Republic revisited:

Is it the general opinion that Republic ain't one of new orders finest jewels of the crown? I remember when it was released (as an untainted teenager) Radio 1 seemed to hype it up, but as the year's turned into decades it's kinda forgotten.

Recently been listening to Republic again via iPod and it really got me, I fucking love this album, 1st 4 songs u can skip, cos we've heard em so many times before (great as they are) but seriously, this really has some of the best production of any new order album before or since to my ears. I'd like to know if anyone else shares my opinion. Avalanche still stand its own today, Special has a self-perpetuating lustre, Times Change is awkward but sublime, fuck me I feel like gilly goolden tasting new order for the first time (maybe wrong) anyway someone out there/in here has got to know how great Republic is.

not shit hot, just shit.

Republic has got to be one of my favourites also

Very classy album

There is no song that blow me away from Republic but there are some good songs nonetheless. As a whole, it's better than Movement and Get Ready.

Side 1 is great, lose Liar and Times Change from side 2, and it'd be a decent album, although the production is a little glossy for my tastes... Any album that satrts with Regret and ends with Avalanche can't be that bad...

Snorri xxx

I actually like Republic quite a bit. The problem on the album is the production. Everything is too layered and too glossed over. Steves drums shound TOO much like a drum machine and you can barely hear Hookys bass.

Republic was an extension of New Orders interesest in House dance music that is first heard on Technique.

The songwriting on Republic is superb. Lyrically, Republic is Barneys finest hour. His lyrics on Republic are intriguiging, poetic, moving, and personal.

Regret, World, Everyone Everywhere, Spooky, Ruined in a Day, Times Change, Liar, and Special are all brilliant and beautiful songs. Special is especialyl gorgeous.

Again though, the glossy production and the fact that the band werent really speaking when they made this alum weakens it.

If Republic had been recorded with the band communicating as they did when they made Technique, then Republic could have been one of New Orders best albums, second to Technique.

As it stands, I still really like Republic. "Rock" fans and folks fond of New Orders more guiar oriented sound, but as smeone who loves New Order for thier electro side and the innovations that they made with electro, I think Republic is pretty good. I rate it above Movement, Brotherhood, and Get Ready,

For me its similar to Brotherhood in that its good but could have gone onto another layer. But I feel for Brotherhood some of the songs were never there in the first place (Weirdo, Broken Promise, Way Of Life and Every Second Counts) whereas maybe some of the lesser tracks on Republic just needed some alterations.

Shite..Regret apart,natch.

It is a great album, just not a great New Order album. I really like it though.

Least favourite N.O. album with one of my favourite trax on it.Regret stands out like the proverbial sore thumb,the rest is so un-New Ordery,even the better ones such as Special & Everyone Everywhere.Not a bad album,but I rarely play it,it's far too untypical

Apart from the beautiful wistful "Regret", much of it seems more like a blandly produced Bernard solo album

If this is a house album, it's a really boring house album with all the edges sanded off. Compare this to other early 90s English pop albums and this is way less house than Big Audio Dynamite, The Beloved, The Shamen, Happy Mondays, ... whatever i'm running out of ideas, but even freakin' EMF

NOOLigan wrote: It is a great album, just not a great New Order album. I really like it though.

I don't know why you guys say that. Regret sounds much more New Ordery than Get Ready.

Canuck21 wrote:

NOOLigan wrote: It is a great album, just not a great New Order album. I really like it though.

I don't know why you guys say that. Regret sounds much more New Ordery than Get Ready.

It is but one song. We want bass.

Two best things about this album is Barney's lyrics, and that you can clearly hear a seperation between instuments (that wasn't on the prior albums). A personal fav, but mainly because it reminds me of my Summer vacation Between junior/senior year, I played that album non-stop. Great times, surfing, driving my 62 Merc, had a hot girlfriend, ranked in the nation for running......I was on top of the world that summer.:)

neworderdude wrote: Republic has got to be one of my favourites also

Very classy album

good call

His Holiness, The Pope wrote: not shit hot, just shit.

i just don't quiet understand????. if you didn't like it, then, why did you buy it in the first place.

His Holiness, The Pope wrote: not shit hot, just shit.

i guess, curiosity killed the cat :D

Well it's only New Order by name, isn't it? Hooky's not even on half the album, wasn't even in the studio when it was recorded apparently! It's two albums in one, the New Order tracks and the filler, Electronic leftovers tacked on so that they could meet their commitment to Warners. Regret, Everyone Everywhere, Ruined, Special and the Price of Love were the ones that featured all/most of the band.

They weren't a happy bunch around this time, and it shows. Bernard's bitterness towards Tony Wilson was never more blatant, there was infighting over the demise of Factory, and it was all a bit poo, with only Regret as the shining light that cut through all the acrimony.

EdelBrock wrote: Two best things about this album is Barney's lyrics, and that you can clearly hear a seperation between instuments (that wasn't on the prior albums). A personal fav, but mainly because it reminds me of my Summer vacation Between junior/senior year, I played that album non-stop. Great times, surfing, driving my 62 Merc, had a hot girlfriend, ranked in the nation for running......I was on top of the world that summer.:)

PC&L and Technique are both sonically similar and you can hear separate instruments on both of these gems. CANT YOU?

I know I'm in the minority here, but I love Republic.

not played it for about 5 years

everyone knows Republic is not the best NO album...but is good

i love:Regret, Ruined In A Day, World, Special and everyone everywhere.

I've actually been listening to Young Offender alot lately. I'll always defend this album, since the only track I don't care for is Liar. The rest I have to say is some of my favorite NO. I agree that there isn't enough Hooky bass on the album, but in all honesty, where would it fit in on World?

oldmonkey wrote: Well it's only New Order by name, isn't it? Hooky's not even on half the album, wasn't even in the studio when it was recorded apparently! It's two albums in one, the New Order tracks and the filler, Electronic leftovers tacked on so that they could meet their commitment to Warners. Regret, Everyone Everywhere, Ruined, Special and the Price of Love were the ones that featured all/most of the band.

They weren't a happy bunch around this time, and it shows. Bernard's bitterness towards Tony Wilson was never more blatant, there was infighting over the demise of Factory, and it was all a bit poo, with only Regret as the shining light that cut through all the acrimony.

Ah ok, thanks for the input. Regret is not my favourite NO album but I still like it much better than Get Ready which didn't sound very New Ordery to me except for the bass. The beat and Barney's singing was very different than what I'm used to and I can't say that I like it too much. I'm glad that with WFTSC, they went back to their sound.

I think what you're all trying to say is its too commercial, it sounds like the Pet Shop Boys with Sumner on the mic. Its not that bad, just suffered from being the one after Technique add to that Tim's comments about Factory its amazing it actually happened. Every NO album has some iffy stuff on.

Regret+Ruined in a day+Everyone everywhere

not bothered with the rest of it :nope:

NObabe wrote: Regret+Ruined in a day+Everyone everywhere

not bothered with the rest of it :nope:

What about Special?

If Regret b/w Special had been released as a single-only it would rival True Faith/1963.

NO Regret wrote:

EdelBrock wrote: Two best things about this album is Barney's lyrics, and that you can clearly hear a seperation between instuments (that wasn't on the prior albums). A personal fav, but mainly because it reminds me of my Summer vacation Between junior/senior year, I played that album non-stop. Great times, surfing, driving my 62 Merc, had a hot girlfriend, ranked in the nation for running......I was on top of the world that summer.:)

PC&L and Technique are both sonically similar and you can hear separate instruments on both of these gems. CANT YOU?

Not to the clarity of Republic though, which I think only reflects the time and the technology available, not that it was completely intentional.

Ben wrote:

NObabe wrote: Regret+Ruined in a day+Everyone everywhere

not bothered with the rest of it :nope:

What about Special?

Great Tune....good lyrics too!!

Having listened to Republic lately, for me personally, I like Young Offender and Times Change a lot.

regret world

It does surprise me that Republic is not one of fan's favourite.

I just love that album, every single track. And it's one of my fave NO albums along with WFTSC.

It may not be one of New Order's "best", per se, but along with Technique & WFTSC, it's one of the few albums I am able to listen to throughout.

On Movement, I only listen to DNE, Truth, Chosen Time, and Denial. On PCL, I pretty much only listen to AOC, The Village, YSF and 586. On Low Life, I listen to LV, This Time of Night, maybe Sunrise and Face Up. On Brotherhood, only the B side + Paradise. On Get Ready, I listen to Vicious Streak, Primitive Notion and Someone Like You.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE New Order, and always will, but my biggest complaint is they don't have the LP output that other bands have...The Cure and DM have "Seventeen Seconds", "Faith", "Pornography", "Disintegration", "Black Celebration", "Violator" & "Songs of Faith and Devotion"....all these albums I am able to listen to without skipping any track. All these albums have a central theme, or at least they flow together in a cohesive manner. They are fully formed albums, whereas New Order (1980-1986) seems to (more often than not) half-heartedly record tracks they perform very well in a live setting. New Order (1989-Today), write, record & finally perform the songs, which lends itself to being more professional sounding, but all their albums have snoozers no matter what they do. Every "Vanishing Point" yields a "Guilty Partner", every "Special" yields a "Liar", etc. Very hit and miss is what I'm trying to say.

When I want a great singles collection, I pop in "Substance". When I want a great album experience, I'm afraid more often than not I go somewhere else.

republic ,dissapointed me with the lack of hookys bass,, waiting till track 7 for a teaser was a bit much.. individualy some of the songs are faves,,ruined in a day especialy. there was lots of hagling over were to record and who with ( preproduction credits on regret !!) the band couldt even remember how many tracks were on the album "13" ! no thats how many concerts your doing (g.g.) i remember taking the day off work for the radio 1 new order day(sic). could i get through to there phone line competition with 2 phones no i couldt ,,the prize ,,appear in a video. course there was also the drugs .

the "atmospher " was well summed up by there reading apearance ,, i realy thought that was the end when they walked of stage,, it just summed up the whole rumour mill from the last few years.

it was like water down the drain.

I've had a listen to Republic recently and looking at this thread I've drawn some conclusions. Trying not to repeat what everyone else has written Republic overall isn't a 'bad' album but it was made in very turbulent circumstances - most notably the fall out surrounding Factory's collapse and the resulting tension which may or may not have be evident in what became the end product. Moreover Republic's 'commercial' sounding production - IMO even more pop orientated than WFTSC, and Hooky's minimal involvement probably didn't endear it to JD/NO die hards and Spooky (the album mix not Fluke's remix which was f***ing excellent), Liar and Times Change have dated badly sounding almost like Electronic/Other Two outtakes. That said there are some gems on there. Regret is arguably one of NO's finest hours a perfect example of what they can come up with when everyone is firing on all cylinders. I'm also quite partial to Ruined In A Day, Special, Chemical, World - Price Of Love, Young Offender, Everyone Everywhere and Avalanche which although they're not necessarily classic's were reasonable efforts, contain most of the elements I like about NO and as some of you have said NO albums always mix their good, bad and ugly LOL! Overall a reasonable if sometimes patchy effort which was slightly tipped their Dance/Rock ideas more towards Dance music. Yes there was better Dance music - Hardfloor, Autchere, Fluke, LFO, FSOL, Massive Attack, Leftfield, Underworld, Orbital, Chems, Lionrock etc. being made at the time than what is represented here but in hindsight we can over analyse what could/could not have been an improvement - production, songs, technology and the atmosphere LOL upon Republic 14 or so years after the event. Cheers!

oldmonkey wrote: Well it's only New Order by name, isn't it? Hooky's not even on half the album, wasn't even in the studio when it was recorded apparently! It's two albums in one, the New Order tracks and the filler, Electronic leftovers tacked on so that they could meet their commitment to Warners. Regret, Everyone Everywhere, Ruined, Special and the Price of Love were the ones that featured all/most of the band.

They weren't a happy bunch around this time, and it shows. Bernard's bitterness towards Tony Wilson was never more blatant, there was infighting over the demise of Factory, and it was all a bit poo, with only Regret as the shining light that cut through all the acrimony.

The tracks above are deffo the best on the whole album but as OldMonkey says it's quite miraculous that even they managed to see the light of day given all the crap being flung from all quarters at that time. Best of the rest was Spooky(which had some other remixes done by Fluke, Tony Garcia and Paul Van Dyk which are far superior to the album mix)and Avalanche which highlights what could have been if Gillian had done lead vox on some of NO's stuff instead of Bernard.

Republic was one of the very first NO records I ever got. Mind you, I became a fan in 1995, and was very young, but had mainly bought it because of Regret at the time... and was still fairly new to everything NO. Didn't really like a lot of the songs, except of course Spooky, and Everyone Everywhere, and World.. but its quickly becoming one of my most top favorites now, after a long time not really listening much to the entire album. The muic is just beautiful, and a very different side to New Order.. a more emotionally mature approach, which is really cool, and I think it contains some of Barney's best lyrics and vocals. Very very different. Very soothing album in my opinion, too. New Order seem to have an album/song for every mood.

I dunno. I think the album's pretty underrated.

Ben wrote:

NObabe wrote: Regret+Ruined in a day+Everyone everywhere

not bothered with the rest of it :nope:

What about Special?

I think it's probably among their greatest songs ever, to be honest.

Didn't even really like it when I first heard it, and then suddenly later on, kaabam, then it hit me. I was like "why the hell'd I not like this before?" But hey, it happens, lol.