A different view of New Order
Brian D. Rubendall | Oakton, VA | 01/23/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I never had the chance to see New Order perform live, and having listened to this I'm sorry I never did. New Order on stage is a vastly different proposition than their fussy, perfect production studio albums. The music has a whole different feel live. The spontaneousness actually makes some of their songs more tuneful. The only regret is that the album contains only nine cuts, drawn heavilly from their 1986 album "Brotherhood." That said, this one is definately for fans only. Like most live albums, the appeal is likely to be lost on casual listeners."
Lousy voice makes it all hard to listen to...
Iqbal Faizer | Montreal to Toronto, Canada | 05/11/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"To be fair, I'm not a major New Order fan, but I always liked "True Faith" and "Bizarre Love Triangle", and found others alright. That being said, given the fact the singer never had a tremendous voice in singing in such a bland way, that concert performances are generally not as well played as original versions, and that these performances add nothing to the original versions in terms of interesting reinterpretations, this performance is dreadful. I've read the band were taking drugs heavily during this 1987 tour. Perhaps this is why the singer's hardly difficult singing is off-tune and lazy throughout. I had to return this awful album. Buy "Substance" or the "International Hits", maybe even Joy Division's "Permanent"."
Raw emotion and cool electronics
Sasha P. Carter | Austin, TX United States | 11/29/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This album is what made me fall in love with New Order once again. The people who dislike this album fall into two seemingly opposing categories: Joy division fans who don't like Bernard Summer's higher voice and synthesizer usage, and New Order fans who think every performance should soudn just like the studio. No man this is New Order singing with a heavy Manchester Accent putting forth all the passion and emotion their lyrics hold. You know how when that song you like is on the radio, but you always seem to tune into the middle part of the song. Then one day you hear a odd but familiar intro, and you finally realize that you are goign to hear the song the whole way through and it's awesome. That is what this album is like. My favorite track on this is Perfect Kiss, which is played in entirety, both verses and the little canto at the end of the second verse with the most elaborate and moving performance of Stephen Morris's Frog Croakings. My only complaint is wanting more."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
