let's discuss New Order's 'Republic'

euler i salute you

It was strange to see it in color! There were lots of people taking photos of the main door but I doubt anyone else was there because of NO---prob film festival things take place at that door? I confess I know nothing about the festival; I went to Cannes today pretty much only because of this video, & Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" (and I was in the neighborhood already).

You were once the main attraction
But all that's in the apst

the past too

Just wanted to say that just because someone "looks as if they are holding a guitar for the first time" does not mean that they *sound* as if they are holding a guitar for the first time.

And to call Gilbert's guitar playing "limited" in a band where Bernard Sumner is a guitarist takes some nerve. The whole thing of why New Order *work* is the ability to do amazing and unbelievably lovely things, with some very "limited" materials.

I pretty much haven't listened to this album since it came out (mostly because I had it on cassette) but I listened to it *so much* when it was released, that I wonder if it has been coded specifically to that time and place of where I was living and where I was at when it was released. Like, if I listen to this record, am I going to instantly smell the New Town Sewer and taste the odd slightly metallic aftertaste of lithium tablets. I do wonder, because I don't really remember much beyond Regret. (Which is so world-breakingly huge and definitely Imperial Phase New Order that it overshadows everything else in its path.)

(Yay! Another thread for me and Alfred to argue about New Order. This is my all-time favourite aspect of ILM. Also, Daniel Kessler remains hotter than Ezra Eyelash-face whatever his name is. So there.)

Republic is a great album. I can listen to it start to finish and I can't say that for many of their albums. Lyrically it's one of Bernard's best efforts. The demise of Factory and the Hacienda provided enough material for him to write about.

Yeah, I felt kinda cheated when it came out (for being too synth-heavy and Hooky-less, which I all interpreted as NO "selling out" - lol) but the years have been very kind to this album, surprisingly. It captures a late summer elegiac feeling, which these days is how I remember my teenage years.

I like this album better than the comeback.

Next comeback, I should say. Get Ready, which has a couple of my least fave NO songs of all time on it.

Oh! I went looking for Get Ready and discovered that, mysteriously, I *do* seem to own this album (second hand CD from Amoeba? When did that happen?)

Up as far as Young Offender, it is way, way better than I have recently given it credit for being.

I think I was just traumatised by Baywatch or something.

so playing this last week, I'm starting to think this is actually one of their best - "Liar" and "Chemical" are the only throwaways.
And for all the talk of Technique and Ibiza, this to me is the real balearic NO deal. That late-summer sunset vibe is all over the album.

oh damn, said exactly the same thing two months ago :(

The whole thing of why New Order *work* is the ability to do amazing and unbelievably lovely things, with some very "limited" materials.
― Branwell Bell, Saturday, April 5, 2014 8:17 PM (1 year ago)

I love this album.

Underrated album. I even like the pretty final track.

I agree. Great album. Each of the singles has at least 1 great remix as well. I would love to hear the tapes Steve, Gillian, and Peter worked on without Bernard to see if they are as good and different sounding as PH claims. You would imagine if PH had written a killer bassline, that Stephen Hague would have had the sense to use it.

t's a crisis I know
At the end of the show
People change but we don't falter
'Cause we know love is real
This is no place to shiver
So get up off the grass
You were once the main attraction
But all that's in the past

I went to the Peter Saville exhibition in 2002 in Manchester and they had a whiteboard from New Order’s studio with the titles, working titles, and rejected ideas for Republic scribbled on in red and blue marker. It’s one of the really cool bits of the show that stuck in my mind. I wish I’d taken a photo.

They've been performing "Times Change" lately.

I love "Regret" so much it's hard to get past it

I was a short fuse
Burning all the time
You were a complete stranger
Now you are mine

I would like a place I can call my own
Have a conversation on my telephone
Wake up everyday, that would be a start
I would not complain about my wounded heart

also it reminds me of the New Order guitar sound of Movement and 1981-1982 that I fell in love with

"Regret", "Ruined In A Day" and "Spooky" are the only songs off of this I ever listen to; I should change that

"Regret" is a perfect song, though

Everyone Everywhere, Times Change, and Avalanche are also great!

"Everyone Everywhere" is top ten NO for me.

Regret, Ruined in a Day, Spooky, Everyone Everywhere, Young Offender, Times Change, Special - apart from a couple of duds (Chemical, Liar), they're all classics.
It sure didn't feel like that when it came out, but it's one of my favorites NO albums these days.

"Regret" is a perfect song, though

Quite.

It sure didn't feel like that when it came out, but it's one of my favorites NO albums these days.

It doesn't/didn't fit the '90s' stereotypes in our heads even then. As a result, it's weirdly timeless.

I remember clearly that it got VERY lukewarm reviews from the NME and the Maker at the time (summer 1993). Regret and World are flawless tracks though.

It got better reviews stateside than in the UK, as if American critics finally got NO just, uh, before they fell apart.

The band's played "Times Change" and "World" in their last couple shows. I understand the veil of trauma through which they view the album, but it's a sturdy collection; they may have finally realized it too.

i've got nothing particularly rivetting to say about them but 'world' and 'spooky' are easily my favourite songs on this

My god I love this song and performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pc0PNdqElA

first time I was disappointed by New Order

You must have missed "Shellshock."

thank you thread, "Regret" is blazing chills thru my body now

"Shellshock" is masterful, fools!

I put the Pretty in Pink soundtrack on in the record store where I worked. When "Shellshock" came on, I was absolutely appalled. It's been more than 35 years, and I still remember thinking that it just didn't pay to have heroes.

Shellshock is a dazzlingly great blend of Robie and NO. If the band’s own interpersonal dynamics were better, one wonders if they would have more prolifically surrendered to collaboration, as with Baker.

idk I live in Miami, where "Shellshock" felt of its moment and thrilling -- and, respectfully, sic, they collaborated all the time.

I suppose it could be a function of the moment in which we found ourselves. I lived at the time in Colorado. I had seen them the year before on the Low-Life tour, and that remains a top three show for me. They seemed to fall off pretty dramatically after that. Brotherhood was a return to form, but that tour (at least when I saw it) was lackluster, and nothing they did afterward seemed to have, for me, the same magic.

That said, thanks to this thread I am listening to Republic for the first time in ages, and it sounds much better than I remember.

I'm a freestyle guy, so "Shellshock" was beautifully adjacent.

My closest friend at the time thought it was a joke. She called it their "we hate you Jellybean" moment.

They fruitfully collaborated with eg Hague on a sound for Republic, but the Robie and Baker singles sound more fully like a blending of both writing and production.

(The Hannett-era NO does sound like a different band to JD and later NO — but top of my head the other 1980s albums are self-produced; are there other collab singles I’m forgetting?)

I'd say "True Faith" represents an ideal collab b/w them and Stephen Hague.

Now that we've grown up together
They're all taking drugs with me

I think the consensus is that "Regret" is a cracking tune. Truly one of NO's transcendent moments.

i am pro shellshock

and while i have enjoyed certain tunes since, definitely think Regret is the last unfuckwithably transcendent moment from NO

generally feel that New Order and 90s “4 remixes on CD single 2 of 2” culture didn’t really get on that well, but was surprised to absolutely adore this Weatherall mix of Regret

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWyRPaJXuSQ

I'd say "True Faith" represents an ideal collab b/w them and Stephen Hague.

Ha yes, I was fumbling in the right direction!

(especially better to cite since by Republic the band weren’t collaborating with each other…)

Shellshock and State of the Nation are their nadir imo. Bounced back nicely after that, peaking with Technique and nicely plateauing ever since

And Republic is the album of theirs I pull out most often these days. Not their best but it really takes me (back) to a place and time.