A song a day: New Order - Crystal

When talking about New Order it seems mandatory to speak about Blue Monday, Joy Division and Peter Hook's bass sound. While they're crapping on about that, they're missing some of the best pop songs of the last thirty years with tracks like True Faith, Regret and Touched by the Hand of God. That being said, my favourite New Order song is Crystal, a latter period song that appeared on Get Ready. To be honest, I have no idea how well this album did or if it's that well known outside of New Order fans but the whole album is pretty solid. Anyhow, Crystal starts with an irritating vocal solo by Dawn Zee, the band's touring vocalist until the drums and magnetic guitar riff kicks in. There is some beautiful alchemy going on as the band embraces an indie rock vibe which is perfectly accompanied by a subtle version of their signature electronics. Hooky plays it low key until after the first chorus when at 1:56 he kicks in with a signature bass line that drives the song into further awesomeness. The song explores the nature of relationships and how brutal they can be starting with the line "We're like crystal, we break easy" and exploring the imperfect and obsessive nature of love. At least that's what I think it's about but when a song is this good, it doesn't really matter, it just carries you to your own conclusions.

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