2001 08 26 New Order "Get Ready" Ad and Review Observer

NEW ORDER

Get Ready

(WEA London 8573896212)

They certainly haven’t forgotten how New Order should sound. Whatever the motives for their reunion - boredom, creativity, the drabness of their solo projects (Monaco, Electronic and The Other Two, should you not have noticed) - the Mancunians’ first album in eight years has more swagger than the tail end of their previous life together. If only Bernard Sumner could find words to match the spirit of their playing - in particular the canny blend of his guitar and Peter Hook’s trademark falsetto bass - this would be a great album. ‘Don’t wanna wash my car’ is never going to figure in the litany of great chorus lines. Plain old ‘Rock the Shack’, where Bobby Gillespie helps out on a nod to their punk roots, is stronger. The effect of Get Ready’s 10 tracks of beleaguered defiance is cumulative and fans will embrace it with confidence. The rest of the world isn’t likely to be so impressed.