(Mute) There’s been no love lost between Peter Hook and the rest of New Order since the bassist left the band in 2007: “an uppity session man” was Hook’s recent appraisal of his replacement,Tom Chapman. But its an acrimony that doesn’t seem to contain held back Music total, the groups first proper album in a decade. In fact, or while Hook’s basslines always used to be an integral fraction of New Order’s sound,Tutti Frutti and People on the tall Line both benefit from a freedom to experiment with the lower end of things: the former a camp disco number and the latter conjuring a bendy groove over which a riot of cowbells and funky Chic guitars can shake loose. Both tracks exemplify what is a largely dancefloor-oriented album (Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands produces a couple of tracks) that harks back to Technique, but also features diversions into other novel areas: Iggy Pop’s gravel-throated spoken word on Stray Dog; Brandon Flowers’ melodic nous on Superheated. It’s a shrimp long, and there’s the odd duff track,and even in the pantheon of Bernard Sumner lyrical clunkers there needs to be some sort of special recognition award for “I want a nice car / A girlfriend whos as pretty as a star.” But Music total still feels like the freshest thing theyve done in ages.
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Source: theguardian.com