Dazzle Ships

If you're a pop band looking to follow up a critically-acclaimed, three-million-selling hit album, sampling a disturbing news snippet about a Central American dictator probably isn't the first tactic that comes to mind. But that's exactly what OMD did on the track "International" from their fourth album Dazzle Ships. And "International" is one of the more accessible tracks on the album. Upon the release of Dazzle Ships in April 1983, its musical and conceptual experiments were seen as follies, and the album itself was viewed as one of the all-time flops.

Now, a quarter century later, both music and concept hold up as remarkably ahead of their time. Referring to Dazzle Ships as OMD's Kid A is getting the right idea but ultimately sells the former album short. Given the context of its original release, Dazzle Ships is quite possibly the most unique, unexpected, and uncommercial album ever to make the UK Top Five. If it overreaches the standard paradigm of pop music by a mile, its grasp covers almost all that ground. It remains an imperfect but stunning and, crucially, enthralling experience. -popmatters.com