Which New Order side project do you like the most?

14 Mar 2013, 09:33 · edited 14 Mar 2013, 09:38

My favorite, by a slim margin, goes to Monaco...this might be because Monaco sounds the most like New Order or because I'm a bassist who's in absolute awe of Hook's bass lines and style. I should've liked Freebass the most based on my tastes but it just doesn't live up to the concept or potential; still It's a Beautiful Life has what I think were some brilliant and engaging songs towards the middle of the album.

The Other Two was a close runner up;; I'm a sucker for dreamy, poppy atmospherics but given an extended listen the sound plays itself out.

My apologies if this has been done before, the search function of the forums isn't working.

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14 Mar 2013, 09:59

Gone with Cap'n Barney sailing the good Electronic ship, me hearties. Bunbury Cup racing today, pissed down ina nd out. [;)]

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14 Mar 2013, 17:16

Electronic - one v good, one v shite, one good Revenge / Monaco - one v shite, one v good, one good Other Two - nothing for me. Colourless instrumentals and Stock-Aitken-Waterman synthpap. Freebass - yes to the album, no to the EP Bad Lieutenant - yes, the odd stinker (Dynamo) but enough quality to make it a worthwhile release

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14 Mar 2013, 18:09 · edited 14 Mar 2013, 19:20

Electronic and Monaco equally so I'll refrain from voting.

Monaco released my favourite side project album overall (Music For Pleasure) but Electronic had two superb albums (1 & 3) plus some great b-sides in between. Monaco circa 1997/8 were at the top of their game but began to falter after an average(ish) second album then everything abruptly fizzled out when New Order reformed. Electronic had a fairly consistent run of quality across their career with only Raise The Pressure sounding a bit laboured and overproduced but even it had some great tracks. I'm a big fan of Twisted Tenderness so for me they ended things on a high.

Revenge I always took with a pinch of salt because their album just seemed like an excuse to go gigging rather than make lasting music though the Gun World Porn EP is a hidden gem. State of Shock is one of the finest songs of any side project and the first "classic" of the Hook/Potts partnership. I'm pretty ambivalent towards The Other Two, admittedly they did some good synthpop type stuff but a lot of their material was tough to get really excited about. Super Highways wasn't a bad record though, if you were lucky enough to actually find a copy at the time...

I'd file Bad Lieutenant with Electronic for obvious reasons; it was a decent album but perhaps not as strong as the stuff Bernard did with Marr a decade earlier. I think after a decade of guitar driven tracks the fans were starting to get bored of the lack of variation in that sound. The gigs were great fun though (Paris!).

The only one I really didn't take to was Freebass; the name, the concept, the hype... bits of the EP was listenable but the LP was er, not.

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14 Mar 2013, 18:41

Sound analysis (tee hee) from the Mod as usual. The only point I'd disagree on is Freebass - they took bleeding years then when I heard that EP I thought go fuck yourselves up the collective asses with a tennis racket daubed in nitric acid to the beat of I Feel Love. But I do like the album - not a classic but some nice stuff in there. With classic logic one of my fave Freebass trax The Tower was relegated to Myspace and then disappeared forever!

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14 Mar 2013, 19:50

Electronic by far. Their first album is nothing short of a masterpiece. Monaco's debut also had 1 excellent song.

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15 Mar 2013, 11:43

Favourite albums, probably in reverse order...

Monaco's second album. Other Two's second album. Electronic's first album.

There are LOADS of ACE tracks elsewhere though...

Higher Than A Skyscraper Shoot Speed / Kill Light Twist of Fate God Machine Sedona Imitation of Life Blunts & Robots What Do You Want From Me Warning Sign How Long 14K Movin' On Wish Upon A Dog Star Swing Robot The Next Time Didn't Know What Love Was Barfly Out of Control Dreamstalker This Time I'm Not Wrong Spanish Heart Big Bang Theme from Devil Hopping Visit Me Becoming the Wrath Jonno and Sean You Don't Know (This About Me) Miracle Cure Bicycle Thief True to Form Vivid This is Home Free Will

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15 Mar 2013, 11:53

ELECTRONIC + BAD LIEUTENANT

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15 Mar 2013, 12:04

Dear Kelvin, I recognise all those titles except The Next Time. Do tell.

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15 Mar 2013, 13:32

Michael Monkhouse wrote: Dear Kelvin, I recognise all those titles except The Next Time. Do tell.

The Durutti Column : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrZn1FHtRY8

The did a few gigs together as well, which were amazing, including more tunes they wrote to play live, but didn't record. Damn musicians making music for pleasure... = ;87)

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15 Mar 2013, 13:52

Thank you Sir. I remember reading about this but it always managed to elude me!

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15 Mar 2013, 15:53

I'd say Monaco's MFP is my favourite side proj album, probably because it was the most Newordery thing we'd had since Regret.

The rest of Mr Hook's output fails to get anywhere near this peak again.

Barney's Electronic (&BL) output has been consistently better than the other stuff from Mr Hook.

And I just love the Other Two, even if their 'solo' output doesn't eclipse the others'.

It was an easy decision to vote for Barney & Electronic though, because as good as the music on MFP remains, the man is sadly diminished in my eyes.

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15 Mar 2013, 17:15

Electronic i guess, for that first album alone. Don't listen to it these days but fond memories of when it came out, Melody Maker heralding it as the greatest album ever made, which it really did feel like at the time, drove up and down Blackpool sea front blasting it out the car stereo at start of summer 1991, oh dear lol

Other Two had their moments, Selfish was great and Superhighways title track.

Monaco's Music For Pleasure was great , from memory, haven't played it in ages

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15 Mar 2013, 19:46

Monaco and Electronic, can't split the two, both would have been better if they were new order though.

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16 Mar 2013, 17:35

Electronic for me, none of the others quite hit me the same as they did.

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24 Mar 2013, 22:25

I listen to Electronic waaaaaaay more than any other of the side projects. I was just thinking the other day that many of their BSides are even better than some of the other side project works.

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25 Mar 2013, 13:18

I think I must be the only one who likes Raise The Pressure.

The first album has a couple of brilliant tracks, but a lot are poor (heresy I know in these parts).

The third has 4 or 5 of decent tracks, but also has a fair amount of shit too. Sounds grungy too.

The second is not perfect, but is as good as any of the other collected side project material. Over produced? Maybe, but I quite like the polish.

Shame about the drivel written inside the sleeve though. I only read it once and it hurt my brain.

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25 Mar 2013, 14:33

UpDownTurnAround wrote: I was just thinking the other day that many of [Electronic's] BSides are even better than some of the other side project works.

That's not a bad shout.

I listened to all 3 Electronic albums back to back the other day and really enjoyed them all - even remembering most of the lyrics.

Great music.

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25 Mar 2013, 15:30 · edited 25 Mar 2013, 15:31

Blue 5 wrote: I think I must be the only one who likes Raise The Pressure.

I think also it's a (mostly) fine album but if I take a detached step back I can see why it got some of the flak it did at the time.

It's a bit overly long at 13 songs, some of the songs are saturated with unnecessary female backing vocals and the obsessive production does suck the life out of a few songs. "If You've Got Love" is perhaps the worst Electronic song ever, very few redeeming features in my opinion. Finally, god knows why they consigned so many good tracks to b-side status, I'm talking about Imitation Of Life, I Feel Alright etc.

It's the type of album if you sit down with the original track listing, all the b-sides and aim for a max amount of 10 songs you could create a playlist for how the album should have been. The parts were there, it just wasn't assembled as well as it could have been. As singles though, Forbidden City & For You still sound incredibly fresh 17 years on.

Twisted Tenderness was much more consistent quality-wise.

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28 Mar 2013, 01:10

Blue 5 wrote: I think I must be the only one who likes Raise The Pressure.

The first album has a couple of brilliant tracks, but a lot are poor (heresy I know in these parts).

The third has 4 or 5 of decent tracks, but also has a fair amount of shit too. Sounds grungy too.

The second is not perfect, but is as good as any of the other collected side project material. Over produced? Maybe, but I quite like the polish.

Shame about the drivel written inside the sleeve though. I only read it once and it hurt my brain.

RTP is my favourite electronic album. There is an excess of cheese here and there, but with a bit of tweaking it could easily have been a sequel to Technique.

I hated Twisted Tenderness to begin with, but after a few listens I grew to love it; probably joint second with the first album for me - if that makes any sense.

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28 Mar 2013, 15:30

Kelvin wrote:

Michael Monkhouse wrote: Dear Kelvin, I recognise all those titles except The Next Time. Do tell.

The Durutti Column : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrZn1FHtRY8

The did a few gigs together as well, which were amazing, including more tunes they wrote to play live, but didn't record. Damn musicians making music for pleasure... = ;87)

One of the many curious things about NO is they're notoriously unproductive as a unit - even in their heyday, 8 trax was a full album - but they've done loadsa stuff outside of the group, esp the other other two. I don't just mean the 'solo projects' which've been done to death, I mean... Check http://www.horae.dti.ne.jp/~ouchman/BeMusic.html

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28 Mar 2013, 20:53

They like making music more than they like working together?

Some great stuff on that list that people should check out if they haven't already; love the NIN mixes.

The one big surprise for me there was "Crossing the Border" which I've always loved, despite not liking much else by Martland (he seems to be big on good ideas, but small on emotions normally). Anyway, dug out the CD, and sure enough, Steve Morris has his name amoungst the musicians! I'd never noticed.

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29 Mar 2013, 13:07

TOT - I love both albums (Innocence is probably my fave track at the moment)

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📊Which New Order side project do you like the most?