Alright, more than a little in common.
Power, Corruption & Lies is one of my favourite albums of all times. It someone manages to go from slightly grungy post-punk in it's opening song, Age Of Consent, before stripping right back to the thudding synth guitar of, We All Stand. I always find the combination of these two songs quite jarring. Age of Consent is filled with life, it's like a teenage road trip, with laughs, booze and good times on the beach. We All Stand seems to be the reality at the end of the holiday. Or the hangover. The guitar seems to slide slowly across the track, meandering softly and almost painfully in it's juxtaposed pace to the previous track. The repeated phrase of 'three miles to go' emphasises this journey through the album.
My favourite track on the album is 5-8-6. It's bouncy synth is addictive and infectious. The theme with the album seems to be experimenting with tempo and mood through the pace and timbre of the synth. The result really is a turbulent ride of mixed emotions, being pulled between sluggish bass and upbeat party anthems punctuated with the classic 80s sound of snare driven drums machines.
The use of repitition of lyrics - 'I see danger - danger - danger' and the often, not quite timed nature of these, with the previous syllable of a word getting tacked on, creates an authenticity to the album, which is missing in so much modern music. These days little errors of this nature would be re-recorded or edited into oblivion. The album is also noted for it's drum timing errors, which the band members describe as giving it a certain quirkiness and individuality.
The album is now viewed as a link between disco and the house scene, which would develop in the late 80s. When disco became a dirty word, New Order took an old sound and made it their own through technical innovation and their own sound developed from the Joy Division days.
What more to say. The album really does pull together as a whole and showed New Order's ability as a group to find their own style and shake off the pressure of creating a Joy Division album or writing music and lyrics in the style of Ian Curtis. The first New Order album, Movement had been their bridge to a new beginning. A must listen, the album has something for a range of music tastes. I can see it remaining one of my favourites for a long time yet.
References:
http://www.neworderonline.com/
Image scanned by:
http://www.niagara.edu/neworder/graphics/pcal.jpg
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