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petronia*reading thread* Janni, you're right, am starting to not like the ordering of the first few songs. They sound too similar, except "Who's Joe?" is better than "Waiting for the Sirens' Call" is better than "Hey Now What You Doing", meaning that in practice I'm going to end up skipping the last two. ^^; But when I first got it I would just play the first few songs over and over, precisely because they flowed into one another. XD
Actually I totally grok what Jae means when she says they sound old and lazy, except I like it. ^^;v I have a consistent track record of liking artists' recent/"mature" albums as well as or better than their early, ground-breaking work, against critical consensus or not. David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys and so forth. It's partly attributable to my "flattened" listening history - like I said, Get Ready was the first New Order album I heard, and it still sounded like nothing else I'd heard before - and partly attributable, I think, to the fact that I like the sound of a band/artist distilling themselves to essentials. I like the essentials of New Order (i.e. crisp, sunny-melancholy synth/guitar pop songs written from the POV of someone who 25 years down the line still cannot get over the fact that he isn't required to hold a day job), to me "playing it safe" is the same thing as saying "knowing what you're about". It's like my dad says: by the time you're fifty you'll know who you are and who you aren't, and your best hope is that you'll like the person that's resulted from the sum of your choices. It's something to which I look forward. Which I think makes me a weird young person, or something, but...
Okay, I'm going to do a quickie track-by-track. Just for the record and all that.
"Who's Joe?": Oddly lush, and driving - makes me break out into a jog when it comes on the mp3 player, without being overtly dancey or anything. I really like it. Probably will continue to feel the same about it for years.
"Hey Now What You Doing": The arrangement is somehow not very New Order-ish; I mean, Hooky's bass all over the place, but... I think this is the one that sounds most as if it could be from Get Ready? Or maybe that's just because Barney's written this song before, lyrically speaking. >_>
"Waiting for the Sirens' Call": In the same vein. XD Maitta na. If the songs didn't sound so similar I wouldn't be able to loop the album happily as I've been doing. Though the lyrics/delivery stand out. Builds up to a nice finish, the last verse is as good as any last verse ever sung by Barney.
"Krafty": the first time I listened to the album through I said to myself, "why did they pick this one as the single?" But when I came to play for other people I found I always put this track on first, so it only goes to show. ^^; Because it has a beat but isn't offbeat, I guess. Also, yet another song about how amazing it is not to have to hold a day job. XD I dunno, I find it endearing. It's like watching Queen on stage, Freddie posing and Roger flouncing and Brian effortlessly cool... and John, with this look. Not like he isn't enjoying himself or anything, just like he hasn't quite figured out how he ended up there and why he's getting paid to do something that is SO NOT A REAL JOB.
"I Told You So": this is supposed to be reggae...? Uh, yeah, whatever. Vaguely dubby, maybe. Standout early favorite; if I had an overall criticism of the album I'd have to say I wish it were more synthy/programmed than it is.
"Morning Night And Day": I really like this. Honestly can't say why. I think I'm the only one. It can't just be because the song's about debauchery and hangovers. XD
"Dracula's Castle": AHAHAHAHAHA IT'S CALLED DRACULA'S CASTLE HOW STUPID-AWESOME IS THAT. Thanks to which I'm reminded of the PSB's "Heart" music video every time I hear it, which nearly ruins my ability to judge the song on its own merits. I would play this for the same crowd that dances to "Crystal" at house parties.
"Jetstream": found it reprehensible at first. Don't mind it anymore - I should thank Neworderium for giving me fodder for my "Jet Set" mix XD;; - but find myself wishing it were... faster. Just a bit. Then again, I wish "True Faith" were faster.
"Guilt Is A Useless Emotion": see!? Heartbeat sounds. Verse is blah, to be utterly redeemed and more by the "I need your love" bit. I'll wait for them to turn up a remix that goes [2-minute intro] -> ["real love can't be bought... real love can't be bought..." x 3] -> [chorus x 5], and then I'll send it to everyone I know who likes dance.
"Turn": my problem with this song is that it's in the same vein as "Regret" but isn't as good, which is cruelly unfair as nothing is as good as "Regret", nor should other songs be held up to that standard. Otherwise, a song for cruising down the highway on a sunny day with the windows open, singing along. "Turn your eyes from me, it's time for me to go..."
"Working Overtime": so why doesn't the album go? :0 Mystère et boule de gomme. Like I said before, it's not bad, it just sounds like it came off a different album.
MP3s to come in a separate post. I'll get to FSTs early next week, I think.
Actually I totally grok what Jae means when she says they sound old and lazy, except I like it. ^^;v I have a consistent track record of liking artists' recent/"mature" albums as well as or better than their early, ground-breaking work, against critical consensus or not. David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys and so forth. It's partly attributable to my "flattened" listening history - like I said, Get Ready was the first New Order album I heard, and it still sounded like nothing else I'd heard before - and partly attributable, I think, to the fact that I like the sound of a band/artist distilling themselves to essentials. I like the essentials of New Order (i.e. crisp, sunny-melancholy synth/guitar pop songs written from the POV of someone who 25 years down the line still cannot get over the fact that he isn't required to hold a day job), to me "playing it safe" is the same thing as saying "knowing what you're about". It's like my dad says: by the time you're fifty you'll know who you are and who you aren't, and your best hope is that you'll like the person that's resulted from the sum of your choices. It's something to which I look forward. Which I think makes me a weird young person, or something, but...
Okay, I'm going to do a quickie track-by-track. Just for the record and all that.
"Who's Joe?": Oddly lush, and driving - makes me break out into a jog when it comes on the mp3 player, without being overtly dancey or anything. I really like it. Probably will continue to feel the same about it for years.
"Hey Now What You Doing": The arrangement is somehow not very New Order-ish; I mean, Hooky's bass all over the place, but... I think this is the one that sounds most as if it could be from Get Ready? Or maybe that's just because Barney's written this song before, lyrically speaking. >_>
"Waiting for the Sirens' Call": In the same vein. XD Maitta na. If the songs didn't sound so similar I wouldn't be able to loop the album happily as I've been doing. Though the lyrics/delivery stand out. Builds up to a nice finish, the last verse is as good as any last verse ever sung by Barney.
"Krafty": the first time I listened to the album through I said to myself, "why did they pick this one as the single?" But when I came to play for other people I found I always put this track on first, so it only goes to show. ^^; Because it has a beat but isn't offbeat, I guess. Also, yet another song about how amazing it is not to have to hold a day job. XD I dunno, I find it endearing. It's like watching Queen on stage, Freddie posing and Roger flouncing and Brian effortlessly cool... and John, with this look. Not like he isn't enjoying himself or anything, just like he hasn't quite figured out how he ended up there and why he's getting paid to do something that is SO NOT A REAL JOB.
"I Told You So": this is supposed to be reggae...? Uh, yeah, whatever. Vaguely dubby, maybe. Standout early favorite; if I had an overall criticism of the album I'd have to say I wish it were more synthy/programmed than it is.
"Morning Night And Day": I really like this. Honestly can't say why. I think I'm the only one. It can't just be because the song's about debauchery and hangovers. XD
"Dracula's Castle": AHAHAHAHAHA IT'S CALLED DRACULA'S CASTLE HOW STUPID-AWESOME IS THAT. Thanks to which I'm reminded of the PSB's "Heart" music video every time I hear it, which nearly ruins my ability to judge the song on its own merits. I would play this for the same crowd that dances to "Crystal" at house parties.
"Jetstream": found it reprehensible at first. Don't mind it anymore - I should thank Neworderium for giving me fodder for my "Jet Set" mix XD;; - but find myself wishing it were... faster. Just a bit. Then again, I wish "True Faith" were faster.
"Guilt Is A Useless Emotion": see!? Heartbeat sounds. Verse is blah, to be utterly redeemed and more by the "I need your love" bit. I'll wait for them to turn up a remix that goes [2-minute intro] -> ["real love can't be bought... real love can't be bought..." x 3] -> [chorus x 5], and then I'll send it to everyone I know who likes dance.
"Turn": my problem with this song is that it's in the same vein as "Regret" but isn't as good, which is cruelly unfair as nothing is as good as "Regret", nor should other songs be held up to that standard. Otherwise, a song for cruising down the highway on a sunny day with the windows open, singing along. "Turn your eyes from me, it's time for me to go..."
"Working Overtime": so why doesn't the album go? :0 Mystère et boule de gomme. Like I said before, it's not bad, it just sounds like it came off a different album.
MP3s to come in a separate post. I'll get to FSTs early next week, I think.
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-04 09:09 pm (UTC)Also, it's a bit unfair, cos there are plenty of NO songs that I don't like and NO albums that I think are weird and incoherent and lazy.
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Date: 2005-03-04 09:19 pm (UTC)Now that I come to write the review, I think what it is, is that NO tended to make these "3 songs I love, 3 songs I can't stand" albums, and WftSC is a "everything at 70%" album. So it seems stronger to me, because I don't need all my fingers and toes to count the albums I own that I can actually stand to play end-to-end, but the individual tracks... hmm.
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Date: 2005-03-04 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-04 09:48 pm (UTC)New Order is milky. XDXDXDXDXDXDXD
AHAHAHA RIDE THE GIANT MANBOOB...er, 'kay, now i finish reading comments. XDXDXD
no subject
Date: 2005-03-04 10:14 pm (UTC)The Dragostea Din Tei kitties will show Barney Sumner what milking is all aboutOnce again the level of discussion rapidly plummets. XD
no subject
Date: 2005-03-05 09:28 pm (UTC)Jae: No that was not an invitation.
Shigure: ^________^