BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986
“(Forever) Live and Die” is a song by British synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released as the first single taken from their 1986 album, The Pacific Age. It is sung by Paul Humphreys, who ordinarily functions as keyboard player and backing vocalist. The single narrowly missed the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #11, but was a significant radio hit. It was a Top 10 hit in Canada and many European territories, and a Top 20 hit in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It was the last of the group’s singles to reach the UK Top 20 before Humphreys left in 1989, and Andy McCluskey continued OMD on his own.
Producer Stephen Hague had made his production debut the previous year on OMD’s Crush. He is also known for his work with the Pet Shop Boys, often using a chorus effect on Neil Tennant’s voice, as he did with Humphreys on this song.
The b-side “This Town” is a non-lp track.
SIDE A:
(Forever) Live And Die (Extended Mix) 5:55
Remix – Tom Lord-Alge
SIDE B:
(Forever) Live And Die (7″ Version) 3:36
This Town 3:46
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | (Forever) Live And Die | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #19 |
| 1986 | (Forever) Live And Die | U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary | #25 |
| 1986 | (Forever) Live And Die | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play | #37 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: A&M Records – SP-12202
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
CREDITS:
Artwork By – Mick Haggerty
Engineer [Production] – Tom Lord-Alge
Producer – Stephen Hague
Written-By – O.M.D.*
NOTES:
“(Forever) Live And Die” From the A&M album “The Pacific Age”
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Speed Control: Pro-Ject Speed Box S
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removeal: ClickRepair (DeClick Level 3)
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
I’ve fixed the skip @ 2.35 from Pauls rip of the extended mix by Tom Lord-Alge. I did an extensive research on this matter. Apparently there is no official 12 inch release of this mix without the skip! They even released it on a CD single with this skip http://www.discogs.com/Orchestral-Man%C5%93uvres-In-The-Dark-Shame/release/520640 LOL and as already mentioned above, Blank & Jones put this version with the skip on their compilation so80s presents Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, and they claim on their official site and some OMD fansites, that they used the original master tapes for this release! LMFAO This must be… Read more »
Hi! I discovred this web today… I will appreciatte very much you can upload again the zippyshare archives with the fix version… Many thanks for your efforts…
Thank you Paul. Only had this on a compilation cassette.
Oh man… you made me so happy with this one…
The “Extended Potoker Mix” can be heard on YouTube,and it sounds very good. 🙂
one of my favs i wish they would have done an off maid of orleans 12inch
Great song by a fantastic band.
Thanks and greetz,
Henk
Great track by OMD. Stephen Hague is one of my favourite producers.
Thanks for this, Paul 🙂
You’re welcome Junior 🙂
Great memories of a great song! Thank you very much for, yet again, another great track and extended mix!
Don
You’re welcome Don 🙂
Really love the lush sound of this single (kudos to Stephen Hague), and love both Extended Remixes. Thanks for the Tom Lord Alge one, Paul! A fabulous post!
You’re welcome Ric the John Potoker extended mix is more rare. I have heard that there weren’t many pressed because OMD were not happy with the mix so it was pulled in favor of the Tom Lord Alge mix.
Humphreys and McCluskey got back together for a new album and tour, a few years back. the album was quite good and the tour was fantastic – they were always a fantastic live band and lost nothing in the intervening years.
Will they just released a new album in April of last year called “English Electric” great album.
I actually liked a fair bit of Andy’s OMD tracks in the intervening years. For instance, I was stunned “Speed Of Light” off ‘Sugar Tax’ didn’t get a single release despite four other tracks making that cut. It’s ‘Liberator’ tha was really the low point, although “Dollar Girl” and “Heaven Is” are listenable…really. 😉
Another great post, Paul! 🙂
And I wanted to give Stephen Hague a mention – he has produced some of my all-time favorite music
Pet Shop Boys
OMD
Erasure
New Order
to name a few 😎
All my favorites as well Woz 🙂
Ditto…and then some. 🙂
Like all the vinyl releases, this contains a skip at the 2:35 mark, with about 10 seconds of music missing. This mispressed version also appears on the “so80s presents Orchestral Manoevres In The Dark (curated by Blank & Jones)” CD. The proper version does appear on the unofficial OMD 2-CD “The Remix Collection” http://www.discogs.com/Orchestral-Manoeuvres-In-The-Dark-The-Remix-Collection/release/1368333
Thanks for the info, Ally. Now that you mention it, I do recall hearing that skip on the mp3 I had of this extended mix, but I just figured it was an encoding error and never gave it much more thought.
If all pressings of the extended mix have the same error, I wonder how they found a good version to include on The Remix Collection cd. Maybe they fixed it digitally with software?
Woz it’s possible that they fixed it themselves all you would have to do is find that same sample in another part of the song or from the 7″ version and select it copy it and paste iy into the wave form I have done this before and it does work if the samples are the same.
Since the first time I heard this mix, I never felt that part like a skip; pay attention to the complete drum pattern, the rest of instruments sounds clear and fluid, and the phrase is complete: ‘forever live and di-ieee’ being Humprey’s voice in the first three words and the echoed chorus in the last. Right now I’m checking it with the earphones and there’s evidence of a very nice job of editing from the remixer.
Thank you very much, Mr.
OMG awesome loved this since it’s release.
Enjoy!
Thanks Paul. Hope you post Secret (1988 Remix) next.
You’re welcome Omar 🙂
hi How do you download the tracks – it asks you for password & user name – do i need to subscribe.
Cheers
A great track, look forward to this..
Thanks as always Paul.. 🙂
You’re welcome Ex15 🙂