Brotherhood: do the smothered vocals ruin it?

I was listening to Brotherhood for the first time in quite a while last night, and once again the very "smothered" way the vocals are mixed, for me, basically ruins the whole thing. Am I the only one who feels this way? On earlier threads, this quality has sometimes been called "muddiness" or "singing under water."

Smothered vocals...i think Bernard was doing too much of the 'Devils Dandruff' and had sore throat...hung-over...fucked off with Hookey...missis wanted a divorce...all good reasons for smothered vocals.

It's not the way he was singing; it's the way his singing was mixed.

In the absence of a "Leave it alone, it's a fucking good album" button, I have opted for the "no they don't" option. One of my fave NO recordings, despite the abundant Charlie or otherwise used. It maybe naive, but is it possible they were just experimenting with mixing techniques? CTB

Originally posted by CTB In the absence of a "Leave it alone, it's a fucking good album" button, I have opted for the "no they don't" option. One of my fave NO recordings, despite the abundant Charlie or otherwise used. It maybe naive, but is it possible they were just experimenting with mixing techniques?CTB

I think perhaps you didn't actually vote; there are only two as of now.

Originally posted by Patrick > Originally posted by CTB> In the absence of a "Leave it alone, it's a fucking good album" button, I have opted for the "no they don't" option. One of my fave NO recordings, despite the abundant Charlie or otherwise used. It maybe naive, but is it possible they were just experimenting with mixing techniques?> CTB>

I think perhaps you didn't actually vote; there are only two as of now.

No, I voted. It's showing me the stats now, not the options to vote.

Well, then, I guess D.C. didn't vote. The stats I see are 50/50.

are you refering to the first two tracks with the multitracked vocals? i've always kinda liked them.

i've never really had an issue ... i think this is how Barney wanted to sound during this period.

I don't like this album much, but it's definitely not beacause of the sound or the mixing. It's because of the songs themselves, which I find rather average compared to New Order standards except for a few, and because of the production.

I like the way the vocals sound on that record. The drum sounds have some issues though, and the bass could be louder in the mix.

Except for "Paradise", the A-side sounds too, I dunno, light for my taste. I don't know if this has to do with production and/or songwriting, but I often find myself skipping from the opener right to "BLT"

Although not a flawless album it is very good, ranking 3rd on my new order album list.

I like the first side quite a lot, I love Weirdo and Way Of Life and As It Is When It Was and Broken Promise is also good.

The only problem is really my copy has fucking state of the nation on it.

I am glad I found a copy of PCL without Blue Monday (nothing against the song, just it wasnt on the original so no point to tag it on now).

The production gets a bit dense, my main gripe would be the inferior mix of BLT, the production for THAT track wasnt right.

Cheers ALEX

It's not the vocals for me, it's just got too many songs I don't like on it.....All Day Long, Every Little Counts, Paradise, Way of Life, Weirdo......half the album falls in my all-time New Order worst 10 tracks !

My favourite album smothered vocals or no smothered vocals!!

I love Brotherhood. I think the different vocal techniques that Barney was using make the album a very good example of the growth of the band. My Favorite....