New Order - Music Complete
- Written by Marky Edison
Music Complete is New Order’s first album in a decade. 2005’s Waiting For The Sirens' Call was a largely forgettable affair and seemed for a long while as if it might make a rather pitiful swansong for the band.
It’s the first recording since the acrimonious split with bassist Peter Hook. Bernard Sumner’s Bad Lieutenant cohort Tom Chapman fills Hook’s shoes here. He has been touring with New Order for years and his playing fits in well with the rest of the group. More welcome to long-time fans will be the return of original keyboardist Gillian Gilbert. Her stoic appearance belies the dynamism and energy that her musical contribution brings to the overall sound.
The Mondrianesque cover of Music Complete comes from Peter Saville, whose memorable sleeve designs have graced New Order albums since Day One. The return of familiar names is balanced by contributions from outsiders. La Roux’s Elly Jackson sings on three of the songs. Brandon Flowers and Iggy Pop appear and production duties on a number of tracks have been shared with The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands and Richard X.
The album opens with current single, ‘Restless’, a song that acts as a reintroduction for the band after such a long absence. It is the most New Order-y song on the album and works as a bridge between the previous records and what is to come.
‘Singularity’ is the first of two songs produced by Tom Rowlands, and it sounds like it. It has the big beats and rollicking bassline that we have come to expect from him, and is not a million miles away from the work he did on Primal Scream’s XTRMNTR. The Chemical Brothers and their contemporaries, Leftfield, are big influences on both this track and ‘Plastic’.
‘Plastic’ is helmed by Richard X and features Elly Jackson sharing vocals with Sumner. It’s a strong start to the album but after the uplifting opening triptych, ‘Tutti Frutti’ is the first dud. It’s not a particularly bad tune, just not very interesting despite Jackson’s best efforts. Her next contribution is to a much better song. ‘People On The High Line’ blends funk rhythms with house-style piano leads, and is a cracker of a tune.
On ‘Stray Dog’, Iggy Pop does his best Tom Waits impression, evoking an aged and decrepit iteration of the character he played on Death In Vegas’ '90s classic, 'Aisha'. Iggy has previously performed live with New Order. In Sumner’s recent autobiography he said it was a dream come true for the band, to whom The Stooges were idols and a major inspiration when forming Joy Division.
There’s a slight dip in quality on the second half of the album although ‘Nothing But A Fool’ is possibly the closest thing to a new Joy Division track that you’ll ever hear. Tom Rowlands returns to ramp things up again on ‘Unlearn This Hatred’ before Brandon Flowers takes over lead vocals on closing number ‘Superheated’. If working with Iggy Pop is a dream come true for New Order, then this must be a similar feeling for Flowers. His band, The Killers, are named after a fictitious group that appear in the video for ‘Crystal’.
Flowers' appearance probably means that this song will be a single from Music Complete but while it is a good song in its own right, it is not representative of the album as a whole. The best parts of the album are the hard dance tunes. This is probably the best thing New Order have done since their '80s heyday. Rather than being retro or some kind of retread, this is the up-to–date sound of a 21st century electronic band. New Order influenced a generation, then took influence from their protégés to give us something new. Music Complete; circle complete.