New Order: "In A Happy Place"

For a change, something sweet for discussion as an antidote to the acres of rantagus unmitigatus that usually accompanies my presence on this board.

Just curious to find out from everybody here which period or time you consider in your opinion to be New Order's best. This could be either one year or a number of consecutive years - just the period that you feel The Order made the biggest impression on yourself, or the period where they had the biggest influence on others. And don't forget to give some reasons why you settled for that particular point in time.

I'll give mine later on - meanwhile, over to you. :)

The best time for me was when all the mixes came out in 1994, as this was what made me buy my first new order single (True Faith 94) and begin collecting their back catalogue.

I would first like to say NO have been great throughout but of particular personal benefit to me I would have to say 88 to about 92 as I was going through a low point in my life and they lifted me up out of the pain and anguish.

My favourite time has to be from about 1985 when I first discovered them through to '89 and the release of Technique.

Out of this period I would say I enjoyed '85-87 the best mainly because of the gigs including seeing them at the Hacienda (though the gig itself wasn't that memorable), my first trip abroad to see them in Dusselldorf. Again more for the adventure than the actual gig itself.

Stand out gigs for me from this period were Tower Ballroom in'86, Brixton Academy AIDS Benefit, Finsbury Park Supertent and G-Mex.

Some quality tunes from this period as well Perfect Kiss, BLT, True Faith and Touched though I'm extremely bored by TF and Touched these days.

There's lots of other stuff the haircuts, hooded jackets, bundeswehr, sleeping out at train stations etc.

New Order were quite simply the coolest band on the planet round about this time.

'94 Coz thats when I really discovered them....and the same year in which I bought their entire back catalogue

Despite being into them since the late 80's i think 93 was a great time for me as far as NewOrder is concerned. Ok so mebbe not such a good time for Tony and Factory etc. but Republic had a HUGE HUGE marketing campaign and some great artwork, those funky "digipacks" loadsa loadsa airplay,tv exposure,magazine coverage and HUGE competitions on Radio1 and Local Radio as well as of course the icing on the cake that got everyone flying the flag for NewOrder again - REGRET!! who could ever forget the "Baywatch performance", cheesy as hell but also fucking great that the beeb gave them such a huge platform to play on - summin usually reserved for the likes of U2,and Oasis...

Then of course the stunning performance at Reading festival which capped off a very successful, high profile year :)

1995-1998 the uni years!

Always had a vague interest in New Order, but when I first moved to Manchester to become a stew-dent, the young lady who was to become my bessie mate passed on her obsession to me! Happy memories of endless discussions about the merits of particular tracks and videos and drunkenly jumping around in the Hacienda every Tuesday night to BLT, True Faith, 1963, Blue Monday et al. :D

Funny thing is, my mate's interest in them has waned a bit over the years, whereas mine just keeps growing - and I can partly blame you lot for that ;)

Yes, I'd have to agree with 1984-87. It was really exciting seeing half of Low Life unfold before us, songs evolving at every show, and when the same began to happen with half of Brotherhood, the sheer variety and depth of back catalogue was immense. Possibly preferred 85 to 86, simply because some of my favourite songs began to disappear from the live sets in 86. To me it all started to go wrong with a nagging Toothache in 87, and Substance abused my sensibilities, nice as it was to be able to save on compilation tapes !

Record wise, Technique takes some beating after the shoddy first track, though I didn't enjoy these songs in a live setting anywhere near as much. My personal jury is still out on Republic, despite spawning three or four genuine contenders.

I will never ever forget hearing the recorded version of Age of Consent for the first time though - the shackles had well and truly been lifted in the studio at last !

1986-1989.

Had Blue Monday on vinyl when it came out but that was pretty much where my interest in them began and ended. Got a snide copy of Brotherhood from a school pal and that's when my obsessive phase began.

Brotherhood-Substance-Technique..A truly golden era

Technique hold's a particular palce in my heart as the album that got me through my 'O' Levels at High School. The only downside was that their gig at the SECC that year was the night before my Modern Studies exam and my maw wouldnae let me go!!!!

I missed Reading '93 cos I was workin' in the Czech Republic at the time and Reading '98 cos I was on holiday. So thanks to the old dear I didn't get the full live experience till MEN '98!!!!

Well, my favroite period musically of theirs is 1980 (right around the end of JD) up to 1986 or so, but personnally I didn't really get into New Order until later on 1998-1999, when as I said in my profile, I ran out of JD stuff and started getting the New Order albums. It's been an up and down series of experiances for me in the 4-5 years since I flunked out of college, and New Order has always been there to help me along. I'd say my fanship was confirmed the minute I heard Age of Consent off PCL....

Originally posted by El Jarvo then a truly terrible (and we thought - perhaps final?) gig at Wembley where I sat in a different postcode to the band and hated every minute of it.

1987? That was when they were supported by a rather directionless and nascent PRIMAL SCREAM was it not? Thus soweth the seeds for the future Bobby'n'Barney partner/kinship...yeah??

June '84 @ the Birmingham Powerhouse (laser disco!) - the first in a long line for me and probably the shortest of them all. No encore and potential fights with both the audience & the resident DJ made for a most memorable gig indeed...

For me the pinnacle was 1981 - 1983, from Ceremony to Blue Monday / PCL. The dread that they would'nt be able to hack it without Ian was tangible. As i've said before, I can still remember the feelings of relief and joy the first time I heard Ceremony. It was and still is for me the most magical record ever. The follow up records of Everything's Gone Green / Procession were pretty inspiring too only to be followed a month or so later by a very disappointing album in Movement. With Movement the fear returned, the energy of the live shows was somehow missing. Another six months or so passed until Temptation breathed new life into the love I had for this extraordinary foursome and with it came the realisation that they were indeed going to be pushing back the boundaries of popular music. Confirmation of this arrived in March of '83 in the form of the greatest record ever to pound the inhabitants of dance floors the world over, that record was of course Blue Monday. By the time PCL arrived I knew that this was the greatest band in the world, and I like ZZ and no doubt countless others still remember that first listen of AOC, mind blowing! For me PCL is the Order's finest hour, it's the album they finally left the ghost of Joy Division behind, where they really BECAME New Order.

85-90..LIVE...THIS PERIOD THE ORDER WERE AT THERE MOST UNPREDICTABLE,EXCITING,BEST..I WENT TO SOME OF MY MOST MEMORABLE GIGS AROUND THIS PERIOD..LONDON T&CC,MALVERN,B-HAM,SHEFFIELD...LOTS AND LOTS OF FUN NIGHTS WITH WILDLY DIFFERENT SETS AND ON A PERSONAL BASIS NOT REALLY BOTHERING TOO MUCH ABOUT WHAT DAY I GOT HOME...SAW THEM PLENTY OF TIMES DURING TECHNIQUE TOUR BUT AS THE VENUES GOT BIGGER MY INTEREST TENDED TO WANE...I STILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO WATCH THE ORDER IN THESE AIR HANGAR TYPE HUGE VENUES....ONE BIG REGRET IS I HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM ABROAD...SHITLOADS IN THE U.K BUT OVER THE WATER NEVER...READING SOME OF THE TALES OF THE TRIPS ABROAD I PERHAPS HAVE MISSED OUT.. BUT 85-90 IN THE U.K WILL FOREVER BE EMBEDDED IN MY MEMORY..ALWAYS

this may be a bit strange, but from 2000-present... why; with the era of mp3's i found much NO stuff that I didn't have (peel '98, all sorts of live stuff...), and since that point have been listening to them practically non-stop. Which I sure is true for most of you also. But, for me, very little music has been inside my ears since late 2000 except the Order. Now, don't get me wrong, I've been into their music since 1983. But, with no studio releases, and no tours in this part of the world, they were not getting exclusive rights to my ears. But they are just about there now. Get Ready was the icing on my cake, and if there is another album out within 5 years, I can't complain. Their music never get old, boring or tiresome, does it???

It's weird really as I only really became fully aware of the Order after "Temptation" made the top 30, then became a rabid fan when "Blue Monday" sent them into the pop stratosphere a year later. BUT my favourite era for them has to be the period between 1985 and 1989. These five years gave us the finest ever New Order songs of all time and the band managed to walk that fine line between cult heroes and massive commercial success and acclaim with relative ease. Consider the body of work during this period: bookended by two of their best-ever albums "Low-Life" and "Technique" (with their ultimate classic, sitting conveniently slap bang in the middle: "Brotherhood") and augmented by a few storming single releases too "True Faith"/"1963", "Touched By The Hand Of God", "Bizarre Love Triangle" and of course "The Perfect Kiss". (Funnily enough the three releases from "Technique" were weakest of all and even stranger too that there were MUCH stronger tracks on that album: "Vanishing Point", "All The Way", "LoveLess", "Dream Attack" etc - which should have been released instead. But then what does that tell you about how strong an album really is when the singles were actually the weakest things on it???? Eh????!!! Answer me that!!! )

"LowLife" and the later "Brotherhood", soundtracked my student years at Newcastle Polytechnic perfectly and brings back many a warm memory of those deliriously chaotic three years spent living up there and the wonderfully crazy things we got up to whilst trying to concentrate on matters as trifling as getting our work done and attending as many lectures as one could (total number of those in my tally - two out of sixty-six. Good score or what??!). Plus it also contained the ONLY OCCASION to date in which I have ever caught New Order live - at the Mayfair in Sep 1986 on their "Brotherhood " tour. Needless to say, I was underwhelmed by their performance....but at least I got to hear them play "TPK" and "BLT" so all wasn't lost!! ;)

Obviously one shouldn't forget the timely commercial watershed that was "Substance 1987" during this period either as it was a convenient summary of the first chapter of New Order's waywardly brilliant career... and as we all know, they confounded all expectations when the album that wasn't even supposed to happen crashed in at number 1 in January 1989. And I'd just started my first ever full-time job that very month too. Great times indeed.....

July 23rd 1997 - Mr Monkey and I broke off our very first snog when Mr DJ put on True Faith.

Swe-e-e-et!!

For myself, I'm going with the period from the Procession single up until the Substance LP. Sure Movement was a bit disappointing when it came out, but I figured that the people responsible for JD's music needed some time to find their own identity. Procession was a good sign in that direction, and the subsequent releases of EGG and Temptation were played more than any other records of that time in my household.

I was aware that Blue Monday was out, but had not yet purchased it, when I heard AOC for the first time on the local college station. I remember thinking "Damn, this is a great song....sounds a bit like Barney...wait...it is Barney....awesome!!!!". Not sure how FactoryUS or Rough Trade US managed it, but the US releases of BM and PCL were readily available at the local big supermarket chain around here at the time, so I made it a point to put those records in front of the bins every chance that I could.

A friend of mine and myself would call that local station and more often than not would request NO, which would always be played.

Then came TPK and Low-Life, and the eagerly awaited chance to see them live for the first time, in Oakland. Well worth the 11 hour drive cause I never knew if they would ever come back around here again. Brotherhood is my fave NO LP, and the 87 tour with the Bunnymen seemed to me that this would probably be the high-water mark for their stateside popularity.

Glad as hell that NO was the soundtrack for most of one of the best parts of my life. They have not faded in importance to me over the years, but the period from mid-81 to 87 was just incredible for this fan.

It has to be the very early days for me. Xmas '79 got given UP by my big brother, bought Tranmission soon after. Then IC goes and departs this mortal coil - devestation. Closer, LTWTUA & Atmosphere all followed in quick succession but what about the rest of the band ? I can still clearly remember the cold sunny day me & big brother literally ran down to the local record shop and came away clutching our square bronze prize with the embossed title. It was weird but the sense of sad/happy/tearful/ecstatic emotions generated by the first few bars of Ceremony still affect me as much today as they did on that first occasion. You just sort of knew that we were all sharing the loss of something special but that somehow it was all going to be alright. After that, I thought Procession was truly wonderful, Movement had it's moments, didn't think much of EGG or Temptation and absolutely detested Blue Monday. I thought they'd totally lost it until I saw their appearance on Switch and hearing AOC for the first time reaffirmed my faith in them. So for me, 81-83 is the time of most magical moments.

it depends on my mood. if i wanted a harder rocking sound, i'd say the recent stuff. if i wanted to hear bitter lyrics, early to mid-80s new order. or if it was a beautiful cloudy day, joy division. i didn't have the advantage of growing up with their music to have a real memorable time period where i could attach memories to.

New Order were untouchable between 1985 and 1987. No other band sounded quite like them or could ever hope to - of course the only other giant (influential?) Manchester act at this time was The Smiths and together they paved the way from the city's stranglehold on everything a few years later (Roses, Mondays, baggy...).

My favourite album is still "Low Life" - no other Order LP comes close for sheer diversity and variation of moods. Many people overlook the fact that this two year period was also New Order's most productive: a mere year later in 1986 came four more singles (including the first ever officially-released Peel Session amongst them) and the album "Brotherhood" - a more inferior relative of "Low Life" in my opinion but still not without some killer tunes. Then the next year came "Substance" - deservedly their biggest seller....even though I thought "True Faith" was a bit too polished and too much like the Pet Shop Boys for my liking (blame Stephen Hague then!). But then they regained form with "TBTHOG" at the end of what was their most successful year. Plus - The Smiths split up.....boo hoo! But then three years later, I met Charley, so that's okay!

Originally posted by Hubert Mickle New Order were untouchable between 1985 and 1987. No other band sounded quite like them or could ever hope to - of course the only other giant (influential?) Manchester act at this time was The Smiths and together they paved the way from the city's stranglehold on everything a few years later (Roses, Mondays, baggy...).My favourite album is still "Low Life" - no other Order LP comes close for sheer diversity and variation of moods.Many people overlook the fact that this two year period was also New Order's most productive: a mere year later in 1986 came four more singles (including the first ever officially-released Peel Session amongst them) and the album "Brotherhood" - a more inferior relative of "Low Life" in my opinion but still not without some killer tunes. Then the next year came "Substance" - deservedly their biggest seller....even though I thought "True Faith" was a bit too polished and too much like the Pet Shop Boys for my liking (blame Stephen Hague then!). But then they regained form with "TBTHOG" at the end of what was their most successful year. Plus - The Smiths split up.....boo hoo! But then three years later, I met Charley, so that's okay!

I think TBTHOG sounds much more like the PSB than True Faith. Well, I think TBTHOG is utter crap :moon:. In fact, it sounds like a very very very cheap PSB song .

Originally posted by Thief like me I think TBTHOG sounds much more like the PSB than True Faith. Well, I think TBTHOG is utter crap :moon:. In fact, it sounds like a very very very cheap PSB song .

Well Benoits, you haven't told us what your favourite New Order era is yet, have you? So how about it then?

Mines probably Technique era, My fondest memories are of getting up Sunday morning after Quadrant Park, fry up to clear me head from the night before, in the bath side one on very loud, out the bath colapse on me bed and play side two. Then spend the afternoon driving onto the Wirral or into North Wales, in the sun drinking again.

Originally posted by Oh Look! There Goes The Laughing Martian Again!! > Originally posted by Thief like me> > > I think TBTHOG sounds much more like the PSB than True Faith. Well, I think TBTHOG is utter crap :moon:. In fact, it sounds like a very very very cheap PSB song .

Well Benoits, you haven't told us what your favourite New Order era is yet, have you? So how about it then?

I don't have a favourite New Order era. What I can say is that * I don't like Movement, although I do love Ceremony et EGG which came out at the same time. * I don't really like what they released between Low-life and Technique, that is Brotherhood, Shellshock, State of the Nation, TBTHOG and BM88. The only exception: True Faith / 1963. * Republic is quite weak

I think that New Order were at their top regarding creativity during the Ceremony => Perfect Kiss era. All these singles ass well as PCL and Low-life are incredible, great great music.

Technique and GR are great albums too, but they lack this magic, this way of writing songs that were alltogether unstructured and catchy. Now, their songs are structured, but they're still catchy :)

Hard to say - two distinct moments come to mind when NO had their greatest effect on me - listening to PC&L on my (then) very new and treasured Walkman in 1984 at the age of 12 whilst on the bus to school (stealing my brother's tape for the day), and listening to Technique whist getting plastered on Absolut in '89 when I was a 17 year old apprentice chef living in my first share house. Both very fond memories of hearing them and thinking "This is the best fucking music ever made" CTB

Great stuff....

Not heard anything from our terrible trio yet

JANAKI!!!

GNU!!!!

KIMBERLY!!!!

What are your collective thoughts??? ;)

i had the feeling you'd drag me into this, Marty.

i've been trying to give this a lot of thought, actually...i keep coming across this topic and not really knowing how to respond. there are a lot of moments throughout the span of their career that i've thought were really brilliant and which affected me very strongly.

upon careful consideration, i think i'd have to go with everything from PCL-Brotherhood. but it's a difficult question...the things i like most are when they'd just got themselves together as their own band, and had got away from living in the shadow of The Other Band ( :D ). mind you, i love JD. but they really needed to get away and reconsider and regroup themselves...and i think most people here would agree.

at the same time, there's a certain rawness and uncertainty that's really interesting to me in the earlier recordings...i agree with whoever it was that said that Technique and Get Ready are good, but different in many ways cos they're so polished. there's a different sort of energy that i really appreciate in earlier stuff...some of Movement is a bit too uncertain, too much in the shadow of the past...but as someone else had said, there's also the glory of "Ceremony." which of course is a bridge, and therefore there's no point in even trying to escape the shadow. ;)

so many moments...so hard to decide! i think if i narrowed it down really tightly, i'd come up with Low-Life. despite the abomination that is the choppily edited version of "The Perfect Kiss" on it.

and if i narrowed it down even further? favourite moment ever? might well be "Face Up."

though of course, there are other moments throughout their career. so it's a difficult, difficult question, that. and even though i've attempted to answer it, i'm still not entirely sure how to answer. if that makes any sense.