Okay, Wake Up!

Positive thinking…ineffective. Hmm…caffeine may be the only choice.

Listening to lots of synthpop recently…Information Society, Anything Box, you know the routine…

The chances are we’ve gone too far…

The sky, today, is my favorite shade of blue.

Yesterday evening, we did a good bit of yard work with our friends Leslie, Paige and Dana. Leslie’s son Ian came over as well, and played with G in the circle. The landscaping in front of the house looks so much better than it did, and I will no longer be felt up by the hedges on my way out the door in the mornings. It’s not you, it’s me, bush…nothing personal.

I watched as much as my new New Order DVD as I could (the Live In Glasgow set that came out last month), and think it might be the best newer performance I’ve seen of them. I didn’t catch all of “The Perfect Kiss” (my favorite NO tune) but what I heard sounded fantastic. The second disc is nothing but archival footage of gigs from the Eighties (and a modern bit from Hyde Park for good measure).

Seeing as how the band are no longer, it’s tempting to try and gleam some sense of the impending end from this performance and…maybe you can. You can definitely see the schism between bassist Peter Hook and the other two original members – vocalist/guitarist/melodica player Bernard Sumner and drummer Stephen Morris. Hooky likes touring, the other two don’t. Hooky likes the rock songs, the other two would rather do the dance stuff. It’s a wonder they made it last as long as they did this second time around.

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about it, I’ve read people stating-to-the-point-of-nagging in Peter Hook’s blog that New Order should get back together. Most of these people aren’t thinking that there are people involved in a band, people with feelings and opinions and needs. People that like each other, then one day decide they need something else. People that go and do incredible music on their own or with other people…Electronic, Revenge, The Other Two, and Monaco…and now with Freebass and something called Bad Lieutenant we have a chance to get even more amazing stuff.

How can you honestly bitch about that?

Yeah, I love “Ceremony” and “Sunrise” as much as the next big New Order fan, but they’re not the same people now and we should want – no, expect – them to grow and change, to continue to try and find something new in their musical identities. If that means they grow apart and never talk to each other again, so be it. I for one do not expect my musical heroes to live in their pasts. I expect them to live and create amazing music.

If It Wasn’t Already Obvious…

I really want to be David Bowie when I grow up. As I am already 33, this is greatly unlikely to happen. I say all this after listening on repeat to the first disc of the 2006 reissue of Stage, a live album recorded in the midst of late-Seventies touring (so two of the three “Berlin trilogy” albums are represented).

It also forces me to stop taking “‘Heroes’” for granted, as the version here is fargin’ incredible.

Clouded Son on AmieStreet!

Both Clouded Son’s long-awaited new album (Unfinished Business) and his “best of so far” The Bridge are available NOW at http://amiestreet.com/cloudedson …buy them!

For the Record…

I hate bureaucracy. Why does that word look misspelled?

Anyway…how about a couple of MySpace band pages? Here goes:

Analog Missionary (http://www.myspace.com/analogmissionary) - Look, they have a bellydancing vocalist who also plays the theremin. It really doesn’t even matter if they’re good. Thankfully, they are. Enjoy “Satellite”, at least - added bonus, they let you download it.

ZZZZZZ (http://www.myspace.com/xzzzzzzx1) - Well, they’re Swedish and do electronic music. I listened to “Hole”. It’s well-put-together but doesn’t really go anywhere. I’ll give them another chance later, though.