Originally Posted by Bulldog

23. New Order - Technique (1989)

And here's the big daddy of synth-pop albums, if you could even call it that. As most of us probably know, by 1989 acid house was the elephant in the living room to a lot of the music-listening public (to the best of my admittedly limited knowledge - I was 1 at the time after all), and by the time the kings of synth-pop New Order cottoned on to this, a transformation of their sound ensued which conjured up their finest album. Having booked a hotel slap-bang in the centre of the house music craze (Ibiza), New Order went about injecting their own mix of electronica and rock music with the energy and dynamics of acid house. This is no more obvious than on the killer opener, Fine Time. The song presents a group simply unrecognizable from its origins (try listening to Fine Time and Blue Monday back to back), with synthetic textures and rhythms taking over where once the lads used bass and guitars (which, on this album, are mostly used only for the occasional bridge or solo). A lot of the album though does conjure some of the best alternative pop of the 80s, so this new house-influenced sound doesn't dominate the entire record. Despite this polarisation of sounds, the album functions brilliantly as a unit of synth-pop, acid house and alternative pop, boasting songs you can just lose yourself singing along to alongside tunes which would grace any dance floor even today with their presence. An absolute killer of an album this.
The best bits: Run, Mr. Disco, Vanishing Point