| Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - A Living History |
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| Recorded at the Music Box at The Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA, USA, and Amoeba Records, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Excellent audience recording. From the info file: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Amoeba Records - Los Angeles, CA March 24, 2011 The Music Box @ The Fonda Theater - Los Angeles, CA March 25, 2011 'A Living History' Taper / engineer: mixter_ VG+ / EX- Lineage / Equipment: 10' - 12' from rail / dead center / fob -> 6.5' h -> slavesound omni's -> custom bb - no bass roll-off -> edirol r09 (44.1/16) -> sandisk 16gb ultraII 15mb/s -> reader -> audition 3.0 - slight level boost (no normalization) -> har-bal 2.3 moderate eq (bass attenuate, treble boost) -> cd wave editor (track split) -> tlh (flac 8, etc...) -> DIME -> you -> sense of enjoyment -> sharing is caring -> support the artist (yes) -XX convert to mp3 (no!!!). K.I.L.L. = Keep It LossLess. Convert to mp3 or shortwave radio for personal use only. Please do no sell or attempt to profit from this recording. I do ask that any reposts, links or artwork credit me as the original taper. O.M.D.: A Living History - The Box Set Disc One: A Brief History - Amoeba Records 01. A Brief Soundcheck 02. Electricity 03. History Of Modern (Part I) 04. If You Leave 05. Souvenir (Moby Version) 06. Maid Of Orleans 07. Sister Marie Says 08. Enola Gay Disc One: A Practical History - Music Box Soundcheck 09. Taking Sides Again (Fades In) 10. Messages (Rehearsal Take) 11. Messages (Soundcheck) 12. Tesla Girls 13. Electricity 14. If You Leave 15. Sailing On The Seven Seas 16. Enola Gay 17. Joan Of Arc 18. New Babies: New Toys Disc Two: A Complete History (Part I) 01. History Of Modern (Part III & IV) 02. New Babies: New Toys 03. Messages 04. Tesla Girls 05. Radio Waves 06. History Of Modern (Part I) 07. (Forever) Live And Die 08. If You Leave 09. Souvenir 10. Joan Of Arc 11. Made Of Orleans 12. New Holy Ground Disc Three: A Complete History (Part II) 01. Green 02. Talking Loud And Clear 03. So In Love 04. Sister Marie Says 05. Locomotion 06. Dreaming 07. Sailing On The Seven Seas 08. Enola Gay 09. Encore Break 10. Walking On The Milky Way 11. Electricity Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark... Andrew McCluskey - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Occassional Keyboards Paul Humphreys - Keyboards, Vocals Martin Cooper - Keyboards, Saxophone Malcolm Holmes - Drums, Percussion A Brief History was performed exclusively by... Andrew McCluskey - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Occassional Keyboards Paul Humphreys - Keyboards, Vocals The Band: According to Andy, it only took OMD 23 years to get back to America. Technically, it's been 19 1/12 years if you count the Andy McCluskey / Stuart Kershaw incarnation during the 'Sugar Tax' tour when they played 3 sold out shows in the LA / OC area. Even fewer if you count the time that Paul played Anaheim billed as OMD. Southern California has always had a soft spot for OMD ever since they nearly stole the show at Depeche Mode's Magnum Opus concert 101 during the 'Concert For The Masses Tour' at The Rose Bowl in 1988. Few people remember the brief sets performed by openers Thomas Dolby and art-industrial outfit Wire. Everyone in attendance does remember OMD for their aerobic inspired 60 minute workout of hits and classics. Remember, all of this was happening during Reagan's second term and long before Al Gore invented the internet. You just had to be there and 80,000 sun/rain drenched teens were. Fast forward to 2011. Wow, has it been this long? Floor tickets for the first show at LA's iconic Henry Fonda Theater (The Music Box) sold out in three days. By the time I found out, it was too late. So I opted for the Gold Ticket package, which allowed for a bag of swag, a soundcheck experience and early entry into the show. I'm glad that I did because it was worth every penny! The Performances: Amoeba Records: The band were introduced to the stage by former KROQ now Sirius D.J. Richard Blade. Richard's name has become synonymous with all things 80's. He is a great storyteller and a huge fan / supporter of Morrissey, Depeche Mode, Oingo Boingo, Duran Duran and of course OMD. The band in duo form ripped through a brief seven song 30 minute set to an eager record store crowd of about 250. I cut Richard's intro (sorry) but left in their 30-second soundcheck. Levels had to be adjusted as I had an errant clapper on my left shoulder. Position was 4th row of bins slightly to the right (about 20' from the stage). Include here is the Moby remixed version of 'Souvenir'. The Music Box Soundcheck: As the small crowd of 35 - 40 filtered in, the band was already performing. I thought to myself, 'Crap, how can we be late? I was the sixth person in the door?' We went to a table gave our names and picked up a tote that contained the LP or CD, a T-shirt, a tour program and an 8x10 glossy (nice touch). I did not record the Gary Numan soundcheck during my El Rey VIP and I regret it. I rolled immediately as soon as I got in. I'm glad I did because the band was 'rehearsing' for the soundcheck. Actually they were trying to work out some issues with the PA's and their monitors. I was able to capture most of the Messages instrumental, 'Taking Sides Again'. Their is a fair amount of chat during the first two tracks as it was before the attendees were let into the theater. So these songs were recorded from the foyer behind a curtain, no less! IMHO, they still turned out very good in spite of the idle conversation picked up as well. The actual soundcheck was terrific! Levels were pretty loud as there were not many of us there to 'soak up' the sound. i decided to track this in parts at the begiining of the 'thread' for a song. I did not track 'false starts' seperately. Sorry for the purists but I was never a big fan of the 35 second track of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' on my Beatles boots. Although, levels were not normalized through limiting, they were painstakingly adjusted to bring them close to the same levels. The Music Box Concert: Having been to this venue on two other occassions in as many years, I pretty much knew the sweet spot (see Peter Hook... http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=335602). At 50 years +, Andy still put on a show of his ecclectic dance moves, somewhat inspired by former labelmate, Ian Curtis. What is it with this venue? The band poured through a 90 minute set of 4 new tracks, no less than 15 hits and only 2 surprises: Dazzle Ships' perrenial favorite, 'Radio Waves' and the Junk Culture single, 'Talking Loud And Clear'. Andy joking apologized to the hardcore fans for 'playing' it safe' with the selection of songs. Crowd was to capacity on the floor and one guy passed out in front of me before the show started! This time I was able to see the signs beforehand and help break his fall so he didn't get hurt. Paul forgets to program the string sound for 'Forver Live And Die' before leaving the keyboard duties to Andy. A moment that reminded me of the old days when they had tape and sequencer issues. Now everything runs thorugh Pro-Tools and 2 Roland X-8 workstation keyboards. So it's nice to hear the rare mistake. The only matter I would find fault with is the instrumentation, although live, was perhaps too faithful to the album sounds. Andy and Paul sounded fantastic and there's no substitute for that. The crowd was very much into the show as you can hear through the choruses of most songs. A quick note: I did no EQ-ing in Audition beforehand. I mastered and equalized exclusively in Har-Bal 2.3. I am quite pleased with the results. This one is near the EX- camp to my ears. I hope that you enjoy it. Dedicated to my brother. Happy Birthday, bro! Please support the band by buying their excellent album 'History Of Modern' on Bright Antenna or attending one of their outstanding shows... http://www.omd.uk.com Enjoy, mixter_ |