Number Ones: #44

• ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK So In Love (Virgin)
• Week Ending June 22nd 1985
• 1 Week At #1

Enola Gay. Souvenir. Joan Of Arc. Maid Of Orleans. All of these would undoubtedly have topped any personal chart I created between 1980 and 1983, but my first official OMD #1 was this, the lead single from the band’s June 1985 opus, Crush.

Two of the singles from its predecessor, Junk Culture, had almost reached the summit (Locomotion and Talking Loud And Clear) but those records – and that album in general – were uncharacteristically sunny and upbeat; a reaction to the mixed reception afforded 1983’s experimental Dazzle Ships project. So In Love felt like something of a return to their more melancholic earlier fare, though it was polished enough to attract American audiences as it made the US Top 30.

Crush was unashamedly influenced by America, from the Edward Hopper homage of the sleeve, to the locations visited on the album’s visual companion piece “Crush: The Movie”, to the subject matter of several songs (Women III, The Native Daughters Of The Golden West, 88 Seconds In Greensboro). Viewed as a commercial sell-out in some quarters, the Stephen Hague production wasn’t always as slick as the singles implied; 88 Seconds… is spiked with distorted guitars and plenty of basement echo, The Native Daughters… evokes Led Zeppelin in their Kashmir majesty, and the title track is a wonderfully odd montage of samples, whispered obscenities and depressed brass sections.

There was also an obvious standout track with Paul Humphreys taking lead vocal duties; it sounded like a smash hit in waiting, and gained immediate interest from UK radio. Secret would be issued as the next single…..