What: A review of New Order’s newest album
Where: Stores everywhere, April or May 2005
How Much: Around $15
I wish more of the members of my musical generation would die early. Seriously! Think about those tired, old 60s “heroes”… Would Jim Morrison still be revered as an “American Poet” if he was playing in Branson, Missouri today? Would Jimi Hendrix still be granted God-like status if he were pimpin’ his new albums via late night infomercial? Would people still get all misty-eyed about Janis Joplin if she was telling us to “get more” from T-Mobile?
Instead of our rock gods dying early, it seems that far too many of them are pumping out album after album of dreck that ends up in the $1.99 bin faster than William Hung’s newest crapbomb. Lord knows I loved The Cure back in the day, but to see Robert Smith still trying to fly his freak flag at age 45 is saddening. Watching Sting trying to remain “cool” while putting out disc after disc of elevator music is saddening. Even though Motley Crue and Guns and Roses are not my type of music, watching Vince Neil and Axl Rose still trying to be relevant is saddening. Even though Duran Duran’s new album is pretty damn good, it easily could have been a train wreck of the first order. It’s all depressing and it’s senseless, and that’s where this New Order disc comes in.
I loved, loved, loved New Order back in the day. In fact, “True Faith” remains one of my Top Five songs of all time. But somewhere along the line it seemed that the band stopped evolving. It’s as if New Order got to Republic and simply stopped writing new songs and used filler material and outtakes to make Get Ready and their newest album, Waiting For The Siren’s Call. Yes, this album is simply the song “Regret” (with different words) over and over and over. Or a slight variation thereof.
In fact, I’m not even gonna honor this shitfest with a full review. It’s not a bad disc, in the “what the hell were they thinking?” sense. It’s more of a “man, I know I’ve heard this shit before – their last two albums sounded just like this” kind of thing! If you’re a hardcore New Order fan – the kind that owns every single one of their albums – you’ll probably like this. If you wanted to hear something new and different from New Order… you’ll be sorely disappointed.
MY RATING: D+