1999 02 The Other Two "Super Highways" Uncut Review

Mancs again

THE OTHER TWO
SUPERHIGHWAYS
London ★ ★ ★

New offering from New Order duo

FIVE eventful years have elapsed since Steven Morris and Gillian Gilbert delivered their debut
collection of mellifluous but somewhat anodyne disco-pop. New Order split and regrouped. Bernard Sumner found acclaim with the occasionally sublime Electronic. Peter Hook exorcised his past with Revenge and Monaco. Dance music evolved almost beyond recognition. And now the self-effacing duo are back with another collection of, ahem, mellifluous but somewhat anodyne disco-pop. Ho hum. It’s 1992 again. Welcome to the placid house revolution.

Ironically, the most obvious reference point here lies not in Steven and Gillian’s illustrious past but rather with Dubstar, the armchair electro-pop trio sometimes dismissed as pale New Order copyists. Not such a damning comparison in the grander scheme of things - Dubstar can be classy operators when they try - but hardly inspired parameters for two members of the most culturally important pop modernists of the last 20 years.

Part of the blame must lie with co-writer and guest vocalist Melanie Williams, of Sub Sub fame, whose blankly wistful northern tones and bittersweet romantic observations are often uncannily reminiscent of Dubstar’s Sarah Blackwood. These nagging similarities run throughout the album, from the mournful folky sighs of opening number "Weird Woman” to the sugar-coated platitudes of penultimate weepie “Hello”. Even more curiously, the slow-motion instrumental mantra, “Jonno”, even seems to model its chiming melody on Dubstar’s debut single, “Stars”, which is either a brazen in-joke or a fatefully bizarre coincidence.

But Williams is only one third of the equation. Morris and Gilbert hardly stretch themselves either,
sticking squarely within their comfortable, self-imposed boundaries of breezily euphoric Eurodisco,
epitomised by the single, “We Can ”, and more stately electro-ballads like “Unwanted”. For variety, there are occasional flirtations with semi-junglist scuttlebeats and a spooked ambient interlude entitled “The Grave”, which aspires to doomy grandeur but instead invokes the alarming spectre of Jean-Michel Jarre. And, believe me, for a die-hard New Order fan, this is very painful to relate.

In fairness, a few fair-to-middling pop gems lurk amidst the pastel-shaded banality. “Common As Muck” and “Cold Feet” are both fleet-footed, discotronic baubles as gleefully insubstantial as the duo’s 1991 single, “Tasty Fish”, while “Super Highways” is a weightless pneumatic glide through lush synthetic orchestration. Crystalline pianos and billowing strings are expertly employed throughout, lending even featherlight melodies a silken opulence.

But ultimately, like its predecessor, this album falls between two stools. It lacks the towering melodrama, gutsy urgency or quixotic cheek of New Order, and yet timidly refuses to break free from cosy familiarity. Thus, alas, the Joy Division family tree sprouts another mildly diverting but inessential branch.

Stephen Dalton