As It Is When It Was

A promise betrayed, a self-critique, a question, and a video treat. As it turns out, it's not a lack of energy that hinders an elaboration of my New Order comments from the other week.  It's a lack of will. As with hosting a radio program, music criticism is a thing I used to do.  It takes the same passion, but a different approach.  You must contend with, and discuss with awareness and humor, things you don't like.  In my humble estimation I got pretty good at this, and stopped voluntarily when my expanded role as "arts critic" conflicted with my budding artistic ambitions.  In short, I'm pretty good at taking apart people and things with words.  But I don't do that "professionally" anymore, it's even less relevant in 2013 than it would have been 25 years ago--even if that isn't true, I don't really think anyone cares--and it has nothing, and should have nothing, to do with BOMBAST. Sometimes those old verbal tendencies surface unexpectedly.  I do think some "old" works of art are like "old" friends--no matter how much time has passed, when you encounter them again you become the person you were when you "knew them" well.  Hence the as-yet-unwritten but implicit "currency" policy at BOMBAST--to be retrospective is always to be retrogressive, at least a little bit.  I love those old New Order records, probably more than anyone should love inanimate objects.  The problem with love is that it produces words, and that in my case those words are unnecessarily comparative and brutal, because that's the person I was when this doomed affair began. So I'm just going to leave it this way.  What a fantastic band New Order was.  Full stop. I do wonder--does anyone know of any current groups that sound like the one in this video?  I would love to hear one. At least I warned you that this would be improvised.  I kept that promise.