New Order "Sub Culture" Reviews

NEW ORDER: Sub Culture (Factory)

This is a radical reworking of the ‘Low Life' track that may offend the more purist of NO’s fan club, but one of the things I like about this lot is their willingness to take chances and their refusal to think purely in commercial or cult status terms. As a pop singles band, NO have an impressive track record but this, for all its dislocation, is the nearest they’ve come to a radio tailored outing. On initial listening this sounded a bit cluttered and the inclusion of soul-tinged female backing vocals is quite an eccentric ploy. Towards the end of the song they begin to sound like Heaven 17 which is a bit unfortunate, but this one is beginning to grow on me by the hour.

NEW ORDER ‘Sub-Culture' (Factory) The life of the hardened New Order non-fan is a bloody hard one, I can tell you. Everyone thinks you're mentally unbalanced (so what if I talk to trees, so did George The Third) and wonders how you can fail to be moved by a succession of variations on the same three notes. Things are made even tougher when the shower bring out a first-rate dance record like 'Sub-Culture', so good it doesn't even sound like New Order. Hit. Shucks.