Sunday, February 06, 2005

New Order -- Waiting For the Sirens Call

I'm on Day Four of a cold/allergy/something that won't go away, but there's nothing that could brighten my bleary eyes any more than hearing the brand new New Order album. Initial thoughts:

-- It's a more upbeat version of "Republic". The sound and swagger of "Regret" is all over most of the WFTSC tracks (particularly in the bass lines).

-- Everyone who loved "Get Ready" will love WFTSC. About half of the tracks on the latter could have appeared on the former.

-- Everyone who hated "Get Ready" will probably like WFTSC very much, because it's a dancier album and less guitar-oriented. The holdouts will compare "Working Overtime" to "Rock the Shack" and claim that this one track sabotages everything. You might think that it's very difficult for one track to tank an entire album, but these are the same kinds of people who also claimed that Billy Corgan ruined "Get Ready" even though he sang two solo lines on it. As usual, these people should be ignored.

-- "I Told You So" is reggae, New Order-style. It's good.

-- "Jetstream" (with Ana from Scissor Sisters on vocals), is to "WFTSC"as "World" is to "Republic", that is, it's more pop-dance than typical NO, and will probably be a single.

-- "Krafty" is their best single since "Regret", and might be one of the best five or six singles of their career.

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