• on air
• artists
• music news
• gigs & tickets
• breakfast
• o2 academy

New Order 'Waiting For The Sirens' Call'

added 21 March 2005 at 11.08

And so, almost 25 years after their painful birth and four years since the straight-ahead rock of 'Get Ready', New Order return with their eighth studio album and while it may be churlish to expect the Manchester quartet to scale the heights of yore, 'Waiting For The Sirens’ Call' nonetheless falls some considerable way short of what they’re truly capable of.

What made New Order’s return from the wilderness so exciting, so utterly satisfying was that it didn’t sound in any way awkward or strained. Brutal, tucked away in typically perverse New Order fashion on The Beach soundtrack, was a harder, tougher and more rocking beast than anything they’d unleashed before and, drenched in a righteous pride and swirling drones, managed to both satiate and exceed expectations. It’s certainly an approach that made 'Get Ready' such a gratifying experience; by having nothing left to prove, New Order relied on instinct and so, eschewing any zeitgeist-grabbing gestures, delivered exactly the kind of album we weren’t expecting – streamlined, muscular and with more of a focus on the mosh pit than the dancefloor.

So why then, is Waiting For The Sirens’ Call the first truly disappointing New Order album? Barney’s plaintive, child-like vocals and choppy guitars, Hooky’s low-slung bass leads and Stephen Morris’ metronomic timing and beats are all present and correct but sadly, much of 'Waiting For The Sirens’ Call' feels uncomfortably self-conscious and forced, an album that relies less on intuition and more on playing to the gallery.

For sure, contained within its 56 minutes are two stone-cold New Order classics. With the utterly magnificent title track, New Order pick up the baton passed on by the metre of 'Love Vigilantes', 'All Day Long'’s swooping bass runs and the sheer euphoria of 'Run' and genuinely soar to accompany celestial choirs as Barney’s mournful lyrics of lost love and regret tug at the heart as much as they massage the head. It’s a headrush of divine proportions while further down the line, the guitar-driven ecstasy of 'Turn' – written by the band to cheer themselves up on a rainy day - wouldn’t feel out of place on 'Technique'. Unhappily, what sits between these two gems is some of the most mediocre material trotted out by this colossal band.

Nothing – but nothing – prepares you for the horror that is 'I Told You So'. Undoubtedly the worst thing New Order have ever committed to posterity, this horrendous piece of cod-reggae has all the allure of watching a drunken parent dance at a wedding. Indeed, it’s the nods to the dancefloor that come off worst. The disappointingly trite Jetstream – featuring Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic – drifts by aimlessly while 'Guilt Is A Useless Emotion' has the cringing appeal of a vicar at a youth club disco and for the first time in their lengthy career, New Order find themselves looking back rather than forward.

Waiting For The Sirens’ Call isn’t without its charms; 'Who’s Joe?' and 'Hey Now What You Doing' are cut from the same cloth as the splendid 'Krafty' but unfortunately, the sagging quality of the middle section of the album merely conspires to weigh the whole thing down with all the charm of a ball and chain.

As the second most-influential band from the North West, they’ve changed the course of popular music twice and who knows, they may even change it again. But not this time. Still, despite Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’s shortcomings, there are at least enough encouraging signs that New Order are far from over. And amen to that. 

New Order ‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’ (London) Released March 28 2005

Agree / disagree with this review? Discuss it on the messageboard or email the editor:

Back to the Reviews homepage

 

• send to a friend