New Order's most IMPORTANT album?

Right, I’m not doing a poll here because I want to see what discussion we have! Which do you think was New Order’s most important album. Not the best. Not the most popular. Not your favourite. The most IMPORTANT!!

Movement – the impossible first album after JD. PC&L – marked the transition from JD to NO, guitars to sequencers. Low-Life – the fan’s favourite, every track a classic. Technique – the other favourite, set the tone for much of the 90’s. Get Ready – the greatest comeback album ever?

I can’t make a plausible case for Brotherhood or Republic, but if they’re your choice, say so! :)

The NEXT one.....

I think PCL. You could not expect a massive change between closer and movement, given the circumstances. A lot was at stake for the next album, in creative terms. In my view they excelled themselves on this piece, not because it is my favourite album, but because their sound evolved into something different, but retained all the key characteristics of NO - revolutionary sounding, unique and uncategorisable.

Originally posted by Reg Bumswizle The NEXT one.....

Agree

Always the next :D

Originally posted by Reg Bumswizle The NEXT one.....

Great answer....

PCL

gotta be pc & l for me,the first "proper" outing for the sequencers(as mentioned b4) and some absolutely fantastic tracks. every track is very good,especially 586!!!!!!!!! steve

PC&L It was the foundation.

yup PCL, the album that signaled their clean break from the darkness of JD

It's got to be Movement. No matter how bad you think it is. It was borne out of the resolve to carry on (imagine if they had stopped). I also made them want to carry on afterwards to proove that they could make better music than that album.

It's got to be Movement. No matter how bad you think it is. It was borne out of the resolve to carry on (imagine if they had stopped). It also made them want to carry on afterwards to proove that they could make better music than that album.

Would the second Peel session count? Stunning songs which really showed new direction. If not, then Technique must surely have influenced shed loads of musicians.

PCL. You said it with the transition. I think they incorporated the guitars and synths in that album nicely, and paved the way for other bands as well.

Movement - still alive and making music

well, the fact that Movement was even made is important in itself. but strictly in terms of the albums in themselves, i would have to say PC&L or Technique.

Interesting thread and loads of food for thought, looks like PC&L is coming out on top here. Haven't really decided where I stand on this.

In some ways it could be Get Ready because if that hadn't happened and NO had't hit the road again in 2001, I'm not sure we'd all be visting NOOL so often, and in fact NOOL might not even exist in its current form (Nic?). However, I'm still debating between Movement and PC&L for the obvious reasons.

For me its got to be Movement.

It still has the darkness of Joy Division, keeping the link but you could see it was a slightly different direction.

If it had flopped completely would they have carried on?

Dave

I'd plump for Power, Corruption and Lies. They were so ahead of the synth pack in 1983. Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Soft Cell, Human League et al were having bigger hits but still sounding plinky-plonky and a bit formulaic (probably because 1 synthesiser is all they knew how to play). Whereas New Order merged the electronics with guitars seemlessly and came up with 8 very diverse sounding tracks.

PCL was certainly the one that broke new ground and backed up what had begun to happen with Temptation and EGG. Movement was them learning to write without Ian's quality control and lyrics, it sounds to this day as though it was recorded to hide away behind something.

Each album has taken new dimensions and added to the already wide range of sounds, only Brotherhood has disappointed me at first listen, and that was only because I knew the songs so well from live shows and was disappointed by the production. Even Republic has its high points. Maybe Republic is the most important as it not only gave them something to avenge later on in the form of Get Ready, imagine what would have happened if there had been a 9 year hiatus......

Funny - I don't think of that as an album per se, more a singles compilation, which of course it is. If anyone had asked me to name the albums in chronological order, I would never have included Substance, ever !

The most important album. Hmmm all of them.

Originally posted by Al Jarvis Can't believe no one's said it yet, but surely it's got to be Substance?

That and True Faith took them onto another world stage and I should imagine it was the one slab of muzak which got half the people on this messageboard into the group in the first place.

You can say what you like about them finding their feet on Movement, forging a new sound on PC&L or honing it to perfection on Low-Life, Substance was the one album which saw them go global and finally realise their full potential. Stroke of genius, that one. They'll be remembered more for that than anything else they've ever done.

Substance was responsible for New Order success in Brazil

Well i must say that EACH ALBUM has been the most IMPORTANT for me.But from NEW ORDER's view maybe SUBSTANCE made it all worthwhile in the business sense of the group. I think PC&L was the one that got me the most excited as i thought they are really getting it together here.But then again if GET READY had not been released even i could have lost interest.Through this album ,the touring and this forum my interest in all things NEW ORDER and music in general has been ignited.So long may this continue.I enjoy the buzz...do YOU? Rocket Mick justifies his collection.

Originally posted by Al Jarvis Can't believe no one's said it yet, but surely it's got to be Substance?

That and True Faith took them onto another world stage and I should imagine it was the one slab of muzak which got half the people on this messageboard into the group in the first place.

You can say what you like about them finding their feet on Movement, forging a new sound on PC&L or honing it to perfection on Low-Life, Substance was the one album which saw them go global and finally realise their full potential. Stroke of genius, that one. They'll be remembered more for that than anything else they've ever done.

got me into them thats for sure!

Originally posted by Rocket Mick Well i must say that EACH ALBUM has been the most IMPORTANT for me.But from NEW ORDER's view maybe SUBSTANCE made it all worthwhile in the business sense of the group. I think PC&L was the one that got me the most excited as i thought they are really getting it together here.But then again if GET READY had not been released even i could have lost interest.Through this album ,the touring and this forum my interest in all things NEW ORDER and music in general has been ignited.So long may this continue.I enjoy the buzz...do YOU? Rocket Mick justifies his collection.

Exactly my point about Get Ready, Mick.

Back up, need a bit more chat here b4 it dies... ;)

Yeah come on NOOL's ..this is a GOOD THREAD..we don't want it to go all PULP FICTION now do we? THREADS DEAD

Jul to the rescue.

Now let's clear this up: most important album for the band or for us personally ? For us personally it would be the album that's drawn us to the band. For the band, probably PCL-marked the direction in which they'd be going. Movement was very brave, but I feel that it was an album that had to be done, and they probably couldnt have done it any other way. PCL defined the way they'd go on, and it was more of a matter of choice.

Looking back P,C&L, and Substance were very influential on me at the time. I then didn't listen to NO again (obviously I was concious of the singles) until I heard Crystal, and then got 'Get Ready'. This pretty much got me back into listening to NO (and music) and I've spent the last few years devouring every track, and every remix of NOs I could lay my hands on. Imagine going to sleep after Substance and waking up with Get Ready and then filling in all the gaps in between (in no particular order); it's been fun!!!!!!!

I have to go with PCL because it was the first album that was entirely in a new direction from Joy Division and NO's earlier sound. It wasn't so much a break with post-punk as an embrace of disco and dance, and bringing that into the mid-Eighties. PCL is the dividing line between where they had been and where they were going. And no, I didn't crib the previous paragraph from Jon Savage......:D

Republic reminds me how precious the great albums (PCL, Low Life, and Technique) really are, and how easily the Order can go to crap. when I hear Chemical I realize how good tracks like TPK and Vanishing Point really are.