New Order - Technique

_Technique_ is wonderful and fantastic. I was dubious about "Run" for a long time, but even that song has now won me over. ("All The Way" has taken its place as the dubious track.)

"Guilty Partner" is possibly their most underrated song.

I played the first Electronic album again recently. How MUCH better is it than anything they did subsequently? A couple of duff tracks but the rest are joyful AND triumphant.

*as per on any NO track generally

That Electronic album is pretty good. Maybe a bit overhyped at the time, though. Oddly enough, I just heard "Soviet" last week while watching a football news story at Martin's place. "Patience of a Saint" is a beauty and a half.

Yeah, I think this album has ended up being underrated by people because of how meh the rest of Electronic's output has been.

With Technique, I think one of the things that makes it great is its consistency -- it seems very seamless and cohesive, something that just plays well as an album.

The whole point of it for me is that it's a whole album. I adore the sweep of it. It's all of a piece. With grinning confidence it introduces itself in the hi-hats of the glorious 'this is where we all are' Fine Time, sets the emotional 'this is where we've come from' note with All The Way and then spins through five perfect whirls of sun-bleached pop, feet never hitting the floor. Is Vanishing Point a shining pinnacle or the comedown? Depends on whether I'm dancing, maybe. Either way, it's the brilliant heart of the album. Then Dream Attack comes along to shoot you through the heart again, an epilogue, the most beautiful of all mornings after.

It took a long time, but a few years ago I realized just how good "Run" really is.

I don't know if I told you, but I'm seeking sanctuary
You'll never guess the things that I do
I'll have the devil round for tea
Don't you know that I'm here beside you
Can't you see that I can't relax
When I saw you in my rearview
You could've stopped me in my tracks

I'll be there for you when you want me to
I'll stand by your side like I always do
In the dead of night it'll be alright
'Cos I'll be there for you when you want me to

You can take me to an island, ride across the stormy sea
We can worship pagan idols, there together you and me
Why don't you run over here and rescue me?
You can drive down in your car
Why don't we both take a ride and turn that key
We'll drive at 60 miles an hour

they are the most banal, senseless and cringy lyrics ever. in fact i think bernard is one of the worst lyricists of all time. at least other amateurs can do 'dumb' and sound cool, but this is sub-oasis. actually, the more i think about it, new order get far too much kudos. they're old, boring and earnest. fuck em.

The day before this record came out I had a very lucid dream that I was listening to it and it was the most fantastic thing I had ever heard. When I woke up I ran straight to the record shop to buy it and ran straight home again... and it WAS!

bernard butler's favourite album of all time too.

other thoughts :
http?//ilx.wh3rd.net/thread.php?msgid=1086897

Technique is a great album, no question. probably their best whole album, in fact. it's consistently good all the way through. as to complaints about Bernard's questionable lyrical ability, i've argued before that with NO, it' s the whole package moreso than individual components. admittedly some lyrics do make me cringe (i think it's a B-side from one of the "60 MPH" singles that contains the line "you keep me feeling fresh; we're driving down that highway" which always makes me think it belongs in a commercial for feminine hygiene products), but for the most part, i don't see how they're torn apart so often and with such abandon. i wouldn't say they're brilliant, but that doesn't mean they don't work a good portion of the time.

and although i'd argue that it's technical perfection, i wouldn't say Technique is my favourite, because Low-Life is. despite the sinful truncation of "The Perfect Kiss" and "Elegia" edits which are onboard. and probably mostly because of "Face Up," which never fails to amuse me. mmm, Bernard sounding psychotically gleeful. :)

Took me a while to get into 60 MPH, honestly. Liked Crystal and Rock The Shack better, poss. due to Bobby Gillespie on backing vocal.

No doubt Technique is class. Rates second for me, as there isn't a dud song in the bunch.

MAYBE YOU CAN. Whenever I hit "The PErfect Kiss" or "Sub-Culture" on _Low-Life_, all I can think is "FOR FUCK'S SAKE WHY CAN'T THIS MAN CARRY A TUNE??????"

but still.. one out of 60-75 aint bad.

The Other Two wrote the theme for a TV drama called"Making Out" (on telly 88ish based aroudn the workers in a small Manchester electronics factory) featuring Keith Allen as the boss. The theme was expanded upon and became... was it Vanishing Point. anyone better able to remember the theme and able to tally Technique trax with titles?

I listened to what used to be side 2 of Technique yesterday, and it was very good but... I don't know. It is FUNNY and SAD at the same time. Back in the block party era I though Fine Time was great and everything else came a long way behind. I think I was right.

some distant memory is also a favorite of mine. the electronic album is the best thing sumner was ever involved in, in my opinion. absolute masterpiece.

I found a sealed LP copy of Technique at an antique store last week!

I played Technique on LP over the Christmas Break. It's still my favorite album.

RE: Electronic, did those who would be interested get the great Greg Wilson edit of Getting Away With It? it's 11mins long!

never heard of that Greg Wilson edit, where can I hear it?

?

There's a .wav on Wilson's Soundcloud, along with extensive sleevenotes: http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/electronic-getting-away-with

Friend of mine just got this vanity plate (Technique's catalogue #)

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/541319_10100638086042477_1700186350_n.jpg

Bummed I didn't think of it first.

some distant memory is also a favorite of mine. the electronic album is the best thing sumner was ever involved in, in my opinion. absolute masterpiece.

― zingzing, Sunday, January 1, 2012 6:30 PM (9 months ago)

Can't agree with the second and third sentences but otm x 1000 on the second.

?

*the FIRST that is

Spotted a one-line mention in this months Mojo that New Order are about to go back into the studio to work on an "electronic" album. I assume the style, not the side project.

Bernard has most of an album written with Stuart Price producing. Wonder if any of that will turn up on this as New Order rather than the solo project.

why did my mind briefly think you'd said 'stuart murdoch' and actually start wondering what that would be like

still have very distinct memories of buying this on cassette at a strip-mall record store in 1989.

in los angeles IIRC

I remember buying this on cassette from the local indie shop and not even realising it was released. To this day I still don't know if I got it early.

And then I proceeded to play it at least once a day for months.

Repurposing a post above in part, plus other stuff, and...

http://thequietus.com/articles/14359-new-order-technique-review

I have probably said this upthread somewhere, but this album coincided with the height of my New Order obsession (& drugs intake) and I even had a dalmation named Barney at this point and I used to sing "you got class, you got style, you got... SPOT technique!" at him.

(lovely dog but he was totally vicious and there was p much no one in the local scene he hadn't bitten, in the end)

Will read yr take when I'm on a laptop again, Ned.

Thanks. I figured loading in a specific bunch of SoCal context/content was the way to go to give this an anchor, especially for a UK-based publication.

Very nice. Technique was the first NO album I ever got. I've heard the ones before it but haven't yet ventured past that point. But right now I feel like Technique was where they were able to at least minimize the band's weak points (the singing and the production) for long enough to make the classic album they'd always been capable of. I noticed the same thing as you, it is a surprisingly brisk listen - I don't think the album is too short by their standards (about 40 minutes isn't it?) but it does play very much like a "greatest hits".

I already new before I read Ned's piece that it was going to be one of my favourite pieces of writing about music ever, but it exceeded expectations and made me feel 25 years younger. Thanks!

Well, thanks very kindly for that indeed!

It also made me realise that it was 25 years ago today that I walked into my local indie shop and saw it on the shelves, not realising it was out - in fact thinking it was out the following week - and buying it in cassette and taking it home to listen to on repeat. The following months I listened to it at least once daily, not really knowing anything about the band, trying to construct an idea if them from the Saville artwork and what I'd decoded from Substance. Every button was pushed. I wanted 12" singles for all 9 tracks. This music is in my DNA

25 years.

*wibbles*

*gibbers*

*quakes*

*is unable to cope*

But yeah, I accidentally image-bombed myself with this, this morning, so I'm just going to leave this here and pretend we're both still that young.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8b5fd149acfc8a058ddede50527868b1/tumblr_n06iv6oPkk1rjw8sqo1_1280.jpg

Turning point album for me. Personal Top 10 4eva.

Then Play Long reaches New Order at long last: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/new-order-technique.html

Loved that write up, thanks.

It also made me listen to Bummed again

Random New Order question that doesn't seem appropriate for any particular thread or worthy of creating its own so I'll use this one dedicated to this remarkable album.

Does anyone know who the person was who actually did the inscribing of hidden messages on the New Order vinyls in the 80's?

I'm surprised, I must admit, that Sumner didn't write lyrics by himself before this album. Guess this explains why they're so much sharper here than usual.

Is this the one that seemed from ... self-medication?

Every album was.

Maybe I'm thinking of "Republic?" There's one album where Sumner supposedly set a regiment of maybe ecstasy to help him break his lyric writer's block (which lol lyric's block with this guy), not recreationally but almost medicinally. Maybe it was the second Electronic record? I can't remember.

In the 1990s, he took part in some BBC documentary about the effect of Prozac on creativity. I remember him talking about how it cured his writer's block. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RDCHhULhN0

The second Electronic album.

Aha, that's it! Technique was the divorce album. Love was the drug I was thinking of.

Raise the Pressure, by no means a masterpiece but under-rated I think, Forbidden City is lovely

That second Electronic album has some decent moments on it, but it's mostly dull, IMO - there's about 2 or 3 tracks I'd keep, but even then...

I'd go as high as maybe 6 if you include some b-sides from that album, but Raise the Pressure is pretty poor overall. Bizarre that the vinyl is so expensive on the 2nd hand market.

I remember those Prozac articles. If anything they were harbingers of the often bland rock pop that was to come for New Order for ages.

Does anyone know who the person was who actually did the inscribing of hidden messages on the New Order vinyls in the 80's?

Here's the description from Peter Hook's New Order bio:

"The run-out groove messages were our way of tantalising the listener with a little puzzle or lyrics from the song that was coming next, inspired by Porky Prime Cuts, a mastering plant in London. Porky (George Peckham), a record cutting engineer, was famous for scratching little missives into the run-out groove of his mastered records".

Ha, yeah... I've got a lot of records that were mastered by Porky Peckham, they usually have 'A Porky Prime Cut' in the run-out groove. His cuts were top notch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrSL6f3NMmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ11hvuiHbQ

These guys could be brilliant live. They could also be dismal.

They could also be dismal.

The performance of "Run," for starters. I can't tell if the sound people mixed Hook's bass too high, or if Gilbert didn't know her guitar part. At best I'll say it's February and they're still getting to know the new material.

That was exactly what made me post that.

I think you're onto something with the idea of new material. I saw them in 85, touring for Low Life, pretty well into the tour. One of the three best shows I've ever seen. The next year, they came to town for Brotherhood. Fucking awful. I also think Barney in particular was/is very picky about the sound system.

the "run" performance" just sounds like a terrible mix, everything except the bass and vocals is drowned out

And most of all...

Happy 35th.

Happy birthday to the greatest album ever recorded.

Annnd here's Ned's 30th anniversary piece published a decade ago: https://thequietus.com/articles/14359-new-order-technique-review