New Order

[CosmicDancer]

I just recently discovered Joy Division and how great there music was.  In discovering them, I also found that I really like what little I have heard so far of New Order's stuff.  I have only heard the "Substance" double album.  Any fans on here that could shed some light on some of their other essential work? 

While we are on synth-pop, how about some Depeche Mode suggestions!  I have the "Violater" album and enjoy it.  Any others I should check out?  Thanks in advance!

[Cabana Boy]

Joy Division. Only have to read those two words to get that gut swirl. You don't get a more articulate take on rain-sparkled Northern tenfoot-desolation. There's no place to go beyond it.
"Look beyond the day in hand / There's nothing there at all..."

What the f#ck do you need Depeche Mode for after *that*?

[Cabana Boy]

Those 2 albums are devastating. F#cking monuments. Spectral rolling mill monuments of decay, shame, disease, glory... All the tumult, the presiding majesties of decaying concrete, the rain, the love, the thunder - shown in it's true splendor. The TRUTH about this place, exposed, like nobody else has quite managed it on a record before/after.
Shane Meadows, with Dead Man's Shoes, worked a similar trick... the outsider is shown not just to the gates of the crumbling kingdom, but ushered within, astounded to behold the ghost-beauty of what was destroyed and lamenting the cycle that brought it's destruction to be.

[CosmicDancer]

I will totally agree with the two Joy Division albums.  They are both masterworks.  I am not from nor have I even had the pleasure to visit that area so I cant speak with any authority of how well they capture it, but from your description, it sounds like they do it brilliantly!  As for Depeche Mode, sure it isn't even close to the greatness of Joy Division, but I find what little bit I have heard to be enjoyable.  So what do you think of New Order then?  What I have heard, again, isn't as good as Joy Division but it is still very good.  Glad the guys were still able to carry on with good stuff after Ian killed himself.  Thanks for the comments.

[Cabana Boy]

It's getting faster, moving faster now, it's getting out of hand
On the tenth floor, down the back stairs, into no man's land
Lights are flashing, cars are crashing, getting frequent now
Got the spirit, lose the feeling, let it out somehow...

[Cabana Boy]

New Order are ok. I used to have a friend whose big brother would hang out with us, and they were all he ever played, pretty much.
More dispassionate, limpid, less fire, less sheer force of will. It's just a different thing that doesn't really grab me, doesn't even really make sense to connect the two (hard to stop folk doing it, though).
Jon likes 'em. See what he says.

[Cabana Boy]

p/s: I bought Monaco's first album...

[Old Rake]

Yup, Sebastian's right, I do like them, a lot. I find that where Joy Division is about all the things Sebastian says -- that sort of bleak, rain-dappled Manchester of the late 70s, all alienation and soul-suck and despair, and their music is sort of glacial slabs that point to same, New Order is a much brighter affair. Less passion and less angst, to be sure, but a good deal more RHYTHMIC invention. Their music is more about motion, about modernism, its brighter and shinier and chrome-colored even. Its danceable but never gratuitously so and they're not above a bit of slow dirge if such a thing is called for. Their music is crisp and complex and there are so many layers upon layers of stuff going on that their imitators totally failed to grasp. It isn't as immediate grab-you-and-shake-you like Joy Division, but the music bears out so many repeated listens it isn't even funny.

I love the merda-foda out of them. If your taste runs more towards early 80s techno (y'know, the first couple Human Leagues, early EARLY OMD) then hit "Power, Corruption and Lies" next. If you like your music a little slicker and some of the stuff on "Substance" like "Bizarre Love Triangle" appeals to you, then try either "Low Life" or "Brotherhood," which are both terrific and almost flawless albums. Both their most recent couple have been totally worthy, too.

And if you're wanting some Depeche Mode after all this, well, Black Celebration and Music for the Masses are my favorites, but so many people swear by Violator I cannot help but say its worth checking out. I liked my techno a little more pure, so I tend towards those earlier albums.







(oh, and get "Lament" by Ultravox. Just do it. Trust.)

[CosmicDancer]

Thanks a million.  I have some albums to try and find now! 

[al]

Love the avatar Mr Cosmic...first LP I ever bought....(gulp...when it came out....)

Oh, and all of New Orders albums except the first (and the new ones) are awesome.

Power Corruption And Lies is a majestic record.

The first three singles were brilliant as well, Ceremony, Everythings Gone Green and Temptation. Its worth getting a best of as these weren't on the albums.

[CosmicDancer]

Thanks for the info al.  I love the avatar as well.  I am a huge Bolan/T.Rex fan.  So damn sassy.  The Electric Warrior album is major favorite of mine.  What's your favorite track just out of curiosity?  I dont know that I could go on living without hearing Jeepster at least once a week!! 

I am working on getting this albums you all have told me about.  Thank to everyone who gave some insight on this.  Very helpful! 

[Cabana Boy]

Get the 'Heart And Soul' boxset.

[CosmicDancer]

Get the 'Heart And Soul' boxset.

I have seen this and will be buying it as soon as I have the extra cash lying around.  It is pretty much everything they ever released and then some right?

[Cabana Boy]

It is pretty much everything they ever released and then some right?

Yep. You'll enjoy the padding they give the 2 albums, and there's a stack more there you'll still be taking in some time beyond that.

Re. what was said some posts back - the hack mythology is a con. Bleak? Joy Division's is as edifying and affirming a music as you could hear. Tragic, yeah, but the whole rest of the gamut thrown in with that. Hope and firm resolve f#cking BURN out of those records. The kind of music that makes anything seem possible, genuinely, and a long way from the curl-up-and-die soundtrack some prick scribes would have you believe. Sounds to draw strength from.

The backdrop Jon was referring to didn't die with the late 70's. It still exists, easily visible from any vantage point of the English North. And it's beautiful. Every last crappy sodden tenfoot of it.

[richardsnow]

I saw them live in Hyde park last year, great atmosphere.
New Order fans are like football fans. Yes I'd compare it to going to a footie match.
They played some Joy Division too. I think it was Transmission and Love Will Tear Us Apart. Brilliant.

I think Run is my fave New order song from "Technique"
or
"Leave Me Alone"

[Roger Ryan]

No need to trash New Order's first (or more recent albums)! "Movement" is hesitant due to the band not having found the new direction yet to take them away from Joy Division territory. Nonetheless, you can really hear what a "third" JD album might have sounded like. "Dreams Never End" has some gorgeous guitar interaction and "The Him" is the best "Joy Division" song New Order ever wrote.

"Power, Corruption & Lies" is classic, of course, but "Low Life" is spotty. "Brotherhood" is a welcome return to a more rock-based sound (as opposed to "dance-oriented"), while "Technique" captures a pleasant sampling of both styles. "Republic" is pretty much a bore and really seemed like the end for the band.

Flashforward to the 21st century and New Order delivers their best album ever with "Get Ready" - everything that is desirable about the band can be found on that album (even most of the lyrics are passable!). "Waiting For The Sirens' Call" is more polished and varied but lacks the power and cohesiveness of "Get Ready". The title track, however, is one of the best cuts NO ever did.

[Mahalo]

This thread died almost a year ago, but that won't stop me from telling everybody to get some Joy Division in their record collection. They hold the top spot next to the Beach Boys as my favorite band. New Order are simply fantastic, although I'm not a big fan of anything after 1988. Indeed, just as Brians' songs can capture an emotion with ease, so too Joy Divisions' beats and lyrics make sense of my own feelings as I could never convey. New Order can really lift ones spirits as well. GOd BLess Ian Curtis and the JOy DIvision!!!!