In Praise of...Brotherhood by New Order

But, Ned, I think your AMG revew is the fairest I've read. Of major critics only Christgau has ranked "Brothehood" among their very best (he ranked it their very best, I think). The rock songs are unusual, direct, and thrilling all at once. Steve's slightly off-kilter drumming on "Weirdo" and the synth orchestra on "All Day Long" are just one of many, many highlights.

I doubt the band themselves have ever said much good about "Brotherhood".

But I didn't review this album for the AMG! Believe me, I would have loved to.

Interesting ... are you referring to the CD (I have it on vinyl)? I don't hear anything like what you described on the vinyl version.

This has always been my least favourite New Order album ... and since 2001, I have "Get Ready", so I don't need "Brotherhood" anymore :)

As for the mix...yeah, I'm referring to the CD. I have "Low-Life" on vinyl and CD and prefer the former.

"I don't believe in reincarnation because I refuse to come back as a bug or a rabbit!"

"You know, you're a real 'up' person."

Absolutely OTM, Low-Life is dead brilliant, except that it wasn't my first New Order album or record and I'm having a hard time figuring out what might have been my first New Order record right now. Those 12"es get confusing. I'll have to think about that some more, very carefully. [writes it down on the 'to do' list, quite bothered by it, in fact]

Brotherhood? In all honesty, although I enjoyed it quite a bit AT THE TIME, it is only now significant for me for ONE SONG and ONE SONG only: "All Day Long". Did anyone say "masterpiece"? Well, they have so many that the word doesn't actually mean so much for New Order, so take it with a grain of salt.

Ceremony = Masterpiece, for example. Whoops this thread is about Brotherhood. Sorry.

"All Day Long" could have been a Suzanne Vega song

Look, I myself was a Suzanne Vega fan back in the day but let's not get tooo crazy. Nevertheless I much appreciate the rest of your glowing review of the song.

I am sick to death of "Bizarre Love Triangle" and even more so of "Blue Monday" and I think the band is too. Well, to be honest I only know they are sick of Blue Monday. But I don't have any problem with anyone who still has a thing for those songs.

"brotherhood" is so, so under-rated. hell, even i under-rated it at first. i got it from blackpool music library when i was 14 or 15 (late eighties, maybe just into the nineties) and thought, eew, it's all guitars and stuff. where's blue monday? where's true faith? the only thing i really loved was BLT, and even then i preferred the version i had on substance.

two days after taking the record back, i went into severe withdrawal. like you say, ned, it gets under your skin without even knowing. i went straight down the second-hand shop and picked up a copy (the copy i still have!) on vinyl, and it instantly became my second-favourite NO album of all time after "technique". i don't know how i missed it at first.

i've said this before and i'll say it again: i think it eats low-life for breakfast. low-life has more stand-out moments of OMG genius ("love vigilantes", "perfect kiss", "elegia") but "brotherhood" is a perfect whole.

anybody else noticed how the coda of "pure" by the lightning seeds is, ahem, a homage to "all day long"?

I doubt the band themselves have ever said much good about "Brotherhood".

uncut - or one of the other UK mags - did a big NO special a few years ago, and i'm sure the "brotherhood" chat went something like this:

interviewer: what about brotherhood, then?
barney: don't think i like that. don't remember it being any good. what's on it?
interviewer: paradise, BLT, all day long, every second ...
barney: fuck, that sounds like a great album. i'm going home to listen to it.

and of course when they came back and did that peel session in the late nineties, "paradise" was one of the songs. IIRC they always said they weren't happy with the production on "brotherhood" but thought it was one of their finest collections of songs. i like the way it sounds; i love the way it's the album where hooky really maxed out his chorus pedal.

"krafty", as i've said elsewhere, has a real "brotherhood" vibe about it.

this is not a loaded question at all, i promise
ned: did you like "get ready"? i can't remember what you've said about it elsewhere.

That was a '98 issue of Uncut, around the time they started gigging together again. That Peel Session you mentioned is AWESOME (NEW!! NEW!! NEW!! VERSION OF "ISOLATION" WOW!!!). Damn, now I'll have to dig out that issue of "Uncut" and try to remember where I've stashed the mp3's of that Peel Session ...

[thinks]

ach, fuck work. i did two 12-hour shifts in a row earlier this week. they can hold on for another 10 minutes. [chime, whirr]. let's see if they're there ...

... wow, it takes its time booting up these days ...

right. there's an iTunes playlist called "B-sides and Unreleased, circa Get Ready". the actual MP3s aren't on the HD: i must have burned them onto a backup CD somewhere. but that should be easy to find. it would seem they're all there:

true faith
isolation
touched by the hand of god
atmosphere
paradise

the next track after that claims to be a version of 60MPH, which IIRC is a pre-mix that's almost listenable.

one day soon i shall dig the actual songs out. because yes, i remember that version of "isolation" kicking so much ass it hurt.

What got me whn I first bought Brotherhood was the palpable rawness in the (vinyl album's) rockier first side - almost harkening back to Joy Division sonically in places. That and then the steely, boxy sound of the synth oriented flip side just won me over. Last time i played this album was a couple of months ago and I was intrigued by how off the cuff it sounds overall - almost like it was recorded over a weekend with a few overdubs here and there. Definitely their most relaxed sounding recording; a real difference from what came later on.

**Why'd they keep hanging around with Stephen Hague again?**

Absolutely! What a fucking useless producer! I really can't stand his trademark thin, watered-down sound : e.g Republic or his work with Siouxsie and The Banshees.

it's got all my favourite sounds, and it's THE mix of guitar and synth that i tend to hold everything else up to. sort of. there's an element of myth of myself going on there.

1)Movement
2)Blue Monday 12-inch
3)Power, Corruption, & Lies
4)1981-1982 EP (EGG,Temptation,Hurt,Etc-very convenient, that one)
5)Ceremony 12-inch
6)Confusion 12-inch
7)Thieves Like Us 12-inch
8)Perfect Kiss 12-inch
9)Brotherhood
10)Low Life

On "Krafty" - this track sounds like heavy mining of "Way of Life" with a lot of unnecessary production. This and the entirety of the last album would be a lot better if they didn't spend so much time slicking shit up.

which is probably the point.

1. Movement
2. EGG 12" with Cries and Whispers and Mesh
3. Temptation 12"
4. Thieves Like Us/Lonesome Tonight 12"
5. Technique
6. Ceremony 7" (The 3-piece recording)
7. Power Corruption and Lies
8. Confusion 12"
9. Low Life
10. Blue Monday 12" orig pressing.

From the Omelette album.

Bernard:

"A single egg in the mixing bowl
A simple chance to keep me whole
A few more eggs are getting fried
I think you think that love has died."

*Hook bassline, combination Morris acoustic/electronic percussion, shimmering Gilbert synth*

Oh yes, it's grand.

1. Technique
2. Round and Round 12" (Kevin Saunderson remixes OMG)
3. Ceremony 7"
4. Get Ready YEAH THAT'S RIGHT Get Ready
5. Regret (single + remixes)
6. Power, Corruption and Lies
7. Run2 12"
8. Peel Session #1
9. True Faith Remix 12"
10. Bizarre Love Triangle 12"

Maybe Gillian was more essential than any of us realized at the time. I was always a fan of hers for punk rock reasons: we need a keyboardist? How 'bout my girlfriend? She can't play very well, but we'll teach her!

Now I'm curious about the extent of her contributions beyond arrangements.

The drum into of Paradise sound exactly like the drum intro of Pixies "Bone Machine"

"You know, you're a real 'lettuce' person."

'exciting chase music for Sylvester Stallone cop drama 1986!' soundtracks which I admit is sorta pointless. Jan Hammer was cornering that market, let him do the job.

Ha ha ha, no kidding! Dare I mention Beverly Hills Cop or something?

And Ned, your post reminded me that I've never really known whether to think of JD/NO as just one band or as two distinct entities (the answer probably lies in the middle). Closer certainly fits, but Unknown Pleasures was just a year out, sadly (for the purposes of my completely arbitrary time frame, of course). But, yeah. Amazing, really. We were utterly spoiled! And we didn't deserve it!

"All The Way" (I skipped Fine Time, sorry, nothing against it, really but I wanted to get into the meat of the album quickly) seems to me like a better, more fully fleshed out song than anything on Brotherhood besides "All Day Long". I think overall I probably do like Technique more than Brotherhood, but I didn't really realize that until now.

I still think Get Ready is better than either of these, though, and I raised my fist in the air with a big "WOOO HOO" as if a sports team had just won when you said upthread it was grand, Ned!

Also I do believe I've narrowed down what my first New Order record must have been or at least I've narrowed it down to three, but it's quite possible I bought two or more of them all on the same day: Power Corruption & Lies, Blue Monday 12", and the U.S. 1981-1982 EP comprising most of the EGG & Temptation 12"es.

The first time I realized how much I really liked New Order was when I heard "Your Silent Face". I can't remember if I had heard Blue Monday or Temptation before it or not, but when I heard YSF I suddenly had this flash of intuition that whatever else that band did, I was going to like. Perhaps not a completely true statement in retrospect, but true enough, I have no qualms about calling them my favourite band, and I've never had any similar flash of intution about a band or artist like that.

Side note: NO lovers everywhere. Answer me something. I love pretty much everything by the band, right up to Get Ready. And I mean nearly every song, not just album. But something scared me away from Get Ready. I'm not sure why -- perhaps it's that feeling when you realise an artist you love has run out of ideas, grown stale, whatever (Wild Mood Swings and Bloodflowers, right? Sorry, Ned and Dan, I've really tried) -- but I avoided it completely. I've only heard "Crystal" and I do like it a lot. Now, here's the question: based on what I've just written, would you say I was insane for giving Get Ready the cold shoulder, and would I love it after all?

xpost to Ned. Damn, I never saw that little trap! Good thing it never happened then, really.

1. EGG 12"
2. Ceremony 12" (the non-3 piece version, I guess, but I don't really care tooo much)
3. Movement
4. Temptation 12" if I could just put the Substance version on the A-side instead
5. PCL
6. Low Life
7. Theives Like Us 12"
8. Get Ready
9. Confusion 12" (THE ORIGINAL ONE DAMNIT)
10. The two early Peel Sessions? Can we pick that? No? Oh okay, then Touched By The Hand Of God, then
11. Here To Stay CD single

I do believe you were wise to spot this, Ned. Good call.

David, you will never know if you like Get Ready until you try it. There is certainly a lack of consensus here, and I'm not presumptuous enough to even try to predict which side you might fall on.

But of course, you're right.

(I can't believe I've managed to go this long without hearing anything other than "Crystal", anyway.)

hear hear

Now this is an album I can get behind. Granted, I haven't heard it in 10 years. But it's one of those albums I bought the week it came out. (I can remember the local music press slagging it off as "New Order sell out" or some such nonsense.)

I can never decide between this and LowLife though.

Brotherhood >>>> Lowlife

25 years old today!

http://www.xfm.co.uk/xfm-25-brotherhood-by-new-order

worth listening to

Cool, thanks!

Never understood why even so many new order fans find this record somewhat mediocre, whereas I think it's their pinnacle. Listening to it again for first time in ages, when I got to this track, I started searching for the words to describe the effect this music has on me, without much success, although for some reason the phrase 'effortless grace' popped into my mind (during the wonderful last minute). Then I recalled there was an ancient ILM thread about Brotherhood, that I'd read once a decade ago, and reading it again, in reference to the very song Way of Life, I was amazed to see the following:

"Simple moments, simple songs but it all combines and recombines, and again, it's like...why NOT rock this way, with such grace and power all at once? So apparently effortless, like watching a massive airplane take off into the sunset with no extraneous noise and no exhaust."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahhx9MiHGmA

You told me about yourself,
How you once lived with someone else
The way of life that you had tried
The way they hurt you deep inside
That's the only thing about it
I can't find anyone to doubt it
That's the only thing about it
I can't find anyone to doubt it
Who do you think you're talking to?
When I look at you I know you're lying
All you say and do
Seems to fall apart and leave you crying

Their last great album IMO

Nonsense

Brotherhood is pretty underrated but Technique is mostly just an even better version of it

As i posted waaay upthread aeons ago - "Technique" is fine but too in thrall to house music and Ecstasy. Not a bad album but also not entirely the New Order I knew and loved up til then.

I wasn't really into rolling snare fills with my melodicas.

"Fine Time" is the only track that's really like that and it's an endearing mess but not my favourite

it has a similar guitar-based and synth-based split to Brotherhood, they're just all mixed together instead of being one side guitars and one side synths

i'll take "Round & Round", "Mr. Disco", "Vanishing Point" and "Dream Attack" over Brotherhood side two (even though that has "Bizarre Love Triangle") and "All The Way", "Love Less" and "Run" are far better than Brotherhood side one

Brotherhood would have a better reputation if its production values were as pristine as Technique's.

"Technique" is fine but too in thrall to house music and Ecstasy. Not a bad album but also not entirely the New Order I knew and loved up til then.

thanks Geirbot

how can the album be in thrall to house music and Ecstasy when five tracks are rock songs? Unless you meant house and Ecstasy brought them to their songwriting peak.

All Day Long is probably the best NO track in my dumb opinion. I haven't heard anything that sounds quite like that one.

"Your Silent Face" does something similar imo

very true

"All the Way" too.

"Technique" is fine but too in thrall to house music and Ecstasy. Not a bad album but also not entirely the New Order I knew and loved up til then.

thanks Geirbot

― The Very Fugly Caterpillar (sic), Tuesday, February 5, 2019 2:00 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nice try but ... nah.

Alfred - I feel those influences blanded out their sound somehow. All the interviews I remember from that time talked of endless partying in Ibiza and the influence of the cool new stuff they'd been hearing when they went out to the island's clubs. I just heard - and hear - a glossy record missing the roughness and fire of the releases that led up to it. Sorry folks, I don't really like my New Order slick.

so you don't like slick and glossy?

Not with New Order, no.

the New Order albums i'm not down w/as much are Get Ready and WFTSC. Music Complete brought me back, moreso after seeing the songs performed live.

and they still are! Lots of them!

I have a strange relationship with this album. I think back when I got it I was aware that it was the highest Xgau rated New Order album besides "Substance" (maybe he gave it an A?), but it's probably the one I went back to the least when I had them all. Not bad, definitely a good record, sounds a bit like a computer built out of cardboard.

nah I love it and I love its rough sound; it wasn't deliberate, but it reassured the rockists worried that after PCL and LL they'd moved too close to the dance floor. It was the last classic-era album I bought in 1992, and it shocked me with its guitar-bass-drums base.

According to Wikipedia, Bizarre Love Triangle didn't chart in either the UK or the US - although my memory was that it was everywhere at the time!

In Miami the Shep Pettibone remix was a part of life from 1987-1993. Then after the Frente! revival I heard a different remix. But, yes, it was not an official single.

"all day long" >>>>>>

i think i really love this record now, it's great, singles band my ass

it's very closely their second best behind technique imo, so good

"All Day Long" was my favourite when it was new(-ish -- bought it shortly before "True Faith" arrived). The variations on the basic theme in the coda just sounded luvly to 12-y/o ears.

That was my first NO purchase and I was confused. Not much of it sounded like "Bizarre Love Triangle" and the lyrics seemed kinda half-baked, even to a Duran Duran fan. LOL. Took me a little while to realise that that was part of the charm and that most of their albums are a loveable mess. I have no idea how to rank them these days, though I guess I must have for that poll a few years ago.

"way of life"/"bizarre love triangle"/"all day long" is such a great sequence

I loved All Day Long. To me PCL, Low Life and Brotherhood were three perfect albums. I know Technique was also great but I think I had moved on by the time it was released

According to Wikipedia, Bizarre Love Triangle didn't chart in either the UK or the US - although my memory was that it was everywhere at the time!

It was definitely, quantifiably everywhere in Aus. Top 5 apparently, from the same source, and #1 here in Victoria. Certainly felt like everyone dug it that (southern) summer. My neighbour had the 12" with "Bizarre Dub Triangle" on the flipside and quite a few people enjoyed/endured my tape dub with several versions back to back.