New Order - Get Ready

Get ready for Great music.

This is a great album by New Order, If you are a New Order fan you will not be dissapointed because it is a great album with great songs, the song CRYSTAL will blow you away. May 8, 2008

Good, But Not Their Best

It seems like we had to wait an immeasurable length of time before New Order released this one. I hate to say it, but overall I was disappointed. Compared to the likes of "Republic" and "Substance 1987", this one is pretty bland. Nothing in particular grabbed me about this one. September 21, 2007

Tea with the devil

Thirty years and counting, and never a dull moment. New Order's simplistic lyrics may not be everybody's cup of tea, but those lyrics have a mile-wide streak of wryness and bone-dry wit that easily whizzes over the head of some. Hooky's bass, as usual, powers the whole thing along, and it's utterly astonishing that a bunch of 50-year-olds are still writing songs about falling in love and taking drugs, and making you feel like you're in love or on drugs when you hear those songs. This is a deep and emotional album, shot through with hard-core existentialism and a pop sensibility that is only possible to achieve after 30 years of breaking the mold. Personally, I have loved this band (and, of course, Joy Division) ever since I was a boy in the 1970s. "Get Ready" shows absolutely no signs of tiredness, jadedness, repetetiveness, and is the work of a band fully at the peak of its game. March 25, 2007

Some of their best, some of their worst...

New Order has always been about seeming contradictions. They often sound melancholy, yet upbeat. The lyrics rarely match the mood of the music. They even recorded a song (Blue Monday) dominated by a drum machine generated beat, yet the most machine-like aspect of the song is the deadpan delivery of the vocals. Their singer can barely sing. His lyrics are often amateurish. The bass, rather than the guitar, is the lead instrument on many of their songs, and their keyboardist was recruited primarily because she was the drummer's girlfriend. They started as the remaining pieces of a great band (Joy Division), yet one whose arguably most talented member (Ian Curtis) had hung himself. As one reviewer once said of New Order, "rarely has so much been accomplished with seemingly so little". The results have often been stunning, and have made them my all time favorite band.

So it is with mixed emotions that I review yet another seeming New Order contradiction - the album "Get Ready". Released 8 years after their previous effort, "Republic", by all rights these guys should have been washed up, over the hill and counted out. Yet, this album contains several tracks that are as good, or better than, anything else they recorded in their stellar career. I give this album 4 stars because these tracks should not be missed.

Sadly, at the same time, several of the tracks on the album are downright horrible... maybe they deviate too much from the classic New Order sound that I love, maybe they really are the ill-advised forays into sonic territory previously unexplored by this band that they sound like, and maybe they really just are uninspired. Whatever the case, if all the songs on the disc sounded like these, it would be very hard to recommend the album, New Order or not.

The album starts off on a very positive note, with the single Crystal. The lyrics, often a New Order weakness, are nothing to write home about here. "We're like Crystal, We break easy. I'm a poor man, if you leave me." they start. Yet, the massive drum beat at the start pulls you in, and when the shimmering guitar riffs start you know that yes(!), after 8 years, New Order is back, and as good as ever. If there was any doubt, a Peter Hook bass solo follows - that signature element of the New Order sound that sounds as sweet now as the first time I heard it, all those years ago. (9.5/10)

The second track is 60 Miles An Hour. A respectable, if not stellar effort. The song is carried by Hooky's bass and Morris's drumming, especially at the beginning. Rockier than just about any New Order track from any previous album. Unfortunately it meanders in the middle. But, a great Hooky bass solo at the end accompanied by a nice synth line ends the song on a positive note. (7.5/10)

Next up is Turn My Way. Simply put, this song is cringe-worthy. Why they felt the need to collaborate with Billy Corgan, I doubt I'll ever understand. What, New Order (New Order!) can't sound good on their own? Its as if Eddie Murphy thought he needed help from Adam Sandler to be funny. Unfortunately, Corgan's presence leads to a song that simply sounds like a bad combination of New Order and Smashing Pumpkins as he and Bernard Sumner sing a duet. Their voices do not blend well together. The lyrics are again inane, only this time there is little to make up for it... "Don't wanna have to work / like other people do /I want it to be free / I want it to be true". (4/10)

Following Turn My Way is Vicious Streak, with a much slower tempo than any of the three prior tracks. In fact, it strays dangerously close to ballad territory, and the instrumentation is rather dull. "What am I going to do? I feel like I'm on fire. If you only knew, that you're object of desire". Fortunately, the chorus is somewhat catchy..."I keep hanging on, I keep hanging on, and I swear by God that you're the only one. I keep hanging on, I keep hanging on, and I swear by God that it won't be long." (6.5/10)

Primitive Notion sounds more like Joy Division than anything New Order has done since, well, Joy Division. Hooky's bass starts things off, joined by Morris's driving post-punk precision drumming, then joined by Sumner's guitar. Probably Sumner's 2nd best lyrical effort on the album. "I've done it before, and I'll do it again. Charged with a life that'll burn to the end. How can it be that we're so far apart? I want it to be like it was at the start." (8/10).

Slow Jam is up next. This entire track would have been best left on the cutting room floor. The lyrics are uninspired and are simply an exercise in putting together some poor rhymes. "Again, it manages to sound like a bad combination of New Order and something they're simply not - a heavy metal band. (4/10)

Rock The Shack is the other collaborative effort on the album, this time with Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream. The song ends up sounding more like the Strokes than New Order. It reveals the weakness of Sumner's voice when he tries to hit the high notes and the screaming parts. And the chorus is abominable. "Rock the shack, Rock the shack, Rock the shack, Rock the shaaaaaaaaack". Bernard Sumner may not be the best lyricist ever, but he can do a lot better than that. An uninspired and lackluster effort.(4/10)

Someone Like You gets us back on track. This is a truly excellent song. A quirky, cool synth bit starts us out and carries through the song, and Morris's drums are ever present and brilliant as they always are when placed at the top of the mix. Hooky's bass is present and accounted for. "This can't be real, my heart is burning. How does it feel? Lets say I'm burning". Female backup singers join Sumner for the chorus and the result is perhaps different than anything New Order did prior to Get Ready, but easily as good as anything they did before, too. (9/10)

Close Range keeps up the momentum. Again Morris's drums carry the song. Best lyrics on the album - about helping a drug addicted friend. "You've got to pull yourself together man! You've got to get back on your feet again. How can I ever make you understand? You've got the world right in your hands..." The vocals do not exceed Sumner's abilities and everything sounds great. Hooky's bass comes in with a couple of typically brilliant solos, which all combine to make this the best song on the album, one which they could have recorded during their heyday and it wouldn't have sounded out of place on Low Life or Brotherhood. (9.5/10)

Run Wild closes out Get Ready. Again, a very slow song. I think this one clearly does cross the line into ballad territory. Thankfully, as ballad's go, its pretty good. "If Jesus comes, to take your hand, I won't let go, I won't let go...". Harmonica-like instruments come in to play, for the first time since "Love Vigilantes" on Low Life. The most melancholy we get on this album. (7/10)

March 20, 2007

wake up to this cd everyday

i came out of rehab a week ago and this cd hasnt left my alarm clock since. waking up in a medicate dhaze with the sun blazing into my room isnt good motivation but this cd makes me think about my old days and keeps me cheerful in the morning. very easy on my vocal chords too :D perfect morning music March 19, 2007

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