Junk Culture

Junk Culture is the title of the fifth studio album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released on Virgin records on 30 April 1984. It was the group's comeback album after the commercial 'disaster' that had been Dazzle Ships in 1983.[1] The album was produced by Brian Tench and OMD. All tracks were written by OMD.

Release

Junk Culture was the first OMD album to be released on LP, cassette and compact disc (although the latter was issued a few weeks later on 21 May 1984). The album had been preceded by the release of the track Locomotion as a single, which made no.5 in the UK charts and put OMD back on the map as a commercially successful group. The album spawned a further three singles: Talking Loud and Clear, Tesla Girls and Never Turn Away.

Free 7" single

Initial copies of the vinyl LP contained a bonus one-sided 7" single featuring one track, the instrumental entitled (The Angels Keep Turning) The Wheels of the Universe. The track was not included on either the cassette or CD issues and remained exclusive to the 7" release until being included on Navigation: The OMD B Sides album in 2001 and the deluxe re-issue of Junk Culture in 2015. [2]

Deluxe version

A 'deluxe' double CD edition of the album was released on 02 February 2015. The issue featured a remastered edition of the original album plus bonus tracks of related B-sides, extended versions and demos for the album, inclusing two previously unreleased tracks. The original pressing of Disc 2 mistakenly had a repetition of All Wrapped Up instead of its alternative version Wrappup as track 5. This was rectified by sending out a replacement disc to those who complained. Later pressings corrected this error.  The version of Tesla Girls is unique to this issue.

Tracklisting

• original release, 1984 V 2310 (LP and cassette; 10 track CD)

Side One

1. Junk Culture
2. Tesla Girls
3. Locomotion
4. Apollo
5. Never Turn Away

Side Two

1. Love and Violence
2. Hard Day
3. All Wrapped Up
4. White Trash
5. Talking Loud and Clear

• Deluxe version, 2 x CD (2015)

1. Disc one - 10 tracks, as original album (Tesla Girls slightly different version, see page).
2. Disc two:
   1. Her Body in My Soul (4:41) - B side to Locomotion
   2. The Avenue (4:10) - B-side to Locomotion 12"
   3. Julia’s Song (re-recorded) (4:18) - B-side to Talking Loud and Clear
   4. Garden City (4:04) - B-side to Tesla Girls 12"
   5. Wrappup (4:01) - B-side to Never Turn Away
   6. Locomotion (12″ version) (5:17)
   7. Tesla Girls (12″ version) (4:31)
   8. Talking Loud and Clear (12″ version) (6:12)
   9. Never Turn Away (12” version) (6:29)
   10. (The Angels Keep Turning) The Wheels of the Universe (4:54) - bonus 7" with original LP
   11. 10 to 1 (previously unreleased) (4:08)
   12. All or Nothing (previously unreleased) (3:44)
   13. Heaven Is (Highland Studios demo) (6:09)
   14. Tesla Girls (Highland Studios demo) (4:02)
   15. White Trash (Highland Studios demo) (3:39)

Singles

Locomotion Rel. 02 April 1984, UK chart peak 05 Virgin 7"/pic. disc Locomotion Her Body In My Soul Virgin 12" Locomotion (extended mix) Her Body In My Soul / The Avenue
Talking Loud and Clear Rel. 04 June 1984, UK chart peak 11 Virgin 7"/pic. disc Talking Loud and Clear Julia's Song Virgin 12" Talking Loud and Clear (extended version) Julia's Song (extended version)
Tesla Girls Rel. 28 August 1984 see page for details
Never Turn Away Rel. 29 October 1984, UK chart peak 70 Virgin 7"/pic. disc Never Turn Away (pic. disc has slightly longer version) Wrappup Virgin 12" Never Turn Away" (extended version) Wrappup

External links

• Discogs
• musicbrainz