Wednesday, August 10, 2005

New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call

I'm stuck in an 80's time warp at the moment. And there's no better soundtrack to our retro adventure than New Order's latest album, Waiting for the Sirens Call. The band has stayed together for over twenty years and this may be their best group of songs yet.

This CD is loads of fun. The songs are so enjoyable to listen to. I can still feel the synthesized bass beat ringing in my head. Sometimes I break into a smile when I realize that these are twenty-first century songs played in the eighties style. The tracks are upbeat, positive, lollypop, energy-laden fun. I love all the beeps, whistles and pops. It makes me feel stupid enough to be back in high school.

We have two classic new wave songs in this compilation: First we have 'Krafty' - a very addictive tune which you will want to listen over and over again. It's so carefree and playful, with good synthesized drums and music in the background. This has to be my favorite song so far this year.

We also have the slightly more serious, yet kickass track 'Jetstream', which I believe has one of the best song refrains ever made: "J-E-T. You are so good for me. You are my jetstream lover. You're how I wanna be." The buildup to the J-E-T part, followed by the actual refrain is genius.

I also like the choice of titles for the other songs: "Dracula's Castle", "Who's Joe", "Working Overtime", and my favorite title of all time "Guilt is a Useless Emotion". All this solid music packed into one CD.

My only complaint if I had to have one, is that so many of the songs sound alike. And some of the synth beats are even recycled from one song to the other, sometimes used to good effect. So this may sound repetitive after numerous listens. Which wouldn't be a problem if you enjoy the eighties new wave sound. Come on admit it, we all know the eighties were the best era in music.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars * * * *
Modern retro fun.

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