another review

(in case you've stopped checking the collated reviews thread)

this time from melbourne's sunday herald

apologies for the creases, but i'm not ironing it!

I take it it's favorable?

if only there was some way of telling, like a rating system using stars, or some words....

hibster wrote: if only there was some way of telling, like a rating system using stars, or some words....

Very good one, sir.

Well, it was the stars I was going by; the words I'm afraid I can't make out...

"This is possibly New Order's best album yet."

huh?

what?

come again?

no "...since Technique"??

LE Roberts wrote: "This is possibly New Order's best album yet."

huh?

what?

come again?

no "...since Technique"??

Your eyes are obviously much better than mine, LE.

Patrick wrote:

hibster wrote: if only there was some way of telling, like a rating system using stars, or some words....

Very good one, sir.

Well, it was the stars I was going by; the words I'm afraid I can't make out...

Perhaps he meant the headline...

Patrick wrote:

LE Roberts wrote: "This is possibly New Order's best album yet."

huh?

what?

come again?

no "...since Technique"??

Your eyes are obviously much better than mine, LE.

He has the two though P, remember - an unfair advantage?

i can read it okay on my monitor...

& ok, i have the original here too, but even hiding that & doing it it's fine.

Huntsman wrote:

Patrick wrote:

LE Roberts wrote: "This is possibly New Order's best album yet."

huh?

what?

come again?

no "...since Technique"??

Your eyes are obviously much better than mine, LE.

He has the two though P, remember - an unfair advantage?

It is extremely unfair, H. I'm glad you agree for once.

It's a good review. I printed it out and it's much easier to read. He (assuming Graeme is a male) likes Krafty and MNAD, references ITYS and Hey Joe, and does not ... ahem ... prefer "the regrettable and forgettable Jetstream is its (WFTSC) trough, a sapply singalong cut that is the album's most expendable note."

He points out at the beginning that "Sirens, with one brief exception, grips attention for its entire 55 minutes."

Chit, I'm about ready to re-write the whole thing.

LE Roberts wrote: It's a good review. I printed it out and it's much easier to read. He (assuming Graeme is a male) likes Krafty and MNAD, references ITYS and Hey Joe, and does not ... ahem ... prefer "the regrettable and forgettable Jetstream is its (WFTSC) trough, a sapply singalong clif that is the album's most expendable note."

He points out at the beginning that "Sirens, with one brief exception, grips attention for its entire 55 minutes."

Chit, I'm about ready to re-write the whole thing.

If you could do that, all of us one-eyed freaks would be very appreciative, LE.

another classic piece of information:

WFTSC "is the longest album title in New Order's 24-year career".

At least he didn't start with that ashes-thing...

This may or may not have any significance, but let it be noted that this, at five words, is the longest album title in New Order's 24-year career. And with this new-foung loquaciousness comes a profound return to vibrancy, creativity and rhythmic power.

This is possibly New Order's best album yet.

Though 2001's Get Ready - their return from an eight-year layoff - was solid, with enough hooks to lure the Ford motor company and the Ten network to appropriate scratches of it for their own ends, it was not wholly satisfying, fading to a bland mush about halfway through.

Siren, with one brief exception, grips attention for is entire 55 minutes.

Much of the appeal is a nostalgic one, for there are many moments that contain echoes of past great songs. The words that open the album, "Hey Joe what you doing/Seems like it's all going wrong" may nod in the direction of Hendrix, but there is a n even stronger link to the dismayed appeals to the troubled (?) of their earlier single 1963. More pronounced are Peter Hook's chiming bass runs, which effectively revive the brillance of Perfect Kiss and Regret.

While the title track and I Told You So adopt a mellow tone, the rest of the album kicks along with a relentless driving energy, tugging at emotions in a manner few bands can match. With most of the tracks clocking in at about five minutes, there is surprisingly little flab on the album; indeed, on many tracks the momentum calls for another minute or two to reach a satisfying conclusion.

If the lyrical hook of "Give me one more" in Krafty and the electric energy of Morning, Night and Day represent the album's peak, the regrettable and forgettable Jetstream is its trough, a sappy singalong cut that is the album's moste expendable note.

And more good news: the lyrical sloppiness and tragic rhyming couplets of the past are also largely absent. A new order indeed.

/s/ Graeme Hammond

Thank you very much for that, LE.

You bet. Liked the Under the Radar one better, but this is still enjoyable. Catchy title. Could have given props to Turn.

And some of us like Jetstream, but still, much better than most of the reviews.

What would you rate his review out of 5?

Huntsman wrote: What would you rate his review out of 5?

using a star system or just some indecipherable barely focused words? ;)

****1/4

hibster wrote:

Huntsman wrote: What would you rate his review out of 5?

using a star system or just some indecipherable barely focused words? ;)

I can't decide. You choose.

seems patrick dispenser has already grabbed that bull by the horns & voted with his fingers

He was a bit stingy wasn't he.

were you thinking it should be more ****½?

or cos he took the decision away like a child with a lollipop and a bicycle?

I can't decide. You choose.

I think Jeff gave this review immunity.

By the way, LE, have you had a chance to look at the Odyssey thread? I'd be interested in your thoughts.

I have not. But I just printed it off as I prefer to read it in hard copy. I will give you my feedback for sure.

Thanks, LE. I appreciate it. I prefer to read long things in hard copy also. It's a good thing DC is not here today.

Patrick wrote: Thanks, LE. I appreciate it. I prefer long hard things. It's a good thing DC is not here today.

What on earth are you on about Patrick?

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote: Thanks, LE. I appreciate it. I prefer long hard things. It's a good thing DC is not here today.

What on earth are you on about Patrick?

It appears that DC is here in spirit if not in fact.

Patrick wrote:

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote: Thanks, LE. I appreciate it. I prefer long hard things. It's a good thing DC is not here today.

What on earth are you on about Patrick?

It appears that DC is here in spirit if not in fact.

Let that be a lesson in complacency, Patrick.

I could clearly see that you were allowing it to slip in then.

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote:

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote: Thanks, LE. I appreciate it. I prefer long hard things. It's a good thing DC is not here today.

What on earth are you on about Patrick?

It appears that DC is here in spirit if not in fact.

Let that be a lesson in complacency, Patrick.

I could clearly see that you were allowing it to slip in then.

I feel that I have been duly warned. Thank you, Big, as always.

Patrick wrote:

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote:

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote: Thanks, LE. I appreciate it. I prefer long hard things. It's a good thing DC is not here today.

What on earth are you on about Patrick?

It appears that DC is here in spirit if not in fact.

Let that be a lesson in complacency, Patrick.

I could clearly see that you were allowing it to slip in then.

I feel that I have been duly warned. Thank you, Big, as always.

You said that through gritted teeth, didn't you?

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote:

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote:

BIGINOIL wrote:

Patrick wrote: Thanks, LE. I appreciate it. I prefer long hard things. It's a good thing DC is not here today.

What on earth are you on about Patrick?

It appears that DC is here in spirit if not in fact.

Let that be a lesson in complacency, Patrick.

I could clearly see that you were allowing it to slip in then.

I feel that I have been duly warned. Thank you, Big, as always.

You said that through gritted teeth, didn't you?

Well, to be perfectly honest, I typed it on my keyboard.

P, that stage act is coming along just nicely.

You mean I'm maintaining the same level I was at with the yes or no anecdote, H?

Your way past it now P on the back of that left-of-centre entry above.

All you need now is an ill-fitting suit top, some Malboro Lites and a brick wall. If you feel the grip with the audience is slipping, you could always change tack and begin reciting your highly polished Odyssey / NO WFTSC theory. You might want to take a* weapon though.

*edit

I'm not really entirely stupid, H. I can tell that even here, which one might think would be a prime target market for the WFTSC/Odyssey theory, there are one or two people who are not entirely fascinated. If I tried that routine on a general audience, I might lose as much as a third of the crowd.

It's the initial serious response that makes the ending of that post perhaps even better than the keyboard gag.

This is good stuff P.

Everything I know I learned from you, H.

The following is very belated, but when you were characterizing me as Mr. Smooth, what I should have said but didn't was, it takes one to know one.

And you know I mean all this in a wholly good-natured way, H.

By the way, was the weapon admonition meant to remind me that you are paying attention to all my little frolics and detours?

;)