New Order - Technique

Love that 808 State remix, dayo.

I've given the first Electronic album a listen as per Ned's recommendation and it is indeed great, of the tracks I hadn't heard before I really enjoyed 'Tighten Up' especially. I guess what prevented me from checking it out was I'd heard 'Raise The Pressure' and thought "hmm... maybe the singles were the best thing about this collaboration", and thus avoided going back and checking the first one out. I'm glad I eventually did. I don't think it gives me the 'lift' that 'Technique' does, but I found it to be a much, much more solid album than 'Republic', easily!

got plenty of love for Republic but anyway - "Some Distant Memory" is the true hidden gem on that first Electronic album (the oboe part!)

I'm finally starting to get Technique---"Fine Time" is a weird opener, I think, jagged & herky-jerky, not anthemic, not particularly melodic: it never brings me into the album. It would work fine as a side 2 track album (I don't mean on *this* album, I mean in terms of the album pacing I prefer). But if I kinda don't pay attention to that opening, "All The Way" gets things started just right.

But yeah, the first Electronic album is a classic, as are the remixes & b-sides.

o_O I think "Fine Time" is ALL anthem and melody!

maybe I'm too young

much too young

o_O I think "Fine Time" is ALL anthem and melody!

― he carried yellow flowers (DJP), Friday, October 28, 2011 3:17 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

Completely agree! And as a statement, it can't be beaten either.

"Fine Time" is also a ridiculously great album starter, one element after another continually built up to create the full song -- it's notable that one of the most stereotypical New Order elements, Hook's bass, is the last thing to appear after everything else, almost like it's the sudden new anchor to the song that slams everything else back into an overall context.

abs.

That's precisely right, re: Hook's bass on the track. The curious thing is that until it kicks in, I don't find myself missing it!

also "All the Way" is my least favorite song on the album by some distance; I generally skip it

haha yeah that's great. maybe what's going on is that I love NO firstly as a rock band & only secondly as a dance band? Both elements are there in all their best work, but "Fine Time" forefronts the dance side & "All The Way" forefronts the (folk) rock side.

That's fair enough. When it comes to their 'dance' side, I think 'Fine Time' is one of their best... I definitely prefer it to stuff like 'Shellshock' and 'Confusion'!

I vividly recall unwrapping the Technique cassette and listening to the opening track on the drive home. It was stunning, thrilling, unexpected. Still my favorite album of all time. Electronic's debut is in my top 5. Rewound Tighten Up so many times I'm surprised the tape didn't break.

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

Fine Time sampled nicely in this track.

I had forgotten how effective the 1-2 closing punch of "Vanishing Point"/"Dream Attack" is; I actually almost never listen to this whole album front to back these days so playing the whole thing is a fresh experience all over again.

"All The Way" was for a long time my favorite song. I'd never heard a "confessional" song with a bass track so muscular.

xxxpost:

Listening to Neil Tennant singing about driving his car 'bloody well' on 'The Patience Of A Saint' brought a smile to my face! Great electronic snare sound on that track as well.

I'd like to put forward the opinion that if you removed Bernard Sumner's vocal from 'Guilty Partner', and got Martin Hannett to produce the backing track, you'd have the makings of a Joy Division track.

but why on earth would you do that?

because it would sound murky and forlorn and awesome?

("Guilty Partner" is one of my faves off of the album)

but it already sounds murky, forlorn, and awesome!

it sounds crisp, forlorn and awesome

well, it's my least favorite song: the chorus is meh. But that massive synth wash at the end (and more thrusting Hook bass).

'Guilty Partner' is one of my favourites from the album as well, the moments where the chorus kicks in are so powerful for me.

I'm unsure about 'best band of all time'

They're in a toss-up with two other bands for me. Lean towards them, mostly.

yeah Guilty Partner was always my least fave track; sticks out too much. oddly enough i was present when they played it live for the first time ever! didn't like it any more after that though either.

xpost

What are the two other bands?

When my roommate first played this for me in high school, I absolutely hated it. I couldn't stand the synths and could barely get past the first track. It was only about twenty years later that I realized how unbelievable the songwriting is and that the balance between the synth stuff like Vanishing Point and Hooky acoustic songs like All the Way is just about perfect. My favorite LP of theirs by some distance.

I find a lot of New Order's charm stems from the fact that it orbits "best band of all time" almost entirely by accident, and certainly barely by design.

Yeah. Well put.

What are the two other bands?

My Bloody Valentine and Roxy Music (and sometimes also The Jesus and Mary Chain and Pulp)

crikey yeah Electronic wipes the floor with Republic or Brotherhood IMO.

oh hell no

"got plenty of love for Republic but anyway - "Some Distant Memory" is the true hidden gem on that first Electronic album (the oboe part!)"

was just going to say this; my favorite song on the album, beats several NO songs for me as well. I think the first Electronic album certainly beats Brotherhood/Republic/Get Ready/Sirens.

I knew ILE was home when I discovered six years ago the "Some Distant Memory" love.

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