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Opinion post:
Which album of New Order do you think is their "signature" album, meaning the one record that combines all sides of them and can be looked at as the album that best defines New Order's overall sound? To me it's a toss-up between Low Life and Brotherhood. Some may say Power Corruption and Lies since it is the first NO album to really use the NO classic formula. Some may say Technique. What's the word, guys?
J
I would say Brotherhood. Big synthesised bass. Brooding atmosphere. My favourite Saville cover. BLT.
I could harp on.:D
I want to say low life, but well that album has a few low points. Brotherhood is good overall, but a bit weak in production. technique is almost it, but too much of a house album (for the record I love house, can't believe style councils 5th album got the boot!). So I have to say Power, Corruption, and Lies (original version). I don't think anything can beat that album, except maybe the stone roses debut. there both up there. PCL defines new order, it defines to me what an album should contain.
Also, anything with Age of consent, the village, and leave me alone on it is holy.
Brotherhood? No chance. Poorly produced and weak in some areas.
Power Corruption & Lies for me. Brilliant brilliant brilliant.
Technique second, although it's more of a moment in time sort of album rather than representative of their 'sound'.
I know I'm about to be killed for mentioning a compilation in place of an album, but I would have to say Substance is byfar their quintessential "album".
JHC
Um, the wankvision of SubshellState isn't the highlight of NO. Therefore, Substance must surely be discounted, even if it's essential for most everything else.
Low-life is my favourite NO album, because of the first 4 songs and Face Up - the strongest and probably most representative slice of NO for me - guitar (LV), guitar/electro (TPK, TTON), rock (Sunrise), dance (FU)... But I do think STYT and Subculture let it down a bit... PC&L also has a strong representation of all the classic NO elements, but in a more primitive form, so doesn't really do it for me as a 'this is what NO are all about' album... Technique has all the elements again and is undoubtedly a classic, but, as someone said, if very much 'of the age'... Substance is probably the best example of the NO sound, but as a comp that's likely to be the case, so I'll go with Low-Life...
SHEDi xxx
[magenta]shedmonite61[/magenta] wrote: Substance's version of Sub-Culture is better than the album version.
Couldn't agree more. I'm going to vote for Substance here too. Sure, it's a compilation but none of the albums really shows all of NO's different sides to the same degree.
i'm gonna go with P,C &L's. i just love this album form start to finish although i really like low-life as well but just a shade less
M wrote: Technique- by far the most perfect of the NO albums
I have to agree with you, Technique is the one.
Technique's probably got the best production, as though they had decided what they wanted each of the songs to sound like (something they failed on with PC&L and Brotherhood), but it has to be PC&L for me. It was like a light coming on to lift the gloom of Movement, simply wonderful.
Republic.
Why are you all staring at me like I'm 
?
No, It's Power, Corruption and Lies for me, really. I push that one album on more people than anything else. It represents a changing of the guard to me. A band finding its way. The sophmore album that drove them into their future. Right after this, Technique. Then Low Life. Then Movement. Then Brotherhood. Then Republic. Then anything else they feel like getting their hands on.
Miss Disco wrote:
[magenta]shedmonite61[/magenta] wrote: Substance's version of Sub-Culture is better than the album version.
Couldn't agree more. I'm going to vote for Substance here too. Sure, it's a compilation but none of the albums really shows all of NO's different sides to the same degree.
you two been smoking crack again?
The version of sub-culture on Substance is a frigging travesty...
SHEDimon wrote: Low-life is my favourite NO album, because of the first 4 songs and Face Up - the strongest and probably most representative slice of NO for me - guitar (LV), guitar/electro (TPK, TTON), rock (Sunrise), dance (FU)... But I do think STYT and Subculture let it down a bit... PC&L also has a strong representation of all the classic NO elements, but in a more primitive form, so doesn't really do it for me as a 'this is what NO are all about' album... Technique has all the elements again and is undoubtedly a classic, but, as someone said, if very much 'of the age'... Substance is probably the best example of the NO sound, but as a comp that's likely to be the case, so I'll go with Low-Life...
SHEDi xxx
Yep. Low-Life for me as well...for many of the same reasons 
Low Life. because of Sooner than You think, Face Up, SUNRISE etc.
Although most of it is better live and it needs the 20 min version of elegia.
Low-Life for sure.
Sunrise and Face-up show the range of styles perfectly on the same album, much better than say fine time and dream attack do on technique.
I've never regarded Substance as a proper album.
Low-Life for sure. With the exception of Face Up and the butchered version of TPK, it's virtually a flawless album.
no such thing as a perfect new order album. All their albums have some tracks that should have been filtered. Technique is probably the closest to perfect and is probably the quintessential album. I would tell people to start at substance but it aint proper.
The ultimate New Order album is Brotherhood. It was New Order when they were themselves and completely comfortable with being New Order.
Their signature album is definitely Power Corruption and Lies. Low Life and Brotherhood - however fantastic - use too much of the Joy DIvision formula.
Chris Romero wrote: The ultimate New Order album is Brotherhood. It was New Order when they were themselves and completely comfortable with being New Order.
You mean badly produced and nigh on unlistenable twenty years later?
oldmonkey wrote:
Chris Romero wrote: The ultimate New Order album is Brotherhood. It was New Order when they were themselves and completely comfortable with being New Order.
You mean badly produced and nigh on unlistenable twenty years later?
And thus capturing the frustrating nature of the band... Maybe Brotherhood is quintessential NO after all... 
SHEDi xxx
You mean badly produced and nigh on unlistenable twenty years later?
That's really fcuking funny.
Like many people I think Technique is their best album - all the tracks are great and it has a certain sound which seems to make it fit together well. However, if you're talking about a quintessential album that contains all elements which define New Order's various musical styles I would probably say Power Corruption & Lies. I think Age of Consent, The Village and Leave Me Alone are all very different but provide good illustrations of their different musical styles. However, I also think WFTSC has some good examples of their differnt styles too.
This thread has got me thinking on what people's choice of 10 songs that define New Order (i.e not necessarily your top 10) would be, so I'm going to start a new thread devoted to this called '10 songs that define New Order'.
Lowlife, followed closely by PC&L. Don't get the Technique fixation at all, no glaring flaws, hardly quintessential NO at all!
I want it to be PCL,I mean come on,Age of Consent,The Village & Leave Me Alone as someone already said,but Low Life is my personal fave.There's an argument for Substance being the 'Quintessential',tho it would have to have the first version of Ceremony on it,& not the re-record.As an added point,does anyone really listen to fucking Republic? With the exception of Regret,it's by Pet Shop Order....over to you.....
Well both versions of Sub-Culture have a fatal flaw. The Low-Life version has a very muddy completely effed up sound for the last section of the tune. Almost as if there was, "makes it sound like shite" dial on the mixing desk and they turned that to level "10". Additionally the 12 inch remix of the tune has some absolutely clunky effects, butchered barney's vocal, screwed up a lot of the charm of the original including the bridge, but it also has a very "un-muddied" bass solo after the boomerang effect I mentioned a few days ago elsewhere. That concluding bass solo is heartbreakingly gorgeous and amazing.
As for the actual album, I'd definitely go with Technique, it's their only album that is filled virtually constantly with highs (only Fine Time fails to shine, in my view), but interestingly I think you can straddle the fence a bit and argue that PCL-Low-Life-Technique form a perfect trifecta encompassing New Order at their greatest.
Absolute moments of Brilliance: PCL: Age of Consent, Your Silent Face, Leave Me Alone
Low Life: Love Vigilantees, This Time of Night, Sunrise, Face Up
Technique: Loveless, Run, Mr. Disco, Vanishing Point, Dream Attack
Ridiculously good secondary tunes: PCL: The Village, 5 8 6 after horrid opening 90 seconds
Low Life: STYT, Elegia
Technique: All the way, Round and Round, Guilty Partner
Horrendous Mistakes: PCL: We All Stand
Low-Life: Editing The Perfect Kiss? That's like cutting Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody before the ripping guitar outro because, "I've had enough of that queer, faux-opera crap".
Technique: Fine Time. It's not a bad tune, but opening an album with it's worst song, and also releasing it as the opening single is baffling. Yeah maybe it captured the moment, well so did Brittney, and Christina, 98 talentless degrees, and N'Bunk, but it doesn't make the music any less crappy.
The Sound:
Guitars and Synths blended perfectly along with fine Barney moments of genius, and ineptitude and very little if any production issues (unlike the production debacles that rendered movement and Brotherhood flat, and most of Republic plastic, in comparison).
All three albums were filled with genius, just slightly sub genius tunes and at least one tune that just was nowhere near as good as the rest of the album for whatever reason and all three define New Order.
I would say Power Corruption and Lies is their best studio album. But overall substance is their best album, (even though me being a complete nub don't own it, although I have Singles and my dad has Substance on Vinyl)
I still prefer Low-Lifes version of Sub-Culture though.
I would buy the CD version of Substance (fror the B-saides mainly) but can't find it anywhere cheap enough (12.99 on play.com is too much for me)
The him wrote: Like many people I think Technique is their best album - all the tracks are great and it has a certain sound which seems to make it fit together well.
Not forgetting Republic - I think that's NO's best, one great sound/feel applied to all the tracks.
Low-life gets my vote...the great trifecta of "Sunrise", "Elegia" and "Sooner than you think." Plus, I love the story about how they wrote and recorded "Elegia" in a 24 hour session with no sleep. Those were the good ol' days
Low Life is my favourite (but the 12" version of The Perfect Kiss is much better), while PCL comes close. Then it is Technique for me.
I've never really liked Brotherhood somehow.
