NOTES

'Electricity' is a remixed version. The original plan was to overdub some new drumming according to Andy, "But we found that the playing that we had recorded in 1979 was so bad that the more perfect we got the sounds, the more inept the playing seemed to become!". As a result, they just settled for remixing the track.

'Messages' is actually the 10" single version.

The version of 'Tesla Girls' used on this release is slightly longer than the original 7" release, although shorter than the album version that appears on the 1984 album Junk Culture.

The CD release features 4 extra tracks: 'Telegraph', 'Genetic Engineering', 'We Love You (12" Version)' and 'La Femme Accident (12" Version)'.

The CD also has a slightly different track order ('Tesla Girls' and 'Locomotion' precede 'Talking Loud And Clear').

The version of Telegraph used here is a unique version which only features on the CD, MD and DCC releases.

TRIVIA

This release was on the MiniDisc format - a format produced by Sony as a possible successor to the CD. It was designed to be both recordable and able to hold as much data as a CD.

However, sales of pre-recorded titles on MiniDisc were disappointing and Sony stopped production in 2001. The only other OMD titles issued on MiniDisc were Sugar Tax in 1991 and The OMD Singles in 1998.

The Australian version of the album actually featured 'We Love You' as the song was a big hit when it was originally released there.

Messages, the OMD Biography, was in the process of being written when The Best Of OMD was in the planning stages. At that stage, the album also had the title of Messages which featured a proposed track listing as follows: Side One: 'Electricity', 'Messages', 'Enola Gay', 'Souvenir', 'Joan Of Arc', 'Maid Of Orleans', 'Telegraph'. Side Two: 'Locomotion', 'Tesla Girls', 'Talking Loud And Clear', 'So In Love', 'Secret', '(Forever) Live And Die', 'If You Leave'.

Messages, as an album title, was eventually used for the 2008 compilation album.