OMG, it's OMD! Yes, I spelled it "Manœuvres" and not "Maneuvers" because "maneuver" looks FUCKING WEIRD. Besides, I've been really pedantic about the œ and æ ligatures and accents in Latin-based languages. On that note:
What the hell is it about this song? I found it when I was watching reruns of Daria - with the music in it, for the most part - and I took a shining to it. I reckon I've worked out why - I guess it's because the song is all that was good about 1980s electronica. Which, of course, is the precursor to contemporary EDM. And I love it. For me, disco began in the 1980s and not the stupid seventies. Hell, music in the 1970s didn't exist.
My prejudices aside, this is a pretty nice song that has been very underrated of late. I have two 1980s electronica compilations, and while Orchestral Manœuvres In The Dark appears four times, this laidback melancholy beauty doesn't. Annoyance. It wasn't so underrated back in 1986 when it charted everywhere (OH FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT CHARTS. HELP ME.) but I guess other songs have eclipsed it since. That said, I was kinda shocked to learn that they're still going in 2011. Shocked and surprised, but not disappointed. I do like these guys. And honestly, the only complaint I have about this song is the bit from ~3'33" to ~3'55". It doesn't fit with the rest of the song. I'm all for evolution and all but that's just a bit strange. And speaking of evolution, no, this doesn't evolve much but it does stop short of being cheesy muzak. It's easy on the eardrums for the whole thing and it plays on your sense of time. Oh, listen to me, waffling on about all that crap when I could just as easily be picking apart the fact that the lyrics are repetitive and boring. Reality is, they are, but it only feels like the song runs for about 3'30" so that's fine. It puts it above hiphop, where the same three words are repeated ad nauseum for five minutes: "MOTHERFUCKING BITCHES SHAKE DAT ASS". In every single song, by every single hiphop artist, five minutes of that crap. OK, I'm exaggerating but it certainly feels that way. And that's why I listen to OMD.
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