The Mancunian Candidates
New Order need little introduction, if any preface at all, their reputation and records speak for themselves. Its worth noting though the two distinct phases in their history : before and after Technique (their glistening 1989 Electro/Rock/Pop masterpiece).Up to this point they were a band in total control of every aspect of their craft, producing countless electronic tinged masterpieces at will, after this point though they seemed to lose control of things somewhat. Their club The Hacienda imploded and closed down , the label they were on, Factory Records, went into liquidation , and most importantly the musical quality of their output slipped. Two patchy LPs followed in the form of Republic and Get Ready ( their "comeback" rock tinged release after a semi break up) proving they were musically fallible after all. Waiting for the Sirens Call , their 8th LP , is being touted as a return to the dance floor dynamism that made them such a force to be reckoned with. On the surface that claim has some merit, but making it work is another matter ,as dance music has progressed immeasurably from when they were regularly staggering around The Hacienda, and is a notoriously fickle medium to operate in.
In fact it's the tracks that have consciously been given a dance edge that impress the least. "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" and "Jetstream" are both produced by Stuart Price of Les Rhythm Digital (the other producers are John Leckie and Stephen Street) and he fails to bring any magic to the studio, the former rather forced and euro pop sounding the later featuring Anna Matronic of the Scissor Sisters, a bland workout that even Peter Hook's sublime bass lines cant redeem. "I Told You So" is an attempt to marry a dancehall bass skank with a rock atheistic, impressively ambitious but it does at times resemble that Ace of Base number one from a few years back.
At times, what seemed to come so effortlessly to them now feels like a bit of a struggle, it's as if the ghost of the past is weighing heavily on their shoulders , tracks like "Who's Joe", "Hey Now What You Doing" and "Turn" whilst not bad records fail to match their exploits of earlier years. All the elements that made them great are still in place: Sumner's achingly emotional voice, Morris' powerhouse drum programming and Hook's uplifting melancholic bass lines (still one of the most gorgeous sounds around in music, in fact throughout the record Hook's bass lines are as good as ever) but what's missing on occasion is the sky high level of creativity and sense of easy swagger and finesse: trademarks of their past.
Thankfully this doesn't apply to the whole LP. "Dracula's Castle", "Waiting For The Sirens Call" and to a lesser extent the recent single "Krafty", are worth the admission price alone and find New Order in full flight and as accomplished as they've ever been. The title track is ridiculously good, given time to develop at 6 mins or so, it has the most tender and fragile of melodies that twists and turns with a laid back efficiency , it's executed with a deftness of touch that's quite astonishing. Sumner's voice has never sounded so good and Hook proves once again to be the master of the heartbreaking bass line. The same can be said for "Draculas Castle" but with an added electronic punch whilst "Krafty" is exquisitely produced pop with some truly terrible lyrics that are best not repeated here. To paraphrase an NME review of Technique from 1989, when New Order are this good everyone else might as well go home and peel spuds or something.
In a year when New Order have been awarded the "God like Genius" award by the NME and seemingly name checked by every young band on the block, it comes as a relief to see that they still have something to offer, however sporadic that may be. And considering they have been making music for close on 30 years in various guises, that's some achievement in itself.
New Order need little introduction, if any preface at all, their reputation and records speak for themselves. It's worth noting though the two distinct phases in their history : before and after Technique (their glistening 1989 Electro/Rock/Pop masterpiece).Up to this point they were a band in total control of every aspect of their craft, producing countless electronic tinged masterpieces at will, after this point though they seemed to lose control of things somewhat. Their club The Hacienda imploded and closed down, the label they were on, Factory Records went into liquidation, and most importantly the musical quality of their output slipped. Two patchy LPs followed in the form of Republic and Get Ready (their "comeback" rock tinged release after a semi break up) proving they were musically fallible after all. Waiting for the Sirens Call, their 8th LP, is being touted as a return to the dance floor dynamism that made them such a force to be reckoned with. On the surface that claim has some merit, but making it work is another matter ,as dance music has progressed immeasurably from when they were regularly staggering around The Hacienda, and is a notoriously fickle medium to operate in.
In fact it's the tracks that have consciously been given a dance edge that impress the least. "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" and "Jetstream" are both produced by Stuart Price of Les Rhythm Digital (the other producers are John Leckie and Stephen Street) and he fails to bring any magic to the studio, the former rather forced and euro pop sounding the later featuring Anna Matronic of the Scissor Sisters, a bland workout that even Peter Hook's sublime bass lines cant redeem. "I Told You So" is an attempt to marry a dancehall bass skank with a rock atheistic, impressively ambitious but it does at times resemble that Ace of Base number one from a few years back.
At times, what seemed to come so effortlessly to them now feels like a bit of a struggle, it's as if the ghost of the past is weighing heavily on their shoulders, tracks like "Who's Joe", "Hey Now What You Doing" and "Turn" whilst not bad records fail to match their exploits of earlier years. All the elements that made them great are still in place: Sumner's achingly emotional voice, Morris' powerhouse drum programming and Hook's uplifting melancholic bass lines (still one of the most gorgeous sounds around in music, in fact throughout the record Hook's bass lines are as good as ever) but what's missing on occasion is the sky high level of creativity and sense of easy swagger and finesse: trademarks of their past.
Thankfully this doesn't apply to the whole LP. "Dracula's Castle", "Waiting For The Sirens Call" and to a lesser extent the recent single "Krafty", are worth the admission price alone and find New Order in full flight and as accomplished as they've ever been. The title track is ridiculously good, given time to develop at 6 minutes or so, it has the most tender and fragile of melodies that twists and turns with a laid back efficiency , it's executed with a deftness of touch that's quite astonishing. Sumner's voice has never sounded so good and Hook proves once again to be the master of the heartbreaking bass line. The same can be said for "Dracula's Castle" but with an added electronic punch whilst "Krafty" is exquisitely produced pop with some truly terrible lyrics that are best not repeated here. To paraphrase an NME review of Technique from 1989, when New Order are this good everyone else might as well go home and peel spuds or something.
In a year when New Order have been awarded the "God like Genius" award by the NME and seemingly name checked by every young band on the block, it comes as a relief to see that they still have something to offer, however sporadic that may be. And considering they have been making music for close on 30 years in various guises, that's some achievement in itself.