For a group of folks nearing the half-century mark, Get Ready was pretty damn good; but for New Order, that return-from-wherever effort was a bit meh. New Order's "meh" is often better than most group's "hell yeah," but that doesn't disguise their shortcomings, and "Who's Joe"-- the first track from New Order's latest album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call-- is a continuation of the underwhelming competence of the band's previous album. That track isn't as in love with the sound of space-age guitars as Get Ready, but it's still a three-minute song that's given an extra two minutes' worth of rope to turn stiff and tepid. Combine that with the unwarranted focus on Bernard Sumner and his lyrical stylings-- not often a main attraction for New Order (and for good reason)-- and I'm settling in for another reasonably competent, mildly underwhelming effort from a group that doesn't need to prove a damn thing to anyone.
But then the second track, "Hey Now What You Doing", manages to make its five-minute length seem like half that. Credit the pronounced presence of that nifty Peter Hook basswork, or the pithier words Sumner spits ("You have the brightest future/ Writing songs on your computer"-- believe me, it sounds better in context), but this sounds more like a group that's doing the damn thing and not just coasting on their own coattails. And then the title track comes on, and it's this gorgeous effortless shimmering thing, mournful and ebullient all at once. And then the first single, "Krafty", with its synth flourishes and corny pop-perfect sentiment ("But out there the world is a beautiful place/ With mountains, lakes and the human race") blows the doors wide open, and any trepidation I had regarding this record dies on the vine.
In his review of Get Ready, Pitchfork's own Joe Tangari makes note of how much the album rocked, which is probably why it felt to me as if the group went astray. First and foremost, New Order is a pop band-- just ask Frente!-- and for them to try their hand at loud guitars and loud beats doesn't play to the group's strengths. Nor does such a maneuver do them any favors when compared to their contemporaries-- Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie made a guest appearance on Get Ready, which is fitting, since his group's XTRMNTR did what Get Ready attempted to do, only bigger, louder, and-- most importantly-- better.
In comparison, Sirens' Call features the Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic-- she gets a verse and a few background lines in "Jetstream", a chirpy, flippant track where "you are my jetstream lover" and a sense of laconic confidence out-Kylies Ms. Minogue at her own coy game. When it's firing on all cylinders, Sirens' Call offers manic pop thrills that either recall the group's heyday, or slyly recalls the noise made by other people that were touched by New Order-- dig that Ace of Base action in "I Told You So". The track lengths don't lend themselves to a tidy, hit-and-run pop experience, but they do offer a taste of what the inevitable extended dance remix would sound like.
The one track that most conforms to the three-minute radio oligarchy is closer "Working Overtime". It's a garagey barn-burner, not too dissimilar to Get Ready single "Crystal". These track's placements on their respective albums are a telling sign of New Order's confidence level. "Crystal" was Get Ready's centerpiece and calling card, the document that was supposed to announce to the world that New Order Is Back and could ably play ball with the kids they fathered. In some sense, it was a capitulation by a group that had no need to capitulate. "Working Overtime" is an afterthought, a track that does what "Crystal" did with less pomp and exerted effort, announcing to all those aforementioned indebted groups that, oh by the way, they can write these sorts of songs in their sleep, and they can put them at the end of their records, because they don't need to play ball with the other kids. They invented the game. In other words, they're New Order. And you're not.
