Seriously, why doesn't everyone adore _Get Ready_?

but seriously, Get Ready ain't half bad. I like 60mph, Crystal, Turn My Way, Run Wild and Rock The Shack (sequels should be called Love Casbah). But I definitely see why fans of earlier albums would find it too polished.

Too much polish is precisely what makes New Order so great and is, for example, why the 12" versions of the _Low-Life_ singles shit all over the album versions, which are far and away the worst things about _Low-Life_ and drag it down from a very good album to something I never want to own. Furthermore, it boggles my mind that people can't see the spark in songs like "Slow Jam", "60 MPH" and "Close Range". These songs are BRIMMING with spark. It's New Order playing to all of their strength for the entirety of the album as opposed to their normal strike rate of 20-60% of the album. (And yes, I think _Power, Corruption and Lies_ and _Low-Life_ fit this profile. The only other proper New Order albums that are worth owning are the also-flawless _Movement_ and _Technique_, where the absurd quality of the songs that work make up for the nonsense of "Run" and "Mr. Disco".)

Two small restrictions:

I am not sure if Get Ready is better than Movement but I don't consider them being albums of the same band (to turn around that often expressed view at ILM that JD and No are the same band). On Movement Ian Curtis's spirit is more present than on any other NO album. It still is the most personal and most haunting NO album.

Some of their singles are overestimated I find. For example The Perfect Kiss and Touched by the Hand of God which are both quite dull. The appeal of Blue Monday isn't clear to me neither. A boring dance track in my book.

P.S. You are a mystery to me, Sean. Low-Life is really really bad and evil. There are two or three songs at the end of that album which are nice but the rest is a total waste.

I don't know what spark is, but I do know that Billy Corgan's presence must be the complete opposite of it. Bobby Gillespie is an interesting turn of events, since IIRC he was in The Wake when they recorded "Something Outside" the most epic New Order song New Order never wrote. So he's got it in him.

But Get Ready just isn't any good! I loved Republic for being such a product of its time (I don't mean musically) and being a cohesive New Order record, something which has never happened before (Throwing Muses have the same problem... incredible band, incredible songs, but only the first album is a good album). Get Ready just seems so personality-free. No story, no heart... Crystal is nice, and then... nothing. And what is up with the lyrics? Sumner always said he hated writing the lyrics, finally we can hate hearing them! Again except Crystal. This must be how a lot of people feel about Republic... love Regret, hate the rest.

-fh

If you're talking about the single version of "The Perfect Kiss", I can certainly see your polish argument, but the album version is horrifyingly unfinished. Likewise, "Your Silent Face" sounds like the sound guy got bored micing in the synth washes and wandered off to the pub a week before the album was supposed to go to press and, rather than delay, they decided to throw the track on as-was. _Movement_ is unpolished compared to the later albums, but I tend to look at that as a shift of technology rather than a shift of the band's studio focus. Also, "True Faith" is far and away their best single.

I just realized that I kind of contradicted myself by blasting "Run" and then saying that NO never released a bad single. Truth be told, I don't mind "Run" as a song on its own (Age has mellowed me somewhat!), but it has absolutely no place on _Technique_; it's so out of step with the other songs that it isn't even funny.

i just downloaded movement, which i realised i've had on tape forever but never listened to - off to give it a listen now. get ready is next...

Getting Substance sets you up to buy the albums with less redundancy, since it's a singles collection... you can get it, then Brotherhood or Technique and go on from there.

FITE! FITE! LOW-LIFE BEST NEW ORDER ALBUM BY COUNTRY MILE!

Seriously, I don't understand what's on that album that's bad, because every single song on there is GREBT, as far as I'm concerned. I actually like the album versions of "Perfect Kiss" AND "Your Silent Face" (so whyyyyyy don't you piss off).

It's all shades of New Ordery goodness, though; in the grand scheme of things this almost seems like arguing about what colour of M&M tastes best.

Although, best New Order album? My vote goes to POWER CORRUPTION & LIES.

Oh, and the Billy Corgan song is utterly fantastic and anyone who disagrees with me I mock, yah boo. ;-)

And if Your Silent Face sucks, it's polished so polish can't be that thing New Order does. Perhaps it's the cowbell?

my mouth is moving...no words are coming out.

The reason that "The Perfect Kiss" sounds unfinished on the album is twofold; the synths sound like they belong to a different song and the vocal track is ABSOLUTELY DIRE.

Slow Jam *might be* about the fourth best track they've ever done.

Toby - ignore all doubts about Power, Corruption and Lies, Low-Life and Brotherhood, but by all means start with Get Ready, Substance or the Box-set. Have I ever failed you?

I DO have doubts about Republic which I will try and explain later.

I forget if anyone mentioned this already.

Damn, I'd forgotten how excellent that album really is!

What I hear is a fantastic opener (Regret) and really nothing much else. Maybe I'm being harsh - the trio Young Offender/Liar and Chemical are spritely and Times Change is fun - the melodica is good and Barney's 'rapping' entertainingly goofy. Ruined in a Day isn't bad, but hardly up to scratch.

So why? The production is terribly timid - Stephen Hague is typically useless throughout, blurring detail and coating everything in a too-glossy, slightly sugary surface sheen. The neutered, 'tasteful' Hooky on most tracks is an awful waste. One of the most reassuring moments on Get Ready is when Hooky booms out during the breakdown of 'Turn My Way' - the old tone is back, and you know from the first millisecond of the break that he'll swoop down a fifth and then an octave down to the root, mirroring the chorus. And he does. And it sounds like God has ripped a hole in the universe.

I don't know why New Order made these choices - possibly they went along with cloth-ears Hague, beyond caring as New Order's place in the scheme of things - no Factory now, just acrimony following the Ibiza drugs holiday - seemed to be diminished forever.

That they came back is a marvel. That they came back with 'Get Ready' is a miracle.

1) "Fine Time" is a great song if you want to dance but otherwise it sounds like a random collection of sounds thrown together to prove how with it the band was (and what's the strangled goat sound at the end supposed to prove? That they'd listened to Cab V?). Worse, it sacrifices the previous best things about the band by relegating both Hooky and Barney's guitars to supporting roles.

2) "Love Less" would be good if the Cure hadn't already written it a couple years earlier under the name "Just Like Heaven".

3) "Run" has been previously dissed on this thread, and let me add to it: it sounds like Barney listened to VU's "Femme Fatale" a bunch of times and then picked up the guitar to write his own version.

4) "Mr. Disco" is actually one of the better-developed songs on the album, because it actually has a reasonably good story and fairly good song development; unfortunately, the drum breaks in the middle derail that momentum.

5) Any complaints that the singles from Low-life sounds incomplete compared to the album versions should be weighed accordingly after you hear "Round and Round", which sounds like a rough draft compared to the single version, which slyly changes the chording in the chorus to something a lot more pleasing.

6) Whatever the hell song it is with the classical guitar solo(I forget which one it is off the top of my head) has at least one serious problem: the classical guitar solo sucks. It sounds like whoever played it (Barney?) had one really good burst at the beginning and then trailed off and instead of trying again, just realized that was the best he could do and left it, suckage and all.

Now, getting back to my previous posts, I agree now that the major/minor thing was a bit misguided. Dan, you're right that many of the band's singles in the later days are in a minor key. I'm still trying to figure out why I think there's a dividing line between Low-life and Brotherhood. Yes, Power, Corruption, Lies, Filthy Things and Stench also had a ton of keyboards on it, but my feeling is that they were there to complement the band, not overwhelm it; by Brotherhood I think the balance was starting to change substantially. I think ultimately I like Low-life so much because it was so dark, the guitars were like knives through my ears...and admittedly because it was my first real exposure to the band.

ha, no - have i said thanks for steering me towards the lexicon of love yet? and i think you were one of the people who convinced me to go buy scritti's provision, too.

anyway, i gave get ready a first listen yesterday, and it seemed pretty good, although not as great as movement was on first listen earlier in the day. i'll give it another crack in a minute, after i've got through the new nick cave (pretty rubbish so far).

and i think i'll be buying the boxset in the new year sales, or maybe even before (if i have time to make it into fopp before xmas, basically).

Seriously, though, is that your only beef with my critique? C'mon, rip me to shreds. =)

"Crystal" is a great track, though I find the backup singers dicey and unnecessary. (And yeah, there's the honey/money thing.) But Hooky is up in the mix and the guitars are rippin'. "60 Miles an Hour" keeps things going nicely, but then "Turn My Way" changes that around pretty quickly...he's singing about washing his car, what the fuck? (It'd be tempting to blame it on Billy, but I won't, because I know Barney's perfectly capable of writing shit lyrics all on his own.) That kind of kills the momentum of the first two songs; consequently "Vicious Streak" seems even more lifeless than it really is.

"Primitive Notion" turns it around yet again with a classic New Order type of number with a nicely updated electronic sheen. I don't see how "Slow Jam" plays to their strengths because it's one of the most un-New Order-like songs I've ever heard them do...it actually reminds me of the retroStonesdancecrud that was clogging the charts in the 90s; not bad, but not great. (it actually fits well with "Rock the Shack" I guess.) "Someone Like You" is okay, but again, the backing vox are a point of contention for me.

"Close Range" is the second best song on the album, methinks. Good mix of all of the elements that I like about New Order, and the chorus is gooe enough to make me not particularly notice the b.vox. "Run Wild" is a weird closing to the album, but still very nice.

Bottom line: Not as bad as I initially thought going into this discussion, but still very uneven, nowhere near the 100% hit rate that you're implying above, Dan.

NO were v. clever to make a more 'guitar-orientated' comeback alb - it prob. would've been really awful if they'd still tried to be on the 'cutting edge' of dance/electronica etc. As it is, I think 'Get Ready' - the abysmal 'Rock The Shack' excepted - is abt as gd as any alb they've ever made, and better than most of 'em.

utter crazy talk - Crystal single is easily in their top 3

tho ultimately 'Vicious Streak' is my favoirte song on that album.

Primitive Notion is one of New Order's best tracks ever, EVER! Vicious Streak is great. There's a mix of Turn My Way without that bald fucker, seek it out. Someone Like You is also killer. Get Ready is a great album but Waiting For The Sirens Call is a touch better.

BLD OTM

also lol at my inebriated hype at the start of this thread; nothing is better than Movement except maybe Technique

I still really like Get Ready. Rock The Shack is the only poor song on here but a couple of the songs could do with being a bit shorter. Crystal was an incredible come back single, it still sounds just as good now.

For me Waiting For The Sirens Call has a really strong start, the first four songs are great but then it dips until the last two. Turn really should have been a single and Working Overtime is a great last song, something that all their albums have.

"Working Overtime" and "Turn" are my two least favorite tracks on WFTSC; I am a big believer in "Morning Night and Day", "I Told You So", "Dracula's Castle", "Jetstream" and "Guilt Is A Useless Emotion".

I remember wanting to love Jetstream at the time as I was a big Scissor Sisters fan but it just didn't do it for me. I remember reading somewhere that Hooky hated it. I don't remember a lot of the songs in the middle, but they all seemed to go on for quite a long time.

I definitely need to give it another listen.

also lol at my inebriated hype at the start of this thread; nothing is better than Movement except maybe Technique

Technique is the greatest, it is crazy talk to even suggest otherwise.

duran duran are using ana matronic on their new album.

That's awesome, imo!

If you can stand the ringing overcompressed sound of it, WFTSC is an awesome listen. At the very least it's the best music that CBS plays during scoreboard outros on their PGA Tour coverage.

I think Turn was a single actually (it was included on their singles comp). Love that song and the rest of the album (apart from the Dracula one, sorry Dan)

Turn never got released as a single. Appeared on the comp, may have even had a video done, performed live, but never released as a single.

you know what is a gorgeous song, is "Run Wild"

"Good times around the corner..."

Ah, thinking back to the days when I used to get really passionate about arguing about music. Good times.

ps. Get Ready still kinda blows.

pps: you're still wrong

http://www.desiglitters.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/hugs-desi-glitters-32.gif

I'm gonna live til I die
I'm gonna live to get high

Gah! That song may be tolerable without the shit lyrics but I can't get over them. I saw the live debut of that track in Oakland and it wasn't horrible but those 4 minutes could have been used for something better, like tuning up or Hooky taking he piss out of Bernard or Steven drinking some water.

Get Ready is a pretty good album. Crystal and Primitive Notion are classic tracks and I quite like 60MAH and Close Range.

The mix of Run Wild with more synths / effects is better than the one on the album.

Vicious Streak, Sabotage, Behind Closed Doors, Here To Stay, Someone Like You = All Good. New Order did a bunch of good songs during this period but they also did some of the worst shit of their career eg Working Overtime/Run Wild/Turn My Way

"Working Overtime" is not very good, I will grant you that one; I really like the other two (and honestly do not see why, aside from possibly the last couplet, the lyrics to "Run Wild" could be considered terrible, particularly "But if Jesus comes to take your hand/I won't let go, I won't let go"; this is NEW ORDER we're talking about, after all)

Ok, Run Wild is only shit because of the lyrics. Usually I can deal with Bernard's shit lyrics but that song just irritates me. Probably the jesus stuff and that terrible ending couplet. I really hate Turn My Way because of Billy Corgan. Just remembered the shit factory that is Slow Jam. I've removed it from the playlist for Get Ready but holy hell is that one awful song. That is actually my least fav. New Order track of all time. The absolute bottom dweller for lyrical content and extremely poor music.

Slow Jam:

As I look at the morning sky
Today the wind is blowing hard
See that bird is floating high
Pretty soon it will be tired
I spent a day all by myself
A rich man without his wealth
Sometimes I get it wrong
But I'm not the only one

The afternoon was very clear
The sun was beating down on me
I got thirsty for a beer
That I had to go to sea
The sea was very rough
It made me feel sick
But I like that kind of stuff
It beats arithmetic

I don't want the world to change
I like the way it is
Just give me one more wish
I can't get enough of this
When it gets to be alive
And not just still survive
To hit and not to miss
I can't get enough of this

The early evening mists
Look beautiful to me
Was sweeter than a kiss
I wish you all could see
I'm a long long way from home
But this photograph of you
Even though it's monochrome
Tells me what I should do
So I got up on my feet
I knew it would be alright
For my clothes were looking beat
In the middle of the night

I don't want the world to change
I like the way it is
Just give me one more wish
I can't get enough of this
When it gets to be alive
And not just still survive
To hit and not to miss
I can't get enough of this

I don't want the world to change
I like the way it is
Just give me one more wish
I can't get enough of this
When it gets to be alive
And not just still survive
To hit and not to miss
I can't get enough of this

lol I love "Slow Jam" too

Defend the Indefensible. Slow Jam Lyrics. Go!

They sound great in the context of the song even though they don't really make sense, plus the chorus is fun to sing along with and the second half is the epitome of life-affirming enjoyment.

Sorry, but I love "Run Wild:" Bernard's voice, those lyrics, and the melodies.

Sorry, but I love "Slow Jam". Bernard's voice, those lyrics, and the melodies.

Sorry, but I hate Get Ready. Bernard's voice, those lyrics, and the melodies.

I normally don't have a problem with 'Barney's Big Book of Rhyming Words' but

The sea was very rough
It made me feel sick
But I like that kind of stuff
It beats arithmetic

come the fuck on.

those lines crack me the fuck up

I mean, I could post the lyrics to "Idiot Country" or "Feel Every Beat" and the general consensus should be "yep, par for the course"

Despite what Barney said in 2005 I think Slow Jam is about him being on his boat getting away from his troubles. I can relate.

I do own a boat and go on holiday on boats. I like the sea, always have, I don't really know why - I suppose it's wild and somewhat dangerous, and when you sleep on a boat it feels like the earth is breathing. In my job, I've stayed in plenty of hotels and I'm always with other people, so the boat is the opposite of all that. I wouldn't write a song about that though, as no-one would be able to relate to it, and it would be a bit corny.

It's not useful to read into his lyrics but that bit you quoted there always makes me cringe. I read it as this: i'd rather be vomiting in my sailboat than helping my kids with their schoolwork. I know it's pointless to put meaning to his lyrics but that's what those lines say to me.

The guitar riff could raise the dead & heal the sick and it'd still be stuck behind whiny Barney goin' "Rock the shaaaack, rock the shaaaack." Ick.

― J0hn Darn13ll3 (J0hn Darn13ll3), Sunday, December 15, 2002

Shit, forgot about how awful Rock The Shack was. Get Ready has some highs but some epic lows too.

it is terrible but it's also a fucking earworm. I haven't listened to it in probably six years and it still knocks around my head all the time.

hey just reviving this thread to say "someone like you" or gtfo

or not reviving this thread at all

had no idea these most recent messages were so recent

i'd rather be vomiting in my sailboat than helping my kids with their schoolwork.

Love Slow Jam and Run Wild. By the time Get Ready came out I was way past the point of being bothered by any of Barney's lyrics.

That said, this thread made me listen to the album again and it's worse than I remembered it. A lot of mediocrity. Sad now.

ah the olden days of ILX...

This album is still great with the exception of Slow Jam and Rock the Shack. Add in the extra tracks that didn't make the album and it's as good as any collection of songs they've done aside from Technique.

I WANNA LIVE TIL I DIE

brotherlovesdub mostly OTM (I like "Slow Jam" and "Rock the Shack" too)

Still really enjoy this album too. Rock the Shack will always be their worst song for me but apart from that I like every other song. Slow Jam could do with being a minute or two shorter but I still enjoy it.

Crystal is still my favourite song but Run Wild is a close second. Saw them do it at Glasto 2005, not sure the audience were big into it but I thought it was a lovely moment. Think they should have actually put that out as the second single, think it would have done quite well.

Steve Osborne mix of Run Wild beats the album mix for me.