This weekend I’ll mostly be listening to…Electronic

It’s inevitable, isn’t it? Put Monaco up, as was done before Christmas, and someone wants Electronic, one of the other New Order side projects. I’ve always loved the name. Entirely simple…entirely self-explanatory, and very much a joke given that Marr brought his guitar with him.

Actually that’s not entirely true. There’s little doubt that they were on their first two albums much more inflected by dance. And very effectively so. To the extent that on the largely forgettable Raise the Pressure, released in 1996 they had enticed Karl Bartos formerly of Kraftwerk aboard. By the last, and third album, they had moved closer to what can be described as a late period New Order sound which was more guitar based, and I’ve got to admit I liked a lot.

But it is the first album that most people probably remember best and it is in its own low-key way a sort of classic. Synths, sequencers, feels like it’s 1989 all over again. Sumner or Tennant (on loan from the Pet Shop Boys)? Who can tell which voice is which? Gentle strums from Mr. Marr… plinkety plonk piano and keyboard fills. What was I saying a few months ago about nostalgia? Ah. The memories.

Feel Every Beat… got to love the plinky plonk keyboard sound (someday I should do a Flowered Up post, and tragic news on that front with the death of Liam Maher late last year).

Getting Away With It – a lovely keyboard wash just before the vocals in a way sums up the sound of Electronic. Backing vocals by Neil Tennant…

Get The Message (that’s a big ‘e’ at 40 odd seconds in… what on earth are they getting at? Strokes chin thoughtfully)