The Pacific Age

Despite the gruelling recording and promotion schedule for predecessor Crush (1985), OMD's American label, A&M Records, wanted a new studio album as soon as possible in order to capitalise on the success of 1986 hit single "If You Leave" (from the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink).Waller, Johnny; Humphreys, Mike. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Messages. Sidgwick & Jackson. 1987. {{ISBN|0-283-99234-4}}. pp. 164–173. Afforded only two months to write a record, the band continued their focus on breaking the US market with more accessible pop material, while restricting the experimental tendencies of their earlier work.{{cite web|last1=Majewski|first1=Lori|author-link1=Lori Majewski|last2=Bernstein|first2=Jonathan|url=https://www.popmatters.com/181891-mad-world-an-oral-history-of-new-wave-artists-and-songs-that-defined-2495658962.html|title=Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s|website=PopMatters|date=15 May 2014|access-date=8 June 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/omd|title=OMD|last=Wilson|first=Lois|date=30 September 2019|website=Record Collector|access-date=30 May 2021}}{{cite news|first=Len|last=Righi|title=Records|work=The Morning Call|date=15 November 1986|page=A71}} The group again collaborated with producer Stephen Hague, albeit with the addition of his engineer, Tom Lord-Alge. This ensemble worked out of Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris, building upon the band's earlier recordings at Liverpool's Amazon Studios.

OMD committed each new song to The Pacific Age with limited deliberation, while relying on some recent compositions for other projects.{{cite web|url=https://www.omd.uk.com/discography/the-pacific-age/|title=The Pacific Age|publisher=OMD|access-date=8 June 2021}}{{cite web|url= http://www.contactmusic.com/interview/interview-with-andy-mccluskey-from-omd-july-2011|title=Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Interview|last=Gourlay|first=Dom|date=25 April 2012|publisher=Contactmusic|accessdate=4 October 2016}} "We Love You" had been written for the film Playing for Keeps (1986). "Goddess of Love" was the group's original contribution to Pretty in Pink, but a rewrite of the film's climax rendered the track unsuitable (hence the creation of "If You Leave"). The band reworked the song for inclusion on the album, including rewriting the lyric. One older track, "Southern" (which sampled Martin Luther King Jr.'s final speech in 1968), was included after failing to make the cut for Crush. Despite A&M's wishes, the group neglected to include "If You Leave" on the record.

"Flame of Hope" uses Japanese TV commercial samples left over from the making of the Crush title track. "The Pacific Age" itself was based on the rising prominence of East Asia in world economics. The songs "Cajun Moon" and "Cut Me Down" were almost featured, but according to McCluskey, "democracy won out". Both songs were later included on the band's 40th anniversary retrospective box set, Souvenir (2019), which carries a CD of unreleased tracks. 1983 holdover "Heaven Is" was nudged off The Pacific Age in favour of "Flame of Hope", but the track eventually surfaced on 1993's Liberator. Humphreys recalled trying to compose satisfactory material amid a creative drought, saying, "It felt incredibly rushed... we'd run out of ideas; there were no songs left in the well." Sessions were marred by exhaustion, internal conflicts, and excessive consumption of drugs and alcohol.{{cite web|url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2023/11/omd-albums/|title=Album by Album – OMD|last=Lindores|first=Mark|date=15 November 2023|website=Classic Pop|access-date=15 November 2023|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115204227/https://www.classicpopmag.com/2023/11/omd-albums/|archive-date=15 November 2023}}

For the first time, brothers Graham and Neil Weir were formally credited as members of OMD;The Pacific Age sleeve notes. 1986. Virgin Records. "Shame" was born out of Graham's desire to add a "soulful" element to the album. The Weirs had been involved with the band as session musicians since the re-recording of "Julia's Song" in 1984 (a "Talking Loud and Clear" single B-side), and were credited as "also playing" musicians on Crush.Crush sleeve notes. 1985. Virgin Records. The Pacific Age features various session players, including guitarist Kamil Rustam and backing vocalist Carole Fredericks.

The group intended to release "Stay (The Black Rose and the Universal Wheel)" as the first single, but Virgin pushed for "Shame" instead; "(Forever) Live and Die" was ultimately the first release. "We Love You" was issued as the second single. Virgin then scheduled "Shame" as the next single to the surprise of the band, who were on tour at the time.

OMD intended to hire Peter Saville as the cover artist, given his contributions to many of the band's earlier artworks. However, Saville's later successes in designing covers for major acts like Peter Gabriel, the Rolling Stones and Wham!, had pushed his asking price beyond OMD's budget. Graphic designer Mick Haggerty had recently returned from Mexico, where he had created various woodblock prints for a publishing company. He was enlisted to apply the same techniques to the Pacific Age cover, whose design was hand-chiselled from a piece of wood. To enhance the notion of a hand-made texture, the artwork was printed on the reverse of the sleeve so that the coarse, unvarnished side was facing outward.{{cite web|url=http://www.omd-messages.co.uk/disco/albums/html/a_29.html|title=OMD Discography: The Pacific Age|website=Messages|access-date=8 June 2021}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-pacific-age-mw0000650581|title=Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: The Pacific Age|last=Connolly|first=Dave|website=AllMusic|access-date=8 June 2021}}

| rev2 = The Brandon Sun

| rev2score = C+{{cite news|first=Kevin|last=Bell|title=For the Record|work=The Brandon Sun|date=29 October 1986|page=73 (Entertainment, p. 21)}}

| rev3 = Encyclopedia of Eighties Music

| rev3score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music|publisher=Virgin Books|year=1997|isbn=0753501597|page=350}}

| rev4 = MusicHound

| rev4score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite book|last=Graff|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Graff|date=1996|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|page=504|isbn=9780787610371}}

| rev5 = Number One

| rev5score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Simper|first=Paul|title=Albums|magazine=Number One|date=4 October 1986|page=44}}

| rev6 = Record Mirror

| rev6score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Smith|first=Robin|title=Albums|magazine=Record Mirror|date=11 October 1986|page=22}}

| rev7 = Smash Hits

| rev7score = 3/10{{cite magazine|last=Kelly|first=Nick|date=24 September 1986|title=Albums|magazine=Smash Hits|volume=8|number=20|page=50}}

| rev8 = Sounds

| rev8score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Wilde|first=Jonh|date=4 October 1986|title=Albums|magazine=Sounds|page=31}}

| rev9 = Times Colonist

| rev9score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite news|first=Paul|last=Bennett|title=On Track|work=Times Colonist|date=7 February 1987|edition=main|page=38 (C4)}}

| rev10 = Winnipeg Free Press

| rev10score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news|first=Glen|last=Gore-Smith|title=OMD sounds more funky on new Pacific Age album|work=Winnipeg Free Press|date=18 October 1986|page=25}}

}}

The Pacific Age met with largely unfavourable reviews.{{cite web|url=https://www.classicpopmag.com/2022/10/orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark/|title=The Lowdown – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark|last=Burke|first=David|date=25 October 2022|website=Classic Pop|access-date=13 November 2023}} Robin Smith of Record Mirror wrote, "The Pacific Age is a very flatulent album. It's difficult to digest and burps into life only occasionally. The most palatable songs, like '(Forever) Live and Die' and 'Shame', are surrounded by others that move with the grace of Tina Turner trying to dance in a pair of lead-filled wellies." Smash Hits journalist Nick Kelly observed only "a couple of subversive melodies" among a "morass of passionless synth-rock ditties" and "characterless elevator 'musak'." Melody Maker described the record as "wheezing, crumpled and limp" and "a bitter, bitter disappointment". Paul Simper of Number One was more favourable, allowing that "the music – if not fire incarnate – has at least a warm glow".

Los Angeles Times critic Steve Pond deemed the album to be "bloated" with "unnecessary pomp", and suggested that OMD find "a middle ground between what it used to be and what it's become".{{cite news|first=Steve|last=Pond|title=Pop Music|work=Los Angeles Times|date=2 November 1986|page=331 (Calendar, p. 59)}} Michael T. Lyttle of the Austin American-Statesman called the record "confusing and disappointing", adding that "[Stephen] Hague's labor on The Pacific Age can't bail out sub-par material. Look for no miracles here."{{cite news|first=Michael T|last=Lyttle|title=Orchestral Manoeuvres' 'Pacific Age' Disappointing|work=Austin American-Statesman|date=2 November 1986|page=213 (Show World, p. 7)}} On the other hand, Winnipeg Free Press journalist Glen Gore-Smith found OMD to be "in fine form... adding low-tech elements to its sound, while maintaining the exquisite precision of its ethereal synthpop style." Tom Lanham of the San Francisco Examiner identified the album as OMD's most cohesive since Architecture & Morality (1981), observing an "almost magical" rapport between McCluskey and Humphreys. He added, "Each track contains a palatable pop hook cleverly woven into its memorable framework. Potential hits abound."{{cite news|first=Tom|last=Lanham|title=Britain's OMD Caught Between Two Worlds|work=San Francisco Examiner|date=30 November 1986|page=250 (Datebook, p. 42)}}

In a retrospective review, Trouser Press described The Pacific Age as "tiresomely ponderous and self-important", concluding, "Except for the smoothly contrived hit '(Forever) Live and Die' and the catchy 'We Love You', this dilettantish mess is less a set of songs than a meaningless collection of sounds."{{cite web|last1=Grant|first1=Steven|last2=Robbins|first2=Ira|last3=Reno|first3=Brad|url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark/|title=Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark|website=Trouser Press|access-date=14 November 2023}} Classic Pop{{'}}s Mark Lindores said, "The Pacific Age all but wipes out OMD's original identity, stripping it of everything that made them unique – an unfortunate turn of events for an act that previously had been ahead of the curve... As an album closer, 'Watch Us Fall' could not have been more apt." A more forgiving Dave Connolly of AllMusic wrote, "It's true that tracks like '(Forever) Live and Die', 'Shame', and 'Goddess of Love' are more style than substance, but it's a style that plays to OMD's mastery of melody and mood... The band also continues to string snippets of sound together to create interesting patterns."

Morale issues that arose during the onerous recording and promotion of predecessor Crush (1985),{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzQjKnnxVW4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/zzQjKnnxVW4 |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=OMD interview - Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys (part 3)|date=29 April 2013|publisher=FaceCulture|access-date=4 October 2016|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} intensified during the making of The Pacific Age. Creative conflicts also came to the fore. These issues preceded a line-up split in the late 1980s; co-founder Humphreys would not appear on another OMD studio album until the group's post-reunion release, History of Modern (2010).

Since the end of 1986, The Pacific Age has received some favourable attention in various album listings. The Gavin Report placed the record at no. 90 in its "Alternative Top 100" of that year.{{cite magazine|date=12 December 1986|title=Alternative Top 100|magazine=Gavin Report|issue=1636|page=36}} StarPhoenix critic Terry Craig named The Pacific Age one of the 10 best albums of 1986, as did CFNY-FM listeners.{{cite news|first=Terry|last=Craig|title=Favorites of 1986|work=The StarPhoenix|date=31 December 1986|page=21 (Entertainment, p. C1)}}{{cite magazine|last=Berns|first=Don|date=9 January 1987|title=Radio Comments|magazine=The Hard Report|issue=10|page=31 (album 7 of 10)}} In May 1987, the Los Angeles Times called it one of the five best digitally-recorded CD albums on the market, praising its "dazzling brightness".{{cite news|first=Terry|last=Atkinson|title=Home Tech|work=Los Angeles Times|date=22 May 1987|page=133 (Calendar, p. 19)}} Slicing Up Eyeballs readers later voted The Pacific Age as the 46th-greatest record of 1986,{{cite web|url=http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2013/09/03/best-albums-of-1986/|title=Top 100 Albums of 1986: Slicing Up Eyeballs' Best of the '80s — Part 7|date=3 September 2013|website=Slicing Up Eyeballs|accessdate=1 August 2014}} while Diffuser.fm staff ranked it the 38th-best alternative album of the year.{{cite web|url=https://diffuser.fm/best-1986-albums/|title=1986's Best Alternative Albums|last=DeRiso|first=Nick|date=28 July 2016|website=Diffuser.fm|access-date=5 December 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627124947/https://diffuser.fm/best-1986-albums/|archive-date=27 June 2019}} It was placed at no. 672 in CMJ's "Top 1000, 1979–1989".{{cite book|date=1989|chapter=Top 1000, 1979–1989 (supplement)|title=Top 250 Singles, 1979–1989|url=https://coffee-for-two.com/2019/08/11/college-countdown-cmj-top-1000-1979-1989-672-to-669/|publisher=CMJ|access-date=1 February 2023|via=Coffee for Two}}

Billy Manes of Orlando Weekly felt the record an "underrated opus".{{cite web|url=https://www.orlandoweekly.com/music/the-history-of-modern-men-2248266|title=The History of Modern Men|last=Manes|first=Billy|date=14 September 2011|website=Orlando Weekly|access-date=29 June 2022}} Author Anna Smaill cited The Pacific Age – in particular the track "The Dead Girls" – as an influence on her 2015 novel, The Chimes.{{cite web|url=http://helenlowe.info/blog/2015/05/27/an-interview-with-anna-smaill-author-of-the-chimes/|title=An Interview with Anna Smaill, Author of The Chimes|last=Lowe|first=Helen|author-link=Helen Lowe|date=27 May 2015|website=HelenLowe.info|access-date=20 July 2022}}

McCluskey discussed the album in the 2014 book, Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s:

{{quote|"The Pacific Age is our musical nadir. That was the one where we were writing songs because we had to make an album. We were going round and round America in buses for months on end, and the record company said, 'It would be great if we had a new album for Christmas.' We were on the treadmill. We were going back to an empty well. We were exactly the sort of band we promised we never would be. There were no concepts, no weird ideas, no 'Enola Gay'... I was dragging out lyrics that I would have been appalled by 10 years earlier."}}

McCluskey feels that the record's production "just doesn't sound like [OMD]", and has noted that it features tracks he wishes the band had never released. Humphreys stated, "There were a couple of nice things on it, but to us, overall, it didn't work." He pointed to "surrounding circumstances, the time factor and conflicts that were going on".{{cite web|url=http://www.omdweb.com/?page_id=2683|title=Talking with the Listening Pool|last=Marsh|first=Phil|date=1994|website=Telegraph|access-date=4 June 2021|via=OMDweb}}

• All songs by OMD, as per label.
• Writing credits below as per ASCAP database.{{cite web |url=http://www.ascap.com/ |title=ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) |accessdate=3 May 2015}} searchable database (search Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark/OMD/O.M.D.

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Stay (The Black Rose and the Universal Wheel)

| writer1 = {{hlist|Paul Humphreys|Andy McCluskey}}

| length1 = 4:22

| title2 = (Forever) Live and Die

| writer2 = {{hlist|Humphreys|Graham Weir|Neil Weir}}

| length2 = 3:38

| title3 = The Pacific Age

| writer3 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey}}

| length3 = 3:59

| title4 = The Dead Girls

| writer4 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey}}

| length4 = 4:48

| title5 = Shame

| writer5 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey|Weir|Weir}}

| length5 = 4:15

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| total_length = 40:18

| title6 = Southern

| writer6 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey|Weir|Weir}}

| length6 = 3:41

| title7 = Flame of Hope

| writer7 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey}}

| length7 = 2:40

| title8 = Goddess of Love

| writer8 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey}}

| length8 = 4:30

| title9 = We Love You

| writer9 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey|Stephen Hague}}

| length9 = 4:10

| title10 = Watch Us Fall

| writer10 = {{hlist|Humphreys|McCluskey|Hague}}

| length10 = 4:11

}}

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)

• Paul Humphreys – keyboards, percussion, vocals
• Andy McCluskey – vocals, keyboards, bass guitar
• Malcolm Holmes – drums, percussion
• Martin Cooper – keyboards, saxophone
• Graham Weir – trombone, keyboards, guitar
• Neil Weir – trumpet, bass

Additional musicians

• Stephen Hague – additional keyboards, guitar
• Kamil Rustam – guitar
• Carole Fredericks – backing vocals
• Aliss Terrell – backing vocals
• Yvonne Jones – backing vocals

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{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for The Pacific Age}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|artist=Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark|title=The Pacific Age|award=Platinum|type=album|relyear=1986|certyear=1987|date=27 May 1987|access-date=27 December 2020}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=OMD|title=The Pacific Age|award=Silver|type=album|relyear=1986|certyear=1986|id=7200-1296-2|date=27 October 1986|access-date=27 December 2020}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090113163115/http://www.omd.uk.com/html/song_pacific.html Album lyrics]
• {{discogs master|34774}}

{{Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacific Age, The}}

Category:1986 albums

Category:Albums produced by Stephen Hague

Category:Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark albums

Category:Virgin Records albums