I think that the only live recording that I have from the 1981 'Architecture and Morality' is the Drury Lane gig that got an official release. Here then as a viable alternative is a date from the 2007 revival in which the band opened the set with a complete run through of the album.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-u5PrSsdvBS
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-9XzLuIgrz8
November 1981 and few months shy of my 13th birthday. I can see me standing in front one of the record racks in the Burgess Hill branch of W.H. Smiths on a Saturday morning. I was unusually flush, having saved enough pocket money to buy an album and a single in one stroke. This was a rare occurrance. I now had the dilema of what to buy. The msic at the time was still pretty good, there were the punk survivors that had progressed, the new romantics and the electronic pioneers, bands that countered the parental favourites like Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow with whom they shared the album charts with. Plenty to chose from in other words.
In the summer I had been on a family holiday to the Isle of Wight. It was one of the rare occasions that I got to see Top of the Pops and on that particular Thursday I remember seeing OMD who had just released 'Souvenir' gracing the screen (I think that it was on the same that I first saw Soft Cell 'performing' 'Tainted Love').
So the decision was made on the basis of that single... the classy diecut sleeve may also have had a hand in it, another creation from in-house Factory designer, Peter Saville (of earlier Joy Division (and OMD) fame).
As for the single to be purchased with the rest of the pocket money, well, I opted for 'Golden Brown' by The Stranglers, which ultimately set me of on a different tangent altogether and one that has been ongoing to this day.
On 'Architecture & Morality', 44 years down the line, I still think that it is a brilliant album. It was certainly far more experimental than anything I had been listening to before, 'The New Stone Age' and the title track were certainly poles apart from the more chart friendly singles 'Joan of Arc' and 'Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)'. A later expanded CD reissue included 'The Romance of the Telescope', a track that would later surface on their next album 'Dazzle Ships' remains my favourite OMD track, along with 'Stanlow' (from 'Organisation').
Here's what the critics had to say.
Record Mirror 7th November 1981
Pretty positive from Daniela Soave, pitching the album somewhere between the pop sensibilities of the first eponymous album and the stark 'Organisation'.
Lastly, a clear thumbs up from the more straight talking Smash Hits.
Smash Hits 29th October 1981
I think that the only live recording that I have from the 1981 'Architecture and Morality' is the Drury Lane gig that got an offic...
