Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Dazzle Ships
| Artist | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark |
| Title | Dazzle Ships |
| Label | Telegraph (Virgin) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Designer | M. Garrett, K. Kennedy, P. Pennington, P. Saville, B. Wickens for Peter Saville Associates |
| Music | Electronic popular music |
| Notes | The final OMD sleeve we’re featuring and the last great – arguably greatest – album by the Liverpool duo. After this they pulled away from experimentation to head off into pretty much undiluted pop territory, leaving behind the shortwave transmissions, fog horns, sirens and static forever.Saville’s choice of dazzle camouflage is inspired and inspiring. The choice of vivid pink for highlights and track titles echoes the use of contrast on the group’s debut, as do the die-cut holes, this time referencing portholes on the outer sleeve. The one perplexing element is the slightly unresolved view of the map on the inner gatefold through these portholes. Otherwise, the yellow/pink inner sleeve that crosses the graphic map as it’s removed or inserted into the cover is a pleasure that mirrors the experience of the eponymous debut and Architecture & Morality. Surely this sense of physical interaction provided inspiration for Olaf Bender/Raster Noton.
These small images can only do meagre justice to the monumental impression that the physical originals impart. We’d highly recommend you grab yourself a copy on eBay or via your local secondhard record emporium. Here’s a certain Thames-moored battleship decked in dazzle camouflage which even now helps it to blend into its background…
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Really Saville’s best work, too.
Amongst his finest, with Section 25′s “Always Now” lp a close runner up in my mind.
I struggle to choose from any of these three OMD designs. Some of the New Orders are stunning and the Monochrome Set – such a range to choose from!
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[...] From 1983, yet again, Mr. Saville and amazing. Found while surfing a great site, Hard Format, this just continues my amazement. Have a look see when you get a moment. [...]