Crush by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Crush, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's sixth album, came out on Virgin on 17 June 1985, and it's the Merseyside synth-pop pioneers aiming squarely at America. Stephen Hague produced it, the first of two OMD records he'd handle, and his sleek sheen smooths away much of the old experimentation, though Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys still slip in a few odd corners. There's more real playing than before, too, with Malcolm Holmes on drums, Martin Cooper on keys and sax, and Graham and Neil Weir on trombone and trumpet.

It was made in a rush, under a label deadline the band later wished they had fought, and they had doubts about Hague's gloss. Critics liked it anyway; some of the old fans didn't. "So in Love" became their first hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Secret" kept them on the radio, and Crush became their only top-40 album in America.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.