When Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr left their respective bands and announced they were forming, gulp, a supergroup we all expected a holy union of The Smiths and New Order. Which was probably highly unrealistic. Instead we got some perfect pop, some of-the-time but soon dated dance-y stuff and then some guitary stuff which was overworked and uninspired. But they definitely had their moments.
Moment Number 1. Getting Away With It. Perfect pop, with the additional vocals and songwriting of Neil Tennant. Sumptuous.
Moment Number 2. Get The Message. In the spring of 1991 Get The Message seemed to offer a bright new shiny pop music. It pointed a new way forward, with the production of dance music and the talent of two post-punks/indie-kings. It also had a very ravey but good fun B-side, called Free Will. There was a long feature in the NME when they supported Depeche Mode in a stadium in L.A. despite not having finished writing or rehearsing the songs or the set.
Moment Number 3. The first album. Several great songs- Tighten Up (performed by Bad Lieutenant on their recent gigs), Feel Every Beat, Patience Of A Saint, Reality, one or two others, with admittedly a couple of fillers.
Moment Number 4. Live show at Cities In The Park, Tony Wilson's short lived festival based in Heaton Park. During their last song, just before the Mondays came on, we looked at the stage to see members of New Order, The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys playing together.
Moment Number 5. Disappointed. Good actually.
Moment Number 6. Forbidden City. This song was the lead single for the second album, released in 1996, called Raise The Pressure (mmm, dull title). The album had Johnny playing guitar again, and was co-written by Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk, but this time it all added up to less than the sum of the parts. Too many later period New Order B-sides/album track type stuff, some jangle but little fizz.
This song though was a beauty and is still a joy- perfect guitar pop music, with a typical but outstanding Bernard lyric and vocal about being trapped and wanting to break away, cool-as production, and wonderful guitars. Check out the controlled feedback during the guitar solo. Absolute perfection. If only the rest of the album had matched it. After this there was a slow decline to a third album, appearences on TFI Friday and so on, but briefly and occasionally they burned very brightly.
01 Forbidden City.wma
Moment Number 1. Getting Away With It. Perfect pop, with the additional vocals and songwriting of Neil Tennant. Sumptuous.
Moment Number 2. Get The Message. In the spring of 1991 Get The Message seemed to offer a bright new shiny pop music. It pointed a new way forward, with the production of dance music and the talent of two post-punks/indie-kings. It also had a very ravey but good fun B-side, called Free Will. There was a long feature in the NME when they supported Depeche Mode in a stadium in L.A. despite not having finished writing or rehearsing the songs or the set.
Moment Number 3. The first album. Several great songs- Tighten Up (performed by Bad Lieutenant on their recent gigs), Feel Every Beat, Patience Of A Saint, Reality, one or two others, with admittedly a couple of fillers.
Moment Number 4. Live show at Cities In The Park, Tony Wilson's short lived festival based in Heaton Park. During their last song, just before the Mondays came on, we looked at the stage to see members of New Order, The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys playing together.
Moment Number 5. Disappointed. Good actually.
Moment Number 6. Forbidden City. This song was the lead single for the second album, released in 1996, called Raise The Pressure (mmm, dull title). The album had Johnny playing guitar again, and was co-written by Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk, but this time it all added up to less than the sum of the parts. Too many later period New Order B-sides/album track type stuff, some jangle but little fizz.
This song though was a beauty and is still a joy- perfect guitar pop music, with a typical but outstanding Bernard lyric and vocal about being trapped and wanting to break away, cool-as production, and wonderful guitars. Check out the controlled feedback during the guitar solo. Absolute perfection. If only the rest of the album had matched it. After this there was a slow decline to a third album, appearences on TFI Friday and so on, but briefly and occasionally they burned very brightly.
01 Forbidden City.wma
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