Love Vigilantes: My Review of New Order's "Music Complete

New Order

My older brothers were always introducing me to new music when I was a kid - starting with the Bee Gees and Kiss in the '70s, and heavy metal in the early '80s.  It was great that they were always into cutting edge music instead of the mainstream.  So when I say that my brother got me into heavy metal, it wasn't Ratt or Motley Crue; it was Metallica and Slayer before anyone had every heard of them.  In junior high, I was only one of two kids in the whole school who listened to punk - Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and G.B.H.

In the summer of 1984, I was 14 years-old and about to start high school.  We lived in a little neighborhood called Rancho Grande on the edge of the Arizona desert.  My oldest brother came home from his first year of college.  Collegiate life was good to him.  He came back for the summer with his hair different and wearing hip clothes.  (Thrift store was chic back then.)  He also came back listening to new music that we dubbed "modern music" back then.

When he wasn't home, I would sneak into his room and get into his music.  He had a zip-up canvas bag that had a stack of cassettes.  I would steal his cassettes and go walking into the desert with my Walkman, exploring the sounds of his college experience.  Most of his fare was typical early '80s selections - Rush "Moving Pictures", The Police "Synchronicity", and INXS "Listen Like Thieves".  There were a couple of tapes that changed my life.  One was a mix tape that had songs like "People Are People" by Depeche Mode, "Radio Free Europe" by R.E.M., and "The Upstairs Room" by The Cure.  The other was a black cassette with no label.  I had no idea who it was, but I was hooked with the first song.  I learned later that it was "Power, Corruption, & Lies" by New Order, and that first song was "Age of Consent".

I didn't know how important New Order would become over the next three or four years.  Not only has New Order graced the soundtracks from John Hughes's films like "Pretty In Pink" all the way to the recent "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", but they were the soundtrack to my life back then.  My first love, my first kiss, my first loss.  New Order's moody music fit my teenage angst - along with the other underground acts then like The Cure, Depeche Mode, and The Smiths.

By 1989, I had sort of outgrown New Order, "Blue Monday" was played ad nauseum at every club I went to - sometimes two times a night.  Yet I had the chance to see them live on April 25th of that year at the Mesa Amphitheater.  We had just been wowed by the opening act, Throwing Muses - a quartet of mostly girls barely over 5 foot tall who just rocked the stadium.  (We had met them earlier that afternoon at Zia Records in Tempe.)  As we waited for New Order to come out, we sniffed in derision at all of the young kids still wearing their hair in Robert Smith bouffants.  All I remember is that most of their set list were their electronic dance hits, and it wasn't that interesting to see people stand around and push buttons.  Most of the band members weren't that lively anyway.

The exception was Peter Hook with his bass hanging low to his waist.  His face was unshaven, and his hair was in a ponytail.  In his white tank top, he looked dirty and unkempt.  He was the only one who looked and acted like a rock star.  For their encore, they came out and played "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, and the song ended with Peter Hook standing in front of the speaker causing a barrage of noise and distortion that lasted for several minutes.  The band had already left the stage, and Hook was there like a rock god, seeming out of place in the glitz of the synthesized music we had just heard.  It was a moment that left a huge impression on me.

New Order back in the day

For the next several years, I stopped listening to New Order.  It has only been in recent years that I have been getting into them again.  I am amazed at what an influence that they - along with Joy Division - had on alternative music.  Even to this day, they are very influential.  So when I started seeing advertisements about the new album - "Music Complete" - I started thinking about giving it a listen.

I'm going to be honest here.  I wasn't going to get it.  I didn't really care enough about New Order anymore to even want to listen.  I downloaded it on a whim.  Amazon kept "suggesting" it to me.  It's funny how I was looking forward to so many of the newer bands that I like coming out with new music this Fall,  But the one that really grabbed me was the new album by New Order.

It's really that good!

The only thing that is missing is Peter Hook.  He left the band before this album could be produced.  And that is really too bad.  His often-imitated high-end bass lines - along with Bernard Sumner's smooth voice - really defined New Order.  But at least original keyboardist, Gillian Gilbert is back.

That said, New Order is back in form - with Bernard Sumner looking like an aging Luke Skywalker to lead the band forward into the new millennium.

The first single is a wistful tune named "Restless" - also the first song off of the new album that I heard.  When I initially listened to it, my fears all melted away.  This was an old friend coming home.  The next song - "Singularity" - probably my favorite, starts off with strong, gothic bass and pounding drumbeat that would make Sisters of Mercy proud.  The rest of the song is reminiscent of Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees, or The Killers, which is fair enough, because New Order had a huge influence on those newer groups.  In fact, Brandon Flowers from The Killers appears on the album's final track, "Superheated", a happy tune.

There are several electronic dance tracks here like "Plastic" which seems to herald back to their "Technique" days.  "Tutti Frutti" seems to be another Italian disco homage to Giorgio Moroder, who was a huge influence on New Order's early sound.  "People on the High Line", featuring vocals from Elly Jackson of La Roux, is a straight-up house anthem.  "Stray Dog" is a pop tune set to the gravelly voice of Iggy Pop doing some spoken word.

Songs like "Academic" and "Nothing But a Fool" seem like throwbacks to their earlier, Joy Division days.  My wife observed that "Nothing But a Fool" sounded like "Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups.  I laughed at that and told her, "Do you see what an influence that this band still has today?"  "Unlearn This Hatred" has a jaunty vibe akin to "Perfect Kiss", and "The Game" has some swirly guitars that give it a dreamy feel, and the bridge is to die for.

This is a strong album to mark New Order's return.  The production value is superb.  Every song is good, evidenced bu the fact that I have mentioned every single song on this record.  It is proof that some things really do get better with age.  Go buy "Music Complete".  Now.