New Order — Waiting For The Sirens' Call

We need to put together a petition to stop Barney from yelling during Love Will Tear Us Apart. It really doesn't suit whoops of joy, you know.

Anyway, it would be foolish to deny that New Order haven't lost anything with the departure of Gillian from the band. It's difficult to pin it down exactly, but both Get Ready and Waiting… do seem more laddish than, say, Republic or Technique. And yes, it could be said that at this stage in their life, New Order are rearranging old songs rather than pushing boundaries like they did the 1980s.

None of that makes the final words of Waiting For The Sirens' Call any less heartbreaking. Bernard Sumner gets a lot of criticism for his lyrics, most of which is unfair (I am, of course, not going to stand up for "Here comes love/it's like honey/you can't buy/it with money"). Of course he can't compare with Ian Curtis, but then Sumner isn't trying to. New Order's lyrics are often less about how they look when written down, but how they sound when actually sung. Okay, the same could be said about pretty much any act, but New Order take it to an extreme. For them, the voice is just another instrument, and as long as it sounds right, they seem to feel that it'll all hang together in the end. Which it invariably does.

How many times must I lose my way, hey
How many words do I have to say, hey
What can I do just to make you see
That you're so good for a man like
A man like me

Words on a screen just can't convey the tired and resigned way that Barney sets off into a Peter Hook-sponsored sunset.

(Other notable New Order releases this year: Singles, which despite a few flaws, is a fine collection for people who want the hits, and the Collection, DVD set, comprising all their video promos (except True Faith '94, but that was just the original True Faith video with other New Order videos spliced in at various points, so you're not missing anything), and the documentary NewOrderStory, featuring the voiceover that I imagine Paul Morley still smiles about.)