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Rating:
It happened that in 1990 the two New Order members who were perhaps less moody, the sweet Gillian Gilbert and the ever-smiling Stephen Morris, respectively the keyboardist and drummer, aligned with the rest of the core by deciding to create something externally.
With academic calm, they organized their (few) ideas and got to work on the synthesizers. They persistently sought Kim Wilde hoping to assign her the role of vocalist, but she, recovering from the revelries of the late '80s, politely declined repeatedly.
It turned out that the first demos, on which Gillian tried her hand at singing, were liked or at least convinced the duo to the point of adopting the solution on a permanent basis.
Nothing new on the sound front. Or rather: it's a path that New Order had flirted with in 'Technique' and fully embraced in 1993 with 'Republic'. A moderate, high-level electronic music, attentive to details but without getting lost in the chaos of meticulous production, a detail that is probably the album's weak point. It glides smoothly without ever taking off. To say: Sumner and Marr, with the project Electronic, well, they did raise the bar, and by quite a lot, while still staying on the beaten path.
In 1991, the album was ready, but Factory, which had already launched the first single (the exquisite "Tasty Fish"), collapsed at the most crucial moment, leaving the pair high and dry.
"Tasty Fish" didn't break the charts, but London Records was convinced enough to acquire the project, which otherwise might have died or gotten lost in the depths of never-produced masters ed., but two years passed: a terrible period if related to the frenzy of that moment transitioning between two decades.
Nonetheless, the second lead single, “Selfish,” broke more ground for consensus and gave wings to the project.
Delving into the album, it doesn't open a Pandora's box; however, there are pearls to safeguard and pass on to future generations.
Carefree, yet with a high-level and quite radio-friendly melodic line are the three singles: "Tasty Fish," "Selfish," and "Innocence."
Even more noteworthy, however, are the sober and serious “The Greatest Thing” and “Feel This Love,” which alone, in the opinion of the writer, are worth the ticket price.
The rest is minimal: nothing that hasn't been visited, revisited, or experimented with before. In the other tracks, a tiredness emerges, probably evidenced by the lengthy delays caused by the issues in finishing the product.
And it proves difficult for the listener not to skip at certain points because the listening experience becomes monotonous, detached, and lukewarm.
The overall judgment is positive for the above-mentioned episodes, so much so that the work will be reissued in a limited edition and remastered in 2010, complete with a booklet that narrates the struggles, aspirations, and misadventures of those years in chiaroscuro.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Tasty Fish (03:46)
One day I’ll go out walking
I don’t know where (could be anywhere)
Send a letter ‘cos I’m sick of talking
(Send my love you know I won’t be there)
It’s gonna last for ever and there’s nothing I can do
(Nothing I can do)
Get yourself together that’s what it comes back to
(Coming back to you)
No matter what you say
It doesn’t matter what you do
(It all comes back to)
No matter what you say, no matter what I do
It all comes back to you
One day you’ll see it my way
I don’t know when (could be anywhere)
Another wreck on life’s long highway
Another trip you know we’ll have to share
It’s gonna last forever and there’s nothing I can do
(Nothing I can do)
Get yourself together that’s what it comes back to
(Coming back to you)
Nothing I can do without it, your love must be true
(It all comes back to you)
Nothing I can say about it, keep coming back to you
(It all comes back to you)
Nothing I can do without it, your love must be true
(It all comes back to you)
Nothing I can say about it, keep coming back to you
(It all comes back to you)
No matter what you say, it doesn’t matter what you do
(It all comes back to you)
No matter what you say, no matter what I do
(It all comes back to you)
No matter what you say, it doesn’t matter what you do
(It all comes back to you)
No matter what you say, no matter what I do
(It all comes back to you)
09 Innocence (04:47)
Innocent I thought you’d been
Don’t come here to clean up your conscience
Closer now to me, but you’re the same boy now and that’s what I want
Innocent you’ll always be
Who will believe in a boy like you
You’re closer to my heart, but you’re the same boy now and that’s how I want you to be
Since the very start, you took control of my heart
And even at the end, you said we’d still be friends
And an innocent like me, is glad that it’s over (it’s over)
It’ s not the city or this town
I’m not the only girl that needs your affection
To satisfy this need that you’re the same boy now and that’s what I want
Take everything don’t just try to buy it
Did loneliness break your heart?
Life has no guarantees
It’s the same thing, listen now babe
You’re no good but you should be
It’s over
Since the very start you took control of my heart
And even at the end, you pretended to be my friend
And the innocence in me is glad that it’s over
(Na na na na naa na na na na na)(X9)
Since the very start you took control of my heart
And in the very end you pretended to be my friend
But you could never see the innocence in me
The innocence in me
(Na na na na na na na na na na na na na)
The innocence in me
(Na na na na na na na na na na na na na……)
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Other reviews
By Ale87
The album sounds very pop, and the experimentation to which New Order had dedicated their lives throughout the 80s is strangely set aside in favor of a 'flat' and lackluster sound.
I would recommend the purchase only to New Order fans who would like to expand their knowledge of the satellite projects of the English group members.
