For the second month in a row, there were plenty of songs that featured in the chart edition of this series just a couple of weeks back. Last month, the list of 45s that weren’t commercial hits was quite small – just six in total. Will things be any different with the look back at May 1984?
A song I haven’t thought about in over 40 years. It’s not one that I’m all that fond of, but The Comsat Angels were a band that one of the student union regulars really liked and used to pester the DJs to play. Summarising things from wiki, they formed in 1979 and released six albums between then and 1986, later reforming, initially under different names and then finally calling it a day in 1995, before briefly re-forming in 2009-1o. You Move Me was their tenth single and would later be included on their fifth album, 7 Day Weekend, released in 1985.
mp3: Fad Gadget – One Man’s Meat
For anyone looking for background, I would ask you to have a look at ICA 231, lovingly compiled by The Affectionate Punch back in November 2019, but in summary, Fad Gadget was, initially, the stage name of the late Frank Tovey (8 September 1956 – 3 April 2002), one of the pioneers of electronica here in the UK. He wasn’t one who ever chased commercial success at any point in his career, but he was name checked by almost everyone who was anyone in the genre over the ensuing decades. There were four studio albums and eleven singles released between 1979 and 1984 under the name of Fad Gadget, and One Man’s Meat was the last of the 45s.
mp3: Flesh For Lulu – Subterraneans
I’ve mentioned previously that 1984 was a bit of a stellar year for goth music. Flesh For Lulu had formed in London in 1982, and not too long afterwards were signed by Polydor Records. They were dropped after the debut album and early singles failed to chart, and they ended up on Beggars Banquet for much of the rest of the decade. Despite a dedicated fan base and a few champions in the music press, they never enjoyed any commercial breakthrough, disbanding in the early 90s.
mp3: New Order – Murder
A 12″ single on import featuring a previously unreleased song and an instrumental take on hit single Thieves Like Us? Why, thank you Factory Records, as us obsessives will buy everything to which New Order attach their name (well, at least back in 1984 we did). This one came out on Factory Benelux. It’s four minutes of relentless noise in which Stephen Morris really gives the drums a hammering. Not easy, nay, make that impossible to dance to!
mp3: The Nightingales – The Crunch
Hands up and confession time. It would be well into the 21st century before I got my hands on a copy of The Crunch, a 12″ EP released in May 1984 by The Nightingales, a band that has been described by one critic as ‘the misfits’ misfits’. My knowledge of the band was sketchy until watching the excellent documentary King Rocker, which was aired on Sky Arts back in 2021. There’s a real reminder of the Josef K singles in the way the guitars are played on this one.
mp3: Marc Riley & The Creepers – Pollystiffs
As mentioned a few months ago as part of this series, Marc Riley having been sacked from The Fall in 1982, formed his own band and began writing and recording. This was their fifth single in what had been a productive twelve months, and would be followed shortly afterwards by the debut album, Gross Out. Another one that I can’t recall hearing back in the day…..the days/nights of listening obsessively to John Peel had been replaced by going out and/or spending time with a new girlfriend.
mp3: Serious Drinking – Country Girl Becomes Drugs and Sex Punk
Candidate for one of the best song titles of all time from a post-punk band, with a penchant for humorous lyrics and much loved by John Peel. Serious Drinking emerged from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, and two delivered two well-received albums in 1983 and 1984. They kind of set a template for I Ludicrous and to a lesser extent, Half Man Half Biscuit, and this song was memorably featured in Dirk’s on-going series just a few weeks ago.
Having looked ahead to June 1984, I can promise a much larger set of tunes next time out.
I finished off last month’s two-part look back at the singles chart of 1984 with a degree of pessimism that 1984 wasn’t really shaping up to be a vintage year judging by the quality of new entries in the month of March. Will the four charts to fall in the month of April offer any rays of sunshine?
1-7 April
Lionel Richie was still saying Hello, and in the very confusing promo video, asking someone…..a blind woman much younger than himself….if it was him she was looking for. Urgh.
Ballads were seemingly all the rage among the mainstream as the highest new entry, at #26 belonged to Phil Collins with Against All Odds (Take A Look at Me Now). Before the month was out, this one would be stuck at #2…..initially kept off the top spot by ole’ Lionel.
So far….so awful. Thankfully, Bob and his boys offered some respite
mp3: The Cure – The Caterpillar (#31)
Or did they? Let’s be honest about things. The Cure had given us some great singles in the early 80s and would do so from the mid-80s onwards. But their sole 45 from 1984 is a bit meh….and indeed, the parent album The Top, is one which, while subject to positive reviews at the time, has come to be regarded as one of their less stellar offerings. The Caterpillar would spend seven weeks in the charts, peaking at #14.
mp3: The Psychedelic Furs – Heaven (#39)
Here’s one whose production values and techniques highlight it could only be from the 80s. I’ve a lot of time for a number of the early Psychedelic Furs material, but fourth album, Mirror Moves, from which Heaven was the lead-off single was where they began to lose me. As I wrote many years ago in a previous posting on the band, I found myself wondering why it was that I once thought they were an important part of the alternative music scene in the UK in the early 80s when in fact they were really always a mainstream act bordering on the different. Heaven would briefly break into the Top 30 the following week, and other than the later re-release of Pretty In Pink to tie-in with the film of that name, would be their best achieving 45.
mp3: Killing Joke – Eighties (#60)
I’m kind of surprised that I’ve never featured this before on the blog….but then again, it’s not actually a piece of vinyl I own. Indeed, I don’t have too much by Killing Joke gathering dust on the shelves. But this one, which was clearly ripped off a few years later by Kurt Cobain when he wrote Come As You Are, is a more than listenable number. It spent five weeks in the chart, and by the look of things, sold roughly the same number of copies each and every week with chart positions of 60, 62, 61, 63 and 64.
mp3: Malcolm X and Keith Le Blanc – No Sell Out (#69)
On which samples of words spoken in speeches by the assassinated political activist were put to a hip hop beat. The lack of radio play in the UK hindered sales, with it eventually reaching just #60. It was, however, a mainstay of student union discos across the land. Well, I certainly ensured it got played it on the occasional Thursday alt-night at Strathclyde.
mp3: Talk Talk – Such A Shame (#70)
The follow-up to It’s My Life which had peaked at #46 in January fared no better, staggering its way up to #49 in mid-April. It did much better in other markets, reaching #1 in Italy and Switzerland, and #2 in Austria and West Germany.
8-14 April
I Want To Break Free by Queen was your highest new entry at #18. I’ve nothing to add to that sentence. Next highest was from an electronic duo, many of whose earliest singles had excited me.
mp3: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Locomotion (#28)
The duo had taken a bit of a commercial battering with the singles taken from 1983’s Dazzle Ships, with one reaching #20 and the other only hitting #42. A more pop-focussed approach was adopted for 1984’s follow-up, Junk Culture, with this lead off effort eventually peaking at #5. I know this era of OMD has its fans, but I’m not among them.
mp3: Blancmange – Don’t Tell Me (#32)
The third 45 to be lifted from the soon-to-be released Mange Tout provided Blancmange with a fifth successive Top 40 hit, The rather excellent Don’t Tell Me would subsequently become one of their biggest, reaching #8, just one place below Living On The Ceiling, their breakthrough single back in 1982.
mp3: Spear of Destiny – Liberator (#67)
Prisoner of Love, released in January 1984, had not been the hoped-for smash for Spear of Destiny and record label Epic, only reaching #59. Hopes were high for Liberator, but it fared even worse, coming in at #67 and not getting any higher. The consolation was that parent album, One Eyed Jacks, released at the end of April did reach #22.
mp3: Tracie – Souls On Fire (#73)
Tracie Young was a protégé of Paul Weller. Aged 17, she had sent a demo tape to the singer when he was looking to sign acts to his newly established Respond Records. She was immediately asked to provide backing vocals to The Jam‘s final single, Beat Surrender, in November 1982, and then became part of The Style Council as backing vocalist and touring performer. Her debut solo single, The House That Jack Built, attributed solely to Tracie, went Top 10 in April 1983, but the subsequent solo album, Far From The Hurting Kind, sold poorly and reached just #64.
Twelve months after the big hit, an effort was made to re-start her career with a new single. Souls On Fire flopped, peaking at #73. There was one more single later in the year….watch out for it later in this series.
15-21 April
mp3: Echo & The Bunnymen – Silver (#32)
The Killing Moon had been a big hit earlier in the year, and the music press was buzzing with anticipation for the release of the forthcoming album, Ocean Rain. It’s fair to say that the band’s manager, Bill Drummond, was really talking things up. In many ways, Silver was something of an anti-climax; it was a decent enough tune, but it didn’t feel that the hype was fully justified. It was the Bunnymen, but not quite as we knew them. It came in at #32, and didn’t get any higher than #30.
mp3: Sandie Shaw – Hand In Glove (#44)
Well, well, well.
The Smiths, and Morrissey in particular, remained irked that their debut single had failed to trouble the charts. Having talked often in the press of his love for 60s bare-footed chanteuse Sandie Shaw, he persuaded her to provide a vocal to a re-recorded version of the tune, on which Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce all played. It would eventually reach #27 and indeed offer up an enjoyable appearance on Top of The Pops, in which Sandie at one point gently sends-up Morrissey. Worth also mentioning that it was the first time in fifteen years that she had been on the show.
mp3: Bruce Foxton – It Makes Me Wonder (#74)
The first couple of singles by the ex-Jam bassist in 1983 had done OK, with debut effort Freak reaching #23. The debut album, Touch Sensitive, was scheduled for release in May 1984 and so this further advance single was released. Sadly, but not too unsurprisingly, as the quality was lacking, both it and the album sold poorly and Bruce Foxton would be dropped by his record label by the year-end.
22-28 April
Those of you who watched the Sandie Shaw TOTP clip and listened carefully to the presenters’ introduction would have heard that Duran Duran were coming up later on the same show. It would be to perform their latest smash.
mp3: Duran Duran – The Reflex (#5)
An unusually high new entry for the early part of 1984. It was their 11th hit single in a row, and would ultimately provide them with a second #1 – the other had been Is There Something I Should Know? back in March 1983. Nobody knew it at the time, as the future looked ridiculously rosy, but it was the last time they had a #1.
mp3: New Order – Thieves Like Us (#21)
Blue Monday, and to a lesser extent, Confusion, had made stars out of New Order, but they confounded many of their newly founded fans by making their next single an indie effort rather than one aimed at the dance floor. Oh, and to make things even more perverse, it was released only on 12″, allowing for its full running time of more than six-and-a-half minutes, but there was an edited version made available as a promo 7″ to radio stations. Thieves Like Us would reach #18 in the chart which straddled April/May 1984….and led to a live TOTP appearance in which Bernard sounded……….well, I’ll leave it you to decide!
mp3: Cocteau Twins – Pearly-Dewdrops Drop (#38)
A reminder that 1984 was occasionally capable of offering unexpected hit singles. This would eventually climb to #29, and be the first and last time the Cocteau Twins would breach the Top 30 – not that they nor 4AD were all that bothered, as it really was about album sales. Just a pity there was no TOTP appearance, but they had already appeared earlier in the year on another of the BBC’s programmes.
A reminder that I’ll be back later in the month with April 1984 singles that didn’t reach the Top 75.
As usual, I’m (kind of) closing the blog down over the festive period.
Every day, weekends and holidays included, up to Monday 6 January 2025, you will find an hour-long mix featuring one particular band.
Except today where there will two hour-long mixes. It’s my Christmas present to y’all. I know….my generosity knows no bounds.
mp3: The First Hour of……New Order
Age Of Consent
Your Silent Face
Ceremony
Temptation (12″)
Run
Love Vigilantes
True Faith
Blue Monday
Bizarre Love Triangle
Vanishing Point
Leave Me Alone
mp3: The Second Hour of……New Order
Fine Line
Paradise
Round and Round
Krafty
Let’s Go
Cries and Whispers
Bizarre Love Triangle (Stephen Hague Mix)
Temptation ’98
The B-Side
The Village
Sub-Culture (RM exclusive remix)
Procession
World
State of The Nation (7″)
#065: New Order – ‘Ceremony’ (Factory Records ’81)
Good morning friends
another one which will most certainly divide the millions of readers of this excellent blog into exactly two divisions: one which will think that I am a total tosser, and one which will think that I am a real genius.
Given the number of singles New Order released over the years, there will obviously be quite a lot of opinions about which one was the best of the lot – which easily makes the first division the bigger division, I would reckon. I just had a quick look @ discogs: 36 7“ singles have been issued, their filter says. But those include things like single sided promo versions on coloured vinyl, stuff that no-one can afford anyway …‘Blue Monday’ being a good example.
What I’m trying to say, first division, is: even if you number the lot down to ‘the pure’ 7“ releases, it’s still quite a bulk of records, so even if the chances are not exactly 1:36 against my choice, they are still pretty low I’m afraid.
But 7 inches is the topic, ‘original’ ones at that, so I had to draw the line somewhere. ‘Blue Monday ’88’ could theoretically have featured, but it is shite, of course. ‘Temptation’ could have featured, but there was no way it could have made the top, because even if you had heard the 12“ only once in your life, you would never include the 7“ in any chart whatsoever! Also JC featured it just a few weeks ago, which might or might not be a good reason not to pick it.
mp3: New Order – Ceremony
I first fell in love with ‘Ceremony’ when I heard it on ‘Still’ – and, as you know, old love never fully dies. I know I am easily aroused, but when Barney opens with the ‘this is why events unnerve me’ – bit, it still sends shivers down my spine … and that’s quite a task after 43 years, isn’t it?
As far as I’m concerned, they never released a better 7“. A better 12“: yes, easily. Feel free to disagree, but if you are in the second division with me, let me know …
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.
Let’s travel back in time to see what 45s were being most bought in UK record shops in September 1983
Chart dates 28 August – 3 September
Oh my. For once, the highest new entry had some merit. But the question really has to be…..How did Factory Records organise itself enough to get copies out and distributed into the shops?
mp3: New Order – Confusion (#17)
Released only on 12″ in the UK, it came with four different mixes. There was no way the radio stations would have played the full eight-plus minutes, and indeed promo discs were sent out with an edit, which was, many years later, made available on one of the numerous New Order compilations. Confusion would go up five places to #12 before slowly drifting out of the Top 75 over the following six weeks. Worth mentioning that in the same week Confusion entered the charts, Blue Monday was spending its 25th week in the Top 75 – and indeed was just about to gain a second wind and climb back up the way, peaking at #10 in mid-October.
Just slightly lower in the rundown was this.
mp3: Freeez – I.O.U. (#25)
I’ve deliberately kept I.O.U. away from this series until today. It had already been in the singles chart for twelve weeks, spending three weeks at #2, and kept off the top spot by Paul Young wailing about his hat. The sleeve for this single gives much prominence to the fact it was produced by Arthur Baker. I think it’s fair to say he got two-for-one out of this tune.
Much lower down the chart, entering at #64, and only ever getting up to #60, was a 45 with a message:-
mp3: The Special AKA – Racist Friend (#64)
Chart dates 4-10 September
Not a good week for new entries, with Status Quo (#24) and Paul Young (#27) being the highest, with both of Ol’ Rag Blues and Come Back And Stay annoyingly hanging around for a few more weeks to make the Top 10. Just below those was a little bit of agit-synth:-
mp3: Heaven 17 – Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (#28)
The fourth and final chart hit lifted from the album The Luxury Gap, it went on to reach #17.
Chart dates 11-17 September
I’m not a fan of the tune, so I won’t share any mp3, but this was the week when Boy George really made the crossover into pop stardom, as Karma Chameleon entered the singles chart at #3. It went onto to sell 1.6 million copies in the UK, as 1 million in the USA and some 7 million all told across the world. That’s a lot of plastic……
It was also the first week that Howard Jones hit the charts. He’s another from that era I have no time for at all, but I was clearly in a minority. New Song came in at #51. It would go onto spend 12 weeks in the Top 75, reaching #2. He would follow that up with eight more Top 20 singles through to March 1986, and it seemed he was on Top of The Pops every other week.
Among the mediocre and mundane, there were a few gems
You’ve got to go a long way down to find a couple more excellent new singles:-
mp3: PiL – This Is Not A Love Song (#47)
The first new single in two-and-a-half years, it would go on to spend 10 weeks on the singles chart and get all the way to #5, easily the best performance by any of PiL‘s 45’s released between 1979 and 1992.
mp3: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Let Them All Talk (#59)
A rather disappointing outcome for the second and final single from the album, Punch The Clock, as this was as high as it got. At least there was the consolation of the album reaching #3.
mp3: The The – This Is The Day (#71)
I placed this at #4 in my 45 45s @ 45 rundown. It’s very obviously one of my favourite songs of all time. It is criminal that it only ever got to #71 in the UK singles chart. It would take until 1989 before a single by The The cracked the Top 20.
Chart dates 18-24 September
Karma Chamaleon was at #1. It would stay there for six weeks. The one small consolation was that it kept David Bowie‘s awful new single off the top. Modern Love came in this week at #8 and would more than likely reached #1 is it hadn’t been for Culture Club.
Coming in at #21 was a synth duo who some had written off:-
mp3 : Soft Cell – Soul Inside (#21)
It reached #16 the following week, a welcome return to pop stardom after Where The Heart Is and Numbers had both peaked outside the Top 20 after the first five singles had been Top 5.
There will be some of you out there who are fond of Toyah Wilcox, so here’s a reminder of what she inflicted upon us in 1983:-
mp3: Toyah – Rebel Run (#29)
This one got to #24 the following week and then, thankfully, disappeared.
If you look closely at the bottom of the page:-
mp3: Tracey Ullman – They Don’t Know (#69)
One of the UK’s most popular actress/comediennes had embarked on a singing career. Having already enjoyed a Top 3 hit with Breakaway in which she had covered a 60s song, she turned to the back catalogue of Kirsty MacColl for her next venture, offering her take on a 1979 flop single. This one went all the way to #2, spending almost the rest of 1983 in the Top 75, and bringing some well-deserved royalties to Kirsty.
Chart dates 25 September – 1 October
A cover version was the highest new entry this week. And a good one too….
mp3: Siouxsie & The Banshees – Dear Prudence (#17)
Siouxsie and Budgie had been enjoying chart success with The Creatures.Robert Smith was often on Top of The Pops in 1983 with The Cure. Here they all were together on one gloriously psychedelic offering of a song originally found on The White Album, released by The Beatles in 1968.
I think that’s just about enough for this edition of nostalgia central. I’ll be back in about four weeks time.
It’s now 40 years since it was released, so I can’t ever see it being displaced by anything else. It makes the ‘faves’ thing a New Order double, as Temptation topped the 45 45s@45 rundown in 2008, and would still sit at the top if I were to go through things again right now.
Neither Movement nor Power Corruption and Lies, the first two albums released by New Order, contained any singles. It was very much an artistic decision, but looking back on things, it really does feel like something of a missed opportunity. Let’s imagine that they were prepared to issue a 45 exactly a week in advance of the release of each album….I won’t dare suggest there would be a second 45 lifted from either as a way to boost sales, purely on the basis that with just eight tracks on both records, there would be a massive loss of credibility from issuing 25% of the album as singles.
Here’s how the singles discography could have looked.
March 1981 – Ceremony
September 1981 – Procession/Everything’s Gone Green
November 1981 – Dreams Never End
May 1982 – Temptation
March 1983 – Blue Monday
May 1983 – Age Of Consent
August 1983 – Confusion
But looking at this shows the dilemma. In terms of how the band’s sound was developing and evolving, Age of Consent would really have needed to have been the follow-up single to Temptation and issued in advance of Blue Monday, otherwise it might have been seen by some critics as New Order rejecting the club/dance sound in favour of a return to the instruments more associated with Joy Division.
But I have no doubt whatsoever, that if Age of Consent had been a stand-alone 45, it would have been a big success. After all, it should be remembered that each of Ceremony, Procession/EGG and Temptation all reached the Top 40 at a time when the band were still very much an unknown quantity with much of the record-buying public.
New Order‘s 4 x CD box set Retro was released in 2002.
Each of the CDs has a theme. CD1 is Pop and was curated by the journalist Miranda Sawyer. CD2 is Fan and its tracks were chosen by a friend of the band, John McCready. CD3 is Club with the responsibility for the selection falling to Mike Pickering of M People/Factory Records/Hacienda fame. CD4 is Live was put together by Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream.
It’s a nicely packaged artefact, complete with a 72-page glossy booklet, packed with snippets of info/commentary and some tremendous photos from throughout the band’s career to that point in time. It is all dedicated to Rob Gretton, the band’s manager whose initial idea it had been for the box set but who passed away some three years before it eventually saw the light of day.
The photo above provides details of the contents of CD3. Here’s three of them for your enjoyment.
mp3: New Order – Confusion (Koma & Bones Mix)
This is substantially different from the original version recorded and mixed by Arthur Baker back in 1983. This one dates from 2002 and it enjoyed a vinyl and CD release via Whacked Records. It’s got more of a classic New Order sound to it than the original.
Robert Racic, who passed away from illness at the age of 32 in 1996, was an Australian DJ and record producer. He gave the remix treatment to the opening track on the 1986 album Brotherhood where it was used the following year as a b-side on the Factory Records Australasia remix release of True Faith.
mp3: New Order – Fine Time (Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley remix)
Steve Hurley is a Chicago based DJ/producer who came to prominence in the 80s thanks to his then unique mixing styles which went beyond the normal skill set of house DJs. He also has the distinction of being at the helm of Jack Your Body, which was the UK’s first ever house music #1 single. His remix of the first 45 to be lifted from SubstanceTechnique in 1989 was originally available on the CD version of the single.
Happy to take requests for any of the others for a future posting if there’s any interest.
Again, I’m falling back on an old post. It’s one that got a fair bit of positive reaction which pleased me no end, more to do with the fact that I’m not alone in considering Technique to be the high point, albums wise, from New Order. What now follows is adapted from something I posted in April 2015, but slightly amended to take out a reference as to how the album was promoted, based on a correction provided via the comments section.
AS OWNED ON VINYL, CD AND CASSETTE
There is someone I know who thinks New Order should have disbanded in around 1985 as the music they have made since then has betrayed everything that Joy Division stood for. Despite holding such strident and unacceptable views, he remains a dear friend…and besides it gives us one more thing to argue over.
Me? I’ve never hidden from the view that it took until 1989 for their masterpiece to emerge….and while there has been the occasional nugget of gold since then, I’d have been happy if this had been their last ever record.
It’s worth recalling that the release of Brotherhood in 1986 had disappointed many fans. It was, in the main, a lacklustre affair and indeed was shown up as such when the compilation LP Substance was issued the following year. The one hope was that the Greatest Hits package featured two amazing new songs – True Faith and 1963, the former a wonderful dance track driven largely by Steve & Hooky and the latter a gorgeous pop number with Barney at last penning lyrics which made sense and had a semblance of a story line.
But post-Substance, the band seemingly disappeared off the radar, and some folk (including your humble scribe) thought we’d seen the last of them.
In the days before t’internet, you had to rely on the music papers for news/info on your favourite bands. One week, I read a snippet that New Order had gone to Ibiza to record a new LP. Months passed. Nothing. More months passed. Still nothing, and I assumed that somehow I had missed the news that the band had broken up.
Then, out of the blue in late 1988, a single was released. It was called Fine Time, and it was really quite different from anything else they had ever previously released being, for the most part, an instrumental, and which was very clearly aimed at the dance market. And I loved it.
The album kind of sneaked out in January 1989, at a time when the UK was at its most cold, miserable and wet. But this album made you forget all that.
It was everything that fulfilled the promise of True Faith/1963. There were immense dance numbers, there were songs of love, joy and happiness, and there were songs about having your heart broken into many pieces. Every song could have been a single. No, that’s not true. Every song could have been a #1 single.
Thankfully, the album did sell in reasonable quantities, but not enough to arrest Factory’s eventual decline into receivership/administration. It did however lead to New Order being asked to take the sound of Technique into the football world when they penned the England Squad’s 1990 World Cup Anthem, World In Motion, which finally gave the band the #1 hit they had been chasing for a few years.
2023 addendum (1)
And yes, as with The Orange Juice, it is an album I have on cassette, CD and vinyl, albeit the vinyl is a 2015 reissue on London Records. But in writing this piece, it hit me that I should treat myself to an early birthday present and so I’m going to hunt down a vinyl copy on Factory Records. I’ll do a further addendum once I’ve completed that mission.
Addendum 2
Picked up a superbly clean copy on Factory for £18 on Discogs….one where the gradings proved to be conservative. As ever, I ended up with a few other things to save on P&P, one of which was a vinyl copy of the debut Lloyd Cole solo album for £3 which feels like a real bargain with the current cost of second-hand vinyl.
Addendum 3
With apologies for failing to have a tune when the post was first published. Poor technique on my part.
From the UK singles Top 10 of the last week of March 1993.
mp3: The Style Council – Speak Like A Child (#4)
mp3: Altered Images – Don’t Talk To Me About Love (#7)
mp3: Orange Juice – Rip It Up (#8)
Oh, and Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics was at #5, well on its way to what would be six weeks in the Top 10.
There were also some other great pop tunes at the higher end of the charts….not all of which will be to everyone’s taste, but can offer an illustration that we were truly enjoying a golden age of memorable 45s:-
mp3: Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know (#1)
mp3: David Bowie – Let’s Dance (#2)
mp3: Jo Boxers – Boxerbeat (#6)
mp3: Bananarama – Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye (#9)
The other two places in the Top 10 were taken up by Bonnie Tyler and Forrest (no, me neither!!!)
Do you fancy looking a bit further down the Top 40?
mp3: Big Country – Fields Of Fire (400 Miles) (#13)
mp3: New Order – Blue Monday (#17)
mp3: Blancmange – Waves (#25)
mp3: Dexy’s Midnight Runners – The Celtic Soul Brothers (#36)
mp3: Wah! – Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me) (#37)
Some facts and stats.
The debut single by The Style Council was the first of what would be four chart hits in 1983.
Altered Images and Orange Juice had both appeared on Top of The Pops the previous week on a show presented by John Peel and David ‘Kid’ Jensen, with both singles going up in the charts immediately after.
Is There Something I Should Know? was the first ever #1 for Duran Duran. It had entered the charts at that position the previous week.
David Bowie would, the following week, supplant Duran Duran from the #1 spot, and Let’s Dance would spend three weeks at the top.
The debut single by Jo Boxers would eventually climb to #3. It was the first of three chart singles for the group in 1983. They never troubled the charts in any other year.
Bananarama‘s single would reach #5 the following week. The group would, all told, enjoy 25 hit singles in their career.
Fields of Fire had been at #31 when Big Country had appeared on the same TOTP show presented by Peel and Jensen. A rise of 18 places in one week after appearing on the television was impressive.
Blue Monday was in the third week of what proved to be an incredible 38-week unbroken stay in the Top 100. It initially peaked at #12 in mid-April and eventually fell to #82 in mid-July, at which point it was discovered for the first time by large numbers of holidaymakers descending on the clubs in sunnier climes. By mid-October, it had climbed all the way back up to #9.
Blancmange were enjoying a second successive hit after Living On The Ceiling had gone top 10 in late 1982. Waves would spend a couple of weeks in the Top 20, peaking at #19.
The success of The Celtic Soul Brothers was a cash-in from the record company. It had touched the outer fringes of the charts in March 1982, but its follow-up, Come On Eileen, had captured the hearts of the UK record-buying public. It was re-released in March 1983, going on to spend five weeks in the charts and reaching #20.
Hope (I Wish You’d Believe Me) was the follow-up to Story Of The Blues. It wasn’t anything like as successful and spent just one week inside the Top 40.
I couldn’t help but steal today’s title from Reg the Rocket Man.
TVV turns sixteen years old today. I’d love to be in a position to have all the archives available for browsing back through, but Google/Blogger unceremoniously removed all traces of the original blog back in July 2013 before I could back things up.
A lot has changed in terms of music blogs since 2006. Indeed, a lot has changed in terms of music and how we all go about ‘consuming’ it these days. TVV began for a number of interlinked reasons, some of which were to do with my own mental wellbeing having just suffered a career setback at work (which turned out in due course to be a blessing), but deep down it was all about me wanting to delve into my old vinyl and rip some songs into an mp3 format so that they could perhaps be heard again for the first time in decades.
It was also about wanting to find some sort of audience with whom to share my lifelong obsession with music, and in particular that period from the late 70s into the mid 80s when so much of what I had been immersed in, was still, many decades later, incredibly important and vital to me. I had no idea really what to do with this new blog, but after a hesitant start, I got into a routine, helped along by many people from all parts of the world who supported and encouraged those early efforts with advice and words of thanks through the comments section, but if you had told me back then that TVV would still be on the go in 2022, I’d have found it hard to believe.
The old blog had, give or take, 2,500 posts before it was taken down. The new blog isn’t far short of 3,500 posts. Not all the posts have been original as a fair number have appeared more than once, and of course TVV does rely on a fair amount of guest postings. But let’s say 5,000 original posts, at a (conservative) average of 1,500 words, means I’ve written something in the region of seven and a half million words for the blog….I’m just hopeful that a few of them might have made some sense.
Many friends have come and gone, as can be reflected by the amount of former/extinct blogs that are listed among the indices. The past year or so has seen a few more of the long-time bloggers decide that, for one or more reasons, it was time to ease themselves away from their keyboards and go and out to do something less boring instead…….if any of you who are in that position ever have an urge to come back with some thoughts, views and opinions without the pressure of looking after your own place, then there will always be a warm welcome among these pages. I’ve never knowingly turned down any offer for a guest posting, (albeit some have lain unwittingly unattended to within the Inbox for a period of time), and I don’t intend to start now.
TVV has brought me so many happy moments these past sixteen years. It’s also been a place from where I’ve been able to catapult into other situations within the music industry/business, from which I have forged friendships with a decent number of incredibly talented and creative people along the way. I think I’m a better person than I was back in 2006, and much of that is down to being part of the collective and community that has developed and grown via this little and fairly insignificant corner of the internet.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of TVV in whatever shape or form. No targets are set, but if I’m still doing this in another sixteen years time, then I’ll be in my mid-70s (age wise) but hopefully still with the attitude, enthusiasm and chutzpah of a late-teen about to conquer the world on the back of some half decent exam results.
I’ll finish today’s posting, not with the obvious thing of some songs with ‘sixteen’ in the title, but instead with something related to the number. It’s my humble opinion that the original is the greatest song ever released, while the cover is more than decent.
mp3: New Order – Age of Consent
mp3: Grant Lee Buffalo – Age of Consent
New Order, of course, are also responsible for the greatest single of all time……….
I thought, for the fiftieth entry in this series in which a song is ripped direct from the vinyl and made available at a higher resolution than is normally the case, that I’d lean on FAC50.
Movement was the debut album by New Order, released in November 1981, a few months after it had been recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport. Martin Hannett, as he had been for both Joy Division albums, was behind the production desk.
I think it’s fair to say that the album received, at best, something of a mixed reception back in the day. Looking back, there was a ridiculous amount of expectation, and with it being neither wholly a clear and direct continuation of the former band, nor something moving in a new direction, it was inevitably going to disappoint. In saying that, it’s an album which has undergone a great deal of revision, from fans and music writers alike, especially as the legacy of New Order became increasingly apparent in later years.
But that was all for the future. Just a year after it’s release, the majority of band members were still far from convinced of its merits, as evidenced by an interview given at the time by Peter Hook:-
“We were happy with the songs, not all happy with the production. We were confused musically … Our songwriting wasn’t coming together. I don’t know how we pulled out of that one. I actually liked Movement, but I know why nobody else likes it.
A lot of the misgivings are around the final production. The band wanted to move increasingly into the field of electronic music, while Martin Hannett felt they were best suited by not deviating away from the sounds of Joy Division, and while synths had a place, it should still be primarily about guitars. It would prove to be the last record on which they worked together, and it’s fair to say that New Order never really looked back.
This is taken from a piece of vinyl which is now more than forty years old. It’s in better condition than most from those days, as I didn’t play it too often. But I did give it a full spin a few months back, shortly after I returned from a trip to Manchester, the main purpose of which has been to visit Use Hearing Protection, an exhibition dedicated to the early work of Factory Records, and specifically all the items in the FAC catalogue from 1-50. I was surprised that the cardboard sleeve on display for Movement was in a shabbier condition than my own.
The picture above is taken from the specially designed inner sleeve, and again my copy is in excellent condition….as indeed is the vinyl as you can hopefully tell:-
mp3: New Order – Truth
I came away from the exhibition with a gift to myself, a box set containing facsimile editions of the first 10 numbered Factory items – four records, three posters, an 8 mm film (now on DVD), some stationery and a design for an egg-timer! There was also a wonderfully produced 60-page book, complete with photos, together with two CDs containing a previously unreleased interview involving Joy Division, Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton, conducted in August 1979 by the journalist Mary Harron.
I’m intending to return to the contents of the box in the coming weeks, particularly the vinyl, so keep an eye out for those.
Ripped direct from the vinyl, and inspired by the recent trip to Manchester and seeing a copy of the sleeve as part of the exhibition. With it being Fact 50, it was, in effect, the final artefact, on display.
mp3: New Order – Dreams Never End
The opening track on the debut album, released to a fair degree of indifference, on 13 November 1981. Much of the criticism, from the journos and fans alike, stemmed from the fact that it sort of felt like an album of Joy Division demos but without Ian Curtis‘s voice to bring it any distinction. It was, I am willing to say, the view I held back in the day and I didn’t play the album all that often for a long time.
Dreams Never End was the only track to feature the guitar/bass/drums sound, with the rest relying heavily on keyboards. Little did we know that this was the road New Order would look to go down, and it is fair to say that Movement is now regarded with a great more affection than at the time of its release, providing many pointers for what was to follow. This is, I am willing to say, the view I now also hold, and having played the album a fair bit over time, it has picked up the odd click along the way…..there’s a particularly noticeable one in the early part of this song.
The vocals are courtesy of Peter Hook, something which caused a bit of confusion the other week among some of the younger folk at Little League who weren’t aware of the song, with it having never been released as a single and something of a cult favourite. One person actually thought I was at the wind-up when i said it was New Order on the basis that Barney’s voice was never as deep as was coming out through the speakers.
It’s also worth mentioning that the band weren’t happy with how Movement was finished off in the studio by Martin Hannett, with everyone feeling his work was being impaired by his increasing dependence on drink and drugs. Nobody, however, felt confident enough to challenge him in the studio, but subsequent singles and albums would end up being self-produced.
M has been written by SWC, so you can expect the usual rubbish.
N, however, sees a very welcome return to the blog by Lorna.
M is for Mazzy Star
Mazzy Star – Fade Into You (Taken from So Tonight That I Might See)
You probably already know this song. We probably all know it. Its beautiful. Wonderful. One of the few songs that I could generally stick on repeat and listen to for a couple of hours without ever getting bored of, even one second of it. I’ve sort of done that today, I listened to it about six times back to back and each time I am transported back to different hazy memories.
I remember a friend of mine getting married about fifteen years and his bride to be walking down the aisle (well it was a path in a rose garden) to this song and the groom just standing a crying blubbing mess of a man as Hope’s vocals floated across the garden.
I remember another of friend of mine, seconds after this came on the stereo at a house party about five years ago, telling me about the time that he split with his long term girlfriend and him just walking down the road whilst this played on his Walkman. You could see the minute the song came on the stereo his mind had gone back to that exact moment.
I remember OPG playing this song after we’d had two bottles of strong cider and us just dancing slowly to it her bedroom her head perched on my shoulder and me holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Which she was, at the time I suppose. She used to say that the thing about Hope Sandoval was that she looked exactly like she sounded, and she was right.
It’s that kind of song. The sort of song that makes you half smile because it reminds you of another time when you might have been happier than you are right now or just associate it with a lovely moment in your life, but it’s also the sort of song that makes you half weep because it reminds you of a time when you felt fragile or lonely or that you missed someone or never got an opportunity to right a wrong.
There is a video out there on the internet, of ‘Fade Into You’ being performed by Mazzy Star on Later with Jools Holland (Jools is barely in it, so its ok). It is incredible, perfection personified. Everything about it is brilliant, from the stunning slide guitar that kind of holds the song together to Hope’s vocals, which are just insanely wonderful.
But the one thing that does it for me is the way Hope just stands there. She barely moves during the whole track, occasionally her right hand moves up and down, when you drag your eyes away from her face, you realise she is playing the tambourine, and even that, is bloody perfect. Frankly, watching Hope Sandoval in 1993 standing still gently tapping a tambourine is the sexiest thing I have seen on TV in about twenty years.
Loads of M records in the box, I’ll skirt over the Manics and the Massive Attacks and give you this…
Mega City 4 – Iron Sky
…..which I think was the band’s biggest ever hit and as close to a pop record as the transit rock pioneers got. In fact, I knew a lad called Danny who went to Kent University who painted the lyrics to this on his student digs wall when it came out and lost his deposit because of it.
New Order – Everything’s Gone Green (Taken from ‘Substance’)
‘Substance’ is as you will know, an essential record. Another record that you should all own. This is the second version of ‘Substance’ that Badger owned. I know this because the first one got destroyed, and this version came from a record shop in Birmingham (it still has the sticker on it – he paid £12 for it). But here’s Lorna to tell the tale.
“In January 1997, Tim and I bought our first house. We’d been married about a year and had previously rented a one-bedroom flat overlooking Exeter Canal. The house was an old two bed Edwardian terrace in a nice part of Exeter. Within a week we’d painted it, taken up the revolting blue carpet (like you used to get in schools, the sort that gave you an electric shock) and replaced them with fancy new designer rugs straight out of the Habitat catalogue. We painted the kitchen a smashing shade of duck egg blue and stripped the stairs back to their original wooden state.
A week later, we went skiing in the Swiss resort of Saas Fee. We travelled up to Bristol airport in Tim’s VW Polo, which was sound tracked by a mixtape he had made the night before we left. I remember this was playing as we parked the car at the airport, I know this because Tim always ended his mixtapes with New Order and this must have been the last track as knowing him he would have planned it meticulously to finish at the airport.
Confusion (new version)
I learnt to ski. Tim, who could already ski, tried his hand at snowboarding. He bruised his arse colliding with an old Italian guy, who on learning we were British, swore at him brilliantly. It was like listening to Bruno Tonioli channelling his inner Danny Dyer. Apart from that we had a lovely time, after skiing we fell into the small après-ski bar next to our boot room and get slowly drunk on Gluwein and very strong vodka.
When we returned home, we got back quite late due to a slightly delayed flight and a pile up on the M5. It was about midnight when Tim put the key in the front door, which is when we realised that a pipe or pipes had burst in the bathroom. The pipe burst was behind the bath, and it had flooded out under the bottom of the bath into the rest of the bathroom, which then finally worked through the ceiling and was now cascading into the lounge and kitchen area. It was pitch black and we were lit only by a single light from our hallway (which was largely dry) and a lamppost from across the street.
I can still picture the sheer devastation it caused, all our hard work largely ruined. Our brand-new rugs ruined (I mean we were insured, so it wasn’t the end of the world), a lot of our furniture severely damaged, and work surfaces, cupboard doors and some electrical sockets were all dripping wet. I must have cried because I remember Tim hugging me and telling me it would be OK; he made a joke about the wanting to put a slide in from upstairs to downstairs anyway, which did make me laugh.
It was halfway through that hug that he swore really loudly, and I thought that was him just letting off a howl of frustration, but he broke off the hug and walked (or splashed really) slowly to the table where he had left a few records to gather dust before we left (i.e – he had forgot to put them away). They still sat there next to a small teddy (‘Herbert’) which had now seen better and drier days. The records were ruined:-
Substance by New Order Dirk Wears White Sox by Adam and the Ants Galore by Kirsty MacColl Searching for the Young Soul Rebels by Dexys Midnight Runners
(and SWC will kindly pop a song from each in here I suspect, each one featured on the mixtape from the car, but it was 25 years ago, I really can’t remember all the tracks).
True Faith
Catholic Day
They Don’t Know
There, There My Dear
There’s only one other N in the box, and it’s this, but I don’t know anything about the band though.
It’s not 40 years since New Order‘s debut single was released, but it is 40 years to the day since it was recorded.
It’s times like this that I wish I had kept a diary with a log of all my purchases of singles and albums, as well as the gigs I went to. I can’t recall when I bought my copy of Ceremony on 7″ vinyl, but I do know it was in the local record shop closest to my home in the east end of Glasgow. I do know for certain that I didn’t get it on the day it was released……..
I was a regular browser in Tom Russell’s Record Shop on Shettleston Road, but I was more in the habit of picking up new singles from the city centre shops, or if it happened to be a 45 in the charts, I was likely to go to the local Woolworth’s as they could be a few pence cheaper in there. I can’t ever recall seeing Ceremony anywhere until a copy found its way into the bargain bin at Tom Russell’s – even then I almost missed it as the bronze-coloured sleeve, with its difficult to read bronze coloured writing, was such that it didn’t automatically make me want to pick it up for a close glance (in my defence, at 17 years of age, all browsing was done at speed, and it was an era when I took my time over any non-picture sleeves so as to not miss out on something that I’d read about in one of the music papers that were the occasional reading material in the 6th Year common room at school.)
I’m sure it was down to 40 pence, which would have been less than half price. I took it home with no great expectations. As with the Joy Division singles of previous years, there was only the very basic and minimal details on the sleeve. The info on the label was, however, interesting, with each of FAC 33A and FAC33B being written by Joy Division which clearly meant Ian Curtis had been involved in some way. I gave FAC33A a spin……and then another and another and maybe even one more, all the while wondering why the band had gone to the bother of changing its name. Ceremony was an astonishing and moving piece of music, way better than I could ever have imagined, and it also sounded like a tribute to Ian, which is why my mind reckoned its writing had been attributed to the old band. It sounded as if it had been written as a belated follow-up to Transmission, but with the tempo slowed down, possibly from Bernard not having the vocal capabilities of his late friend.
Flipping it over (eventually) and finding that In A Lonely Place sounded like a Joy Division out-take was one of those moments that froze me. Singles, even their b-sides, aren’t supposed to be this morose and funereal, and I was sure on the second or third listen that I could make out Ian Curtis on backing vocals. It was like a song that felt it should be used in conjunction with a Ouija Board, with the refrain of ‘How I Wish You Were Here With Me Now’ being genuinely terrifying to my teenage mind and imagination. I couldn’t have given an honest answer there and then if I had been asked ‘Do you like it?’
I took it to school the next day and gave it to a close friend whose musical tastes were more or less identical to mine. He, too, was bemused by the sleeve, but I told him it would all make sense once he played it. He brought it back the next day and when we spoke about his experience, it was clear his reaction to the A-side had been similar. But when it came to the b-side, he was quick to declare it a classic that wouldn’t have been out of place on Closer, offering the opinion that it was one which had maybe been recorded by the band but left off the final running order. I think it’s fair to say that his initial view has stood the test of time.
After school, we took a bus into town and to track down another copy, finding success at Listen on Renfield Street, albeit he had to pay full price as this was a shop which had the space and capacity to store singles for extended periods of time long after their initial release. The ancient bloke behind the counter (who was likely aged about 21) also told us it was out on 12″ vinyl but that the shop was currently out of stock which led to the two of us heading round other record shops, finally coming good at 23rd Precinct on Bath Street, a location that is now home to one of the best beer and spirits shops in all of Scotland.
I’ve still got my copy of that 12″ but the 7″ was lost in the great debacle of 1986 when the midnight flit from the rented accommodation was done in such a hurry/panic that boxes of 7″ singles were stupidly left behind in a cupboard. I have, however, long since picked up a second-hand copy, from which these two bits of music have recently been ripped at 320kpbs.
mp3: New Order – Ceremony
mp3: New Order – In A Lonely Place
I’ve previously mentioned that I have a great number of music biographies in various nooks and crannies around Villain Towers, none of which I show any inclination to give away, although I will lend things out to various friends. I’ve just again added to the existing 20 or so books related to Factory Records/Joy Division/New Order/The Hacienda, with Fast Foward, the second volume of autobiography by Stephen Morris, who I must stop describing simply as ‘the drummer.’
His first volume, Record Play Pause was a hugely enjoyable effort but it was kind of overshadowed by the fact that I read it at the same time as This Searing Light, The Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division – The Oral History , by Jon Savage, which very much has a place near the top of the best music bios. Knowing, however, that volume two was on its way to me, having ordered an advance signed copy from Rough Trade, I gave volume one another read and found it every bit as enjoyable and entertaining as first time around, this setting me up perfectly to pick up where Stephen had left off, which was the death of Ian Curtis.
Fast Forward, therefore, is essentially the tale of New Order from 1980 to 2020, spread over 450 pages. It is a well-known tale, one which as all music fans of a certain age knows, involves a lot of deaths, not least Martin Hannett, Rob Gretton, Anthony H Wilson and Factory Records. The author does his very best to not go over the stories and incidents that have dominated previous books, but is still something of a shock that Wilson’s passing is covered in just one sentence, although there are very understandable reasons as to why given it occurred at a time when there were very difficult and challenging events taking place in Morris’s life and circumstances. But the fact that something so significant in the wider story of Factory/New Order kind of passes by almost in the blink of an eye is the perfect illustration as to why Fast Forward is an essential read to anyone who is interested in trying to get a proper handle on why things have gone certain ways since New Order emerged blinking and bewildered on the back of what was, at the time, the suicide of a relatively little-known singer of a cult indie band on a cult indie label.
Stephen Morris, on the basis of these two volumes of autobiography, is a very self-deprecating person. He knows he’s the quiet, almost unrecognisable bloke in the band, a situation brought home to him on countless occasions when he’s stopped from gaining access to gigs and events that he is very much central to. He knows he’s regarded as the least interesting of the band, having little to say or do that makes headlines when talking to journalists, and the book plays on his perception as a geek by devoting countless paragraphs to descriptions of the equipment and technology advances New Order were investing in throughout the 80s in efforts to stay at the cutting edge of the way music was now being played and produced – spoiler alert, he ends up being less and less of a drummer and increasingly a programmer.
There’s a case to be made, however, that he was the most important member of the band. He was the one who took the brave decision to go with the suggestion from Rob Gretton that his girlfriend, Gillian Gilbert, should become the fourth member of New Order given that he knew he would be exposing her to a world of sexism and misogyny, thus putting his own personal happiness at risk. It’s no real secret that Peter Hook in particular never took to the idea of having a woman in the band, a position he never seems ever to have been at ease with, but it was surprising and disappointing to read how Bernard Sumner reacted to some suggestions about increasing Gillian’s responsibilities as time went on. But, in giving space to all of this, Stephen Morris doesn’t shy away from highlighting the occasions when he let his girlfriend down, and one particularly spectacular incident in Bangkok is revealed in all its gruesome detail, which leaves the reader in no doubt that the author could be a bit of a dick.
I have to say that for the first two-thirds of Fast Forward, I was of the view that it was an inferior read in comparison to Record Play Pause. I think this was down to the fact that it was racing through at breakneck speed, with just a few pages devoted to each album or tour, but it was satisfying to read that Morris’ views and opinions on the releases more or less chimed with my own thoughts, and to have confirmation of my long held view that cocaine played such a big part in the way that Shellshock was given the kitchen sink approach as it evolved and developed, with nobody prepared to take anything out of the near ten minutes that the 12″ version ended up being. Oh, and while I’ve somehow always thought the band spent about six months in Ibiza with the recording of Technique, it was only two months, albeit there was a lot of partying and relaxing rather than music playing – it turns out most of the sounds were put down in the Real World Studio complex, just outside of Bath in south-west England.
My mind, however, changed as the author began to switch increasingly away from the New Order story and to focus more on his own circumstances, including how The Other Two became an important part of his and Gillian’s story in the 90s. He also returns to his relationship with his father, something that had been central to much of volume one, particularly at its beginning before Joy Division became the be-all and end-all for the author, and to see it come back so sharply into focus near the end of volume two, when New Order was becoming increasingly less important for the author was something of a surprise, albeit it becomes yet another instance when he has to deal with death and the issues it leaves him facing.
The sleeve jacket does offer a very decent summary of this book:-
Blending entertaining anecdote with profound reflection, Fast Forward strips back a lifetime of fame and fortune to tell, with raw honesty, how New Order threatened to implode time after time. And yet, despite everything, the legacy of their music continued to hold them together.
By the end of the 450 pages (which were read over the course of just two days), I wanted more, albeit the story seems to have come to its natural conclusion. Stephen Morris does acknowledge that much more could have been written, and in particular, the role that Gillian played both as a band member and as the rock to which he clung when he was in danger of being washed away. He also acknowledges that with the band still on the go, very much against expectations both internally and externally, the story is not complete, and he hints that a whole other book may well emerge at some point. It certainly won’t be in the immediate future – at the age of 63, Stephen Morris, is having to slow down and 2021 is a year in which New Order will be taking to the road and so there’ll be no time to sit down and write up another volume of memoirs. Perhaps it won’t be written until such a time as the music has finally come to a stop and he can look back at things, perhaps when he can really think and reflect more on the legacy rather than telling a series of chronological tales. On the basis of the pages of Fast Forward, it’ll be worth the wait.
mp3: The Other Two – The Greatest Thing
mp3: The Other Two – Loved It (The Other Track)
mp3: New Order – Shellshock (12″ version)
mp3: New Order – The Perfect Kiss (12″ version)
The last is included as one in which there is nothing in the way of Stephen Morris playing the drums but his programming, including the musical frogs, is really what makes the tune.
I’ve spent some time recently cataloging all the vinyl and CDs sitting around Villain Towers, including those that belong to Rachel, and have used the ‘Collection’ function over at Discogs to create a database. It currently tallies at just under 4,400 separate entries with the number growing every few days as I buy new albums and seek out those bits of vinyl (and occasional CD) where there are holes requiring to be filled. Oh, and now that I have a wee bit more disposable income for the time being as I eke away at my redundancy payment from a few months back, I’m buying some favourite vinyl to replace what had originally been purchased only on CD.
It was while adding some stuff to the collection function that I was reminded of Scott Litt, the producer best known from his extensive work with R.E.M. in the late 80s/early 90s, had also worked with New Order back in 1989 when he took on the task of re-mixing Run, one of the songs on the album Technique, for its release as a single in the UK.
Run 2, as it became known, featured previously on the blog in February 2018 as part of the series looking at all the New Order singles:-
“Run is one of the most outstanding songs on Technique and rather bravely the band went for an edited single release in due course in which about 45 seconds are chopped off and by editing down the dreamy instrumental finish to the song and replacing it with more of the re-recorded vocal with Barney’s voice given more prominence than the original mix. It’s a decent enough mix and does a job of giving us enough changes to think of it as a new song altogether but it’s not a patch on the original.
The remix was in fact worked on alongside Scott Litt who at that point in time was known for having worked on a couple of LPs by R.E.M. The fact that he would also work on the multi-million sellers Out Of Time and Automatic For The People albums in the 90s and become one of the most talked-about producers of that era was all in the future…..”
mp3: New Order – Run 2
There was also a nod to the fact that Hooky’s basslines could be a factor in making a single a hit or not, and the new mix also brings that more to the fore, as perhaps best be heard in the extended version:-
mp3: New Order – Run 2 (extended version)
Despite all this, the single stalled at #49, which was the worst-performing showing by a New Order 45 in three years. It wasn’t helped by Factory Records electing to only issue it on 12″ vinyl and not pressing and distributing that many copies, possibly as a result of the increasing cash-flow problems they were experiencing and which would later help bring about the demise of the label.
There’s also the issue that, as soon as the single was released, lawyers representing John Denver sued New Order and Factory, claiming that the instrumental section of Run 2 ripped off his composition, Leaving On A Jet Plane. The case was quickly settled out of court, but it did result in Factory never pressing anymore than those original 20,000 copies and never making Run 2 available until 2008 when a deluxe edition of Technique was released and which included the extended version (but not the single version).
There are days when I have to accept that I really am something of an old saddo.
Like the day the other week when I realised I had three separate copies of Blue Monday on vinyl, all dating from 1983. But to be fair, they are three completely different pressings with different sleeves……
Copy #1: The original pressing that came in the die-cut sleeve with the vinyl being housed in a silver inner sleeve. The asking price on Discogs for a copy in the condition mine is in ranges from £40-70, although some sellers are looking for stupid money such as £185.
Copy #2: The second pressing that came in the die-cut sleeve but with the vinyl being housed in a glossy black inner sleeve. The asking price for this one, of which there actually seem to be fewer on Discogs, can be as low as £10 but up to £40. Mine actually has another quirk in that the labels have been placed on the wrong sides so that to listen to Blue Monday I have to play the side of vinyl which is listed as The Beach.
Copy #3: The third pressing that was plain black, but still with the code down the right-hand side of the sleeve, with the vinyl housed in a white paper sleeve. The Poundland/Dollar Store version of the single so to speak, but still capable of fetching as much as £20, although most retail on the second-hand market for under a tenner.
Copy#1 is the one that is alleged to have cost Factory Records money with each sale with the legend being that the die-cut sleeve and silver cardboard inner, along with the actual vinyl, cost more to manufacture than the selling price. It still proved to be a great return overall given that this was the single that brought New Order to the attention of the record-buying public and led to countless millions of sales of this 45, along with subsequent singles and albums, all over the planet.
mp3: New Order – Blue Monday
mp3: New Order – The Beach
Ripped from copy#1 of the original vinyl at 320kbps.
Remember folks, feel free to make suggestions as to what should appear here on Monday mornings. As long as I have a vinyl copy, I’ll make sure your requests are met.
18 – Blue Monday (’88) – New Order (1988, Factory Records)
Released as a single in April 1988 (Reached Number 3)
“You should listen to this”. This is Martin, and he is talking to a 15 year old me outside our school gates one Wednesday evening as we stand waiting for Dubstar Chris who is ‘in the art room’ (he is actually spraying offensive graffiti about the French teacher Mr Ashton and his liking for cats in the teachers toilets, but I never told you that).
With this Martin hands me a CD. He brings it out of an inside pocket of a green army jacket, and for some reason I feel like a junkie as I shuffled the CD into my rucksack
The CD is called ‘Power, Corruption and Lies’ and it is obviously an album by New Order. It will be in about two hours time be the first thing I have ever listened to by New Order.
Martin was always ahead of the crowd. He is still involved in the music world, in fact, he is currently in The Charlamagnes who you should google and then check out and then immediately buy their back catalogue. Anyway, I take the CD and I go home and do my homework and then I slip into something more comfortable and decide to give the CD a listen. Now at the time my music likes were rapidly expanding. I discovered a new band that I loved pretty much every day. If it had guitars, I was ‘in to it’. I fully expected New Order to be my new favourite thing in the entire world.
So there I sat, on my dads sofa with some big comedy headphones plonked on my head and ‘Power Corruption and Lies’ on the stereo. I had for the past six months or so listened to Martin, Dubstar Chris and Richard chirp on about how brilliant New Order were. I’d been told how songs like ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘True Faith’ were amazing, and all I’d done was nod along. So I sat there and I waited, I have to say I was excited and I felt like I existed and that this was something. I waited for that thrill of listening to something incredible to kick in.
But.
I didn’t like it. I couldn’t get into it. I say this now, and I sort of shrink away from it in embarrassment but I much preferred ‘Street Fighting Years’ by Simple Minds which was the second album I had obtained that week (this one found in Woolworths on cassette for £1.99 – which on reflection, seems as over priced as it is overblown right now).
I didn’t listen to New Order again for a long time.
Five years in fact. By now – I am the inspiring music journalist that I was back then and I am sitting in the offices of Sony Records in London because I am picking up some music and interviewing a band called Reef, who have been on a Tv advert and are being tipped for ‘Great Success’. Whilst there I help myself to Sony’s free bar and Crisp Machine (this is true by the way, the promotions floor at Sony UK, used to include a bar full of Becks and Red Stripe and a machine that dispensed crisps) before interviewing Reef. As I was leaving, the promotions manager (Ben see Number 44) gave me a bag. It was full of CDs, mugs, promo toys, gig tickets and general shit. I loved visiting Sony, you never went away empty handed and as long as you said nice things about most of it, they kept giving you stuff.
I forget nearly everything that was in that bag, but I do remember that in there was a CD which contained New Order, it contained ‘Blue Monday ‘88’ and I couldn’t stop listening to it. In fact it was pretty much glued to the stereo for the next month or so, it was like I discovered a new band who had just released their debut single. The light had come on, the light I should have seen back in 1990 when at home in my Dad’s lounge but I was young and I’ll be honest I much preferred U2 back then.
And that is how I fell in love with New Order. I was 20. And New Order had at that point split up and I thought at the time that I had thoroughly missed the boat (which was true, I saw them live at Wembley Arena about ten years later and they were a bit rubbish to be honest), that didn’t stop me filling up the back catalogue as quick as I could though.
I, of course have form for this, I did the same thing with The Stone Roses, declaring that they ‘Were not as good as The Inspiral Carpets’ to my mate Jimmy on the way to the football in 1990. It took me three years and a serious conversation with OPG to realise my mistake – “I can’t sleep with someone who doesn’t like The Stone Roses’ was pretty much was she said one night in the pub, before I was, you know, actually sleeping with her. I re-listened to that debut album quite a lot for the next month or so.
Fools Gold (9.53) – Stone Roses (1989, Silvertone Records Number 22)
But the record for me failing to realise the greatness of a band is reserved for The Fall
Mr Pharmacist – The Fall (1986, Beggars Banquet, Number 75)
Genuinely the first time I heard The Fall I swore loudly at the stereo in disgust, that’s how appalled I was. I was 16. It took me, ahem, 25 years before I realised their brilliance.
When I was writing my first blog WYCRA we did this series called ‘One Song A Day’ and we invited fellow bloggers to stick their iPods on Random and send us a review of the very first song that came on. JC was the first to offer and the song that came on first to his iPod was something by ‘The Fall’. I swore inwardly, and regretted my brilliant idea – but then I listened to what he sent through and again, that little light came on.
Album : Power, Corruption & Lies – New Order Review : Rolling Stone, 18 August 1983 Author : Steve Pond
Few rock bands have had as daunting a past to live up to, and overcome, as New Order. But Power Corruption & Lies is a remarkable declaration of independence; for the first time since lead singer Ian Curtis hanged himself three years ago, the survivors of Joy Division have shrugged off the legacy of that band’s grim, deathly majesty and produced an album that owes as much to the currents of 1983 as to the ghosts of 1980. This record is a quantum leap over Movement, the band’s first album, and over most of the music coming out of Britain lately.
Leap is the appropriate word, because on the surface, this is largely a stirring, jumpy dance record. Forget about New Order’s reputation as gloom mongers or avatars of postpunk iciness; forget about the artiness and mystique that envelop them. Just put this stuff on the radio, in clubs or on American Bandstand: you can dance to it, it deserves a ninety-eight, and a song like “Age of Consent” merits heavy rotation, not reverence.
That’s not to say New Order have turned into A Flock of Vultures or anything. But there’s a newfound boldness on Power that was sorely missing from Movement. On that LP, New Order were tentatively trying to break free of Joy Division’s style, if not their tone; too often, the result was turgid and solemn and sprinkled with the kind of whistles, whooshes and beeps that suggest novices halfheartedly tinkering with dance-oriented rock.
Working on subsequent singles toward a surer control of the studio and a more ambiguous emotional stance, the band hit its stride with the epiphanic “Temptation.” A tenacious, gripping, rock-hard dance tune, it was also the first New Order song to suggest that maybe love doesn’t always tear us apart – that, in fact, it just might bind us together, though at great risk. (That song and four others make up the highly recommended EP New Order: 1981-1982.)
Though not as forceful as “Temptation,” the songs on Power glow with confidence – musical confidence, mostly. While Steve Morris‘ drums weave patterns around the unrelenting kick of an electronic drum machine, the band masterfully interlaces layer after layer of sound: Bernard Albrecht‘s alternately slashing and alluring guitar lines, Peter Hook‘s melodic bass playing, broad washes of keyboard color from Gillian Gilbert and such percussive effects as chimes. It’s a bracing, exhilarating sound, equally suited to feverish dance workouts like “Age of Consent” and “586” as to such murkier, more impressionistic outings as “Your Silent Face.”
Lyrically, New Order still rely too readily on emotional vagueness and stock portentous images. Having partially abandoned the frigid, nocturnal chill that permeated Curtis’ work, the band’s current viewpoint is closer to simple pessimism than outright despair. Still, the group likes to draw the drapes and usher in a little darkness at the end of its songs. Power has some of the most foreboding lines in rock: “I’ve lost you.”“Their love died three years ago/Spoken words that cannot show.”“For these last few days/Leave me alone.”And then there’s the jarring conclusion of “Your Silent Face,” a glorious, understated reverie that rails against passivity (and, perhaps, against Curtis) with lines like, “A thought that never changes/Remains a stupid lie.”As the tune closes, Albrecht turns contemptuously dismissive: “You caught me at a bad time/So why don’t you piss off.”
With spiritual anguish and failed redemption no longer an obsessive theme, it’s now easier to focus on New Order simply as a rock band as strong as any in British pop. And as has been pointed out before, once you get past the romantically murky stance, New Order are (just as Joy Division were) a terrific singles band–not a consistent one, but one whose best singles, “Ceremony” and “Temptation,” have been transcendent.
“Blue Monday” isn’t in that class, but in its own way, it’s a breakthrough, getting the band heard on radio stations and in dance clubs. Neither New Order’s boldest song nor their most telling, it is instead their best sounding. The drum machine pounds away with an appropriately inhuman thunk, the band pumps hard to keep up, and after seven searing minutes, it soars to a close with layers of lush keyboards.
That song is included on the cassette version of Power Corruption & Lies; by itself on the twelve-inch single, though, it’s backed by “The Beach,” its dub remake and a tougher, better version of the tune. The point of “Blue Monday” is sound, after all, and the second version takes more sonic chances and shows just what sure-handed producers and assured musicians New Order have become. For the members of a band once known for one man’s sensibility, that’s the last thing many of us expected and, in a way, the best thing they could have become.
mp3 : New Order – Age of Consent
mp3 : New Order – Your Silent Face
mp3 : New Order – Leave Me Alone
JC adds : Possibly the most important record that I’ve ever purchased. It certainly contains, in the album opener, my favourite song of time. It felt like the right way to close off this series. Things return to normal from tomorrow.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 