Sugar Tax (album)
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Sugar Tax is the eighth album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released in 1991 on Virgin Records. It was group's first studio album since 1986, and the first of three recorded without co-founder Paul Humphreys, who had departed in 1989. Featuring singer Andy McCluskey with a new backing band, it leans more towards the dance-pop genre that was prevalent in the early 1990s, than the experimental brand of synthpop which characterised OMD's earlier recordings.
The album received generally favourable reviews and was a commercial success. It charted at No. 3 in the UK Albums Chart and spawned two UK Top 10 hit singles: "Sailing on the Seven Seas" and "Pandora's Box". The record had sold over three million copies by 2007.[1]
Sugar Tax is the only album in the OMD catalogue not to feature the songwriting contribution of Paul Humphreys.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Colin Larkin | [3] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B)[4] |
| Q | [5] |
| St. Petersburg Times | (favourable)[6] |
Critical reaction to the album tended towards the positive. Richard Riccio was thoroughly impressed, describing the record as being "sprinkled with gems" in his review for the St. Petersburg Times. He added: "Sugar Tax is classic OMD, and after a four-year absence marks a triumphant return for one of new wave's original invaders."[6] Gina Arnold in Entertainment Weekly was also favourable, writing: "OMD have never been afraid of combining naked emotion with their cold techno-mechanics, and it's this emotion — exhibited in lead singer Andy McClusky's [sic] sobbing, soaring vocals – that redeems their take on the otherwise fairly vacant dance-pop genre."[4] A review in Q magazine lauded Sugar Tax as "an unflappable album of quality songs which re-establishes OMD's credentials as masters of synthesized melancholia and dreamy pop songs."[5]
Conversely, Ned Raggett in AllMusic described the album as "pleasant instead of memorable", and felt that it suffered due to the absence of McCluskey's former bandmates. Raggett did, however, have praise for "Sailing on the Seven Seas".[2]
Track listing
The album does not include the title track "Sugar Tax", as it was not ready in time for release. It was instead included as the B-side to the single "Then You Turn Away".
All tracks are written by OMD (i.e. Andy McCluskey), except where noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sailing on the Seven Seas" | OMD, Stuart Kershaw | 3:45 |
| 2. | "Pandora's Box" | 4:09 | |
| 3. | "Then You Turn Away" | OMD, Kershaw, Lloyd Massett | 4:17 |
| 4. | "Speed of Light" | 4:29 | |
| 5. | "Was It Something I Said" | 4:29 | |
| 6. | "Big Town" | 4:19 | |
| 7. | "Call My Name" | 4:23 | |
| 8. | "Apollo XI" (instrumental, contains sample from JFK "Landing a man on the moon" speech and Apollo 11-related radio transmissions) | 4:13 | |
| 9. | "Walking on Air" | OMD, Kershaw, Massett | 4:49 |
| 10. | "Walk Tall" | OMD, Kershaw, Massett | 3:55 |
| 11. | "Neon Lights" (reworking of Kraftwerk track from The Man-Machine) | Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Karl Bartos | 4:19 |
| 12. | "All That Glitters" | OMD, Kershaw, Massett | 4:06 |
Album singles
| Release date | Single | United Kingdom | United States Dance |
United States Modern Rock |
Ireland |
France |
Austria |
Sweden |
Switzerland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 March 1991 | "Sailing on the Seven Seas" | 3[7] | 9[8] | — | 5[9] | — | 3[10] | 3[10] | — |
| 24 June 1991 | "Pandora's Box" | 7[7] | 11[8] | 19[8] | 19[9] | 49[11] | 7[11] | 7[11] | — |
| 9 September 1991 | "Then You Turn Away" | 50[7] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 18 November 1991 | "Call My Name" | 50[7] | — | — | — | — | 24[12] | — | 28[12] |
Equipment
Recording:[13]
- Akai S1000 sampler + hard drive
- Alesis HR16 drum machine
- Atari 1040ST computer
- Casio CZ 230s synth
- E-mu Proteus sample reader
- Korg M1 workstation
- Oberheim Matrix 1000 synth module
- Roland D110 synth module
- Roland Super JX synth module
- Steinberg Pro24 v3 sequencing software
- Yamaha RX-5 drum machine
- Yamaha TX81Z synth module
Live:
- Akai S1000 (8MEG) sampler (x2)
- Cheetah Midi controller keyboard
- Korg M1R synth module (x2)
- Roland A80 MIDI controller keyboard
- Roland D-550
- Roland piano module
References
- ^ "Orchestral leap in the dark". The Scotsman. The Scotsman Publications. 3 February 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
- ^ a b Raggett, Ned. "Sugar Tax review". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ^ Larkin, Colin. The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music. Virgin Books. 1997. ISBN 0753501597. p. 350.
- ^ a b Arnold, Gina (14 June 1991). "Sugar Tax review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b "Sugar Tax". Q. June 1991.
- ^ a b Riccio, Richard. "Sugar is sprinkled with gems". St. Petersburg Times. 23 August 1991. p.21.
- ^ a b c d "Chart Stats – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark". Retrieved 13 October 2009.[dead link]
- ^ a b c "Sugar Tax > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ^ a b "irishcharts.ie search results for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark". Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ^ a b "lescharts.com entry for Sailing on the Seven Seas". Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ^ a b c "lescharts.com entry for Pandora's Box". Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ^ a b "lescharts.com entry for Call My Name". Retrieved 13 October 2009.
- ^ "Power in the Darkness". Music Technology. December 1991.