Q Review

Only gets 2 stars. Bit gutted as I always trust Q. Hope this is where they are wrong. Got 4/5 in Burn magazine though.

I usually just trust my ears.

I like Q and WFTSC aint worth more than two stars. I'll bet my bottom dollar that the vast majority of reviews are similar. Take of your rose tinted spectacles comrades. It's a mediocre record and it'll be identified as such by rock hacks and objective music lovers alike.

Yeah, NME have made it hard for themselves to have a pop at the Order now, haven't they?

marcus mee wrote: Yeah, NME have made it hard for themselves to have a pop at the Order now, haven't they?

They'll slag it off and blame Phil.

Reviews are a bit like the charts,they mean fuck all. How many other times have you read a review-something gets 5 stars,it must be good so you buy it-and its shite. And vice versa. The new Doves album got a spanking review,i know GF will disagree with me,but its average. WFTSC,so its had a bad review,we`re still gonna buy it.

Spotnick wrote: I'm curious to know how many stars they gave to Get Ready...

**** (four)

It's sad when after a couple years patronage, one can predict the rating a journalistic venture will give a certain product based on the mag or the site's pedigree and past judgement. I predicted Allmusic.com would give DD's new album two and a half stars out of five and I was only off by half a smegging star.

While I personally like WFTSC a whole lot, much more than Get Ready(which 90% of the music journalism world blew a judicious load over), my prediction is that the scoring it's going to get when tabulating the mean/median of the majority of professional reviews will be strictly 3 out 5, 6 or 7 out of 10, 70-75%, C+ B- faire. "A step down from the blistering modernistic indie rock of Get Ready into tired, overly sentimental commercial-friendly lite-rock and dancepop that's much too thinblooded to appeal to the youth market and far too mainstream for the longtime fanbase." shite like that. Yes that was one entire sentence.

I stopped buying Q when it became clear to me that they didn't cover the sort of music that I listen to. No major interview with the Order when Get Ready and Retro came out. No special issue when lesser bands have been afforded that honour. Crap questions in Cash for Questions last month.

Doesn't stop me posting on the Q message board though

From the MP3s I have heard (and therefore not in the glorious techincolor that my hifi would present them in)it's 7/10 for me.

I would never use the term "the oh-so-brilliant Q Magazine". I said I liked it that's all. It entertains me for an hour or so in the same way as Crononation Street, The Daily Record and Kylie's Greates Hits (Disc 2). I can't be arsed writing an essay on why it entertains me, but it does.

We all know that WFTSC was never gonna win them any new fans. However, the point I was trying to make is that music lovers who are familiar with NO will write this off as pretty average. As we can't speak to every single one of these individuals let's just sit back and see how the press review it. Love 'em or hate 'em rock hacks are music fans too. So if there's a general consensus among them (as I suspect there will be) I think we should take that on board and accept that to most folk, beyond a devoted fanbase, it's a below par album.

I'm afraid to say that on the basis of what I've heard (the One World preview and WFTSC) I think Q might be right. As a big Stooges fan I was looking forward to hearing Working Overtime, after all I'd read about it, but was very disappointed. With expectations adjusted it's a good track but no more. Krafty I think is great - deserving of being a New Order single and WFTSC is also very good but the others... I know that people in the know have stated that there are other, stronger tracks on the album but there is already more filler on this than any other (with the possible exception of Republic). If Jetstream becomes a single it will be an embarrassment of Substance 12" proportions. Some 25 years ago I sought out unknown pleasures over the more obvious ones of Dollar, say. I can imagine Dollar singing Jetstream. I take no pleasure in saying that.

I'm no fan of Q...and they clearly have their favourite bands that they deiciate covers and acres of coverage in order to boost sales.

But after living with WFTSC for a while now, it does not stand up to the Order's previous work. It's not that the songs are bad - Krafty, Trun and WFTSC are good, I even like Jetstream, it's just that there ain't any bone fide clssic tracks that are going to stand the test of time, or hold their own against Age of Consent, Temptation, Love Vigilantes or even Crystal. 2 stars is harsh but it is not far off the mark.

That said any New Order record is better than none...but I think many people's expectations on this forum are set too high. Impossible for a band this late in their career to hit the heights of their previous output.

This is healthy. Could we re-name this thread " The Silent Majority Speak Out". As I'm sure Spotnick will confirm there are far more people who view this site than there are actual contributors.

I'm glad that two of our newer community members are finally saying what I'm sure most of "the lurkers" are thinking i.e. great band, brilliant to see them back, duff album, bring on the live shows!!!!

And both posts are far more eloquent than anything I've managed.

Prfft, I actually made a post the complete opposite (it was swallowed up by the system, sigh), don't think for a second everyone agrees with you.

I think the very fact they gave Get Ready more than WFTSC is enough to either say:

• they're speaking a load of bollocks.

OR

• they're indie fanboys, as this album has taken a distinctly more pop-like approach. In which case they're justified but I wouldn't heed their advice if it depended on my life.

Or possibly even both. I don't care, WFTSC is way better than Get Ready, from this New Order fan's perspective.

let's face it, krafty is krap. new order are doing a de niro and laying a turd on their illustrious legacy. krafty is all i've heard and it's pretty half arsed, not a patch on crystal. the first single needs to be much stronger than this for us to expect a great NO album in WFTSC. i'm not optimistic at all

Could anyone scan the Q and Burn magazine reviews and post them here?

So we are agreed then - whatever we think of the review of the album (or the album itself) - Q IS SHITE! Compare the Q&A in Burn magazine to Q's half arsed attempt. Amateurs!  Nurse, the screens.

Could anyone point me to a thread or link to Qs latest cash for questions ? I remember the ones from '99, they were quite funny, but I haven't seen anything on the new ones yet. Otherwise, I've read several issues of Q over the past year, they didn't seem good enough to start buying it. I've only heard 4 songs thus far, but it can't be that bad of an album, especially compared to what's in the stores nowadays.

Ally3000 wrote:

Grahame Ferguson wrote: This is healthy. Could we re-name this thread " The Silent Majority Speak Out". As I'm sure Spotnick will confirm there are far more people who view this site than there are actual contributors.

I'm glad that two of our newer community members are finally saying what I'm sure most of "the lurkers" are thinking i.e. great band, brilliant to see them back, duff album, bring on the live shows!!!!

And both posts are far more eloquent than anything I've managed.

Bollocks! This is one of the most laughable posts I've seen on here for a while. "The silent majority"?? So everyone who views the site regularly but doesn't post a hell of alot is in this illustrious "silent-but-we-think-the-new-album-is-duff" group? (Am I misunderstanding here?) It's not a "duff" album to alot of people on this board, including I'm sure a serious amount of "silent lurkers". Defending that the new LP deserves only 2 stars in the piss poor rag that is Q is incredible. Also, no-one was asking you to write an essay as to why you like Q, simply state a few of its strengths as opposed to its weakenesses which are all too apparent as over three members in this thread (including me) have stated. Simply saying "it makes me happy" as in for myself "a nice bit of toast makes me happy" isn't the most "pin pointed" of responses. Not meaning to sound bitchy but I like nailing down my points, however if you consider the "Q of today" a good mag then that's up to you and I respect that.

However and to be honest refusing to give the new material the band have produced a "decent" chance (i.e. might it be that the new album is a grower?) is entirely your loss. Lots of people on here are really enjoying WFTSC, and find Krafty a good single that will dent the charts and expand the band's influence. Indeed alot of people have panned "Krafty" simply because it sounds optomistic, but that on it's own is a shit reason to pan any song. Writing off the new LP as "duff" and simply looking forward to the 102043th live rendition of Temptation and Blue Monday is the most boring attitude I've come across from a New Order fan. Why look forward to the live gigs if you cannot enjoy the new material they produce on record which will most likely make up a large part of the set? Granted you're under no obligation to love the new LP, but I'm convinced anyone writing off all 11 tracks from this new album as a "2 out of 5" effort have got their heads up their arses. But that's not really my problem, only their loss.

All in my humble opinion of course,

Ally.

I think you'll find Ally baby that the new album is indeed a prize duffer of gargantuan proportions. Krafty is - without a shadow of a doubt - easily the worst New Order single ever and far from, er, 'denting the charts and expanding the bands influence', (how I laughed when I read that), it will sink without trace - thankfully! The new album is throwaway pop pap, instantly forgettable, and completely uninspiring! There is not one single song on there that grabs you by the balls like so many tracks did in the past. Anyway, many of you fettlers will lap it up just because it's the Order, but the bargain buckets near you will be brimming over with it soon. The record buying public are no mugs!

I find it hard to fathom what people want from New Order nowadays. As I've said elsewhere, they won't do another monster like True Faith or Temptation I doubt. The;re getting on for 50 feckin years old now. From what I've heard of WFTSC it's good pop music and far better than most of what else is doing the rounds in the music world nowadays.

It's prompted me a bit to visit some other old NO albums that I haven't heard for a while, and I've come to the conclusion in many cases they're not actually THAT good. Did people when they were released seriously salivate over tracks like Chemical, Avalanche, State of the Nation, We all stand, half of Brotherhhod, all of Movement? Technique in my opinion is the only great album they've done. I reckon this one, from what I've heard will not be far behind those albums. In all honesty NO are a singles band more than anything else.

Mr B makes an important point; is the consistency of milk any different to that produced in 1983? - in the mind, it remains as sweet as a finely prepared potato - but in actual fact, both strands have their idiosyncrasies and largely taste the same.

It is a shame to pontificate your favourite band from what they were to what they are now. The Beatnicks split with their back catalogue untainted, as/per Joy D and several other musical combos. They lasted a while, sounded boss cat and ended, still sounding boss nass. With bands that continue going (presumably because they love doing so) then sooner or later out comes Analyse This featuring Robert De Knee Jerker (as mentioned earlier in the thread) and everyone and his badger has an opinion which is usually; 'hey they were better years ago weren't they'.

From what I can see, and I can see quite clearly after a decent brew - this has happened:

NO initially couldn't read or write (or even play) musical instruments that well and thus they made relatively simple songs concentrating on making them simple songs sound great (or even more complicated than they were). To highlight this, Tempting Miss Daisy and Ceremonial Cheese are made largely of one single chord progression (that's two chords kids - practically unheard off but easy to learn!).

Then they learnt how to read, write (but not play) their musical instruments and thus their songs grew like other songs as they worked out certain formulas - they naturally turned poppy. They are more mellow, again naturally, and thus probably don't feel too much like being depressive any longer - I mean, how depressing is it watching a movie and eating snacks? ... answer; not very.

To recap; they're less dark and more poppy. To my ears, they're still capable of the odd belter and The Sirens song is AS GOOD as SOME of their classics.

exactly Hunts. won't argue with that. Thing is I'm happy their still doing because my Ipods already going to be a better place for WFTSC and Jetstream particularly of the 5 tracks I've heard - and from these tracks I'd reckon it's probably better than the last 2 albums

It's like Middlesboro and the UEFA cup really innit? You know their not going to win it, but you're still happy they're taking part and making a good fist of it

... Dreams Never End.