Not the first time I’ve written about Temptation…..and I’m pretty certain it won’t be the last.
My all-time favourite single. Well, the 12″ version of it is…and that’s the one I normally go on about most of the time. I don’t think, however, until today that I’ve done a posting solely on the 7″ version.
This was the first New Order release without the involvement of Martin Hannett. It’s really interesting that two different takes were issued by the band and Factory Records. It wasn’t quite the first time there had been a shift away from the sound most associated with Joy Division and what had been issued on Movement, the debut album from New Order, but this was the first in which there was a sing-a-long section.
I’ve increasingly wondered whether the two takes were put out to test the waters, and if in fact it had turned out there was a huge kickback from fans and critics to the 12″ whether the band would have reversed a bit away from the direction they were planning and hoping to head in.
mp3: New Order – Temptation
The 7″ version is three-and-half minutes shorter than the 12″. It’s a bit more dense sounding and not as joyous as the extended version – for instance, the ‘ooh-ooh-oohs’ are less prominent in the mix. And while it really is a magnificent and timeless piece of music, I don’t play it nearly as often as I do the 12″. Both takes are miles ahead of the best known version of the song – Temptation 87 -re-recorded for inclusion on the CD compilation Substance and later appearing on the soundtrack to the hit film Trainspotting. The ’87 version was the band’s effort to make it sound more ‘live’, but all it did was strip out so many of the things that made the original takes such essential listens.
The same song was included as the b-side on the 7″ and 12″. By all accounts, it was written and conceived as the 8-minute effort included on the 12″, but edited right down to under five minutes on the 7″.
mp3: New Order – Hurt
I was sure that Temptation had been a flop back in the day, but in fact it spent five weeks in the Top 40, peaking at #29.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
always flummoxed me why they left the 12” version of Substance…. Now I know why.
Superb tune !
SC
I own Temptation four times: On Substance (CD, Vinyl) and the soundtracks of Trainspotting and 24 Hour Party People. But it’s always the 1987 version, I guess.
I became curious and listened to the original 12″ on YouTube. It’s nothing short of majestic. A song to give up (or at least postpone) a planned suicide. [sk]
It might be apocryphal, but I heard once that the 7″ and 12″ versions were recorded in one continuous take. Supposedly a skilled DJ could match up the 7″ fade out and 12″ fade in to recreate the session. Does anyone know if this is true?
A peak New order song and recording, both the 7 and 12 versions from 1983. The live version on Taras Shevchenko is great too, an embryonic version of the song, still being written