Disco de New Order: “Get Ready [Japan Bonus Track]”

After an eight year hiatus, New Order arrive alive at mid-forty something, going on twenty. GET READY is New Order's garage album. Gone are the signature, cathedral synth sounds, replaced by stripped down guitars. No milk toast here. Sounding somewhat juvenile and naive, you'd wonder if they'd done this type of thing before, then remember Joy Division. The immediacy of pithy guitars, swaggering, lugubrious bass, deliberate, sonic, drumbeats, and sparse, airy keyboards echo a past. All underlined by the innocent school boy eternal vocals and lyrics. Polar opposites in collusion - UNKNOWN PLEASURES meets BROTHERHOOD. If an enigma is truly wrapped in a riddle, then New Order remain a mystery, mostly to themselves. Although they don't strike any new ground, the musical material presented here sounds remarkably fresh, frisky, and alive. Cuts "60 MPH", "Run Wild", "Slow Jam", and "Someone Like You" loom as classic standouts. It's rumored that given time you can reinvent anything, including yourself. New Order, being proponents, serve notice with this current incarnation. Although Gillian Gilbert is noticealby absent, the remaining members have crafted a very solid, listenable album, deserving of many repeated plays. GET READY can take it's place in New Order's illustrious musical history with honor. The legacy is intact. Issue the medals, break out the rewards. Rediscover them.

I'm not a huge fan of New Order, just have their "best of" cd's mostly. All I can say is, this is a really good, consistent, and thoroughly enjoyable musical experience. The songs have a less electronic sound to it than "Republic" or "Technique". In fact, most of the songs seem to harken back to their really early 80's, less heavily-synthesized sound. The songs also have a surprising energy to it, as if they were made by an up'n coming alternative band and not a decades-old veteran band. In other words, none of that watered-down, commercial-sounding, "established" band blandness(which is a really nice bonus imo). Overall, they sound like the New Order of old, but with just enough freshness and energy to make it sound inviting for today's audiences. If you don't go in expecting, or hoping for, a bunch of "Blue Monday"-type songs or an emphasis on electronic/synthpop songs, you'll be fine. Great for repeated listenings. Personal faves: Crystal, 60 Miles an Hour, Turn My Way(with Billy Corgan), Primitive Notion, Slow Jam( i like the chorus), Rock the Shack(certifiable foot stomper), & Run Wild(most beautiful song on cd imo). And if you like this cd, get their 2k5 release for a similar audio experience.

This is one of the best bands ever, and this album with some of their best material ever put on disc. I don't think there is another New Order album out there that is in the same class beginning to end. You cannot compare their compilations/anthologies with individual albums. This has the melding of electronic and acoustic harmonic beauty that is quintessentially New Order. New Order have influenced modern music in so many ways; one point they deserve more credit for is that they use electronica in my opinion CORRECTLY and so tastefully, like true composers, to add to a mood and a color. Listen to these melodies and rhythms...they intermingle technology into the organic better than most any band I've ever heard. The lyrics have always at times been too straightforward for some, without the imagery or hippy-ness. They make music that is not simple. Anyone read any William Carlos Williams? There is a complexity behind his poetry that can go unnoticed until it creeps into your soul. For me, New Order will always be the band that connects on just a different level then most of the other bands out there. And as far as comparing Get Ready to any past New Order album: in my opinion, it's better songwriting and performance on the whole than any album since Brotherhood. It could be their pinnacle achievement. Some proclaim Power, Corruption and Lies to have that title but I just never "got" that record (oops, showing my age). Maybe it bears a repeat listening.

I have no qualms recommending Get Ready as the first CD for a New Order acolyte. Peter Hook is God.

The sensous new Album 'Get Ready' from New Order, highlights the the bands ability in meshing together the two dominant musical genres of the last twenty years - dance and pop.

From the opening pop of one of their best ever singles 'Crystal' and the rhythmical pulse of '60 miles an hour' to the Joy Division like 'Primitive Notion' drilling low and hard with Peter Hooks' thumping bass oozing classic house chic, they provide positive proof that they remain the undisputed Kings when it comes to blending guitar and synthesiser sensibilities. It's not attempting to redefine or transcend, it's New Order at their thumping heart rendering best.

Where they appear to be so skillful as musicians is that they are able to tap into both dance and pop musical forms, borrowing from each and then merging so that a middle ground is found where the extreme scope of each genre clash with mesmerizing simplicity. 'Someone like you' illustrates this perfect pop synthesis better than any other moment on the Album. With it's pounding trance like bass and intoxicating sample layers washing over like the helpless surrender of an Ecstasy rush, Verse and chorus cascading throughout they sound like 'Love will tear us apart' twenty years on.

On 'turn my way' with ex Smashing pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan they sound like the disaffected teenager the smashing pumpkins identified with so profoundly has grown into a disaffected twentysomething less the angst. A comfortable sereness resonates while Billy Corgan and Bernard Sumner passively reveal "I don't want to be like other people are; I want it to be free; I want it to be true."

On the Primal Scream inspired 'Rock the Shack' with Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes adding vocals and biting guitar licks there's a complete change in direction sounding very unlike New Order and more like a Rolling Stones Shaun Ryder collaboration(imagine).

They then close their first studio Album in eight years with the glorious cheerful melancholy of Ballard 'Run Wild' where despite the at times cliched lyrical content "If Jesus comes to take your hand; I won't let go" and "Good times around the corner; I swear it's getting warmer" epitomize the New Order of today with the closing line "I'm going to live till I die; I'm going to live to get high".

'Get Ready' is a classically produced and arranged Album one of the must buy's of 2001, a genre defining band waving to the music Industry with arrogant ease. Is the wave a Goodbye or a Hello?

I think that's another reason the Album works so well. Trends in music come and they go. Throughout the decades New Order have witnessed the crash and burn of punk, the wasteland of 80's synthesizer pop, the rise and fall of Madchester and Kurt Cobain, the bubblegrunge of Limp Bizkit through to today's faceless 'popstars'. New Order remain unaffected, resolute in their defiance, never wavering from their emotive pop roots.

'Get Ready' has within it's twisting turns enough heart pounding moments for new and old fans alike. 'Get Ready' indeed. Ten reasons to say more and ten reasons to say 'Salford Rules'.

Around 1978 or so, a bunch of guitar-wielding lads decided to start a band on a lark. It just so happened that these four lads were the greatest modern poet, the greatest modern bassist, one of the greatest modern guitarists, and one superb drummer. They created Joy Division (the best band ever), and released four albums' worth of flawless music. Then the poet fellow killed himself over a woman. Ouch. Quite understandably struck by this event, the remaining lads weren't quite sure what to do. But after having thought it over, they decided to keep going. Not as Joy Division, no - that would just be disrespectful to their friend's memory. No, they formed New Order, recruiting the drummer fellow's wife to play keyboards (which she did very well). While New Order never rose to the majesty and nobility of Joy Division, it still made some of the best dance music ever. Then in 1993, they decided they'd had enough of it, and closed shop. New Order was no more. Well, that's understandable - after all, innovations in dance music come and go very fast, and it's hard to keep up. Having split up, the four members of New Order took their immense musical skills to side projects, but let's face it - none of them were any good. Not even Electronic, which had Johnny Marr. That's just how it goes.

Then in the next millennium, they decided to come back together and show the world how it's done, on a lark. And the result is Get Ready, a very sparsely presented album (there are practically no liner notes, and aside from the spine of the CD case, the album and band names appear only once in the entire package, on the disc itself) and the appropriate reaction to it is "How did we ever get by without these guys for eight years?" For while Get Ready is not a world-changing, deeply moving album like those of their Joy Division days, it is the best record of 2001 by far, and a great rock record period. In fact, it's their most straightforwardly rock record since their early years. There's no extensive keyboard noodling here; Sumner's guitar is up close and personal, and I happen to like it that way. Sumner is, after all, the man responsible for much of Joy Division's sound; he practically single-handedly invented a whole new style of guitar playing. And he is complemented perfectly by Gillian Gilbert's keyboards (which are reduced to backup, but do their job admirably), Stephen Morris's drumming (the man really is unmatched; just listen to the drums on "Primitive Notion"), and the inimitable bass of Peter Hook, the man with the most apt last name in history.

So yeah, musically speaking there's really no criticism possible. By now, New Order are masters. And they retain their mastership by not deliberately trying to be "hip" or do anything that they don't have their heart in. Now, a common criticism of this album is Bernard Sumner's lyrics, which often are quite daft. To which I say: this is New Order, guys. Where have you been? They've always been that way. Remember "Age of Consent"? The lyrics to that were just as inane. Expecting the poetry of Ian Curtis from Sumner is completely futile, and misses the point completely. The thing is, Sumner delivers even his most cringe-worthy lines with such unabashed enthusiasm and warmth that you can't help but sing along to them. It's just irresistible.

Out of all the tracks on this CD, there's only one misfire - "Rock the Shack." The production is very un-New-Orderly, Bobby Gillespie's guest presence doesn't help, the chorus is plain awful, and while the rowdy, dirty guitar licks might sound good for someone else, they don't for New Order, and sound completely out of place given the rest of the album. I really wish they had saved this one for a B-side or something - doing so would have made the okay-but-not-too-stunning tracks, like "Slow Jam" or "Vicious Streak," seem better. The other guest collaboration - "Turn My Way" - isn't great, but isn't bad either. Thankfully, Billy Corgan doesn't botch it, but it's not quite the album's best point. _However,_ the album boasts six other tracks. On side A we've got "Crystal" (one of their best singles ever, period, with an immediacy that reminds you at once just how much New Order were missed), "60 Miles An Hour" (great rocker, certainly; not the album's best track, but very good nonetheless), and "Primitive Notion." The last of these is really amazing, featuring a stellar guitar line and a beautiful chorus (for along with the daft, Sumner's lyrics often feature the emotionally resonant; it's this duality that makes them endearing).

But lest you think that this is one of those albums that is front-loaded with its strongest material then gets weak towards the end, the last three tracks are excellent as well. "Someone Like You" is relatively subdued (especially compared to "Rock the Shack," which precedes it) and very pretty. Perhaps the most keyboard oriented song on the album, it reminds you that no one does dance better than New Order. That's followed up with "Close Range," one of Sumner's most moving and urgent songs (does anyone else love that "remember in the park where we used to play, the grass looked ten foot high?" couplet as much as I do?), and "Run Wild," the last track. This last one is a very slow, fragile acoustic strum with some lovely strings - possibly the most atypical New Order track ever, showing that they're far from rehashing some old formula. And while the song wears its heart on its sleeve, Sumner's earnest delivery makes it another winner.

So there you go. It won't turn your universe upside down, but it does its warm, earnest, sonically wonderful bit to make the world a slightly better place. How did we get by without these guys for eight years?