Weekly Song Review: Sooner Than You Think

1."Your country is a wonderful place..." 2.The very beginning; between the Perfect Kiss drum sounds and the somewhat weak keyboard melody, it sounds way too much like a throwaway b-side. 3.The lyrics in this song are really catchy, as is the chorus(then again, I think car alarms and radio static is catchy, so I'm not a very good judge on that..) 4.80%=x=85% 5....Root?

1. Best - the live openings from 1985-87, a different drum pattern.
2. Worst - the lyrics are rather shite, aren't they ?
3. Love/hate - used to look forward to this one at gigs, sadly no more.
4. Solid 75%
5. Fave brand of beer - Timothy Taylor's Porter. Haven't seen it around for years though sadly.

1. The performance on "Rock Around The Clock" 8/84
2. The live debut Brixton Academy 12/83
3. See 1 above
4. 60%
5. Tag Lag Ale from the Drunken Duck pub, Hawkshead, Cumbria.

1. That little breakdown in the middle of the song.
2. The first 10 seconds or so. I mean, c'mon! Laaazy.
3. Barney's actually being autobiographical, which is sort of weird and cool at the same time, like seeing your hot cousin naked.
4. A solid 75%-80%
5. At home in a bottle, JW Dundee's Honey Brown. Fucking brilliant cheap beer. In the pub, it depends. If I'm down at John Harvard and they have their Espresso Stout on tap, you'll see me with my own pitcher. Harpoon's Wit release in their 100 Barrels series was dead, dead good, but seems to be gone, sadly. While in Oregon, I consumed many pints of strong, strong beer that I enjoyed immensely.

(Go figure - I wrote more about Beer than New Order.)

best--the guitar and key sound off after the last chorus worst--Bernard still sounding like he is hitting puberty why I love it--it is an emotional and sad song. Loved it the first time I heard it. fave beir--Guiness

1, the last two minutes starting with the little drum pattern solo and Barney following it with his nice guitar melody.Sweet 2, 'Reasonable/ Seasonable' 3, Loved the 1984 gigs best and this was played on and off throughout and thought the 'Rock Around The Clock' effort was the only saving grace that day. 4, 87% 5, Any Lager really, not too strong as I can chuck my guts too easily! T.M.I!

1. It's on Low-life and almost all of the songs on that album are great.
2. The fact that some of the lyrics are kind of bad.
3. The song, when I first heard it, reminded me too much of "Sunrise," although now it seems completely distinct, although the lyrics aren't as good as "Sunrise". The song's on Low-life, which is the album I always pop in as I'm getting ready to go out, but I always start with "TTON".
4. 80%
5. Root beer and birch beer.

Parts I like the best include the instrumental break in the middle, Hooky, and the "Your country is...." line.

Worst thing is some of Barney's singing.

A decent enough song, not my fave from Low-life though.

Rating of 60%

Current fave beer is Foster's Bitter, although "Free" is a close second :) Tried Stella in Seattle at some bar we found w/Brian, Shug and Don (sorry Jeff); very good indeed, though I only had time for one bottle :(

1. "Hello everyone, it's nice to be here"
2. No worst bit - its bloody flawless.
3. Genuinely think this is one of Barney's most perfect lyrics, in that it's incredibly vague but somehow absolutely spot-on. It's probably about the banality of touring and meet 'n' greet, but still manages to transcened rock star whinging. Oh, and its about being an alcoholic as well.
4. 95%
5. After several years flirting with Stella, I've decided that I'd rather be a boy and remember stuff than a man whose memory gets pissed against the wall (the picture on the left is proof of what Stella can do if you're not careful: worse than smack - mark my words!). So, back on the Guinness these days.

Ref. my fave beer, check this out:

A quality beer brewed in a quality location!

Best bit: When the synths drop in and Barney begins to sing Worst bit: Just the conga's in the beginning Why love it: I played it a lot after my relationship broke up, so I kinda got emotionally attached to it percentage: 95 percent Beer: i don't drink

And for the people who want the MIDI of it, I made it myself... though i don't believe there's a person who would want it

http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/molkoholic/New\_Order.mid

1. Keyboard work in the middle with the slight pauses.
2. Too much like the Perfect Kiss at the beginning.
3. Simply like it, but love Low-Life.
5. Fat Tire.

Originally posted by ShugZV© 1 Rock Around The Clock performance IS definitely the best version of this song, thank fuck they were in a bad mood that day and had to choose different songs to play. Definitely agree with me ole mucker Marko on this

Two minds think as one . Nice one Shugster.

"It pales my England into disgrace" Is this the reason why some of you think the lyrics are shite?

But to what country compares Barney his England?

Originally posted by Bas van Duren "It pales my England into disgrace" Is this the reason why some of you think the lyrics are shite? But to what country compares Barney his England?

The original lyrics were "Switzerland is a wonderful place, it pales my England into disgrace", as they were playing it for the first time with lyrics in Zurich. He later changed it to "your country" as the April 84 tour took in other countries.

To further answer your question though, no, the lyrics are shite because they are cheesy rhymes, nothing to do with any misplaced patriotism. England is a shit place to live, we will nearly all agree on that. Patriotism only surfaces when the English are abroad !!

Originally posted by Al Jarvis > Originally posted by Reg Bumswizle> England is a shit place to live

It is when you live in SOUTH London, Tim! :D

I take exception to that! :(

Marko from SW18 :)

1 best bit. the toy piano on the intro,not heard a toy piano on a song since,nice one. 2 95% 3 oh its just a cracking tune cmon.

Switerland is a wonderful place I have mostly been drinking Kronenbourg and Stella lately.

Originally posted by Spotnick This week's review is.. Sooner Than You Think

Hi Nicolas Do you recieve the video?

Best bit is the instrumentation on the intro. Nice build up. Worse bit is the line ending "seasonable" (pronounced seizable). Uttely lazy lyrics. I love this song as its one of my favourites off the brilliant Low-Life Album. Id give it 80%. Favourite beer is San Miguel.

1. the 2nd half where the layers are all going and active, the end is nice too
2. synth bit sounds a bit dated at the beginning but gets better as the song continues
3. i never used to listen to it, but it grew on me once i got past the first minute or so
4. 76%
5. i don't drink the stuff typically, but icehouse reminds me of my high school years (the extra 0.5% alcohol is where it's at!).

Best bit: "Hello everyone, it's nice to be here" Worst bit: The hotel party bit
Why I like it: It's OK Percentage rating: 70% Fave beer: I don't like beer

Best Bit- mad lyrics Worst bit- Bernard you cannot sing man rating 65%

1. The best bit: The guitar stabs right after "You know what I mean", the synth vs. guitar parts at the end
2. The worst bit: Album version recycled drum pattern
3. Why you love/hate it: One of the first LowLife proper songs that I've heard, not even knowing the name of it. (Assumed it was "Face Up" for weeks )
4. A percentage rating: 89%
5. What's your favorite brand of beer? Labatts, Heiniekin (sic), Corona w/ lime

part of a great album maybe not the best part ? ? on the wagon for now, however before Grolsch

Originally posted by Al Jarvis > Originally posted by Reg Bumswizle> England is a shit place to live

It is when you live in SOUTH London, Tim! :D

Its shit anywhere down south.

1. Hello everyone its nice to be here.
2. The fight in the hotel that followed.
3. its on Low-Life,so fookin love it.
4. 1 eighth of perfect.
5. ...?

1. The synth part at the beginning.
2. The very first part.
3. The story reminds me a situation I had "we had a party in our hotel last night, it ended up in an awful fight..." My story was not that terrible, but not too far away from it.
4. 78 %
5. I don't like beer that much, anyway I prefer light ones.

Best Bit: The instrumental break after Barney finishes singing the chorus for the last time, I just love the transition from slow even pacing to a gradually building, ripping bit of guitar playing. Also like the lyrics a lot (particularly the chorus, and the last few verses).

Worst Bit: Nothing, I like all of it.

Why I love it: Doesn't really sound like anything else they've done, to me, the drum pattern is really unusual, and the transition from the vocal section to the instrumental conclusion is really quite dynamic, particularly as it picks up speed. I also like the intro unlike others, it seems delicate, fragile and yet kind of warm.

Percentage Rating: 90%

Best Beer: I'm partial to Corona, Paulaner Hefeweizen, and Hoegarten.

I still remember the first time I heard this. BBC2 ran an all night music marathon back in the 1980s one Saturday/Sunday, which was reveloutionary at the time.

Neworder played a 30 minute set live from a recording studio and it has sadly never been repeated to the best of my knowledge. The first song they played was STYT. The album Low Life hadn't been released at the time and so it was pretty exciting to hear the new stuff.

I don't really get this worst part business. What can possibly be bad at any point in this song?

Shelly said she thought the "Hotel bit" was the worst. Early live versions had different lyrics. "My wife left me and my child too." Should have kepted it.

1. The best bit - nice synth and guitar. It comes after Elegia and before Subculture two of my all-time favorite NO songs.
2. The worst bit - kinda a sleeper song
3. Why you love/hate it - I have my Low-Life album on cassette tape, so it's a good transition song from Elegia to Subculture.
4. A percentage rating - B- (B minus)
5. What's your favorite brand of beer? - A&W Root Beer

Indeed*!*