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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Jim Connelly's
Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Monday, January 15, 2007
Jesse Steichen's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Friday, January 12, 2007
Bill Bentley's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Anthony Carew's 13 Fave Albums Of 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
SXSW 2006: Finding Some Hope In Austin
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Letter From New Orleans
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums of 2005
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Music For Dwindling Days: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sean Fennessey's 'Best-Of' 2005
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Albums Of 2005
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings of 2005
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Michael Lach - Old Soul Songs For A New World Order
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Found In Translation — Emme Stone's Year In Music 2005
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Dave Allen's 'Best-Of' 2005
Monday, January 2, 2006
Steve Gozdecki's Favorite Albums Of 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Johnny Walker Black's Top 10 Of 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Neal Block's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Year In Review
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Jennifer Kelly's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Ben Gook's Beloved Albums Of 2005
Monday, December 5, 2005
Anthony Carew's Fave Albums Of 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Prince, Spoon And The Magic Of The Dead Stop
Monday, September 12, 2005
The Truth About America
Monday, September 5, 2005
Tryin' To Wash Us Away
Monday, August 1, 2005
A Psyche-Folk Heat Wave In Western Massachusetts
Monday, July 18, 2005
Soggy But Happy At Glastonbury 2005
Monday, April 4, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 3: All Together Now
Friday, April 1, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 2: Dr. Dog's Happy Chords
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 1: Waiting, Waiting And More Waiting
Friday, March 25, 2005
Final Day At SXSW's Charnel House
Monday, March 21, 2005
Day Three At SXSW
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Day Two In SXSW's Hall Of Mirrors
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Report #1: SXSW 2005 And Its Hall Of Mirrors
Monday, February 14, 2005
Matt Landry's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
David Howie's 'Moments' From The Year 2004
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Noah Bonaparte's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Kevin John's Fave Albums Of 2004
Friday, January 14, 2005
Music For Those Nights: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Neal Block's Top Ten Of 2004
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 10, 2005
Wayne Robins' Top Ten Of 2004
Friday, January 7, 2005
Brian Orloff's Fave Albums Of 2004
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Johnny Walker (Black)'s Top 10 Of 2004
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums (And Book) Of 2004
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Mark Mordue's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 3, 2005
Lee Templeton's Fave Recordings Of 2004
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Friday, November 30, 2001
Digging New Order
Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: New Order's Get Ready
is suddenly one of the best pop-rock albums I've heard this year.
Months after its release, when I'm just back from Europe, something
made me pull it out of the pile of CDs I never got to. Whoa! What a
mindblower.
The many years the members of New Order spent doing things other than
making New Order albums have served the group well. They return
refreshed and energized. Get Ready is inspired. Forget about
those reviews you've read; if you used to dig New Order, I bet you'll
love Get Ready.
Yeah, it sure sounds like New Order, and why not? What's important
here is that Get Ready sounds like good New Order. At a
time when you might have expected the group to plunge into
electronics, they've done the unexpected and leaned on guitars more
than in the past. Parts of this album rock the way the rock tracks
on Garbage albums rock. I've always loved Bernard Sumner's vocals and
Peter Hook's most melodic bass playing, and both are prominent on
Get Ready. And every song has one or more great hooks that
will keep you coming back.
New Order was formed by the survivors of Joy Division, after that
group's leader, Ian Curtis, hanged himself on the eve of their first
U.S. tour. Curtis dominated the group; he sang like a post-punk Jim
Morrison. There was no reason to think the other members of Joy
Division had the talent to go it without their frontman. In fact,
while New Order may not have topped Joy Division's two classic
studio albums, their popularity — kicked off by the hit "Blue
Monday" — far surpassed Joy Division's. More important, they
created a powerful techno-rock sound and a series of wonderful albums
before deciding to take a multi-year break.
Like all the New Order albums, Get Ready feels very modern.
It's not just the youngish girl (model?) holding the digital video
camera to her eye on the front cover (designed by Peter Saville),
though that certainly helps by setting the tone. But it's really all
about the sound. And New Order's sound — drums, bass, guitar,
synthesizers — is angular, metallic, sleek and filled with
glorious audio climaxes. Often walls of guitars (or things that
sound like guitars) come slamming into the tracks. Get Ready
is the kind of album I wanna play over and over. Which is exactly
what I've been doing this week.
Now here's my problem. This album sounds great, but a lot of the
lyrics aren't so hot. In his latest column (published today), Philip
Sherburne writes that he doesn't "pay much attention to lyrics...."
Now I do pay attention to lyrics, but not at the expense of sound. I
can certainly understand the pull of the sound, be it coming from
instruments, samples, voices or what ever. It's always the sound
that gets to me. No matter how great a lyric, if the music sucks,
I'm not going to listen to the song. A song isn't a poem. When the
lyrics are good and the music kicks it — well, that's what we
dream about.
So for many of the songs here, New Order haven't come through with
lyrics that are truly worthy of the music they're paired with.
Still, I keep listening. I love "Vicious Streak," a song about
obsession, and "Crystal," which seems to be about a relationship
that's over. It's not that the lyrics are bad; perhaps it's more
that I want some mystery. I hear it in the music; I just don't find
it in the words.
When I listen to New Order, I hear the sound of English youth. I see
Covent Garden and the Tate Modern and walking along the Thames at
sunset. I see young pop stars dancing in clubs all night. I see
young lovers, and young dreamers. I see kids hoping life will turn
out well for them. Joy Division was the sound of isolation,
depression and death. Their most famous song, "Love Will Tear Us
Apart," was not exactly upbeat. So perhaps New Order deserve a
break. Is it such a surprise that they mostly keep it light?
The InsiderOne Daily
Report appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 AM PST, except when it doesn't.
by Michael Goldberg
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