my personal "GET READY" review

YES, today is THE day !!!

Here are my thoughts about this great album. But first, don't make the mistake to listen to this record in comparison to their earlier albums! There are some things you have to deal with. Overall, the production is on top-level !!! Very tight and very modern !

• Crystal nothing more to say about their comeback-single...but the long version is much more intense and features the guitar bits Lee Combs used in his remix.
• 60 mph great second track, very catchy. A logical choice for a second single.
• Turn my way i expected the worst, i thought this collaboration is going to be a straight "Smashing Pumpkins"-like rocksong, but i was positively surprised. It combines the best elements of both bands.
• Vicious streak this is my first favourite on this album. Sharp electronic beats, sounds really powerful, a bit like "Vanishing Point". Great atmosphere !!!
• Primitive Notion In my opinion the best of the new songs. Incredible Hooky-bass intro, fabulous drumming by Stephen. A perfect melting pot of NewOrder/JoyDivision elements.
• Slow Jam well, this is the not-so-good song on the record even from a neutral point of view. The vocals sound a bit uninspiring, sorry to say that but it really sounds a bit like Oasis :(
• Rock The Shack when i first heard this track i didn't like it that much, but after a few rounds in my CD player this one fucking rocks !!! This one, and not SlowJam, sounds to me like a jam session. It has great vocal lines, I like that one !!!
• Someone Like You Also, a great keyboard-dominated track even if the female backing vocals are a bit disturbing to me (as ususal on NewOrder recordings).
• Close Range obviously this is going to be the third single i guess. Tight song structure catchy chorus, great bridge and a nice groove. A typical single candidate.
• Run Wild Oooops, this one is...different...an acoustic ballad yes, hard to describe. Barney singing of Jesus and stuff....very different from what they've done before...

After all i have to say, "Get Ready" is going to be one of my favourite NewOrder-albums. They do not look back, they step forward and that is the best thing they can really do. "Get Ready" is a masterpiece of ambitious modern pop music!

What do you think ???

Huntsman my friend, where are ya :D

Glad to see somebody else who's enthusiastic about Close Range. The song, and especially the line "The grass looked ten foot high," is the emotional climax of the album, rivalled only by "I drank in every bar in town" on TMW.

Close Range has grown on me. The only tracks I'm not keen on are Slow Jam and Rock The Shack - I skip them both if I'm honest. There's some review on Teletext that compares Rock The Shack to Unknown Pleasures - is the reviewer serious?!

I've probably played Get Ready more times in a month than I've played Republic in 7-8 years...

I've been playing GR a lot too; I haven't started skipping Slow Jam yet but I sense that time is coming. On the question of why Behind Closed Doors wasn't substituted for Slow Jam, I'd guess it's because of the "don't take my drugs away" line.

The more i listen to "Rock The Shack" the more i like it... it somehow reminds me of Joy Division's "No Love Lost". Stephen is playing very similar drums. But i can't cope with "Slow Jam" somehow, it's TOO ordinary...nothing special about this song. "Primitive Notion" i think is one of the best songs they've ever done. Again a word on "Close Range". It has a good chorus i think and a nice ending with Hooky playing a good solo, much better than the laclustre "Slow Jam"...

... I'm back!!! Marco - not had a chance to read your comments yet... I wrote these before coming on line so I'll return for a proper chat.... here goes ...

Marco - as promised, I'm back from my short trip with tears in my eyes... tears of complete and utter joy. Saturday, first day out in the middle of nowhere and what do I find, a small independant record shop selling 'Get Ready' legitimately two days early!!!!!! - it was bought there and then... problem was, as we were away from home, and on foot, no cd player. Sunday and in the car, with the cd player and the album on full blast! - anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I've played it over and over for a full two days (just got back now).

Easily one of their best albums - happiness and sadness, joy and pain, excellent balance of synth and acoustic music. Barney's vocals stunning, Hooky and Morris on form throughout. Don't know whay all the reviews slating Barney's lyrics, they are typically New Order, and outstanding in their simplicity. I could go on and on, main thing is, its New Order, it sounds new and old at the same time, fresh and original and the songs (I know) can be played a million times without becoming boring. Quick hit list:

Crystal - great 60 Miles an Hour - Very Brotherhood, very good. Turn My Way - Absolutely Outstanding, one of the best NO songs ever created. I don't even mind Billy Cork-screw... mainly because he sounds like a synth pad. Vicious Streak - Initially a little dissappointed due to the outrageous amount of good comments it had received on this website, however, I should never have doubted them and it is a classic. Primitive Notion - Very Brotherhood/Low-Life, excellent. Slow Jam - Again, quality. Rock the Shack - first and only NO song I've never liked - my girlfriend loves it, but album slightly tainted by filthy inclusion of this. Does sound like an average Happy Mondays song. Someone Like You - Initially a bit sceptical about this, but it just gets better and better the more listens I have. I think this song is excellent. Close Range - "You've got to Pull Yourself Together Man' - fucking incredible lyrics. Fuck the critics. Run Wild - An absolute piece of musical and lyrical genius. Absolute and utter NO quality through and through. This is just magic recorded onto a CD.

Listening to this album for the first time was comparable to listening to Technique. Get Ready is up there with the best NO stuff... an absolute work of art.

Cheers Huntsman :D

Here some more comments after several listening sessions. Yeah "Vicious Streak" a bit strange that one, almost an instrumental, very unique song structure but i really like it. But "Slow Jam"...i don't know what to think about this track...there's not too much happening in this song, the vocal line from the verse is nearly the same as the chorus...mhhh Run Wild...don't know yet what to think about it really. it's so untypical...even if Barney brings back his melodica (well it sounds like one). These "Jesus" lines are a bit hard to believe for my taste...Close Range i really like that one too, groovy track and a great chorus. For the end, i like Rock the Shack it just rocks...

Good night boys and girls ;)

Marco my man, 'Primitive Notion' catching your attention eh. Bearing in mind I think the entire album keeps a fine qulity balance from start to finish I have to make a small comment (not a criticism). Do you not think that 'Primitive Notion', '60MPH', 'Slow Jam' and 'Close Range' are like the combined 'Low-Life/Brotherhood' guitar entries, and that they aren't that disimilar. Funny that you've picked 'Primitive Notion' out as the best of them. These particular songs are very reminiscent of Side A of Brotherhood (or the early guitary ones on the CD).

Saying that, I agree totally with you on the fact that they are very modern in their production, very forward thinking. Stripping back the fuss and allowing the songs to breath is a masterstroke and a very difficult production process. The reviews I've read have been wank, no idea whatsoever. Tell me another album in the charts that has this many 'good' songs on it? (you don't need to answer that).

Andy S, I've just read that Teletext review, what a complete and total wanker that reviewer must have been - absolutely no idea. Unknown Pleasures, Unknown Pleasures my fucking arse. Stupid cock-sucker. This is definately a New Order album, its not a million miles away from some JD stuff, but you've got to know your JD stuff to tell the difference - and to notice the similarities... what do you think he did?

Fuck that.

Cheers Huntsman :D

Here some more comments after several listening sessions. Yeah "Vicious Streak" a bit strange that one, almost an instrumental, very unique song structure but i really like it. But "Slow Jam"...i don't know what to think about this track...there's not too much happening in this song, the vocal line from the verse is nearly the same as the chorus...mhhh Run Wild...don't know yet what to think about it really. it's so untypical...even if Barney brings back his melodica (well it sounds like one). These "Jesus" lines are a bit hard to believe for my taste...Close Range i really like that one too, groovy track and a great chorus. For the end, i like Rock the Shack it just rocks...

Good night boys and girls ;)

Marcsy, don't think he's too bothered about Jesus to be honest. He's just using a bit of powerful imagery to get the message across - I love it, the trick with NO is that they keep surprising us all, and they have again. There's no way I thought I'd ever hear Barney singin 'Jesus' in any song. Rest assured Marco, he's not in any way religious.

Very nice message about Rob Gretton on this album, very touching. Run Wild could be about him? - or Barney's kids? - or a girlfriend? - its definately not about fucking Jesus.

Sorry to go on but this album's fucking outrageoulsy good. Can anything be better than fucking outrageously good because if so its that.

Marco, is this album as good as you thought it would be? - I didn't think so on 1st listen (nearly, but not quite) - now I think its untrue. Truth be told Rock the Shack's so curious I'm starting to like it (gulp!).

Shits all over Republic, and I don't mind that now.

... I'm so excited I decided to post a whitey.

Hm, good question man. I heard "Crystal" "60 mph" and "Turn my way" very early on, so i had very high hopes on "Get Ready". I think it's one of their best albums, i'm not sure if it beats my all-time favourite "Technique" but it's definitely a winner. I really like about it, that it sounds so modern which you can't say about the "rest" of the 80's fossils comebacks like DepecheMode or HumanLeague for instance. It has a superb production and the more i listen to it the more i like it. As is wrote earlier it was brave and it was right to look forward and not backwards. They relied on their strengths and produced a brilliant album. And yes, PrimitiveNotion is my very favourite. Yeah somehow Brotherhood like, but much more intense. A great combination of electronic drum loops and live drumming, a great bassline (reminds me of She's Lost Control) and great lyrics !!!

Bye for now, it's bedtime in Germany.

Cheers :D

I've been listening non-stop to a promo-version of Get Ready since I got my hands on it 2 weeks ago. I agree, these are great NO songs, and the more I listen to them, the more I like them! Crystal and 60mph were instantly likable... But now songs like Primitive Notion, Vicious Streak and Turn MY Way, which I initially thought were just OK, are getting better and better with every listen. That is the beauty of great NO songs, slow to grow on you, but once it has, you will love the song forever...

I initially thought Get Ready was better than Republic, but not nearly as good as Technique, which I consider to be their masterpiece. But now I am starting to wonder - could "Get Ready" be the best NO album ever?? Could very well be....

Great to see them back, especially in such fine form! :)

...I agree with most of what you guys say here about GR (a bleedin' revelation!), but can you lay off Slow Jam? It's still a good track for mine, albeit with some stinky lyrics about arithmatic. In context between Primitive Notion and Rock the Shack, it sits well. Rather have it included than an unsatsfying 9 track album....just an opinion CTD

New Order have other songs that are better than Slow Jam that should have appeared on the album. Player in the League is much better lyrically and musically (it doesn't sound like a football song with the exception of "on the ground and in the air/ you're a player in the league" in america that doesn't equate to football necessarily. Run This River Dry and Behind Closed Doors are both better than Slow Jam. We still get screwed when we only get some of the material they recorded. Does the UK release even clock in at an hour? Get Ready does rock, almost without exception but there are still great songs to come out from the recording sessions. They could have easily added the other tracks to make a great album. Leaving in derivitive rock with awkward lyrics (SLOW JAM) and neglecting these other songs is a mistake they will hopefully rectify with the US release.

What is all this about Slow Jam, Rock the Shack & Run Wild? Okay, these are the most challenging records for any "died in the wool" fan but don't you get it? This is the sound of a bunch of forty-somethings still pushing the envelope of their sound just as they were in the 70's & 80's. Rock the Shack is VERY Primal Scream, but you have to bear in mind that NO are a big influence on the Primals, the lead guitar at the end is the same as the one Barney played on Shoot Speed Kill Light on Xtmntr and I think it works really well. It's got that overdriven heroin rawk vibe that is just so cutting edge man! Slow Jam is in every way faaantastic!! I cannot believe what I'm reading about the lyrics! They are classic Barny tossed off scally manc attitude bollocks, but it somehow sounds so honest and fresh. Punk never Died! Run Wild!! Genius! Barney singing an ode to someone he cares about deeply, (Family, Girlfriend, Rob Gretton?) stirring stuff and a marvelous end to what I think is a NO album from the top drawer. I can't help but think this though, and I'm surprised it has not been mentioned by anyone else here. Don't you the whole album sounds like Twisted Tenderness? Even some of the guitar sounds are very Johnny Marr esque don't you think?

Originally posted by anthony white I can't help but think this though, and I'm surprised it has not been mentioned by anyone else here. Don't you the whole album sounds like Twisted Tenderness? Even some of the guitar sounds are very Johnny Marr esque don't you think?

Well, I've mentioned this in another topic. Can't rememeber which, though... It is the same kind of back to guitars feel, but with better songs, luckily... But I might have to listen back to that "Twisted Tenderness" that disappointed me at the time. Who knows ?

Electronic's Twisted Tenderness could never bring you the 'spine tingling' that New Order can. That said, your right kids, Slow Jam is definately Electronic-esque, as is a small muscial influence across the entire album. This is fine, as the balance is 99% New Order and 1% 'side projects' - thank fuck it isn't 50% 'side projects' 50% New Order. Could you imagine 80% 'side projects' and 20% New Order... doesn't bare thinking about does it.

Run Wild is a masterpiece.

Huntsman, you have a point. I aggree with you totally in regard to the spine tingling bit. I was dead worried that they'd come back and do something mediocre and I can't tell you how pleased I am that the album is AWESOME!!! YEAH!! NEW ORDER ROCK.

Yes, they do 'Rock' - they also sing beautiful melodies, invigorate people, reach climaxes with their music and touch every emotion in the senses.

The songs on this album are among the best New Order have ever produced, which must have been a monumentally difficult challenge for them.

Absolutely great album...brilliant stuff. Hooky's dominant basslines are the major musical difference to Twisted Tenderness, though I think the general standard of songwriting is better throughout.

Huntsman, you are right again. This is why this astonishing band continue to be the soundtrack to my life

... and what a soundtrack!

...nothing more to add boys :D

Originally posted by Nicolas LeBlanc Am I the only one who thinks that Run Wild is sounding like Gillian talking to her kids?Ah well ;) Too much TV.

My immediate reaction was that is was somehow linked to Gillian and Steve's daughter who has been ill. But im an old sentimental bastard at times....

Liv

Rock the Shack seems early Joy Divisionish ala Warszaw (or Warsaw what ever). Visious Streak is and Crystal are my favs. Rock the Shack doesn't bother me at all. I also like Behind Closed Doors - the Japan bonus track left of UK and US relases.