New Order week next week on Radcliffe and Maconie

DigitalWaters wrote:

Tokoloshe Man wrote: http://rapidshare.com/files/150149469/freebass.mp3.html

Bit like a slow DNE. Who is singing?

Tim Burgess.

Ponyboy wrote: He sounded most ill-at-ease after listening to a track, he seemed genuinely surprised at how good it sounded and talked about how he never listens to albums once they've been released.

It occurred to me that it must be shit to be Barney Sumner. No matter how good the lyrics, the guitars, the drums of the programming, the New Order sound will always be primarily defined by the sound of Hooky's bass.

The best work he could possibly produce without Hooky will never stand up to anything New Order did. It was true of Electronic and it will be true of Bad Neiltennant.

I wonder whether he feels this loss when him and his mate are writing words for new stuff, or whether he's daft enough to think that his share of the sum of those parts can be divided into anything that means much to anyone.

I humbly beg to disagree.

Hooky's bass is an important component of New Orders sound, but to most, including myself, not the signature.

New Order's signature sound is a combination of Bernard Sumner's distinctive voice and songwriting abilities (it is Barney who writes a lot of the actual music), Steven Morris's distinctive motorik drumming and his ability to create complex programmed sequences that combine polyrythms and melody, Gillian Gilbert's highly melodic and consise keyboard melodies (as well as her impressive lead guitar work on Dream Attack and her rythm guitar work on other tracks) and Peter Hooks distinctive lead bass playing.

THAT is what makes New Order's sound significant, important, timeless, and so so influential. Not just Peter Hook alone.

The songwriting itself is important and that is mainly down to Bernard Sumner. Listen to Electronic's first album, truly great songwriting on many of those tracks, and the majority of that music was written by Sumner. While the four members of the band jamming is brilliant, all members of New Order have stated in interviews that it is often Sumner who arranges the music, as well as coming up with many of the basic song ideas.

Steve and Gillian played a massive role in shaping New Order's sound due to thier grasp of programming, sequencing, and pretty synth melodies. Listen to the very first Other Two record and you will hear New Order there.

Peter Hook often put down his lead bass lines after the majority of the song was already written, putting lead lines down on melodies that had already been written by Sumner, Morris, or Gilbert. There are exceptions to this (Hooky wrote the sequenced bass line that became Touched by the Hand of God) but they are few.

And to my mind, Electronic's first album and the first Other Two album are better than anything that Revenge or Monaco put out.

Yes....Peter Hook is a great guy and he has an exquisite ear for lovely, gorgeous melodies, which is what makes his bass lines so awesome and so important for New Order. He is one of the all time great bass players because he changed the way people hear, see, and use the bass guitar. Hooky is very important in this respect.

But to say that that is what makes New Order distinctive? No way. It is a sum of all the parts that every member brought to the band.

Everyone I know who is a casual New Order fan likes New Order for the music itself, not just Hooky's bass.

Look at what makes Age of Consent great.

1. Great, catchy lead bass from Peter Hook.

2. Tight, perfectly tempoed dancey drums from Steve Morris.

3. Great impassioned vocal performance with touching lyrics from Bernard Sumner, as well as some great guitar playing from Sumner.

4. Huge, uplifting, utterly breathtaking and beautiful wall synth lines and melodies from Gillian Gilbert.

It takes all of them.

If the interviews were anything to go by then I can see why Bernard's put on a few pounds in recent years. He's been feeding off the great, big, fat chip on Hooky's shoulder...

nataliet wrote:

"I doubt it very much"

Ah well, no great surprise there, though I totally buy into the magic of The Secret, wishes coming true through positive thinking and all that... :D

It's like your parents getting divorced when you're grown- even though you want them back together, you just want them to be happy and take advantage of double birthdays and Christmas parties. Hopefully they'll both play sometime this summer, that'd be good enough for me!

BTW- an official hello to everyone; been lurking around but finally got over my crippling shyness.:)

Welcome Nataliet. I hope you enjoy your stay. Nice teeth by the way...