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The first LP does have a lack of consistently solid material and an overall feeling of glorified demos. With the difficulties that they were starting to have with Factory, it's understandable that they weren't prepared to go for the big budget, glossy production. That being said, if Pascal Gabriel had done the entire LP, I think his beefed-up production work (as heard on his mix of Tasty Fish) would have made LP far more deserving of repeated listening. My understanding is once convinced that a New Order LP was needed to save Factory, Gabriel turned his back on The Other Two LP to put himself in line to helm what would become the Republic sessions (he has pre-production credits on Regret and Young Offender). While his production work might have made Republic more interesting to my ears, Stephen Hague's work ethic and ability to reign in the members of New Order were what was required to actually get the job done.
Like the 2nd Monaco LP, The Other Two's is generally dismissed by fans. But while the Monaco LP is solid (I think Kashmere is their best track) but inferior to their debut, Super Highways is a much more substantial effort than ...and You. I think that may partially stem from the poor single choices. The lead single, You Can Fly is a sadly generic house tune with a guest lead vocal. The 2nd was the title track with Gillian on vocals. To be perfectly clear, there must be something much more interesting going on musically for Gillian's vocal to carry a song. That is not happening there. Things pick up substantially with the 3rd track on the LP, however. I think The River is a superb track that really plays to their strengths and highlights the skills they bring to their parent group. One Last Kiss follows and is far stronger than the other Melanie Williams vocal track. But honestly, Gillian could have sung it. The drum and bass elements haven't dated it too terribly but the track is merely decent. Up next is Voytek , which could be described as an "instrumental cop-out", with its backwards vocal. Fair enough. Unwanted ends side A with a track that gives fuel to their detractors: The song has been fully realized with excellent production and proficient musicianship but is just bland. "Why bother?", you might ask. Side B is why. New Horizons should have been the housey first single (if that's the route they wanted to go). I'm not saying it's a classic, but betters the actual singles and doesn't overstay its welcome. Cold Feet is next and would have been an even better single choice. I really like this track, despite the vocalist (which was how I remember my first exposure to New Order. Barneys vocals were the weak link, initially, to me). Love the music and production. The Grave follows, and is actually pretty engaging for an "instrumental cop-out". It should have been the only instrumental on the LP, though, and kills the head of steam Side B was building. Hello picks things back up with sort of Regret-lite guitar-led New Ordery track. Solid. Ripple is the masterpiece here though. It's a quirky, synthy love song from one Other to the Other (and back again) and betters the majority of New Order's post-Factory work. It can be a goose bump instigator, or even turn on the waterworks if you're sentimental (like Monkhouse). Weird Woman closes the LP on a high with dramatic strings, samples and production work.
So really, it's not that great overall. But I guess my point is there is much to enjoy from The Other Two's catalog and they should not be dismissed on the basis of their patchy debut.
(But another good, new New Order LP is really what we want, right?)
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