Get Ready (New Order album) explained

Get Ready
Type:studio
Artist:New Order
Cover:Get-Ready-cover.png
Alt:A black-and-white photo of a woman taking a photo with a red line.
Released: (UK)
(USA)
Recorded:2000–2001
Studio:
Genre:
Length:50:58
Producer:
Prev Title:Republic
Prev Year:1993
Next Title:Waiting for the Sirens' Call
Next Year:2005

Get Ready is the seventh studio album by English rock band New Order. It was released on 27 August 2001 in the United Kingdom by London Records and on 16 October 2001 in the United States by Reprise Records. It was the band's first studio album in eight years, following 1993's Republic, and was their last to feature the original lineup.

Background

Peter Hook stated that the album's title "could mean anything or nothing. I thought it was just nice; New Order, Get Ready; 'cause we are, we're getting ready for the next phase of our musical lives both physically and mentally, so it's quite a simple thing but it's very pertinent."[3]

The album was dedicated to Rob Gretton, the manager of Joy Division and New Order, who died in 1999.[4] [5]

Artwork

The album features cover art directed by Peter Saville and designed by Howard Wakefield, who have also designed covers for other New Order and Joy Division albums. The cover model is German actress Nicolette Krebitz. On the front cover, she is holding Sony DCR-PC1 MiniDV camcorder.

A music video for Crystal did not feature actual members of the band but instead much younger models. This visual group was billed as "The Killers" as written on the kick drum in the video. Reportedly this inspired the band name for successful band The Killers who took that name for their own.

Reception

Get Ready received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 72, based on 24 reviews. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly opined that New Order have "never sounded stronger or more vigorous", calling Get Ready "a stunning and confident return to form". Robert Christgau of The Village Voice deemed it the band's best album "in 15 years", while AllMusic critic John Bush described the record as "their first work in 15 years that's focused on songwriting and performance rather than grafted dance techniques." In his review for Q, Andrew Harrison said that "New Order have made better records than this, but not many with such an emotional charge and the expansive noise to carry it off... [...] Get Ready is the sound of a great band breaking free of their past before your ears."

Village Voice writer Michaelangelo Matos criticised the compositions, saying, "Calling the album Get Ready feels as if they're psyching themselves up for the task at hand—like they're raring to go but aren't exactly certain where they're going, or even necessarily why they're doing it. The songs carry this out—it's them, not the sonics, that make this the second disappointing New Order album in a row."[6] Mojos David Peschek was unconvinced by the album, finding it to be "less a call to arms than the sound of an old man wheezing out of a creaky armchair."[7]

By April 2006, Get Ready had sold 153,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[8]

Accolades

Q listed Get Ready as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.[9] In The Village Voices 2001 Pazz & Jop poll, Get Ready was voted by critics as the year's 22nd best album.[10]

Legacy

The track 'Slow Jam' was used to promote the latest model (at the time), Ford Falcon automobile in Australia, receiving heavy rotation on national TV.

Track listing

Notes

Personnel

Band members

Additional musicians

Technical

Artwork

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2001)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[11] 23
European Albums (Music & Media)[12] 9
Greek International Albums (IFPI)[13] 8
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[14] 26

Year-end charts

Chart (2001)! scope="col"
Position
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[15] 8
Chart (2002)! scope="col"
Position
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[16] 25

Notes and References

  1. Grow . Kory . Inside New Order's Triumphant Return to Dance-Rock . . 23 September 2015 . 8 May 2019 . After two LPs of largely guitar-oriented alt-rock in the 2000s, the new album, the 11-track Music Complete....
  2. Prince . David J. . New World Order . . 17 . 12 . December 2001 . 68 . 0886-3032.
  3. Web site: New Order Online – A New Order / Joy Division Web Site . New Order Online . 29 December 2014.
  4. News: Rob Gretton . . 21 May 1999 . 1 February 2020 . Dickinson . Bob.
  5. Get Ready . liner notes . . . London Records . 2001 . 8573896212.
  6. News: Towers of Slog . . 30 October 2001 . 2 November 2015 . Matos . Michaelangelo . https://web.archive.org/web/20180915222241/https://www.villagevoice.com/2001/10/30/towers-of-slog/ . 15 September 2018 . live.
  7. The accidental tourists . . 94 . September 2001 . Peschek . David . 108.
  8. Ask Billboard . . 5 April 2006 . 5 September 2017 . Caulfield . Keith . https://web.archive.org/web/20150922134500/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/58848/ask-billboard . 22 September 2015 . dead.
  9. The Best 50 Albums of 2001 . . 185 . December 2001 . 60–65.
  10. News: The 2001 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll . . 12 February 2002 . 23 April 2021.
  11. Web site: Albums : Top 100 . . 25 October 2001 . 8 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20020328161442/http://www.canoe.com/JamMusicCharts/prev_102501_ALBUMS.html . 28 March 2002 . dead.
  12. European Top 100 Albums . . 19 . 38 . 15 September 2001 . 12 . 29800226 . World Radio History.
  13. Top National Sellers . Music & Media . 19 . 41 . 6 October 2001 . 17 . 29800226 . World Radio History.
  14. Web site: http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/120086/ . ja:ニュー・オーダー . ja . . 27 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121108062052/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/120086/ . 8 November 2012 . dead.
  15. Dancing to the Charts . Billboard . 114 . 13 . 30 March 2002 . 40 . 0006-2510 . Google Books.
  16. The Year in Music 2002 – Dance/Electronic . Billboard . 114 . 52 . 28 December 2002 . YE-53 . 0006-2510 . Google Books.