The Pacific Age by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

The Pacific Age, the seventh studio album from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, arrived on Virgin on 29 September 1986, the second of two OMD records produced by Stephen Hague after Crush. The polish carries over, and so does the drift away from the band's experimental beginnings, this time into glossy mid-'80s sophisti-pop. Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys still steered, with Martin Cooper on keyboards and sax, Malcolm Holmes on drums, and Graham and Neil Weir adding trombone and trumpet.

It was a strained record. Label pressure and a creative dry spell meant songs went onto the album with little second-guessing, and the sessions were full of conflict and hard partying. Reviews were mostly harsh, though "(Forever) Live and Die" became the band's second US top 20 hit. It was OMD's last album for five years and Humphreys' last until History of Modern in 2010, and McCluskey himself calls it their musical low point.

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