I wrote a review of one of my favourite albums ever: New Order’s 'Power, Corruption & Lies'. This album has hugely influenced my own songwriting so I hope it is an enjoyable read!
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Power, Corruption & Lies - New Order
New Order’s second album is colourful and even optimistic. After the release of two of the band’s most-loved singles (‘Temptation’ and ‘Blue Monday’), ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ can be seen as a reinvention point that saw New Order fully realising what they could accomplish with synthesisers. In 1983, without trying to do so, they paved the way for indie rock and the then futuristic electronic dance music. The speed at which this occurred, when compared to the band’s releases just a couple of years earlier, is remarkable. Not as raw sounding as their last album ‘Movement’, moreover ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ is far less bleak. By opening themselves up to brighter expressions but retaining a distinct remoteness (a sentiment also achieved in Peter Saville’s enduring album artwork), New Order created some of the best pop music of the 1980s.
The first glimpse of this is in the album’s opener ‘Age of Consent’. Kicking in with one of Hook’s most anthemic bass lines, Morris’ insistent drumbeats, Sumner’s wonderfully exposed guitar work, and Gilbert’s emotive synths quickly join. Their performances give the track an incredible propulsion and individuality. Every part of ‘Age of Consent’ is so memorable that I’m always drawn back to it. One of the big changes seen here from New Order’s previous releases is the key signature: it is triumphantly major. Throughout the album the use of major tonality helps separate it from ‘Movement’ and brings the band’s pop elements to the forefront.
Tracks like ‘The Village’ and ‘Ultraviolence’ have peppy synth basses playing a larger role, but when paired with the band’s aggressive playing it creates an unusual stylistic clash. A quick watch of any of their temperamental live performances surrounding this album makes these moments even more elusive. As Sumner boyishly sings on ‘The Village’, “Our love is like the flowers, the rain, the sea, and the hours” it is clear that we’re a long way thematically from albums like ‘Unknown Pleasures’. These songs also show what New Order could do with limited chords. By writing in this way, they were able to avoid overcomplicating anything. In doing so I think they achieve a strong emotional directness that has had an effect on many listeners.
‘5-8-6’ is a thrilling excursion through electronic passages. The instrumental has been called ‘Blue Monday’s big brother’ and features Gillian Gilbert’s textural synths. They give the track a playfulness and are constantly changing. When hearing Sumner repeat the phrase “I heard you calling, Yes I heard you calling” it isn’t hard to imagine James Murphy singing a similar refrain on a track that could be a lost LCD Soundsystem cut. My favourite synth work on the album has to be on ‘Ecstasy’. The recording quality is very much of the time, but every time I listen it sounds progressive. Again, the organic/synthetic melodies and textures are memorable. It is amazing to think that the same group that wrote ‘Dreams Never End’ are now writing fizzy dance music.
Elsewhere, ‘Your Silent Face’ is a grandiose piece of synth pop with Morris acting as drum machine. Most likely Kraftwerk-inspired, it can still include a melodica solo and reach a peak with the line, “You’ve caught me at a bad time, So why don’t you piss off”. This track is another example of New Order (and Joy Division e.g. ‘Atmosphere’) being able to conjure up bathos out of simple parts that aren’t afraid of repetition. Whilst the music and lyrics in album closer ‘Leave Me Alone’ show it to be the most mournful, it still features beautiful repeated instrumental and vocal passages. As with other tracks on the album, the parts of ‘Leave Me Alone’ are now ubiquitous in rock music due to the slew of bands that have tried to imitate New Order.
Although it is hard to not succumb to the nostalgia surrounding many Factory Records artists, I would recommend this album as a starting point to anyone wanting to discover more New Order. I think ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ as an album is overlooked because the band’s fantastic singles were not included here (or on any of their early albums). There are so many great melodies abound it is a shame that none of the tracks were released as stand-alone singles. This is not a perfect album - I’m still not keen on ‘We All Stand’ or the messily long intro to ‘5-8-6’, but the excitement felt from listening to an original band trying to push their sound further makes it the closest they ever got to one.