Twisted Tenderness and Music for Pleasure — Forum Archive

14 Oct 2002, 00:40

Got both of these recently... had really given up on the guys by the mid90s, but now i'm looking back to see what they did...

Been trying to listen to Twisted Tenderness... the first track is a corker, then i pretty much lose interest quickly. It sounds like a concept album by Bernard, very personal stuff about his life buried in the mix...???, very much in contrast to Get Ready. i wonder who decided that the world wanted/needed a Twisted tenderness:Deluxe? i guess its a good deal, but i got the single disc with the cool cover. I pretty much gave up after Raise the Pressure, what a waste of their time, and it sounded like they put alot of time into it.

Music for Pleasure is nice if mostly totally pointless, but has Hooky's beautiful bass playing all other the damn thing, thou it shows no real urgent songwriting, it is all over the place as if they are more bored than feel the real need to create music... there seems to be some obvious Oasis and Blur imitation, as well as a straight-up gay disco song and a 1997 era trance song "junk" that could be sampling a hundred faceless trance songs and nobody would know the difference, as well as rewrites of old New Order... well, i guess it was for Hook's pleasure, so as long as he had fun, i give it a mild thumb up.

14 Oct 2002, 00:44

twisted tenderness is an improvement than raise the pressure. it's a good record, but it's got some duds. especially in the middle where you get some really boring beats and silly lyrics.

music for pleasure, i heard bits of it, and i don't think it's a goner. definitely stronger than raise the pressure.

14 Oct 2002, 00:55

Well, seriously, both Monaco albums are very good albums that you continue to like with time.. I can seriously say that, but it's not something I'm listening frequently.

But with the time, I know their are solid albums, since Hooky's bass is what hooked me ( :lol: ) to New Order, it's just normal for me.

Twisted Tenderness is not bad, but it's not great, but it's filled with many good songs.. but it was rushed because New Order were getting together again, so .. :D

But it was a solid substitute for New Order when they were on their break.

19 Oct 2002, 15:54

,,, Music for Pleasure gets getting stuck in my brain, i keep wanting to play it... the bass melody for "Shine" keeps running thru my mind... i like the first two tracks and the last two tracks best... Sweet Lips is one damn weird song thou... i find Potts lyrics overall to be very uninteresting and boring thou

went ahead and ordered Monaco's second album now

19 Oct 2002, 20:06

:nonono:

They're good albums in their own right IDK. And maybe they were bored and jus wanted somethin' to do. Who gives a sheet if it doesn't sound "urgent".

It's music...not science.

20 Oct 2002, 09:27

I really liked 'MFP', though was disappointed with 'Monaco'. 'Twisted Tenderness' was, IMHO the best thing that Electronic did. However, I don't think any of these albums match up to any New Order release (yes, even Movement).

If I'd never heard New Order, I think that I'd find the side projects to be some of the best albums released in the last few years though, so it comes down to comparison really and what we have all come to expect from New Order members.

Also, the 'Other Two' album was pretty good for the type of music it was - compare the ideas on that album to other synth-pop offerings, and although it's quite plastic-happy-pop its still (mostly) very well done. It reminded me of a duo from the mid 80's - Sophie & Peter Johnston. Anyone heard of them?

:beer:

20 Oct 2002, 10:05

Originally posted by Chris Nash I really liked 'MFP', though was disappointed with 'Monaco'.

i hated 'Monaco' when i first got it. i don't think it is very new ordery (apart from IGAF and Black Rain) which i suppose was a bit of a shock. Then i put it on again after a month or so and i loved it, and now play it pretty regularly - stick with it mate.

i never got the second other two album coz i didnt like the first and as for Electronic i can't make my mind up which is the best album.

I don't think the monaco albums will date as badly as the first two Electronic albums. Ive not listened to Twisted Tenderness for ages but do listen to (parts of) Raise The Pressure quite a lot and i played Electronic to death when it came out so don't really bother with that anymore.

i think every thread on this will always come back to the fact that the New Order albums piss all over the lot of the others.

20 Oct 2002, 13:17

I actually all of Electronics album's were quite good. In fact when a bought Raise The Pressure it was in my regular rotation for months. Haven't listened to it for a while but I still pull out the first record and Twisted.. from time to time.

I also thought MFP was good. I will do myself a favour and pick up "Monaco"

20 Oct 2002, 19:49

I have all the various side project's albums - and I think the second Other Two album is a vast improvement on the rather aneamic first offering. Electronic probably shot their creative bolt with that massively successful first eponymous album but tried to change tack after the disappointing second album with "Twisted Tenderness" (by rocking out big time) without quite pulling it off.

Monaco's first album was very good......some of the melodies are just as good as any prime NO - stuff like "Shine", "Happy Jack" and "WDYWFM?"......their second one was a bit bland and forgettable save for two tracks or so. The good thing about "Music For Pleasure" was its timing. It arrived slap bang in the middle of the eight year gap between "Republic" and "Get Ready" and thus the reason why it did so well (didn't it almost scrape the top 10 ?) was possibly because New Order fans really missed hearing Hooky's bass sound and dodgy lyrical shortcomings, so the album perhaps acted as a surrogate "stop-gap" in the absence of bona-fide NO material. So "MFP" was as good and capable a substitute for the lack of "proper" New Order as any - whilst the two Electronic albums weren't so distinctive without THAT bass sound I suppose.

Tellingly, when "Monaco" stiffed that was probably due to a mixture of indifference and growing anticipation for the New Order album that was just around the corner....so fans who bought "MFP" and didn't take so warmly to the follow-up were by now saving themselves for the return of the real deal.

21 Oct 2002, 04:05

Originally posted by Chris Nash It reminded me of a duo from the mid 80's - Sophie & Peter Johnston. Anyone heard of them?

Gawd, I'd forgotten all about them ! Peel days of early-mid 80s.....

21 Oct 2002, 04:08

I've always thought (tongue in cheek)that most of "Music For Pleasure" was New Order stuff (written by Hooky) that Barney didn't want on his "Republic" ;)

WDYWFM and Shine are classic New Order with a different name, and I'd struggle to say the same for more than two or three Electronic songs.

21 Oct 2002, 14:09

Originally posted by Benny's Cobweb Eyes I've always thought (tongue in cheek)that most of "Music For Pleasure" was New Order stuff (written by Hooky) that Barney didn't want on his "Republic" ;)WDYWFM and Shine are classic New Order with a different name, and I'd struggle to say the same for more than two or three Electronic songs.

There are a few tracks I'd like New Order to "Cover", WDYWFM, Shine, Kashmere, It's a Boy, Twisted Tenderness, Forbidden City (imagine that with Hooky) and Freefall...

It would be great, it will never happen, but there is quite a few gems on the side projects, but it was a good fix for having no New Order stuff for 8 years.

Electronic's first album was quite good, the colaboration with the Pet Shop Boys was interesting, Getting Away With It is a great track, Raise The Pressure was ok, but it was not great, I had my share of the dance tracks and the whining tracks at the end, but for all those tracks there was a Freefall, a Forbidden City and a For You, so it has quite good songs.

Twisted Tenderness is good, but there is some tracks that I still have problem with, like Can't Find My Way Home, Breakdown and Flicker.. Flicker is something that I began liking, but it's not my favorite at all.. I just don't understand why Twisted Tenderness wasn't remixes and released, because it is the outstanding track of this album...

For Monaco, finding that Peter is not bad at all on vocals and have a very cool voice actually was a bit of a surprise, and finding David Potts sounded just like Barney was also quite a surprise :D at least on WDYWFM..

The Other Two.. I REALLY like Selfish, Tasty Fish was ok, nothing much, but the rest of the album never interested me.. Superhighways on the other hand, the only track I really can't stand anymore is You Can Fly.. but I like The River, Superhighways, Weird Woman, Ripple.. quite good songs to listen once in a while.

The fact being, you can clearly see there is a lot of creative minds in New Order.. too much for the so few material they have released... fortunatly they managed to use the 1990s to release a LOT of material.. there is 8.5 side-project albums.. this is more than New Order !! (0.5 being Gun World Porn)

21 Oct 2002, 14:14

Oh yeah, add Prodigal Son to this list.. don't ask me why, but after TT, this is my favorite track on the album, I just love Johnny Marr's solo near the end...

21 Oct 2002, 15:33

I've never really got into Electronic, and apart from Getting Away With It, which is a masterpiece, I only really like Vivid, which is top banana.

21 Oct 2002, 18:51

And I also forgot Happy Jack, great tune :D

21 Oct 2002, 19:05

Originally posted by Spotnick [quoteFor Monaco, finding that Peter is not bad at all on vocals and have a very cool voice actually was a bit of a surprise, and finding David Potts sounded just like Barney was also quite a surprise :D at least on WDYWFM..

yeah, monaco suffered from a lot of new order comparisons didn't they? which is funny, cuz electronic never really had a lot of new order comparisons...i blame it on pottsy, he must have fooled some people temporarily in thinking WDYWFM was a new order song.:D

21 Oct 2002, 19:28

Well, it obviously paid off rather handsomely then, cos it was quite a big hit wasn't it? Well, in the UK at least. Which surprised me at any rate.

It even got played loads on Radio One, which was incredible!

21 Oct 2002, 20:02

When I first heard 'Get Ready' I thought that 'Vivid' would have fit in quite well with the whole album. Remove the 'Get Ready' track that's your least favourite and insert 'Vivid'.

Hic...dum...dum...dum...another one bites the bust.

sorry.

:beer: <~~~talkin'

22 Oct 2002, 16:06

Wouldn't that make "Get Ready" a mere six tracks long then?? A Mini-album!!

22 Oct 2002, 16:18

Originally posted by Benny's Cobweb Eyes WDYWFM and Shine are classic New Order with a different name, and I'd struggle to say the same for more than two or three Electronic songs.

I agree with the first part, totally disagree with the other bit though;) Some Distant Memory, Try All You Want woulda (shoulda) been the next NO album had they not split up, they follow on nicely with tracks written in the same vein (Loveless, All The Way, Vanishing Point) Raise The Pressure IMO was poor, except fer a couple of classics (including Forbidden City, which woulda made another great NO track) as fer TT, Vivid to me, sounds like one of the best New Order songs they never did, you could also add Haze to that, that woulda been a slightly different RTS on GR :nod: and TT coulda been SLY....am I right?......course I am:D