New Order

Certain Songs #1310: New Order – “Temptation”

September 4, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: 1981-1982 EP
Year: 1982

So first off, because there at least three fucking versions of “Temptation” running around out there, I need to be very specific which version I mean.

Not the one on Substance: it was re-recorded with a flat, affectless vocal.
Not the 7″ single: it’s too short and too linear.

Nope, I’m talking about the original 12″ single, the one that was collected here in the States along with their other early post-“Ceremony” singles, and which represents a quantum leap in their music, basically setting up the rest of their career.

Certain Songs #1309: New Order – “Dreams Never End”

August 31, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Movement
Year: 1981

It took a little over a year from when I purchased Joy Division’s Still in late 1981 to get fully caught up on all the music that Joy Divsion / New Order had released.

And since I had started with Still, I didn’t buy any of this music in any kind of order, meaning for awhile, it was all jumbled up in my head, especially since the last thing I bought in that period was the most radical — the singles that were collected as the 1981-1982 EP (more on that tomorrow) — it took me a while to process New Order as their own thing.

Certain Songs #1308: New Order – “Ceremony”

August 30, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Single, 1981

While “Ceremony” might or might not be my all-time favorite song, it’s definitely my all-time favorite recording.

But because nothing is ever easy, I need to instantly point out that praise applies to this specific version of “Ceremony” — often referred to as “Ceremony (Version 1)” — which came out in March of 1981 as a 12-inch single with a green cover, and not the version that ended up on Substance, which is therefore the one that most people know.

The version on Substance was recorded in November 1980 after Gillian Gilbert joined the band, but the original recording was just Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, working out their grief just months after their entire world was forever changed by the suicide of Ian Curtis.

There is a timeline, of course, where Ian Curtis never killed himself, and “Ceremony” was just the next Joy Division single. Weirdly enough, I still think they get into dance music, as once Sumner & Morris (and even Peter Hook) discovered technology, there was no turning back, and besides, on songs like “She’s Lost Control” & “Isolation” they were already angling in that direction.

24 Musical Moments To Die For, Part 2

August 29, 2008 by Jim Connelly

NOTE: Because of a godsdammed bug between Flash and Firefox for Windows, I’ve had to break this up into two parts in order for the players to work for those with that particular configuration. Stupid internets.