Orchestral Manœuvres In The Dark* – Architecture & Morality (The Singles)

Nice sounding and loking set. But how could they not include the extended version of "Souvenir"????

Not bad, although nothing to get particularly excited over. I really don’t like metallic record sleeves. Within 5 minutes of opening it it had my fingerprints all over it. The colour vinyl looks nice but honestly, what’s wrong with black ?
An average release. Kinda wish I’d just bought the CD

I agree the trifold sleeves and songs are as good as it gets.This is why I collect vinyl.

Just got My copy today, waaaaauw fantastic sound and plays perfectly and different never heard versions, live, 10/10 in all for this epic release.

Yes a beautiful gatefold triple album but sadly Universal and SOV seems to be to cheap to ship them out in a triple lp mailer or a box.. Mine was badly damaged.. And to top it off, they precharged me for the VAT to and then did not show this in the shipping papers so I got to pay the VAT again. I wrote Universal UK and still no reply. My cover looks terrible due to the corner being smashed which went through all the inner sleeves and since its a triple album the middle, back cover and front cover are all badly Damaged.. and here I see That most of these albums for sale all are NM for the cover. Wonder why.

Agree with Crijevo that the selection of the extra tracks could have been curated more thoughtfully and that for those who own the originals the CD version might serve better. Nice vinyl colours though! Biggest letdown for me is that with this release again someone who, working in the industry should know better, missed the fact that when sourcing audio from video you need to watch PAL/NTSC framerates. So, as we have seen with quite a few other releases in previous years, the audio of all the Drury Lane live tracks has been pressed much too fast, so you need to get up from your sofa and re-adjust it by -2 to get the correct speed. Again I can only wonder if no-one ever listens to test pressings anymore these days?!

The demos steal the show here and it's amazing to hear how the final studio versions of "Sealand", "She's Leaving", "Georgia" and "Maid Of Orleans" initially came about. The never before heard "Submarines" is especially rewarding - by title maybe a tad closer to "Dazzle Ships" yet not that far from "Architecture & Morality" either...

On the other hand, while "Souvenir" / "Choir Song" demos are interesting to hear with a cold ending, these are audibly not that different from the final album/single version of "Souvenir"... The same goes for "Joan Of Arc" - sure there's documentary value in these and without them this release wouldn't have been complete; it's just that this way, some of the songs repeat too many times ("Of All The Things We've Made" on the other hand, is conspicuously missing), while maybe demos of other songs should have been given more space here (the amazingly weird "The New Stone Age" comes to mind instantly - judging from its intensely amazing live version from the group's "Drury Lane" concert, it would have been great to hear "The New Stone Age" in similar demo fashion)... as for the very Drury Lane concert, too bad it wasn't given its own special anniversary audio release alone - this way, its fragmented bits here serve mere purpose of filler tracks, as if for analysis due to three different contexts (studio, live, demo)...

Thus, for a 40th anniversary release, the contents should have been less skimpy, meaning - expanded in favour of more demos (if these existed?) along with the original a + b-sides, instead of repetitive numbers (in demo/live form)... Also many noticed "Navigation" being inexplicably "edited", meaning cut short by a whole 20+ seconds at its loop tail end...

The biggest minus is the main sleeve design - sure it is expected to adapt it according to the original "Architecture & Morality" layout, still it is sad to see it done so painfully generic instead of approaching the original template with more deserved minimalist shine - and metallic card alone just doesn't add that much effect; on contrary, it feels contrived, presenting something done cheap under the excuse of "de luxe". Of course, on vinyl this still may deceive the completists but the CD booklet is downright cheap. Sorry.

On the other hand, time was somewhat (and unnecessarily) wasted on the "new" "Joan Of Arc" front cover - featuring a newly selected (read: dull) sculpture image (no offense to the author), instead of maybe using both, original 7"/12" sleeve variations to greater effect ("Maid Of Orleans" both sleeves appear here in that respect)...

In total, for those missing the original 12" singles, the vinyl version sure is the real deal - for many others, unless you'd feel tempted to buy the vinyl, the CD is far more practical to get and enjoy the gorgeous music just the same.

Really beautiful packaging, the silver foil color works so well with all the sleeve art. I ordered mine direct from the OMD website, and it arrived to the US pretty banged up, such a shame for a sleeve as nice as this. Also, don't order the bundle with the CD like I did--it was in the same package as the record, and the jewel case pressed a bunch of dents into the sleeve. As others pointed out, the middle record is hard to get out, I would recommend storing all three vinyl discs separately and being extra careful with the sleeve.

The gatefold sleeve presents the records in the wrong sequence: Souvenir - Maid Of Orleans - Joan Of Arc.
Back cover lists the singles in the correct sequence (as originally released).

Some extra info-
Mastered/Cut by Miles Showell -not 1/2 speed.
Handwritten BL47165-01 (Souvenir) indicates these were manufactured by Optimal B=Format, second Letter indicates year with L=2021