365 Days of Songs (1985)

Good lord, that synth hook. The fact they hit you with it four bars in says everything—they knew what they had, it was fantastic, and you couldn’t possibly overplay it, at least not for this song. (“Age of Consent” has just as striking a synth line, but something about that song demands holding off on playing that card a bit longer.)

This song has a wealth of beautiful parts. It’s another case where the lyrics are really more about creating an atmosphere than telling you something concrete.

Even a relative lack of Peter Hook can’t diminish this song. He doesn’t have as much to do here, but what he does is beautifully and perfectly simple, and adds just enough Hookiness. By the fade out they’ve brought back pretty much every non-vocal element of the song, which as far from the sparse opening as you can get.