New Order and the Joy of Melancholy Dance Music

New Order have always had a way with the melancholic dance song, somehow managing to mix euphoric dance tunes with melancholic lyrics as shown on their most recent album 'Music Complete'. 

Even without the glorious rumbling basslines of Peter Hook the album does mark a return to form that is far better than might be expected.  A high spot of the album is the track 'Tutti Frutti' which epitomises the dancefloor tristesse. 

 The lyrics hint at coming to terms with getting older - "I feel like I'm a setting sun" - and perhaps mid-life crisis, whilst at the same time being a hymn to a partner though even that hymn is tainted by some level of dependency - "I'm under your command".

The video seems to take theme of getting older to a another level, capturing a sadness that goes well beyond the lyrics and really rams home a message of someone coming to terms with their self-image compared to how they are seen by others.  

 Perhaps all this is reading too much into the song, which is - however you choose to respond to it - a great song...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Love, Poetry and Revolution - Monday 25th November 2024

Image
As things progress for E, the level of stress we are all experiencing has increased. Stress tends to creep up on you unnoticed until it overwhelms you.   Often, it takes someone else to spot the signs of increasing stress. It's getting to the level where I need to take action for my own sanity. My sons are also stuck and struggling to move on with their lives, which is not something E would ever have wanted.  There are some changes which we've been resisting but which I now must consider. It's not ideal, but when E came out of the hospital some two years ago the prognosis was not good and it seemed that, for such a short time, it would be best for E to spend her remaining days at home.  Two years later the downside of that decision is painfully clear.  After the next palliative care visit, at which I'll discuss all the above, I will begin to set the wheels in motion to change things. It will probably take a while, and given how E has been lately, it may never happen.  T
Read more

Natalie Prass versus Napalm Death

Image
In order to keep up with the stream of new albums so far this year I recently listened to Natalie Prass and Napalm Death whilst carrying some “brain-largely-not-required” chores.  One thing I generally find difficult is multi-tasking where music is concerned. Very rapidly music gains my full attention and then spreads its tendrils to the pleasure and motor centres of my brain, but the chores were simple enough that the music remained to the fore and the jobs got done. Enough on the idiosyncrasies of my wiring… So, Natalie and the ‘Death – quite a contrast – and not just because Nat’s (hope she doesn’t mind the undeserved familiarity) album is her debut whilst the Nap’s album is their nth – how did they fare I hear you cry? Thanks to the glowing and unanimous praise heaped on ‘Natalie Prass’ – for example ‘a gem of a heartbreak album’ (Observer), 8/10 Uncut – it had to be worth a listen.  Sadly, it didn’t live up to my expectation based on the reviews: the musical settings a
Read more

I’ve forgotten more than I remember….

Image
…which is probably just as well. Apropos of absolutely nothing, some random misfiring of synapses prompted me to give another airing to “Hermit of Mink Hollow”, Todd Rundgren’s first 100% solo album on which he plays all the instruments and sings all the vocals (1972's "Something/Anything?" fails to qualify as his first 100% solo effort because one of the 4 sides is a live-studio effort featuring assorted musicians and backing singers.) The album was released in 1978 and is named after a valley near Woodstock, New York, where Todd set up a recording studio and recorded this album. Like all of Todd’s solo albums post-1973’s“Todd” double album, there are a couple of seriously duff tracks but in spite of that it’s probably the most consistently good album he’s recorded after the creative peak of the early 1970’s.    The album – at least in its vinyl form – was split into “The Easy Side” and the “The Difficult Side” – though I can’t decide if that’s a joke: tracks on
Read more

Love, Poetry and Revolution - Thursday 14th November 2024

Image
For about a week, maybe more, I've had a cold.  It's one of those colds that refuses to go quickly. I have shared it widely, unintentionally, though of course, I may not be the source of all the colds, there are so many about. I'm not here to write about my cold, though. It's a lead-in to something more pernicious. Accompanying the cold, especially as it slowly fades, I've had a bad headache. Initially, I thought it was cold-related, but I've come to believe it's a physical manifestation of stress - a topic that opens a crate of cans of worms. The stress I'm experiencing is probably the result of several things I'm anxious about. I had considered listing the things I thought were at the root of it, and then deciding whether they belong in the category of things I can control or cannot control. Instead, I've decided to dig deeper and write about it in the hope that writing it down helps control it and maybe it helps more widely.  I've always b
Read more

A Very Belated Tribute to Two Musical Heroes

Image
There’s nothing like being topical and, as this post demonstrates, NineFeetUnderground can’t be accused of being too topical.  To be fair this was largely written at the time however “real life” prevented its completion. As the post is mainly a personal perspective I have decided to post as it was originally conceived – with the appropriate amount of grunting, sweating and recriminations… In the space of just under two weeks music lost two of its greatest figures, first on the 28 th December a few days after his 70 th birthday Lemmy died then on the 10 th January, two days after his 69 th birthday and the release of what proved to be his final album, David Bowie died.  A lot of media coverage followed both of these sad events – both making the main TV and radio news – so I just thought I’d write a few words about how they both touched my life though I met neither of them (well, I "almost" met one of them - read on). Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister to me was first
Read more