I'm posting this for no reason other than I chanced upon it on Youtube over the weekend and it follows on from yesterday's post. Technique is my favourite New Order album. Maybe because it was released in 1989 and that year was just right time, right place for me. Power, Corruption And Lies has innovation and Lowlife has brilliance but there's something about Technique that is spot on- every note is in exactly the right place, it has the perfect mix of late 80s Ibiza, Mancunian dance and rock, Bernard's most personal lyrics and that superb acid cherub cover. This song is as good as any of the other eight and this TV performance on Big World Cafe shows how good they could be, back when they pretended to like each other (cheers PBH for that line). The show also promises Belgian New Beat and Mariella Frostrup.
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ReplyDeleteNew Order are a very special band. Over 30+ years I have loved them, exalted their work and been very vocal of music I felt left me wanting more or just plain disappointed me. They are a fantastic singles band but also an accomplished album band.
ReplyDeleteFar and away, Low-Life is my favorite NO album. PCL is amazing for being a statement that Joy Division was in the past, and Brotherhood just didn't reach far enough away from Low-Life to be as good to these ears.
But over the last 25 yrs, Technique has been a real problem for me. I felt let down by it upon first hearing - mainly because it was terribly over-hyped by the music press before it came out. I've gone back and forth on most of it over the years but find it fits a much more comfortable listening place for me in recent years. Fine Time is massive - when listened to at full volume, it hits you at your core. It's far more sophisticated than the Ibiza tag give it as well. All The Way and Round & Round are classic New Order and could fit easily on either Brotherhood or Low- Life. Mr. Disco sounds too much like a hold over from Touched By The Hand Of God sesions and Guilty Partner and Dream Attack always remind me of that fine line that New Order and The Cure road where tracks blend by both bands.
The one track that I can't get into - to this day - is Run. It's sonic territory they covered on Love Vigilantes and 1969 and just leaves me cold. the Run2 remix doesn't further the song's cause to these ears either. That they were sued over the use of a sort motive from John Denver's Jet Plane is just ridiculous, but maybe it would not have hurt the album for it to have been a b-side rather than album track.
It's Mr. Disco and Vanishing Point that are the true gems of Technique. Mr. Disco is where the band that wrote Blue Monday should have ended up at the end of The 80's. Hooky's bass is crushing! Vanishing Point is the most filmic track the band has ever created. It's immense! - perfect song craft!!
There you go- the comment is better than the post.
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