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Crystal is one of - if not the most - overrated songs in New Order's discography. Hated it then - hate it now.
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Crystal is truly a stellar song. Raw, emotive, and catchy as all hell.
I love the live rendition on Retro as well.
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Last truly great single they've released (good set of remixes too)
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"We're like crystal." "I'm so restless." There is some similarity in inflection, could even add "unlearn this hatred" to barn's rhyming scheme. Crystal is a monster, "make it happen" is powerful as well |
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Originally Posted by: Music Complete  Crystal is one of - if not the most - overrated songs in New Order's discography. Hated it then - hate it now. This is like saying One Direction are shit-hot. It's only half-true. It IS massively over-rated but hate? If it was a demo-only you'd gotten your mitts on you'd probably think it was a lost classic and be pushing for its release.
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Originally Posted by: Michael Monkhouse Originally Posted by: Music Complete Crystal is one of - if not the most - overrated songs in New Order's discography. Hated it then - hate it now. This is like saying One Direction are shit-hot. It's only half-true. It IS massively over-rated but hate? If it was a demo-only you'd gotten your mitts on you'd probably think it was a lost classic and be pushing for its release. Nope. That's not my New Order. It's the same four chords over and over - no change from the verse to the chorus. The lyrics are dumb, and it's all Hook grandstanding. I think the only reason it's popular is that - Let's Go (Nothing For Me) and Brutal aside - it was the first new single from them in eight years. Edited by user 02 October 2015 07:18:13(UTC)
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Crystal is a MASSIVE track and it introduced an entire generation to New Order. I was in high school when it came out and it was one of the most talked about and played tracks in the photo lab. I started college in 2005, Crystal was played at about every arty party I went to, and I heard it played in clubs a lot, always a floor filler. I know a lot of people who are in their late 20's/early 30's now who got into NO thru Crystal. I met a 19 year old Pratt student a few weeks ago who mentioned that Crystal is one of her favorite NO songs, so it obviously still grabs people. It's got tons of energy, great guitar riffs, awesome synth washes, cracking drums from Steve, great bass runs from Hooky, and fantastic production. I like Bernard's lyrics a lot. I've always thought he wrote Crystal about staying vital as you get older. It's a great rainy day song as well. Killer live track too. Edited by user 02 October 2015 07:43:54(UTC)
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I remember revenge and electronic songs, earlier neworder songs filling the 8 years. And everything about crystal and Get Ready was a continuation of superlative music. I have found Bach and rock and Offenbach, thousands of music wonders, but Bernard will always be the best future of music for me |
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Apples and oranges. Crystal is a great song, but a more angry kind of song. Music Complete is an album of pretty feel-good songs, so you can't really compare. Darker, more aggressive music always seems (to me) like it's better, but that doesn't mean Music Complete isn't a late-career masterpiece. It's just got a more summery vibe to it, but it's a great album, in the vein of Pet Shop Boys' Electric.
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I liked Crystal when it was new and fresh but can't remember the last time i ever listened to it.I think i went off it some years ago really.Great bass from Hooky , possibly the last truly great bass line he did.The drum and bass drum sound i always thought was quite unique and not something i'd ever heard before i don't think.Great piano/keyboard part with the break 3/4 way through.Great guitar sound if a little repetitive though i guess that was the idea.Probably the last New Order song that had a really edgy attitude to its sound. Great video.That was all the stuff i loved about back in the day.But despite all that i just never listen to it these days.Maybe i never really liked the lyrics and don't want to hear them anymore.Seems like it was played in clubs in America, Brazil or wherever more than it was in the UK. I certainly don't recall once hearing it in a club in the UK.Maybe i don't or never went to the right clubs is the obvious answer to that i suppose.But thinking about it i think i may have heard that great Lee Coombs remix of it in a club once.One that sticks in my memory about it is how Sara Cox on her Radio 1 breakfast show around the time played it a few times but she always seemed to stick it on about a couple of minutes or less before the news and then have to cut it off half way through to go to the news.Bugged me a bit at the time as it seemed like she was doing it on purpose because she was obliged to play the track as it was on the show's playlist but she got round the fact she didn't like it by playing just a bit of it before going to the news.Bitch!
I do soemtimes like to play the clip of Crystal on the Finsbury Park 2002 DVD, come to think of it.Really great that is.Cracking guitar work by Barney on that live version.
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Crystal was a good choice for a single at a time when the band were in the midst of a comeback of sorts. They hadn't released a single in years and admittedly wanted to show they could break new (for them) ground. To be fair, Get Ready wasn't exactly bursting at the seams with single material.
They may have been on to something. When they eventually released Here to Stay, there were quite a few voices on this forum that dismissed it as New Order by-the-numbers. I fully understand Jeb's "That's not my New Order." sentiment because the style of Here to Stay is more in keeping with the genre they pioneered and that I fell in love with in 1984. Perhaps it's just more about the track that first grabbed you.
Regarding the excellent live versions, the band knew they had a stomper. But they also realized that it didn't hold a candle to their classic electronic based tracks in a live setting. In fact, they quickly moved it to a slot early in the set after starting the 2005 tour with it amongst the likes of Blue Monday and Temptation. I attended the first two 2005 shows in California and it definitely failed to maintain the euphoria and momentum of those titans.
I don't have a problem if Crystal (or even Rock the Shack) is your favourite. But for me, most of Music Complete crushes it.
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To be honest, when I first heard CRYSTAL I was disappointed..a very basic pedestrian singalong song...and the back-up singing (sorry, no offence meant, Dawn Zee..) just doesnt suit my perception of a New Order song. However, small issue ... because I was very very glad New Order was back  Also I can kinda understand Barney's wanting to explore something beyond the typical New Order-ish. |
what a tutti frutti world of colours!!! |
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Funny, I find Crystal to be 100% New Order notwithstanding the obvious differences between it and all that preceded, whereas there's not a single song on Music Complete that really sounds like NO in spite of deliberate efforts in some places to do so. Partly the vocals, I guess, which are just a little too grown up on MC - they're still young and exuberant on Crystal. And the lyrics are better than a lot of people give them credit for. I like how on the Retro live version I'm applauded then forgotten becomes I'm forgiven then forgotten. Gives a ugly little twist to the phrase forgive and forget.
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Originally Posted by: stomp7 Funny, I find Crystal to be 100% New Order notwithstanding the obvious differences between it and all that preceded, whereas there's not a single song on Music Complete that really sounds like NO in spite of deliberate efforts in some places to do so. Partly the vocals, I guess, which are just a little too grown up on MC - they're still young and exuberant on Crystal. And the lyrics are better than a lot of people give them credit for. I like how on the Retro live version I'm applauded then forgotten becomes I'm forgiven then forgotten. Gives a ugly little twist to the phrase forgive and forget. But can you buy honey with money? I do like Crystal. But I definitely wouldn't say it "beats all" or is their "last great single". For me, the full 12" version (with the extra Hooky bits) and the single edit are preferred to the LP.
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Let's not forget that Crystal wasn't originally a New Order song… it was a Barney song.
Personally, I love Crystal, but there's plenty on MC that's just as good, and sounds like New Order to me.
Hooky (and Steve Osbourne) made Crystal into a cracking New Order track… different to what came before, but still New Order. Other people have done the same with the tracks on MC.
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Oh, and I prefer the new vocal style. Recoil is the best example of it. Love the vocals on that. Act your age Barney!
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Originally Posted by: Spittingcat Let's not forget that Crystal wasn't originally a New Order song… it was a Barney song.
Personally, I love Crystal, but there's plenty on MC that's just as good, and sounds like New Order to me.
Hooky (and Steve Osbourne) made Crystal into a cracking New Order track… different to what came before, but still New Order. Other people have done the same with the tracks on MC. Radiation
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I have grown accustomed to old barndog's voice. I wish he had sung the final verse of 'superheated'. Flowers is too good . Personally ,if I were barn, I would have asked Justin Hayward, Mike Scott, Vanian, Dave Gilmour, Brian Eno, or Mick Jagger |
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For all the moments I do not think a MC track sounds like a NO track I hear Gillian's synths floating above the din. Also the "sea" reference on Academic is a trade mark NO moment. Singularity may be the closest to a great NO stomper but I am a bit disappointed that the drums are buried in the mix.
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Originally Posted by: Andy New Order by-the-numbers. Quite honestly I would've killed for some NO-by-Nos in the mid-90s. Not actually killed, but seriously maimed a member of Take That. It would've been a welcome alternative to the rip-offs (Best Of, Rest Of, Permanent) and limp disco (Rep, O2, RTP). Paradoxically I think the closest we got to the classic sound was Music For Pleasure.
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Originally Posted by: Pyrtwist For all the moments I do not think a MC track sounds like a NO track I hear Gillian's synths floating above the din. In the Radio X interview Bernard talks about synths on the album being played by him and Stephen (and also Tom Rowlands) as well as Gillian. How do people know which synths are Gillian's?
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