I feel so extraordinary somePoll's got a hold on me: NEW ORDER artist poll #37 (RESULTS thread)

xpost:

Yeah, for a lot of New Order fans, the sloppiness is actually part of the charm... I like it when they balance the "earnest, enthusiastic amateurishness" with a decent production job, though! But it is quite OTM, that... maybe the "enthusiastic amateurishness" makes the music feel quite breezy as opposed to laboured.

'Thieves Like Us' is Jason Donovan's favourite song of all time. i wish i could find the picture of him solemnly holding up the sleeve of Substance in Smash Hits circa 87.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mC_3iftpepc/UalcuupXa5I/AAAAAAAAAdQ/lUwcH4OtpVM/w640-h320-no/7+Age+Of+Consent.jpg

7. Age of Consent
From: Power Corruption & Lies
Released: 2 May 1983
1093 Points, 35 Votes

0 Number Ones and made it to 7

Pumped Full Of Drugs, in full here for anyone who fancies it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5g-GihEouk

'Age Of Consent', to me, is the typical New Order track on a musical level... I guess it's because of the i-iv chord progression, which is a staple of loads of New Order songs. It's always amazed me how often they've got away with using two chords in their songs, but yet doing so much with them.

getting away with playing I-IV over and over again is the barest essence of rock music

Bernard's been getting away with it all his life!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-AGA0t5sxz2U/UalgjiM0zsI/AAAAAAAAAd8/rIOyo1JMyx8/w640-h320-no/6+Bizarre+Love+Triangle.jpg

6. Bizarre Love Triangle
From: Brotherhood
Released: 5 November 1986 (single) 29 September 1986 (album)
1134 Points, 37 Votes

Not a single number one!?

who's keeping count? how many number ones were given to the chosen 5 then? more than 50%?

Yeah I'm shocked. It's my ex's favorite song of all time.

who's keeping count? how many number ones were given to the chosen 5 then? more than 50%?

how many times do I have to tell you just what you want me to?

VERY surprised that 'Bizarre Love Triangle' didn't make Top 5, actually! I love this song, one of New Order's most perfect disco-oriented tracks that offer the perfect alternative to the more introspective likes of 'Your Silent Face' and 'Doubts Even Here'. The fact that it's placed outside of the Top 5 is a testament to the behaviour of the voters here at ILM. I'm intrigued now as to what's going to come up next, now... Please, do go on!

also, it's a sandwich

What I love most about 'Bizarre Love Triangle' is that keyboard line that comes in, just before the most sunniest of choruses comes in. It's just perfect... I don't think the chords change throughout the whole song, but they still manage to find a way through skillful arranging to make that chorus just burst in like it's on another level to the rest of the track. It's as perfect to listen to late at night on the headphones as it is soundtracking the nightlife. In fact, if I ever want a quick release of pure unadulterated joy, this is the track I reach for. It's so electric it has me saying "yes"!

I don't get the appeal of wanting to hear BLT in a "real" acoustic version.

getting away with playing I-IV over and over again is the barest essence of rock music

can you hear me doctor mu

Well Alfred, I guess you're fundamentaly not the kind that needs to tell me

New Order used an E-mu didn't they? :D

What I love most about 'Bizarre Love Triangle' is that keyboard line that comes in, just before the most sunniest of choruses comes in. It's just perfect... I don't think the chords change throughout the whole song, but they still manage to find a way through skillful arranging to make that chorus just burst in like it's on another level to the rest of the track. It's as perfect to listen to late at night on the headphones as it is soundtracking the /nightlife/. In fact, if I ever want a quick /release/ of pure unadulterated joy, this is the track I reach for. It's so /electric/ it has me saying "/yes/"!

If the latter, there's almost a faux-classical flourish to them -- they're kind of not played evenly and on a somewhat cheap sounding keyboard.

In other words, a perfect New Order moment.

I meant the arpeggios, but the staccato keyboard part before the arpeggios come in lays the groundwork for those arpeggios perfectly. I agree with you, it's a perfect New Order moment, and one of their finest singles.

i had every intention of finishing this poll tonight.

however something has come up, nothing bad. friends have just shown up, it is my birthday weekend after all!

Top 5 (now) tomorrow.

Happy birthday, then! You're doing a great job. I look forward to TOP 5 SATURDAY.

Happy birthday, Bee!

Ah, I understand, it's 4am here after all and you can't be being boring on your birthday weekend. Have yourself a bit of a fun and we'll see you tomorrow, and much appreciated for your work so far :)

cheers man

hey man -- go! Sumner would!

He wakes up every night on the stairs waiting for the dawn to come

I bet Sumner at the tail end of the '80s into the early '90s was a fucking blast to party with.

the only time he was cute too

...the way they throw so much into some songs (e.g. the frog noises in 'The Perfect Kiss', hey sure why not).

I remember reading something about when they got their first Emulator, they spent their first day with it sampling their farts.

I love the way you guys all write about New Order, this poll has been such a joy to read. I am so excited for this top five!

Happy Birthday Bee!

hey this long version of The Perfect Kiss I downloaded still isn't right! The intro is shorter than the video one! I'm so mad.

Thanks for sterling work and enjoy yr birthday, Bee.

The video version is a live performance, that's why! :D

The long version of 'The Perfect Kiss' you want is the one that's on the 2-CD deluxe edition of Low Life, the long version they included on Substance unforgivably shaves about a minute off the end.

ah, thanks! The video must be the best live-in-studio music video I've ever seen, I love the tense seriousness.

A degree of nerves too... you can see Stephen Morris' hands shaking as he plays those painfully simple keyboard lines!

I'm biased cuz I live in Miami but the Shep Pettibone remix of "Bizarre Love Triangle," like, never went away.

When I was 16 I went on my last family holiday - to Disneyworld in Orlando, my first time in America. My younger sister and I were left in the underage disco for an hour or so and the only song I remember dancing to was Shep's BLT mix. In that context Bernard's voice felt like the most English thing imaginable. It was so potent.

20+ years later I went to the V&A's postmodernism exhibition, where the last thing you see on your way out is the BLT video, and it choked me up in an entirely different way - "why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday?"

Interesting claim about BLT on Wikipedia:

The one country where it was a sizable chart hit was Australia, where it reached No. 5 (and No. 1 in the Victoria state chart), initiating a string of five consecutive Top 20 hits.

It certainly did felt massive in said state. Was definitely my introduction to the band (though I subsequently realised I'd heard "Shellshock") and felt like I'd come slightly late to what all the cool, slightly older kids had decided was the song of the (southern) summer.

Actually just found my cassette dub of my then neighbour's copy of the 12", and "Bizarre Dub Triangle" is reminding me how ridiculously durable this thing is in any configuration. I could conceivably have given it more points really.

BTW, I'm not sure Frente deserve disdain for their "real" version of the song. I recall them saying it was their favourite song, just as it was seemingly just about everyone else's, and they merely performed it in their usual acoustic style, as a b-side.

Er, "certainly did FEEL..."

frente's version was just a retread of even as we speak's acoustic version from several years earlier (that they were definitely aware of)

bizarre love triangle not in the top 5 feels... bizarre!

0 Number Ones and made it to 7

― Bee OK, Saturday, 1 June 2013 03:34 (12 hours ago)

if i voted in these things age of consent would be #1

BLT is Doulgas Coupland's favourite song apparently

Love for Bizarre Love Triangle was legion at my high school, so for a time you would see ?♥∆ written on every available surface... walls, book covers, folders, backpacks, the soles of shoes, wrists, on the windows of dirty cars, etc.

I've never really felt The Perfect Kiss love that much, Barney's vocal is too strained for the track in a way it isn't on other New Order bangers.

TPK is all about the arrangement, the way everything careens off the tracks in the last few minutes.