I like this album better than their last. It's still much more rock-focused than their older work, but I feel that the songwriting here is stronger than it was on Get Ready. It's still not quite at the level of some of their classics like Brotherhood or Power, Corruption and Lies in my book, but it still has that intangible quality unique to New Order's albums that keeps bringing me back for more listens.

"Stop Making Sense" is one of my favorite films, and this special edition of the album is one of my all-time favorite records. Every time I listen to it I am amazed. Definitely worth getting for several songs that are not included in the original release of the album, most notably "Heaven" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)". Also, the encore "Crosseyed and Painless" is great. Some of the songs on this release are different versions than the ones that appeared on the original release as well; the songs here are for the most part the same ones as in the film.

In my opinion, this album isn't as good as Episode II, though it still has some good stuff on it. The production is slicker, but I enjoyed the more raw sound of the first album. Episode II seemed to have a bigger emphasis on the percussion, wheras 3.0 adds a lot of other instruments and synths to the mix; I liked having the drumming take a more central role. Also, I'm not a fan of the vocals on this album... Clark Anderson is certainly a talented singer but his singing style sounds to me like poppy R&B, which is not usually a genre I like.

Having said that, some of the instrumental tracks on this album are really awesome. For me, "Rise" is the standout; it has a good blend of rhythm and melody that keeps evolving as the track progresses. Unfortunately, it's now being released as a single with some added vocals by Clark Anderson... I think the instrumental version here is far better. Other instrumentals like "Amazonas" and "Prelude" (a reinterpretation of a classical piece) are also great.

Don't get me wrong, I still like this album. Just don't take it too seriously... some stuff can sound a little cheesy, but it's just Morten and Uffe having fun. And if they weren't having fun, it woulnd't be Safri Duo, would it?

I got this because I needed the early Earthbeat stuff (Future Sound of London, Yage, AST, Mental Cube, etc.) for a radio show I was doing. It's got some pretty good stuff on it, as well as some that's not so great. I'm glad I have a lot of these tracks, but I don't imagine I would listen to any of the discs straight through very often.

When I first heard this, I was a little disappointed. Mostly with the lyrics, which don't even approach the strange, ambiguous deepness of their earlier albums but are rather simplistic and sometimes even silly. And "Rock the Shack" is just terrible. Having said that, I think the album is musically very interesting, and I still like all the songs beisdes "Rock the Shack". Every time I listen to it it seems better than I remembered. I disagree with TIM in that I don't think it sounds anything like Republic, on which there were essentially no guitars and hardly any of Peter Hook's bass, whereas here guitars are everywhere, as is the bass. More guitars than New Order usually uses, actually, which is what's intersting about the album. Overall I think it's a good record, different than other stuff they've done (although one can hear some similarities to their earlier stuff which is maybe why so many reviewers claimed this album is a return to form... I don't think it sounds the same at all), but the lyrics are a weak point. Wooo... sorry to blabber so much, but I really like New Order so I wanted to post my long synopsis. Thanks for reading.

This release was a big surprise to most Future Sound of London fans, as it really sounds nothing like their previous material, and is much more of a psychedelic rock album (as other people have pointed out, comparing it to David Bowie or Pink Floyd). Many fans were disappointed, as they wanted more of the classic Future Sound of London sound (which is awesome). Having said that, this is still a great album, provided you are aware that it's a very different style.

For those waiting for more Future Sound of London music, they have announced that they plan to continue both The Future Sound of London and Amorphous Androgynous as two separate entities, and are already planning a new Future Sound of London album and a new Amorphous Androgynous album. Plus the Divinity Single is supposed to be released soon. Those who didn't really like this album should probably look out for the new Future Sound of London sutff as oposed to the Amorphous Androgynous stuff. Me, I'll be getting both.

"Furious Angels" and "Clubbed To Death" are simply amazing tracks. As an added bonus, the rest of the tracks are good also, but can sound a little repetitive. Having never heard any of his tracks besides the aforementioned, I was pleasantly surprised. You better like strings though, because Rob Dougan appears to need to put huge orchestral arrangements on every track. While these are well done, we don't need it on ALL the songs.

The instrumental versions on the second disc are basically the same as the normal versions (without the lyrics of course), with the sole exception of "I'm Not Driving Anymore". The second disc also contains videos of "Furious Angels" and "Clubbed To Death".

I have to agree with DarkSouljah... I think this album is much better than Tweekend. Granted, I haven't listened to Tweekend in detail, but the impression I got was that the tracks were becoming more rock-oriented and less imaginative than the ones on this album. And yeah, this one got a lot of radio play, but as bluebottle notes the version of Trip Like I Do on this album is WAY better than the radio collaboration with Filter. I like basically every track on this album, with the possible exception of Jaded. I also feel that Busy Child is one of the weaker tracks, but that only speaks to how good the rest of the tracks are. Bad Stone has to be my favorite; a perfect closer. And the rest are all fabulous.

I like this album. It's not perfect, but pretty good. Many of the tracks have too much of a reliance on huge four-four thump beats, which gets annoying after a while; 3 Sheets To the Wind is the worst offender. But the tracks that break away from this, like View From a Stairway, Metro and Let Me Live are quite good. My favorite track is Let Me Live.