Power, Corruption & Lies

Despite the fact that this is one of my favorite album titles of all time, and I've always been a fan of the band, I never picked up Power, Corruption & Lies until last month. I figured since I'm going to see New Order tomorrow night for the first time, I should finally pull the trigger and get it. To my mild surprise, it's now among my favorite records of all time.

New Order, like its band predecessor Joy Division, has a kind of weird album/singles release history. Joy Division often would release it's marquee singles (e.g., "Love Will Tear Us Apart") separate from and exclusive from the studio albums; the only way you can get some songs is to buy the "Substance" compilations. Likewise with New Order, many of its best known 1980's songs - "Blue Monday" and "True Faith", e.g., are available only on its "Substance" compilation.

I didn't get into album-format until I had gotten a lot older, and I didn't have a lot of money back in the day. What this translates to is that I was very content to just get the "Best Of" collections and assume that I had everything essential. Only when I started buying albums more did I realize that invariably my favorite songs wouldn't be the songs you heard on the radio (back in the day) or released as singles. Anyway, these factors contributed to my reluctance to buy any actual New Order albums prior to Substance.

Two years ago I picked up New Order's newest Music Complete, which I thought was amazing, and that led me to being very interested in seeing the band live when they came around. While looking around for set lists of the band, I noticed a lot of the songs they played were not the "hits" per se, so I figured it might be time to check out their other works.

Power, Corruption & Lies in original release form doesn't contain even one song that I would consider to be in what I'd consider to be familiar to the average listener; there aren't any easily recognizable tunes. What it does contain is probably no less than four of my all-time favorite New Order songs now. That's including such classics as "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Temptation". Of the latter, I'd put "The Village" up there with an instantly singable, danceable love track. "Age of Consent" sounds as fresh today as it may have 35 years ago. "Your Silent Face"'s beat I could put on an endless loop track to zone out to. And the album finishes with the languishing sad but fast beating "Leave Me Alone". It's crazy-listenable.

Of note, some of the later releases of the album decided to include singles "Blue Monday" and "Thieves Like Us" -- but released around the era of the album -- to pad it and no doubt make it more marketable. I wouldn't include these powerhouse songs, personally; the album stands so strongly on its own without them. That's how good it is.

MI: Fallout

Okay, I've come to terms with being a Tom Cruise fan. My wife teases me any time I pause and watch one of his films on TV when browsing the channels, but the Mission Impossible series is incredibly rewatchable.

I went in to Mission Impossible: Fallout (number 6 in the series) with high expectations, and can honestly say I was not let down. There are several action sequences -- well I can't think of one that wasn't, actually -- that took my breath away and I laughed from the way they blew me away.

The last few MI's have featured showcase action pieces --  the Dubai tower scaling and the airplane ride from the last two -- and Fallout's is ostensibly the HALO (High Altitude Low Open) jump, where Tom himself does the work. Apparently they took 120+ takes to get the full jump.

It comes fairly early in the picture and is a lot more thrilling than the trailers lead you to believe. Shot in one single camera motion (or so it appears) from jump to landing, it's nothing short of heart-stopping.

Fallout doesn't have just one set piece, though -- it has several amazing sequences. The bathroom fight scene with Henry Cavill and Lian Yang is just jaw-dropping. The chase/breakout of Ethan Hunt's nemesis is amazing, and the helicopter scene is already legendary.

Can we talk about how Tom Cruise has become this country's Jackie Chan? No one does what Tom Cruise does. He throws himself into the work and puts his life on the line and it *works*. It's so engaging to know it's really him doing these crazy (and they are crazy) stunts -- while being impressive beyond words. This guy is freaking 56 years old. Damn.

The supporting cast is also spot-on. Ving Rhames, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg and Alec Baldwin all bring it. (Baldwin has some of the best lines, truly.) Sean Harris might be the creepiest villain in the entire series. And I think I have a thing now for Vanessa Kirby, who is just stunning and mesmerizing and pitch-perfect in a callback to the first MI.

Christopher McQuarrie has come a long way from his roots in writing the Usual Suspects to be a premier director who has his hands firmly on the pulse of the MI series.

I don't know how long Tom can keep this up, or if he'll die making MI 7, but I'll be on board for that one for sure.

The Great Train Robbery

I've been a longtime Michael Crichton fan, but I've managed to put off reading The Great Train Robbery for years for one reason or another. I've been on a MC kick of recent, rereading some of my old favorites, and decided to give this 40 year old novel another go.

I feel like such a fool. This work of historical fiction, loosely based on real events, was tough to put down. Filled with technical details involving a brilliant heist from over 150 years ago, it hums along and builds to a thrilling and satisfying conclusion. I'd daresay it's amongst my favorite Crichton novels.