The Pacific Age

**The Pacific Age** is the title of the seventh studio album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released in September 1986. It was their last studio album to be released in the nineteen-eighties and the last to be recorded by founder members Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey before the pair split at the end of the decade. Their next album together would be *History of Modern* (2010).

The album was preceded by the release of the lead-single (Forever) Live and Die and spawned two further singles We Love You and a re-recording of Shame.

## Personnel

*The Pacific Age* was the first and last OMD album to be written and recorded by a six-members line-up.

* Andy McCluskey - vocals, keyboards, bass
* Paul Humphreys - keyboards, percussion, vocals
* Malcolm Holmes - drums and percussion
* Martin Cooper - keyboards and saxophones
* Graham Weir - trombone, keyboards, guitar
* Neil Weir - trumpet and bass

## Recording

The album was recorded in Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris and produced by Stephen Hague, who also contributed keyboards and some guitar. The engineer was Tom Lord Alge. Some additional recording was done at Amazon Studios in Liverpool and at Mark Angelo Studios in London.

## Sleeve

The sleeve and artwork was designed by Mick Haggerty with inner sleeve photography by Claus Wickwrath. The 'double profile' iconographic imagery may or may not refer to the core-duo of Humphreys/McCluskey.

## Track listing

The album was released on Virgin records LP, MC and CD (DDD).

V 2398

Side one

1. Stay (The Black Rose and The Universal Wheel)
2. (Forever) Live and Die
3. The Pacific Age
4. The Dead Girls
5. Shame

Side two

1. Southern
2. Flame of Hope
3. Goddess of Love
4. We Love You
5. Watch Us Fall

The CD issue features the same tracks listed 1-10

All songs were written by OMD, with the addition of Stephen Hague on We Love You and Watch Us Fall.

### Unreleased tracks

Tracks Dumbomb, Cajun Moon and Cut Me Down were also recorded for the album but remained unfinished due to time constraints. These two songs eventually appeared on the *Unreleased Archive Vol I* CD in 2019. A version of Heaven Is was also considered but was once more postponed for a future release.

A new version of 'Stay' was later recorded as the band wished it to be issued as the third single. It was however rejected by Virgin who preferred Shame.

## Chart performance

The album entered the UK album charts at its peak position of no.15 the week after its release. It then dropped, spending just three weeks in the Top 40 and seven in the Top 100.

## Tour

*see main page The Pacific Age (tour)*

*The Pacific Age* was promoted via an extensive international tour which began its UK leg at Birmingham Odeon on 21 September 1986, moving to Canada and USA in November and December, then to New Zealand and Australia taking them into the new year. The tour continued in Hong Kong and Japan, ending in Tokyo on 21 January 1987.

No official live recordings from the tour have ever been released.

## Legacy

*The Pacific Age* was fairly poorly received by critics and even by fans who were generally disappointed by the overall quality of the songs. Consequently it was OMD's least successful album to date and considered their 'swan song'.

Writing in Smash Hits, Nick Kelly described it as "*yet another terrifyingly bland LP*" featuring a "*morass of passionless synth-rock ditties*", giving the album 3/10.

Even the band, particularly AM, have since resented the album. In a 2012 interview he stated:

> "...*we had no real time to take stock and write some decent material, so the first nine songs we did come up with immediately went on the album. We made the album for the wrong reason. At the time we were doing our best, but looking back I'd definitely say that was a period where we lost the plot*. [..] *I think the production on that album and its predecessor 'Crush', just doesn't sound like us*." (source: contactmusic.com)
>
>

The only 'surviving' track would seem to be (Forever) Live and Die which is the only track still performed live by OMD.

Arguably conceived and recorded for the American market, the album faired fairly well in the US, mostly on the back of the success of If You Leave and, less so, of (Forever) Live and Die. In 2013 slicingupeyeballs.com placed it at no.46 in the Top 100 albums of 1986.

## Re-issues

No special re-issues or remasters of the album have been made available since 1986, save for a Virgin 'mid-price range' LP OVED255 (release date unknown) and a 'compact price' CD.

## Contemporaneous albums

list of albums that were released around the same time as *The Pacific Age:*

* New Order - *Brotherhood*
* It's Immaterial - Life's Hard And Then You Die
* Nick Heyward - Postcards From Home
* The Fall - Bend Sinister

## External links

* Discogs

* Spotify