Get Ready [LP]

by New Order

Overview

Instead of settling down in front of the mixing board for another dance album (a la Technique or Republic), New Order returned in 2001 with a sound and style they hadn't played with for over a decade. Unsurprisingly bored by the stale British club scene circa 2001, the band opened Get Ready with a statement of purpose, a trailer single ("Crystal") featuring a host of longtime New Order staples: a sublime melody, an inscrutable set of lyrics, a deft, ragged guitar line kicking in for the chorus, and Peter Hook's yearning bass guitar taking a near-solo role. Though there are several allowances for the electronic-dance form New Order helped develop, Get Ready is a very straight-ahead album, their first work in 15 years that's focused on songwriting and performance rather than grafted dance techniques. (Of course, the band proved themselves far more than studio hands at several points, stretching back over twenty years to Joy Division's landmark Unknown Pleasures, as well as later New Order LPs like 1985's Low-life and 1986's Brotherhood.) Listeners familiar with the blueprint of early New Order work will find much to love on Get Ready, from the tough rockers "60 Miles an Hour" and "Primitive Notion" to pastoral downtempo material like "Turn My Way," "Vicious Streak," and the melodica-driven closer "Run Wild." This naked songcraft, however, does reveal a few of the band's deficiencies. Bernard Summer's lyrics drift toward the inane: "I'll be there for you when you want me to/I'll stand by your side like I always do/In the dead of night it'll be alright/cuz I'll be there for you when you want me to." And the band can't help but identify with a younger generation of music-makers, inviting Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie over for "Rock the Shack" and turning in a dense, chaotic production that's all but de rigeur for Gillespie but very strained for New Order. (The other main collaborative track, with stranded Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, is surprisingly unembarassing.) Even for fans who don't need any convincing, Get Ready is a true "grower," an album that reveal its delicious secrets -- sublime songcraft, introverted delivery, collaborative musicianship -- slowly and only after several listens. ~ John Bush

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2015
Label:	Rhino / Warner Music
UPC:	0825646071043
Rank:	22538

Tracks

1. Crystal
2. 60 Miles an Hour
3. Turn My Way
4. Vicious Streak
5. Primitive Notion
6. Slow Jam
7. Rock the Shack
8. Someone Like You
9. Close Range
10. Run Wild

Album Credits

Performance Credits

New Order   Primary Artist
Primal Scream   Guest Artist
Billy Corgan   Guest Artist,Vocals
Andrew Innes   Guitar
Simon Hale   Strings,Conductor
Bobby Gillespie   Vocals
Dawn Zee   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Paul "P-Dub" Walton   Mixing Engineer
Stephen Morris   Composer
Simon Hale   Arranger
Steve Osborne   Mixing,Producer,Mixing Engineer
Pete Davis   Programming
Flood   Mixing,Producer
Mark "Spike" Stent   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Peter Hook   Composer
Sam Roberts   Design
New Order   Composer,Producer
Andrew Robinson   Engineer,Engineer
Gillian Gilbert   Composer
Adrian Bushby   Mixing Engineer
Paul Walton   Mixing Engineer
Bernard Sumner   Mixing,Composer,Producer
Rob Kirwan   Engineer
Marco Migliari   Assistant
David Treahearn   Assistant Producer
Peter Saville   Art Direction
Bruno Ellingham   Engineer
Matt Fields   Assistant,Assistant Engineer,Assistant Producer
Jan "Stan" Kybert   Mixing,Engineer,Pro-Tools,Digital Editing
Juergen Teller   Photography
Howard Wakefield   Design
Tim Young   Mastering
Owen Mulcahy   Mixing Engineer