Waiting for the Siren's Call **** New Order 4 STARS
sample: Krafty New Order have the uncanny knack of always sounding hip. For this, their eighth album, the band (who are fast approaching 50) slot neatly in with Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and the whole new indie scene. While their back catalogue is being raked over by a generation of American bands looking for hipster inspiration, New Order's combination of melancholic pop and killer bass lines sounds as apt now as it did when they stumbled from the ruins of Joy Division all those years ago. Somehow, while their past is being dug up for two upcoming films about Joy Division, they thunder on into the future. This is pristine, state of the art, pop: the usual perfect combination of great melodies and swooping atmospherics that you can dance to. As the granddads of the Manchester scene they can sit back and watch the Doves attempt to run off with their melancholic crown, or young upstarts Longcut nibble away with their brilliant appropriation of the bass-driven Joy Division thing. And as one of the UK's most consistent indie survivors they can certainly show the Manics a few things about how to grow old gracefully while enlightening the misery indie mob of Keane and Coldplay with a few insights into making sad pop music that you can bop around to. Because it's all here on this album. On 'Republic', they went all guitary and did it very well. But this time they've decided to plunder their own back catalogue. There are moments when you can hear them remember what Joy Division sounded like on the brooding 'Turn', and the album's title track or what those E-fuelled days down the Hacienda were like on some of the dancier numbers. There are hints of primetime New Order on current single 'Krafty' and even a nod to the fantastic Scissor Sisters- roping in sassy Scissor vocalist Ana Matronic on 'Jet Stream'. It's like New Order's greatest hits but with brand new songs. They may have all these different styles but they remember to play to their strengths, Captain Hook's bass is as slung-low and drivingly melodic as ever, Barney still sings daft and cynical lyrics of love and life and sailing his yacht and makes them all mean something to the listener, while new boy Phil Cunningham sticks on some great little bits of slide guitar. Steven Morris programmes the clever beats and smirks. The true survivors New Order still make great Krafty pop music. Fashions come and fashions go; they still remain at the cutting edge, the self styled 'daft Salford twats' who know so much more than they ever let on. They survived the death of their iconic frontman, the rise and fall of Factory records, the collapse of the Hacienda, Manchester being turned into a yuppie city and even the 24 Hour Party People film and they still make great pop music. How cool is that? JOHN ROBB reviewed on 02 Mar 2005
