New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call REVIEW

New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call REVIEW: B+/A-

I had been a fan of New Order music since I was in high school -- in many ways, I never thought that it would be possible for them to recapture the magic

Well, apparently the boys in N-O went back to the drawing board and hit on their most compelling album in many, many years

I think that it is a bit unfortunate that most reviews of this album spend a great deal of space saying that there is no The Killers and the bands of today without New Order -- in many ways, they do deserve credit as an influence, but I feel that it is more important to give them credit for a vibrant album that stands up to the new stuff and is equally as important and ... dareisayit, RELEVANT to the extreme

So how does a band like New Order reinvent itself for a new generation -- well, it's definitely not a dance album in the traditional N-O sense ... they take the sounds of today and turn them out with a lot of style

Ever had that feeling that an album might be dead in the water, or DOA after the first track ... I felt it creeping during the opening track, "Who's Joe?" -- it takes missteps that make it sound like The Church from the 80s-90s, it sounds too much like old school stuff ... I mean, there's nothing that off putting about it generally, it doesn't meet the level of the other tracks, though

But for all the missteps of the first track, all of a sudden, as if they got a DO-OVER, the album really takes off with the second song

The second track, "Hey Now What You Doing", is an excellent example of the new sound of New Order, you get the trademark N-O vocals, the big bass line ... but over the jangle of straightforward alt rock, it has a guitar solo ... whoa, hold the presses ... this track is gonna be a big hit at some point pretty soon, a definite gem for us old time 80-90s college rock fans or fans of the new retro sound

The very next track, "Waiting for the Sirens' Call" sees N-O takes on the synth bands it helped spawn on their turf ... in many ways it feels like the old farts have a few more tricks in their bag ... again tricking it up with some guitar -- this one is classic N-O, another one that will hit the airwaves of your local STAR/KROQ sounding radio station real soon

By the time you get to "Krafty", you can't help but notice wow, I've been grooving now to two really great songs back-to-back, well make it three ... this is the single, and N-O lays out a more traditional sounding synth dance pop number with this one, ... it is so very good to hear new tracks like this from them

The next track, "I Told You So" is a "We're New Order, We're Back to Take Stuff Over" track, the lyrics are highly personal and self-referential ... but the song is a real statement of how to put together a compelling dance track, it's not a single in the conventional sense, but still is a really awesome cut

"Morning Night and Day" is the hardcore synth dance number, that no N-O album should be without, but again, it comes from rock context, it is not pure synth dance ... this one is gonna be on a lot of exercise playlists on iPods across the world, very high energy, very cool to listen to on headphones

"Dracula's Castle" is probably the most critically panned of the songs on this album -- now, I don't know what it is about critics hating anything that is remotely listenable -- this one is poppy, catchy, maybe a tad corny, and GOOD ... there I said it, good -- it is more danceable synth pop from a rock context, with the cool piano outro

As you can tell by my gushing, this one just lifts off your player from the first play and impresses you with its goodness, no additional listens required ... but you will, oh you will LOL

"Jetstream" is a bit of a letdown because it feels mailed in, and it has kinda lame lyrics alongside a cornier than hell chorus ... it has some good synth riffs in it, it just feels like a throwaway

They are back on track with "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" -- it has that fat aura and classic N-O sound -- it's definitely one for the older fans such as I -- there's such an energy to this one, definite high energy, danceable goodness, very solid track ... a cool portion of it is when it does a nod to the Blue Monday sound towards the end

Nine songs in and I'm already in "it's gravy mode", the tenth track, "Turn", is to me the best song of the album -- finally all the setup of the new style and sound pays off in a big fat, new retro sounding nu-pop song ... I think this album is really well setup in addition to a pleasure to listen to

It is ironic that the only track that feels mismatched to the album as a whole is the last track, "Working Overtime" has a 60s Stonesy bluesy flavor blended with a 70s post punky flair ... at this point, I'm in a good mood about most of the tracks, this one they take a flyer on, I don't get it

In the final analysis ...

You get almost an hour, yes ... 56 minutes of music, a definite rarity in today's CD market ... and for the price, it's like a bargain

Again, very highly recommended ... it's albums like this that make we want to take chances on my old favorite artists, it's that hope that they will knock it out of the park like N-O did here

Our grade: B+/A- ... perhaps it is a tough grade considering that if they cut Who's Joe?, Jetstream, Working Overtime ... I'm probably saying that this is the best release of the year thus far ... nevertheless, very very strong total effort from New Order, with some really strong stand-alone tracks

POST-SCRIPT -- Or, do I really need a remix of one track for my money?

Since I bought it so early, I missed the bonus track edition ... I just want to roll my eyes and beat my head on the ground at the stupid marketing techniques that release the same thing with more tracks, a little while later

Well, I can get it on iTs, but NO, you have to buy the WHOLE ALBUM to get it ... boo that