New Order sought to safeguard the sub-culture and faced up to their danceable delinquent dignity with the perfect pop of this lush lamentation. The breakthrough success of their sophomore album 'Power, Corruption & Lies' "Blue Monday" (which remains the biggest selling 12 inch single of all time); put the pressure on for the followup.
Bernard Sumner says: "It’s dancey and electronic; we’ve always tried to combine them. It started on our first trip to New York when our equipment got knicked, maybe it got knicked for a reason. We spent a lot of time in the nightclubs in New York and we heard a lot of fresh musical influences there. Back in the UK there were two types of music the straight music and the alternative which was us. The straight they played in the clubs, so you would never go. In New York the DJ’s were really forward looking and would play new wave music from the UK and Sugarhill records from New York so they would play dance music mixed into stuff like The Clash and Soft Cell it was much more daring and interesting music that they played there. So that rubbed off on us. It so happened that about that same time we came to England, it since became affordable for technology to allow us to get our hands on it. Part of the fun was that we thought we were pioneers everything was new and exciting. "
Stephen Morris reveals: "We got a drum machine, I saw it and thought I might be out of a job here so I made sure that I was still playing the drums as well, so it turned into not removing anything but adding more things we ended up with a hybrid ... Basically, the New Order method of titling is just writing down words that are completely abstract and don't relate to anything, and then when you've written the songs, it's just like pin the tail on the donkey."
'Low-Life' features Bernard Sumner on vocals, guitars, melodica, percussion, synthesizers, electronics, and programming; Peter Hook on 4 and 6-stringed bass, electronic percussion, and backing vocals on "This Time of Night"; Stephen Morris on drums, synthesizers electronics, and programming; and Gillian Gilbert on synthesizers, guitars, electronics and programming. New Order produced the record at Jam and Britannia Row in London with engineer Michael Johnson and tape operators "Mark, Penny, and Tim".
Hook harkens back: "We were very driven by [New Order manager] Rob Gretton and [Factory Records owner] Tony Wilson. They didn’t really plan the releases, but they wanted to have new releases in mind. Record companies plan releases years and years in advance. But, Factory Records and New Order was that as soon as we finished one, we put it out and Rob said, “Right, let’s do another one.” Regardless of how well or badly it did, we immediately started to work on the next one. Rob used to say, “The best song that you’re ever going to write is your next one… so get on with it!” It was as simple as that, really. It’s what kept us going. Nothing was planned. As soon as we finished Power, Corruption and Lies , we started Low-Life ... I was completely delirious [after working forty-three hours straight to finish "The Perfect Kiss"]. What happened was Mike Johnson and I were engineering it. The others would come in and I think they slept three times. The others would come in and say do this, do that, turn this up, which was what most musicians do. But, I stayed there the whole time. The insane part was then, after it was done, I got in the car and drove to Manchester and them lot slept all the way home in the car!"
Gilbert considers: "After the second album, we got quite a lot of new keyboard equipment. The new instruments are more reliable and make what we play sound better ...We do a lot of jamming, which we record. Then we go back, listen to it and take what we like. Usually we stick to our own instruments, but not always. For example, I came up with the bass line to 'Love Vigilantes' and Steven played drums ...We're democratic. We vote on everything. No one person has the final say ...Everyone keeps asking what it's like being signed to Warner Bros. First of all, it's Qwest that we're dealing with and we're not signed to them (the label). We're only licensed to them. If you're signed to a label, the label tells you when to do your album, when to do your single, and when to tour. Labels expect you to do all these things. But with Qwest we're not required to do anything we don't want to do. Other labels offered us more money, but we wanted to maintain control."
'Low-Life' hit number ninety-four in the US, seventy in Australia, thirty-four in the Netherlands, twenty-six in Canada, twenty in Sweden, eleven in New Zealand, seven on the UK album chart, and number one on the UK independent album chart.
http://www.neworderonline.com/ http://www.worldinmotion.net/ http://www.neworder.com/ lyrics:
http://www.worldinmotion.net/neworder/lyrics/lowlife.htm "Perfect Kiss" became the band's third consecutive number five dance hit in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XW6NLILqo VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J66Zsu04HEw "Elegia"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GArQITJdbRE VIDEO full seventeen and a half minute version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LY3ftiLqmE VIDEO "Sub-culture"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn9nOukPuYM VIDEO "Love Vigilantes"
Sumner: "We wrote it because I remember years before we were on a tour with Buzzcocks and the roadies had all these funny Country and Western songs with tear jerking stories in them so I thought I’d write something in that vain. Country and Western Redneck story songs. Thing about that song is, when he comes back to see his wife, you’re not sure whether he’s a ghost." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0uNsrRFpV8 VIDEO 'Low-Life' full album:
https://myspace.com/neworder/music/album/low-life-collector-s-edition-9140090 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67E7FBE84440DA98 VIDEO 1. "Love Vigilantes" 4:16 2. "The Perfect Kiss" 4:51 3. "This Time of Night" 4:45 4. "Sunrise" 6:01 5. "Elegia" 4:56 6. "Sooner Than You Think" 5:12 7. "Sub-culture" 4:58 8. "Face Up" 5:02 'Pumped Full of Drugs' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-jDf1U0Lqo VIDEO 00:00 - Intro (Feat. Tony Wilson)
02:33 - Confusion
08:01 - Love Vigilantes
12:33 - We All Stand
17:20 - As It Is When It Was
22:07 - Sub-Culture
27:14 - Face Up
32:44 - Sunrise
39:37 - This Time Of Night (PFD)
44:51 - Blue Monday
New Order immersed themselves in Mediterranean music and sun during the recording of this acid house hybrid and ended up with their greatest success. As the band was getting ready to record, Stephen Morris and manager Rob Gretton scouted out a new studio. Morris says: “We decided to make this record, and Peter Gabriel had just opened Real World [Studios] near Bath. It was brand new, state of the art. Couldn’t ask for a better studio." Bassist Peter Hook had found another studio on the Spanish island of Ibiza where there was a pool and all hours bar nearby: " We obviously became very involved in the club scene with The Haçienda . We had been inspired by the clubs we had been to in New York in the early 1980s and came back from there thinking we had to bring that to Manchester. Also, the rave culture of Ibiza helped us to push the acid house movement wit the Hacienda at the forefront. I was very involved in the club, I even did the door once! and was also known to roadie for other bands now and again when we had live shows on. at it's peak, that era was absolutely amazing, just lots and lots of people every night discovering new music and having a great time...I had not spent much time in Spain at that time, but New Order did record 'Technique' Gillian Gilbert considers how easy it was for the band to choose Ibiza: “Before then we’d always had studios in London, and it was always in the winter and it was dark and horrible. I thought it would be quite nice going somewhere sunny.” Bernard Sumner recalls how they spent the summer going to clubs and avoiding the studio: “We started off trying to write an album in the summer. But as the season progressed, it moved further and further to the back of our minds. We just went out to clubs. But Stephen didn’t like the sun, so we’d sit by the pool while he stayed in the studio and worked on drums. We’d go in and go, ‘Ooh, don’t like that, needs a bit more top on the high-hat, Steve, do ’em again.’ ... The worst thing I remember was the green shag-pile carpet – on the walls, and on the floor. The flies were using it to nest in. It was a bit… maggoty. The food was pretty poor there. There’s only so many times you can eat paella. So we’d go to San Antonio and maybe get a pizza, then we would go to a club, then back to San Antonio to another club…”
The club scene on Ibiza was becoming known for its own Balearic beat which was characterized by a danceable downtempo mix of international musical styles. After four months in Ibiza, the band returned to Britain with very little recorded. They buckled down at Real World in Bath and quickly recorded the rest of the album with Bernard Sumner on vocals, guitars, melodica, synthesizers and programming; Peter Hook on 4 and 6-stringed bass, electronic percussion, synthesizers and programming; Stephen Morris on drums, synthesizers and programming; and Gillian Gilbert on guitars, synthesizers and programming. 'Technique'
http://www.neworderonline.com/ 1. "Fine Time" 4:42
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYwNLlTt3AQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiC49HKqLEc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkWxlb8EIYE 2. "All the Way" 3:22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LNhJ5Z8jz8 3. "Love Less" 2:58
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU1vutrU5PM 4. "Round & Round" 4:29
VIDEO 6. "Run" New Order, John Denver 4:29
The band was sued because of the similarities with this song and Denver's 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdpC0JT7nEc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRDk8p0N__k 7. "Mr. Disco" 4:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l7lJlN520E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9vcZ4PwJZc 8. "Vanishing Point" 5:15
VIDEO 9. "Dream Attack" 5:13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj2QVvBIUOU bonus disc:
1. "Don't Do It" 4:34
VIDEO 2. "Fine Line" 4:45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVMk48DmitE 3. "Round & Round" 6:52
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inZGojivAYc 4. "Best & Marsh" 4:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpAESMamrZ0 5. "Run 2" (Extended Version) New Order, John Denver 5:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH8m3oHINrI 6. "MTO" (Minus Mix) 5:27
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8SxYWOjLyI 7. "Fine Time" (Silk Mix) 6:19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvxdJ1j_Ko8 8. "Vanishing Point" (Instrumental Making Out Mix) 5:12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMOqIWMJSRE 9. "World in Motion" (Carabinieri Mix) New Order, Keith Allen 5:52
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul2RRm3bzCU 'Technique' full album: New Order - Technique (Full Album) - 1989 by SixtaAlbright All tracks written by New Order except where indicated.
1. "Fine Time" 4:42
2. "All the Way" 3:22
3. "Love Less" 2:58
4. "Round & Round" 4:29
5. "Guilty Partner" 4:44
6. "Run" New Order, John Denver 4:29 7. "Mr. Disco" 4:20
8. "Vanishing Point" 5:15
9. "Dream Attack" 5:13
bonus disc
1. "Don't Do It" 4:34
2. "Fine Line" 4:45
3. "Round & Round" 6:52
4. "Best & Marsh" 4:32
5. "Run 2" (extended version) New Order, John Denver 5:26 6. "MTO" (Minus Mix) 5:27 7. "Fine Time" (Silk Mix) 6:19 8. "Vanishing Point" (Instrumental Making Out Mix) 5:12 9. "World in Motion" (Carabinieri Mix) New Order, Keith Allen 5:52 VIDEO
New Order made a dramatic leap forward with the addition of synthesizers and sequencers to their post punk guitar sound to create the emotional electronic ecstasy of this confident and compelling chef-d'oeuvre. 'Power, Corruption & Lies' was recorded at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row Studios in Islington with Bernard Sumner on vocals, guitars, melodica, synthesizers and programming; Peter Hook on 4 & 6-stringed bass and electronic percussion; Stephen Morris on drums, synthesizers, and programming; and Gillian Gilbert on synthesizers, programming, and guitars. After their dark and dense debut album 'Movement' they had parted ways with producer Martin Hannett to take control of their music. Sumner considers: "Producing ourselves we get more satisfaction. We know what we want and we can do it. With Martin the songs often turned out different, sometimes better, sometimes not. We always know how we want them to sound. The way we write a song is usually to start off by improvising in the rehearsal room. Then we take it out live. Sometimes you haven't got any lyrics so you just make up some garbage. Then you listen to the live tapes, write some more words, and go back and rehearse some more. By the time we record it we pretty well know how it should be...There isn't a sequencer on the market that can do what we want. I'm going to try and learn it so we can build our own. With guitar, bass and drums you've got limited horizons. We'd like to increase our range of sounds and rhythms. If you come up with an idea for a song, you know exactly what you want the machine to do. You want a machine that can do everything! But that hasn't been built yet. We thought the Emulator was going to be it - but you get one and you soon find it has its limits...What we want to do is present music without any of the peripheral rubbish around it. It doesn't matter who played what solo or what instruments we used or even who we are. If people like the music, that's what's important; that's what they're buying." Hook ponders the band's development since the suicide of Ian Curtis: "We've accepted it with the passing of time but, of course, we still miss him. It would have been nice to have seen how we'd have developed if Ian was still around. I wish we'd had the chance, you know...We write personal songs - about relationships between people - and explore areas of them. Now we all help write the songs, whereas Ian wrote them when we were Joy Division...I certainly believe that the music we are producing is worthy of a big audience. We're always maturing, always developing and that's probably why people develop with us. As Joy Division we moved on from the music of Warsaw and as New Order we're moving on from the music of Joy Division...We've never deliberately isolated ourselves for any ulterior motives...we like to spend time in the studio getting the music right. Bernard's voice has come on a lot, like the guitars and our sound. Put it down to practice. Yeah, we did think about getting a new singer after Ian's death. Now I'm glad we didn't." Sumner says: "In Joy Division, one person wrote the vocals: Ian. One person wrote the bass guitar: him, Hooky. One person did the drums: Stephen, and one person did the guitar and keyboards: me. So the math, as you call it in America, we call it maths in England, the math worked out very well. But in New Order, it didn’t work out so well, the maths. At first, I couldn’t sing and play at the same time. When I wrote parts, I couldn’t play ‘em, so that’s why we got Gillian. And I was doing a role that I didn’t really want to do, be a singer. I wanted to bloody play guitar or play keyboards, but [having me sing] was the only way forward. The other thing about the maths was that we started making a lot of electronic music. You had to go, 'All right, I’ve got an idea. Let’s program it.' Operating a computer terminal is not a democracy. Only one person can operate that keyboard at once, so that meant the rest of the band has to sit around. These were the early days of electronic music, and some of them weren’t even computers, but little sequencers where you put the notes in by manually writing it all down. The synthesizer that we did 'Blue Monday' on wasn’t MIDI, and that’s why it sounds so tight; there wasn’t so much processing. It was a sequencer I’d made from an electronics kit; to buy one would cost you the equivalent of a house. Also, when you get into that style of writing, when you’re not just jamming with a guitar, when you’re programming against a beat, you hear the rest of the song in your mind, so you know what the other parts should be."
Morris muses: "A career is forward planning. There isn't any forward planning. We don't do what we think will be successful. We do what we want to do." Hook confesses: "We spend an awful lot of time together in here, but we're lazy. We sit around here until we're so bored that we have an idea. You don't really get people who are in a position to give you advice...People think all these rack effects and these sequencers are really high tech. They're all really useless - they're all shit. You wouldn't believe the trouble we have with them! They keep going wrong! Its as if they use you as guinea pigs...What was punk all about? To me it was: if you really want to do something, go ahead and do it." 'Power, Corruption & Lies' http://www.neworder.com/ "Age of Consent"
VIDEO "We All Stand"
VIDEO "The Village"
VIDEO Sumner and Morris composed an early version of the song for the opening of the Factory Records superclub the Haçienda in May 21, 1982. Tony Wilson had asked the band for twenty minutes of background music for the event. 'Prime 5 8 6"/"Video 5 8 6' informed the production of 'Blue Monday', 'Ultraviolence', and 'Ecstasy'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLqdxO_5x7o VIDEO "Your Silent Face" was inspired by Kraftwerk's 'Trans Europe Express' VIDEO "Ultraviolence"
VIDEO "Ecstasy"
VIDEO bonus:
"Blue Monday" was included on cassette and CD versions of the album in Australia, New Zealand, and the US. The single charted in 1983 at number thirteen in Australia, nine on the UK pop chart, five on the US dance chart, four in Ireland, two in Germany and New Zealand, and number one on the UK independent singles chart. Five years later, it charted again as part of the 'Substance' compilation, going to sixty-eight on the US pop chart; nine on the US dance sales chart; four in Australia; three in Germany and on the UK pop chart; two in Ireland; and number one in New Zealand, on the UK independent chart, and on the US dance club play chart. It would eventually become the biggest selling 12 inch of all time .
Gilbert reveals: "In 1983, before computers came along, it wasn't easy to do electronic basslines and rhythms. So Bernard Sumner started building these gadgets called sequencers. Next, we thought it would be good to create a song that was completely electronic. Blue Monday's distinctive intro was written on an Oberheim DMX drum machine. We'd been going to clubs in New York and wanted to recreate the fantastic bass-drum sounds we'd heard. We tried to play something like Donna Summer's Our Love and came up with that instantly recognisable thud. The synthesiser melody is slightly out of sync with the rhythm. This was an accident. It was my job to programme the entire song from beginning to end, which had to be done manually, by inputting every note. I had the sequence all written down on loads of A4 paper Sellotaped together the length of the recording studio, like a huge knitting pattern. But I accidentally left a note out, which skewed the melody. We'd bought ourselves an Emulator 1, an early sampler, and used it to add snatches of choir-like voices from Kraftwerk's album Radioactivity, as well as recordings of thunder. Bernard and Stephen had worked out how to use it by spending hours recording farts. Blue Monday was meant to be robotic, the idea being that we could walk on stage and do it without playing the instruments ourselves. We spent days trying to get a robot voice to sing "How does it feel?", but somebody wiped the track. Bernard ended up singing it. He says the lyric came about because he was fed up with journalists asking him how he felt. The lines about the beach and the harbour were the start of his many nautical references – he loves sailing. And Peter Hook's bassline was nicked from an Ennio Morricone film soundtrack. Blue Monday is a dance track with a hint of melancholy. A seven and a half minute-long single was unheard of, so we put it out on 12-inch. We couldn't believe it when it became the biggest-selling 12-inch of all time. People have interpreted the title all sorts of ways. It actually came from a book Stephen was reading, Kurt Vonnegut's 'Breakfast of Champions'. One of its illustrations reads: 'Goodbye Blue Monday'. It's a reference to the invention of the washing machine, which improved housewives' lives." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYH8DsU2WCk VIDEO "Thieves Like Us"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc1ldXDJicY VIDEO 'Power, Corruption & Lies' full album:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA62577633C7A7089 http://www.last.fm/music/New+Order/Power,+Corruption+%26+Lies VIDEO All tracks written by New Order
Side one
1. "Age of Consent" 5:16
2. "We All Stand" 5:14
3. "The Village" 4:37
4. "5 8 6" 7:31
Side two
5. "Your Silent Face" 6:00
6. "Ultraviolence" 4:52
7. "Ecstasy" 4:25
8. "Leave Me Alone" 4:40
VIDEO
