New Order are my favourite band, and always have been/will be. I think I may be very lucky in that I love them from Movement to Lost Sirens, and probably beyond, fingers crossed for that new New Order album!
It seems like a common attitude on these forums to suggest that somehow the Factory NO were the be all and end all and that the band hasn't made anything worthwile since Technique, admittabley their best album, certainly nothing to compare with the great Factory classics.. But for me, that criminally ignores some of the best songs NO have EVER created, imoho of course! Regret, World, Liar, Brutal, Crystal, Vicious Circle, Here to Stay, Krafty, Who's Joe, Waiting for the Siren's Call and Turn. For me, these latter four in particular easily rank alongside anything produced in the 80s. This is the sound of a band growing and developing and not staying the same, ever.
Now we have the Lost Sirens, and what a lost album this would have been. These are no worthless outtakes, on my first listen to 'I'll Stay With You' I fell in love instantly, and could even sing along by the end, to me that is a sure sign of classic-dom, or whatever! Crystal, Who's Joe, Lost all had the same effect. What I find particularly pleasing about this 'album' (and I think in years to come we will come to see it as the 9th studio album, as it should have been, after all its not that unusual for NO to put out 8 track albums then, is it?) is that after a few listens there are NO (scuse the pun) crap tracks!
Yes, I love NO, but even I know that Slow Jam, Rock the Shack, Jetstream and Working Overtime are rubbish and embarrasing. Sugarcane and Recoil are slow burners, but now seem as familiar as Hellbent, which btw I think is FAR superior here than on Total, I dunno why, and I can't put my finger on it, but that's what I think! I can hear Hooky's bass all over this thing, so I don't know where the idea that its being buried is coming from, it certainly isn't on I'll Stay With You and I've Got A Feeling. Californian grass is lovely and I have paired it with Dracula's Castle on my own Sirens, as that's another song I feel gets a bad rap when in fact its a gem. Shake it Up scared me when I saw the title, and sure enough when the song itself starts horrible memories of Shack and Overtime srang to mind.. I couldn't have been more wrong! Shake it Up is how NO should do this type of rocking out song, the synths are amazing, and the chorus is so catchy, and I've seen the other comments here reminding people of Confusion, spot on! Not a huge fan of the original I Told You So, just a good album track I thought, nothing else. The remix however has completely turned that opinion on its head! What a great piece, and the perfect last track on my own Sirens, which, seeing as we all like lists and the like, is here for your perusal..
Who's Joe?
I'll Stay With You
Waiting For The Siren's Call
Sugarcane
Krafty
Californian Grass
Dracula's Castle
Hellbent
Shake It Up
Guilt Is A Useless Emotion
I've Got a Feeling
Turn
I Told You So [lost sirens mix]
