NEW ORDER / Lost Sirens (2013)

Lost Sirens is a collection of unreleased tracks originally written during the Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005) recording session. It's not surprising, then, that it sounds very similar to that album. There are some old hooks played in new ways, but once again it's the choruses that really shine on each track. However, there's nothing on here that'll convince you to like them if you didn't before.
As much as I enjoy the modern New Order sound, I can't shake the feeling that it's all too safe. It needs more danger. It needs a kick up the ass.

Songs of Note: Sugarcane; Californian Grass

2½ cold, cold worlds out of 5

NEW ORDER / Movement (1981)

A very transitional album. Released just one year after Joy Division had ended, it has the ghost of that band drifting in and out of every song. The production is often criticized for having a mournful sound, but it's those moments that I enjoy most. I can ignore the bits I don't like and be left with the sound of Post-punk in a state of flux. The bits I ignore introduce the Dance-friendly Pop that would become the soundtrack to many a pill-head's Saturday night in later years. Bernard Sumner took vocal duties only because no one else wanted to, and he did okay.

Songs of Note: Truth; ICB

4 senses in denial out of 5

NEW ORDER / Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)

WftSC is New Order by numbers, with a little extra guitar and a lot of extra sugary topping. Really, the happy-fairy has dribbled her happy-juice all over it. If running naked and carefree through summer meadows had a sound, it'd be WftSC.
Bernard Sumner has always been a reluctant vocalist, and that's fine, it's the music that people want, and musically it'll please, if not overly excite, existing fans. We can't have a Blue Monday on every album.

Songs of Note: Hey Now What You Doing; Who's Joe?

3½ down the Old West Side out of 5