NEW ORDER - Low-Life LP

Highly recommended.

Though Power, Corruption, and Lies found New Order showing a new confidence as they explored post-punk and synthpop-esque dance music territories, it still felt like something of a transitional album, especially since the band's major musical leap forward of the time was Blue Monday, a non-album single.

1985's Low-Life, on the other hand, finds the band fully embracing their new identity. Whilst Power, Corruption, and Lies still had some wisps of Joy Division haunting its corners (and their debut album, Movement, was absolutely overshadowed by the traumatic end of Joy Division and the death of Ian Curtis), Low-Life is from beginning to end an album that delivers an unquestionably New Order sound.