Revenge One True Passion

Revenge One True Passion

Also Available One True Passion V2.0 CD1/CD2

You've got to feel slightly sympathetic towards Peter Hook. After tasting success with both Joy Division and New Order any attempt to branch out elsewhere is guaranteed to draw comparisons and backward glances – and most will be accompanied by a curled lip. However the one saving grace has always been Hook's distinctive bass. Pounding out melodies in addition to rhythms with Hook playing spread-legged like an arthritic contortionist, bass almost scraping the floor, he alone can carry a song. The short-lived Monaco may have been New Order derivatives but, such was Hook's thudding presence, they became the tolerable relations. Now imagine New Order without Peter Hook, or with Hook playing while locked in the room next door or with mufflers fitted to his bass-strings. Now you're beginning to get an understanding of what Revenge is all about. Borne out of one of those periods when Hook, Sumner and The Other Two couldn't be in the same room together without tearing each other a new one, Revenge was supposedly a concerted effort to forge something different. Instead it's a band with a vital ingredient missing. The situation is amplified by the fact Hook himself sounds not unlike Bernard Sumner – although he can hold a note for longer than a single beat of a gnat's wing. Reading between the lines of the cover notes in which Hook recalls his time with Revenge it wasn't exactly a bed of roses. Whether it be trying to get the band motivated enough to rehearse or arguments around who was the best vocalist or who was playing what instrument, Revenge sounds more trouble than it was worth. And that sense of unruliness carries over to the music itself. If you listen very carefully I'm almost positive you can hear the sound of a drumstick hitting porcelain. That'll be the kitchen sink. So intent was Hook on ensuring Revenge could never be confused with New Order he obviously lost sight of the stop button. Some of the tracks are so busy it's virtually impossible to grasp and retain a hold of the tune. Hook himself admits the music became so complicated it was impossible to play live without recruiting further band members. Surely that alone should have been warning enough. One True Passion V2.0 is a double album consisting of the original release complete with a couple of extra tracks all of which have been tinkered with in an attempt to remaster and resuscitate the corpse. Inevitably there are a bunch of remixes and instrumentals, together with other tracks which may or may not have seen the light of day before, which are, surprise, surprise, superior to the original album. Why? Because we actually get to hear Hook's bass!