I've Counted The Nights, Living in Sin

gangster, but followed so closely by some distant memory that it's almost too close to call.

actually, i adore every single second of every single song. in grimly-world, this album pretty much touches perfection.

Get The Message, easily, with Barney and Johnny on a fucking volcano.

The only song on here that I wouldn't go to bat for is "Idiot Country"; every other song is just flat-out outstanding.

Not just for the PSB content (but it's a large part of it) but "The Patience of a Saint."

"Why should I care? I'd rather watch drying paint."

Ned, did you actually vote this time??

Maybe it's perverse, but I voted for "Soviet", a song that has come through for me in so many different ways over the years. I guess "Idiot Country" could sound silly for the rap, but it doesn't to me; and that wah-wah riff that opens the song (with the hi-hats if that's what those are) is one of my favorite album opening sounds ever. But yeah, this album is basically perfect.

Ned, did you actually vote this time??

Of course not.

Also, who's the proud owner of an Electronic T-shirt from their first live gig opening for Depeche Mode at Dodger Stadium in 1990, with the Pet Shop Boys guesting with them on "Patience" and "Getting Away With It"? ME ME ME. Great set.

Fuck me sideways, that must have been an excellent show!

i remember reading about it at the time and thinking, fucking hell, that sounds mighty. nitzer ebb played too, yeh?

ned: relive the DM bit of it here. that said: i've not listened to it yet, so it might be absolutely shite.

(ie in terms of sound quality, not the actual gig.)

oh. it's unlistenably bad. ach.

I'm so proud of Johnny Marr for still asserting that "Get The Message" is up there with anything the Smiths and New Order have recorded.

nitzer ebb played too, yeh?

Yup! And I've got a good boot of the DM set so I won't complain.

Ah, this is too difficult.

Voted 'Patience of a Saint' — I don't think it's possible for a Sumner-fronted song to feel any more detached.

rhetorical question: does this album feature his best-ever singing?

This album was basically the point where his on-album singing took a marked step forward in quality. The albums from Republic onwards almost sound like they're from a completely different person and I tihnk a lot of it was technology mixed with finally working through some wandering cruft via this album and Technique.

Since I listened to this album before owning any NO album, I assumed he sounded this assured as a matter of course. Well.

At that point you had three CDs to go, at the end of the road. And then some.

Absolutely agreed, though I'd pin the shift in vocal quality back to the time spent with Stephen Hague on True Faith/1963; you can see it emerging on the re-recorded Temptation as well.

...Yes and no. I agree that the singing on "True Faith" is much more polished (for lack of a better word) but that song is in a very comfortable, low register that's easier to make sound good. There's still some straining for notes going on in the rerecorded "Temptation" and "Confusion" that works for the song but doesn't happen in later songs like "Regret" or "Crystal".

True also. I recall an article published around the release of Sirens' that detailed Sumner's meticulous involvement with the recording of his vocals while in the studio, and how he prefers to handle a lot of vocal production details himself.

You make an excellent point about the register that he sings in on earlier vs. later material also — vocals post-Low-Life or so are (deliberately) much better suited to his range. Performed live, a lot of New Order's older material has been shifted up or down a semitone on the past few tours.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

some distant memory for the oboe sole alone, but classics all around on this album

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I think this is the last time I liked Barney's vocals actually, they got "too good" on the later albums, almost suspiciously good. I suspect there is some melodyne being used on the last few.