: New Toys doesn't sound anything like it! Instead, it's a 'grab your attention' number filled with boombastic bass, distorted vocals and a head bopping beat. And though I'm not familiar with "Father Ted" Andy's lyrical ability is on the mark here! Just try and keep your eyes tear free during NEW HOLY GROUND, a song that drips in self reflection with its request to "take a look at yourself and walk to the edge, take a deep breath and be someone else" or SOMETIMES with it's images of hopeless love and loss "and you wonder why I'm drinking more and more each day, I don't want to come home, I don't wanna stay". This album has it all, the pop of their older days in songs like SISTER MARIE SAYS and the addicting HISTORY OF MODERN PART 1 matched with more low-key gems like BONGAGE OF FATE and GREEN with a few funky surprises thrown in for fun (be prepared to have a bit of a jaw dropping experience with PULSE! ;o) This review just seems a bit hastened and not from someone who has listened to the entire album with an open ear and mind. From a music lover, I say pop it in the player and enjoy!!!

John Doran - would not know good music if it fell on him from a great height. Maybe that what the review is about though? To take a seriously good album and give it a bad review simply to get a reaction? HOM is a strong emotional well-balanced piece of work - album of the year.

I can see why some might feel disappointed by History of Modern if they expect a band that has adapted and grown to remain in a set phase of their creative life indefinitely! History of Modern certainly isn't part and parcel just like their earlier efforts but it IS well above par for what peers of theirs are trying to churn out for a last go of things. That Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark reformed to bring a little old stock and a little new stock into an album that finely accentuates matured vocals and broadened music techniques surely rates better than "a poor return". Who needs innovation when you can have a revolution? This album has certainly hit the right steps if it has anyone slagging it off - it means banality is left by the wayside. You can get any 80s act in for a rundown of the past but how many can get a new product out without egregious abuse of AutoTune? Andy's still got a great voice; Paul, Martin and Mal still give it up to 11 instrumentally and that's something for any band to be proud of. My best advice for anyone looking into HoM is to keep their assumptions at the door and give the album a try - as you'll find something to like!

I wrote the 1st post and now have the album and can confirm It is brilliant some great new sounding different OMD songs and a couple of average songs. Doran is simply a fool!

It's a shame that John didn't give the album a fair chance and a serious review. When i first heard the album i wasn't that keen, it's not as instant as some of their previous work. However, after a few plays it comes into it's own and is one of their stronger albums.

How wrong could OMD get it....
Well they have in the past but not with HOM. I was retisent about the album following the middle of the road Universal and the ok Liberator, loved Sugar Tax, but I should have realised that with all the guys back together the album would be as good as previous albums including post A&M.
I will confess to being into old OMD music but Junk Culture, Crush and the Pacific age are fantastic albums that have the detail, vocals, lyrical content that the first 4 albums have.
This is the same with HOM a fantastic production and a nod towards kraftwerks Europe endless and hall of mirrors. I have always loved the way OMD re invented themselves, so this is my only crticism that the overkill on the choral vocals has maybe reached its end.
Constantly throughout this album I am keep seeing images of Futurist art and this theme works at bringing the album together. The 1st single is good and the possible others, New Baby's: New Toys and HOM 2 are fantastic but the crowning glory has to be HOM 1. Wow. This is OMD at their best. The simple ascending lead synth I cannot stop listening to.

Well done guys. Great Album.

Being a fan of OMD since year dot, I have followed them through thick and thin, through the highlife and the wilderness years, rain and shine. Not everything they have done has been warmly received by myself, but they certainly have released some great albums and singles.

This album has been long over due and like anything, when your favourite group comes out of retirement re album production wise, you will be slightly nervous as to what they have to offer, not helped either when you only hear snippets of the different tracks that make up the album, very hard to not pass judgement on something that you haven’t heard in it’s entirety.

Well, I am pleased to say that the boys have well and truly exceeded themselves with this latest offering from the OMD stable. With Andy McC’s bold and somewhat ego busting statement “History Of Modern is the best album that they have done since "Architecture & Morality", I thought, yes, you are the artist, you are going to say that, you are doing a sales pitch, but I do have to agree that he is right with his statement, this album is the best thing they have done for many a year (imho).

The various tracks range from the fun and sexual evocative track of Pulse to the tear jerking tracks of Green and Sometimes, to the haunting song of New Holy Ground with the footsteps echoing through the corridors of life. This album seems to cover all aspects of the human emotion.

Some tracks work better than others for me, one which I tend to bypass or not pay much attention to is New Babies, New Toys, but saying that, I do find myself humming the chorus when I least expect it (brain washing at it’s best!)

Overall, this album is a well crafted piece of work, you can tell that much love and devotion has been placed into its production and that it was something that the boys wanted to do, not because they had to.

It’s a delight to the listeners’ ears.

Now that I was able to buy the album, I am capable of saying to you that they managed to work in the style of the 80s with tools from now on.
1st opus New babies: New toys: pure one jewels of justaposition of its mélé synth of a "ground" of a guitar éléctrique at the edge of the bias(distortion), very entrainant. For me it will be a single with high commercial potential. (A hit which)
2nd Yew you want it: the whole in the sobriety, initially written in 1993 with Stewart Kershaw, a bend in 180°C to make him(it) more melodious and to integrate(join) him(it) into the album.
3rd modern History of: part I: the sound of ' 80 with a set of keyboard 2010, very rhythmical. Potentien single
4th history of modern: part II: stylish Editing on 1981 - 1983 A and M - Dazzle ship, consante song.
5th Sometime: song dedicated in marries … Masy grey sings in it , sounding at the same time of the UB40 and some music of carrouselle
6th RFWK: Ralf F.W. Karl, respect …
7th New Holy ground: a little as Architecture and Morality in 1981 - sealand. Retro mélotron very favorite …
8th The Future, the past, and forever after-party: my fact modern talking for the rhythm, in Duran Duran think in to see it and in another artist of the 80s. Very pop, given rhythm can be a disco tube in Germany certainly and for which not to also.
9th Sister Marie Says: song written in 1981 and word in 1983 it is one young pearls " like " Enola Gay. I like .et you certainly. Potential single.
10th Pulse: the most surprising of the songs of this album, a real V-sign in the break of the generations, A cardboard(box) full of rhythm of sensualism and of allusion success guaranteed from its exit(release) in nightclub he(it) not to make you a drawing.
11th Green: a slow dance a stroll. Without comment it is very soft but effective for the hairs of the skin.
12th Bondage of Fate: of quite spat Dazzle Ship notice to the amateur of the experimental éléctro.
13th The right side?: the piece of cloture in it lined by the b-sides of OMD very appreciated by connoisseur, Amateurs and the Fans, and why not you.
Conclusion, if OMD returns by the small door it is because and so they programmed their return, they did not choose most " easy " single to promote their album, for without contest to attract(entice) the curiosity of public, to buy the album rather than a single .. notes 8.8/10.
It is by far one of the best reference OF OMD. Of ailleur the album is classified 4éme in the German charts (i-Tune + stores), it has climb even one 2èmè place i-tune this weekend.

Having read John Doran's dismissal of this album, I had to ensure that we were actually LISTENING to the same History of Modern (HoM). I am convinced we are not. Mr. Doran should perhaps get his copy from iTunes and give it a couple of listens, rather than skip tracks after 30 seconds.

If he were to do so, and actually LISTEN to the album, he will discover a gem. An album that manages to allude to that which has been and allure to the promise of what is to be.

It is awash with glimpses of genius.

Just LISTEN. A lot is in here. Many hat-tips to the old and some winks at the new.

Stop trying to hear Atomic Kitten and post Dazzle Ships in this. Why even bring that up? There is nothing to suggest that in HoM at all.

I think you perhaps just need to download it... push play with the iPod out of reach, let it play... and LISTEN.

You will be rewarded for the effort involved in not pressing next after 20 seconds. The warmth and wonder that was OMD still is... and it is here... in HoM...

All YOU have to do is actually LISTEN !

John Doran are you an idiot? You need to wash out your ears and stop spouting such nonsense. To say this is " a poor return to form " is like saying Spain's current national football team are rubbish. Basically it's not true! They are awesome, and so is this comeback album from OMD. There is barely a bad track on it with only two being close to 'filler' material. The rest are total stonkers.

SO, WASH OUT YOUR EARS DORAN. You have NO taste clearly.

Hello all, (sorry for my bad english.
I bought HOM to listen to the entire tracks and to have my own opinion. For me, It's a great job. Good music : happiness for the ears and the spirit.
Specially with tracks like History of modern, sometimes, New holy ground, Bondage of fate, right side. Just listen and you could understand what i feel.
PS :
My 9-year-old daughter appreciates history of modern too. She loves Radiohead and Muse also. I think that she has simply good taste. She listens to the music with her heart.

IMO Mr. Doran needs a holiday, a long one.. I simply love the album..and unlike alot of albums I like each track.. Being a fan and a 40 something.. growing up listening to OMD and others.. I hadn't kept up with much of their doings since the late 80's, so I can say.....
I like the 'little Journey' it is to sit and enjoy a great album that is both Fresh and Familiar and un-ashamedly OMD! I find it great that they didn't go all "USA" an try something new just to get a new audience.
I think Mr Duran sits behind his keyboard on his pompous 'Critic' bum and dismisses 'Fair Play'
The Future, The Past, and Forever After is a great track catchy enough beat; I hope a Mix House stirs it up a notch or 2 along with New babies, New Toys!

As Far as comparing OMD to other Bands, Every band draws on references from their personal past or present favorite artists.

Your "critique" is dribble, and frankly I'd hope your bosses take notice of your gross neglect of fair reviews and send you packin'

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's come back album was a huge disappointment. "History Of Modern" is an album that will be forgotten so fast without a single track tune can sit next to any of those almost perfect tracks they composed the years 1979 - 1983. Unfortunately they couldn't re-invent OMD one more time.
John Dovan's review is the sad truth and he is even hoping that still it's not too late to "stride all the way back to greatness" but I really doubt it.
OMD seem blind to see that the majority of all this younger audience that honored them in the recent tours was there for "Architecture & Morality" and "Dazzle Ships" and not for the hits from "Sugar Tax" or the annoying "History of Modern 1" and "Sister Mary Says" .
For some reason they seem to think that they have to play safe or they have simple "lost it" as even the B Sides of history's singles that are supposed to be experimental fail to the point they sound annoying.
Still a great band live although it's half of their set that is brilliant.