It could be that Music Complete is New Order's most accomplished album. I realise that may sound like a bold statement, but there is truth in it. After what's been massive critical acclaim from music journalists, it may appear like we've missed the boat, but we've been merely digesting since September.
The acclaim is quite rightly so, it's impossible to ignore from any sort of genre. What this album does is break boundaries; where tracks like the second single to be released, Plastic descends into an instrumental dance-floor interludes worthy of any club floor. Quite often with Music Complete, it's not just the theme and beats that are noticeable, the lyrics go from sweet to bitter. Just like life.
Restless takes us back to the likes of Ruined in a day and Regret, highly underrated mid-90s New Order songs.
This is what New Order do best, simplistic stripped down dance music and this was what the band initially set out to do post-Joy Division days, to make music simply for clubs and dance-floors. Don't get me wrong, it's still very dark in places and there are moments when some of the intros to songs could well be Joy Division. All this matched perfectly with it's minimal Peter Saville artwork cover and all of the above mentioned adding not subtracting from New Order's legacy.
RS