New Order

New Order

A long, long time has passed since we last heard from New Order. 1993 -- wasn't that about the last time the Yankees failed to win a world championship? Well, Get Ready is as much a breath of fresh air as a Diamondbacks win, with none of the novelty. The greatest of all Eighties angst bands makes their long-overdue return with their best album since that previous decade. Perhaps throwing casual fans for a loop, Get Ready reasserts New Order as the moody, guitar-driven Joy Division offshoot they began as, until the synth-pop elements took center stage. "Crystal" opens the album with a tube-driven rush hearkening back to the Joy Division days, when the voluminous guitar layers were played by Bernard Albrecht rather than his more recognizable alias Sumner. The following "60 Miles an Hour" is the most immediate song on the album. Peter Hook wastes no time setting down the type of melodic, high-bar bassline he practically invented, and Sumner's unique vocal cadence leads a chorus as catchy as the band has ever crafted. There's only one telltale sign this is the 21st-century New Order: Billy Corgan's vocal presence on "Turn My Way." The Great Pumpkin opens the song with a hushed, flanged vocal turn before Sumner kicks in with affecting vocals as mood-setting as those on "True Faith" or "Perfect Kiss," and suddenly all is right again. The aggressive "Primitive Notion" features one of Hook's greatest basslines, and that's saying a lot. Get Ready is one of New Order's better works, and that's saying a lot.