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Le Monde
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF LE MONDE'S REVIEW OF THE FIRST PARIS SHOW AVAILABLE HERE
Our contributor Philip Nash has kindly provided this translation of Le Monde's review of the first Paris show::
Never, in thirteen years of existence, has the Festival des Inrockutiples
offered such a prestigious group at the head of its programe as New Order.
The event being set for two consecutive nights the 11th and 12th of
September at Olympia. In the smaller game of depreciated “support acts” it’s
the Canadian Hawksley Workman who does best, with a showmans talent inspired
by cabaret, extrovert ballades and the decadence of glam rock
But the desires of the fans all inclined towards this English group, absent
from the Paris stage since 1987. At the time New Order had a reputation as
an erratic group in concert. From their punk roots they kept a provocative
and anarchic concept of performing on stage. A new album, Get Ready, their
first for eight years proved that far from being a mothballed legend, the
Manchester quartet still breathed deeply.
This gourmet collective is evident in Crystal, starting point and recent
single. Imposing sound, electric energy ,alchemy preserved between the
moving charges of bassist Peter Hook, the linear strikes of drummer Stephen
Morris and the eternal adolescent spleen of singer-guitarist Bernard
Sumner.
New Order propel their songs like a true rock group, sensitive to the gang
culture. A tendency accentuated today by the desire to forsake machines in
preference to guitars. Having stayed in Manchester, the normal keyboardist
Gillian Gilbert has been replaced by a boy more often on guitar then behind
the synthesizers. With more conviction rather than morbid nostalgia these
precursors of the marriage between romantic rock and new dance music have
reclaimed some songs from the time when the group were still called Joy
Division up until the suicide of their singer, Ian Curtis
The strained voice of the former derived from Epilepsy; the fragile tone of
Summner’s decorated the blackness of Transmission, Atmosphere and the
upsetting Love Will Tear Us Apart. Same beauty in tact for the first
classics of New Order, Ceremony, Your Silent face and Temptation. Led by a
Peter Hook still playing his bass at knee height, 60 Miles An hour , from
the latest album, is worthy of the glorious past. The locomotive derailed
sometimes. Even dedicated to “Eric Cantona a brilliant footballer from the
greatest club in the world Manchester United” Touched By The hand Of God for
all that remains one of the groups weakest singles. Hook launched jibes
with an accent as thick as Lancashire fog, Sumner joked between guitar
changes . In a concert sparing of electronics , its the seminal blue Monday
touch stone of an “Ecstasy” generation that closes the evening
Never, in thirteen years of existence, has the Festival des Inrockutiples
offered such a prestigious group at the head of its programe as New Order.
The event being set for two consecutive nights the 11th and 12th of
September at Olympia. In the smaller game of depreciated “support acts” it’s
the Canadian Hawksley Workman who does best, with a showmans talent inspired
by cabaret, extrovert ballades and the decadence of glam rock
But the desires of the fans all inclined towards this English group, absent
from the Paris stage since 1987. At the time New Order had a reputation as
an erratic group in concert. From their punk roots they kept a provocative
and anarchic concept of performing on stage. A new album, Get Ready, their
first for eight years proved that far from being a mothballed legend, the
Manchester quartet still breathed deeply.
This gourmet collective is evident in Crystal, starting point and recent
single. Imposing sound, electric energy ,alchemy preserved between the
moving charges of bassist Peter Hook, the linear strikes of drummer Stephen
Morris and the eternal adolescent spleen of singer-guitarist Bernard
Sumner.
New Order propel their songs like a true rock group, sensitive to the gang
culture. A tendency accentuated today by the desire to forsake machines in
preference to guitars. Having stayed in Manchester, the normal keyboardist
Gillian Gilbert has been replaced by a boy more often on guitar then behind
the synthesizers. With more conviction rather than morbid nostalgia these
precursors of the marriage between romantic rock and new dance music have
reclaimed some songs from the time when the group were still called Joy
Division up until the suicide of their singer, Ian Curtis
The strained voice of the former derived from Epilepsy; the fragile tone of
Summner’s decorated the blackness of Transmission, Atmosphere and the
upsetting Love Will Tear Us Apart. Same beauty in tact for the first
classics of New Order, Ceremony, Your Silent face and Temptation. Led by a
Peter Hook still playing his bass at knee height, 60 Miles An hour , from
the latest album, is worthy of the glorious past. The locomotive derailed
sometimes. Even dedicated to “Eric Cantona a brilliant footballer from the
greatest club in the world Manchester United” Touched By The hand Of God for
all that remains one of the groups weakest singles. Hook launched jibes
with an accent as thick as Lancashire fog, Sumner joked between guitar
changes . In a concert sparing of electronics , its the seminal blue Monday
touch stone of an “Ecstasy” generation that closes the evening
Thanks to: Phil
