Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) "Crush"

Crush is the sixth album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released in 1985. It was the first of two OMD albums produced by Stephen Hague.

Aimed primarily at the US market, where the album sold well, Crush is notable for moving the band's sound in a far more commercial direction, although elements of earlier experimentation are still present. Three singles were taken from the record; "So in Love" (co-written with Hague) became the group's first hit single in the US. A long-form video, Crush - The Movie was also released, showing the group talking about their career and performing the songs from the album.

Crush received positive appraisals in Britain, including what Andy McCluskey saw as the band's "first good LP review in NME". Ian Cranna of Smash Hits wrote: "OMD continue their healthy recovery of form... strong, melodic songs in a more lush, or, orchestral setting, while still retaining that passionate punch. It's a welcome return of the thinking-person's dance music, and isn't it good to hear real drums again?" Stateside, Michigan Daily critic Beth Fertig said the album "further confirms that [OMD] is one of the most creative forces in that synthesizer-band genre." Bill Henderson of the Orlando Sentinel commented that the record "contains some bouncy singing, soulful horns and tape tricks that never become tedious or overbearing." A favourable Bill Merrill in the Altus Times noted OMD's "bouncy rhythm section and textured synthesizers".

Retrospectively, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the record "may be less adventurous than [OMD's] earlier work" but is still a "thoroughly winning album". Erlewine's colleague Mike DeGagne wrote that the band's "best work came from 1985's Crush". Trouser Press, while favourable, felt the record has a "shortage of really memorable songs". In a 2013 online poll, Crush was voted the 23rd best album of 1985 based on the opinions of over 45,000 respondents.

Andy McCluskey said that he would do the record differently in hindsight, and feels that its production does not sound like OMD. Both he and Paul Humphreys expressed regret over not challenging label-enforced time constraints during the making of the album. Humphreys nevertheless remarked: "Still, there's some nice things on there."


"Hold You" was later covered by Color Theory.