Write Your Own Album Review

OK peeps, just a little something to get your creative juices flowing. Try your hand at writing a review of any NO album and post it up on the board. It'll be interesting to see how similar (or different) everyone's views on particular albums are. Here's my review of Technique to start you off:

"The best description I can come up with for this is a summer holiday on CD. Every track conjures up images of times of day and certain situations you might find yourself in while in some hot, sunny land. The fact that New Order made this album while in Ibiza (lucky devils) bears itself out in the vibe of the whole thing.

The completely bonkers Fine time is the sound of beer and ice lollies in an open-air cafe at noon, while All the way is perfect for sitting by the pool at 9 a.m. with your face turned up to the sun. Love less is a mid-afternoon strum-and-hum-along thing, best heard while on the beach. Round & round is a 6 p.m. / early evening groover, Guilty partner is sunset material (ideal for singing to the object of a failed holiday romance), and Run is built for eating your dinner at dusk while looking out over the bay from your table.

Mr disco and Vanishing point go with the early afternoon like strawberries go with cream and the closing beauty that is Dream attack (my personal favourite) is another poolside tune, this time best suited to 11 a.m. while lying back with your eyes closed. All the time, the melodies (some of New Order's best) carry you along and get you moving in some manner, whether tapping your feet, swaying, or dancing. The lyrics have the dual effect of making you think and getting you singing. And Bernard Sumner's vocals are sublime, grabbing your attention and not letting go until the last note dies away.

Superb stuff, in short - the perfect holiday soundtrack. Whether you're going to Ibiza, Tenerife or Mexico (where I road-tested this in July 2000), make sure you have this CD in your case."

Movement - the sound of a band who don't know which way to go yet. Part new Joy Division song (in style of composition at least), part brave new dimension, it all sounds as though they didn't quite want to surface just yet. The record reflects the live scenario very well, a band slightly unsure of how to carry on as themselves. Two ways to turn, which way to go ?

I reviewed the (best of) a year ago for my high school paper, but the article was a dual review of that and Smashing Pumpkins' Greatest Hits/Judas O. I'll see if I can find it, since most of the article was about NO.

Originally posted by Who is this man that follows me? I reviewed the (best of) a year ago for my high school paper, but the article was a dual review of that and Smashing Pumpkins' Greatest Hits/Judas O. I'll see if I can find it, since most of the article was about NO.

Sounds cool; post it up when you've found it.

I did one for Unknown Pleasures about a year ago, for Amazon.com. They CLAIM to own all reviews posted there, but they can't stop me cutting and pasting it!

Here 'tis:

(five stars, december '02)

"In my opinion, this is THE essential post-punk LP. In Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, Manchester had its answer to the overflow that London started with the basic chords of punk and the Sex Pistols. Joy Division were the full meating of Bowie-influenced ambience and disregard for conventional music as punk exemplified.

Joy Division formed in 1977, one of the many second-rate thrash acts to come into being after the Sex Pistol's legendary gigs a year earlier. They were rough, but they began to form a cohesive unit by 1978, developing their own sound in the relative isolation of their native Manchester. Finally able to record for the legendary RCA (which had Curtis' idol David Bowie on its label), the band found their recordings were already dated by the time the album was finished, and a parting of the ways allowed them to sign with Tony Wilson's upstart Factory Records.

Unknown Pleasures, the first fruit of that meeting, came out in June 1979 and marked a break with the aggresive posturing of punk. Instead of spitting on his audience and barraging them with incomprehensible lyrics, Curtis instead spoke slowly, enuciating the angst of post-Pistols England, where Thatcher was the new power and things went from bleak to worse. The Falklands War was only a few years away, and the young people of England were fearful of being used as so much cannon fodder for an uncaring government. It is only in this enviroment that protest music can flourish, but Joy Division did not protest, they merely articulated the fear underneath the surface.

The songs are incredible, full of energy even on the slower numbers. Martin Hannett's producing was cited by the band as "ruining" their sound, but to the casual fan no such crime is commited.

All in all, this is high on the list of great debut albums, and it is rendered more poignant by the fact that they would only record one more album, released almost exactly a year later, after Ian Curtis took his own life. But back in 1979, on this record, Joy Division have never sounded more alive. Buy this album now. Quit wasting your time with pop records, this is the real thing. U2 learned all they know from the boys from Manchester, and this album is a perfect primer for any upstart wannabe rock band. More than that, it is a road map to the mind of Britain in the Thattcher age."

I like Get Ready, it is very, very good. Crystal is good. In summary: good.

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(The rest of) New Order: All you need know...

Tabsy, nice, I remember reading that on Amazon! (every so often I check to see if anyone's had anything interesting to say on the subject lately. What a geek I am.)

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Found my article.

Republic: the after-dinner music for bulemics.

I'll get around to fixing it or making it larger, at least.