Ceremony to Superheated - revisiting and reviewing every core song

Dennis Remmer wrote: Angel Dust and Every Little Counts reviews now up. Brotherhood complete.

Happy New Year everyone.

Haha that was actually mooted as an idea Factory had for Brotherhood? To add to the vinyl version where there's the needle across the grooves sound at the end of Every Little Counts, the cassette version would have the sound of the tape squealing at the end of Every Little Counts and the CD version would have the sound of a CD glitch at the end? I'd never heard that story before and it'd of been well funny had Factory managed to go through with it😄

Happy new year.

Yeah I read about that in ClaudeFlowers' book, which was a welcome change to the usual crap you read, but it feels like I've been here before (see what I did there?). I also remember Smash Gits (so it must be true) saying the track is brilliant and even features singer Peter Hooke (SIC) laughing. Part of the fun of the band which went out the window alongside inner groove messages.

Dennis Remmer wrote: All Day Long review now up.

Wanted this one to stand alone...

Agree that it's one of their best, but no mention of Das Rheingold?

Michael Monkhouse wrote: Yeah I read about that in ClaudeFlowers' book, which was a welcome change to the usual crap you read, but it feels like I've been here before (see what I did there?). I also remember Smash Gits (so it must be true) saying the track is brilliant and even features singer Peter Hooke (SIC) laughing. Part of the fun of the band which went out the window alongside inner groove messages.

You and that bloody Claude Flowers book haha. If I had a pound for every time you mention it and the Melody Maker ( or NME?) review of Raise The Pressure I'd be, well, I'd have a lot more money and time having more fun than reading this forum . Or something.Never read that book but vaguely recall the Smash Hits review of Brotherhood and the writer thinking Peter Hooke was the singer.

New Order did eventually 25+ years later achieve their ambition of having a CD glitch sound on one of their songs at 37 seconds into I've Got A Feeling on Lost Sirens. Though you could argue they'd already got many a glitch sound on various reissues or remastered before that.

10.20 - 27 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYMkHtoRUbw 9.14 - 9.22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7UNLfljUF0

True Faith and 1963 reviews now up.

Sorry Dennis what's all this about Substance 2 in the TF review?

?(the best of) wrote: Sorry Dennis what's all this about Substance 2 in the TF review?

Yeah, huh? Source?

Also where you say...

Oakenfold and Osbourne remained true to the source whilst adding value; with new drum, bass and glassy synth sounds, excellent glitchy patterns and modified sequences. To this day the band uses the Perfecto version at the heart of their live performances of TF

...I would have mentioned the house-y piano. That's the Perfecto bit I always notice, live.

And Pettibone's True Dub better than his vocal mix on the A side? No way Jose!

Debaser wrote:

And Pettibone's True Dub better than his vocal mix on the A side? No way Jose!

You should add your comments on the blog page. I welcome them - each to their own preference, particularly when it comes to mixes.

?(the best of) wrote: what's all this about Substance 2 in the TF review?

Nothing to see here, move on... 😎

1963 really was/is a fantastic song.Great lyrics by Bernard and one of his best ever vocals.Hague and the band achieved a marvellous sound with the recording, a really lovely production.Also, Hooky's bass near the end just tops off the song brilliantly.The original on the 1987 b side to TF is THE version.That 1994 version was vastly inferior from what i can remember but i haven't listened to it for years.Recall the best and most vital lyrics were cut out of that version as i think Dennis mentions and it had a shittier sound overall.I mean , why edit out the best lyrics of the fricking song????!!!!! FFS.The 1963-95 version was a little better than the 94 one but haven't listened to that for years either, wasn't it a little more guitary than the original and the 94 one? The dance remixes were all pretty pointless.

1963 is better than True Faith IMHO but you can see why they chose TF as the a side, it's faster and more radio friendly and catchy than 1963.But 1963 is the better song. A shame 1963, like certain other songs like Run or Dream Attack never worked very well live though.

I was obsessed with True Faith and 1963 in summer 1987 but rarely play the former now.The Pettibone mixes were really strong and of the 94 mixes the TWA one is pretty good.That King Roc one from the 12x12 campaign is worth a spin still now and then too.

Fotzepolitic wrote: Recall the best and most vital lyrics were cut out of that version as i think Dennis mentions and it had a shittier sound overall.I mean , why edit out the best lyrics of the fricking song????!!!!! FFS.The 1963-95 version was a little better than the 94 one but haven't listened to that for years either, wasn't it a little more guitary than the original and the 94 one? The dance remixes were all pretty pointless. .

They sure were. Why? Marketing bollocks. The 95 mix was a real rarity in that it sounded more NOy than the original. The Liarcock remixes set a record: 608587348233900 hours and not one millibilliwillisecond of the original. Well done, Sir. In 94 Fooky told Radio 1 (so it must be true) '''''they''''' were planning Substance 2 to update the original (and make wads without doing Fairground Attraction of course) - no new stuff but some mixes on the CD, and Rob Gretton had forced them to rerecord LWTUA for it. Sounded a bit pie in the sky and we got crappy Best Of instead, but I've been through this 34904568390 times before.

Salvation Theme + Touched By The Hand Of God reviews now up.

I much preferred the Cranberries' Salvation for its innovative and influential solution to drugs: To all those people doing lines, Don't do it. Don't do it... Heroin addicts everywhere, avid listeners to the Top 40 and the Cranberries in particular, took her advice and are now just awesome and dandy. Dolores now plans to end all wars, put a damn full stop on all those nastry terrorist fellows, and find a cure for every known disease in time for supper. Keep it up, Miss!

Touched By The Hand Of God has its moments but like Dennis says some of Bernard's vocals on it are rather grating on the ear.I remember hearing first the live version of it on the bootleg of the April 87 Woolwich gig before even True Faith came out and it reminding me at first of Blondie's Heart Of Glass ( in the bassline) .It seemed an eternity back in 1987 waiting for TBTHOG to be released.It finally made it out in December 1987 around the time of the Wembley Arena gig which i attended but which was my worst ever experience at a New Order gig as we were stuck in seats at the back, ugh.In its favour at least TBTHOG was massively different from their previous single in 1987 True Faith.It highlighted the fact New Order could do a lot of different sounding singles.

Salvation Theme was ok, maybe one of the better ones they did on the Salvation soundtrack.I bought the soundtrack on vinyl pretty much the day it was released in Feb 1988 though i've still never seen the film- from the impressions i can gather of the film it's one of the most forgettable and awful movies ever released, right? Of the soundtrack the 2 Cabaret Voltaire tracks on it are, to be honest, better than New Order's contributions.

Cun't agree less. The single version of TBTHOG was awesome, especially in Arthur Baker's 12" full glory; live it sounded pretty tacky though at least they once introduced it as something about getting pulled off. When I first heard the BBC live version I thought it was a crap way to start the gig (I later discovered it wasn't the first song but that's another story). The vid was a cheap sht and honestly, taking the piss outa rawk bands is about as orginal as Cornflakes. It's hard to imagine Bon Jovi taking the mick outa Hooky for Hendrixing Hague or the Other Two for being the least charismatic pair in music. The only remarkable thing is the director got Gillian to move a whole step. Well done.

Let's Go and Sputnik reviews now up.

The TBTHOG feedback has been excellently contrary. Keep it coming.

Skullcrusher and Fine Time reviews now up.

...and the NewOrderTracks blog is now 1 year old and has breached the 6,000 visitors / 50,000 hits mark - many many more than I ever envisaged. Thanks mainly to you lot (!) and the Singularity site. Nice one - cheers. 👍

At this rate I've got at least another year or more to go - so stay with me & keep your feedback coming.

Cheers D

Don't Do It and All The Way reviews now up.

Was interested to hear your opinions on All The Way. To me it's a New Order classic though it's rarely mentioned when the debate is about New Order's greatest songs. It was an undoubted stand out for me when I first listened to Technique and still is.Wonderful lyrics with a great message from Bernard, lovely melody , instrumentation and production.

Love Less + Round & Round reviews now up.

Round and Round was got me into the band via TOTP - then it was Technique, singles and PCL... After that it was nearly all downhill but I needed a hobby. Awesome track and awesome mixes, esecially the so called 12" on the CD which in classic NO style is, well, awesome, but now harder to find than a virgin on the stage - while balls like O2AndU or RTP are free for alls. Trainspotter fact: One of the reasons VP was on Best Of was it was originally considered as the 94 trailer single, and mixes exist but were never released. I don't think it'd work as well as Round outside the album context. VERY late follow up cos - well, no one cares why: I used to like Vanelli's 1963 vocal mix, but only cos I was a superfan and desperate for newbies. This was the closest I could get, i.e. a mix with both totally different music AND the full lyric.

Thanks Michael - that's quite lucid.

Michael Monkhouse wrote: ... into ... nearly ... downhill ... hobby ... classic ... virgin ... balls ... free ... context ... follow up ... why ... desperate ... lyric.

Hope you like my Vanelli quote remix.

P.S we care.

Round & Round- I was sometimes or maybe even always torn between the album version and the 7" Hague version ( prob in a minority on that Hague 7" version) The album version is great but the Hague 7" flows into the chorus better IMHO and i always loved the outro fade on it too.The album version despite its awesomeness kind of stops for a moment or jars before the chorus for me.Maybe i'm just a sucker for radio friendly versions.The flow into the chorus on Hague's 7" just brings an optimistic vibe ( it has an optimistic vibe with lyrics like that???) when the chorus hits ,more than the album version anyway.The 12" vinyl version has a great intro i'll say that. I recall back in the day 1989 staunch anti New Order friends i knew remarking how they had to admit they did like the song and particularly the chorus.It really was a great melodic chorus/lyric.I recall watching NO's performance of it on Top Of The Pops at a mate's house and his sister remarking "pwhoarr he's alright!" at the sight of Barney in his bling and cool haircut.Not sure she was as impressed with his live vocal though.Hey ho.

Love Less i always remembered as Loveless, like , without love.Where as Love Less seems to be encouraging you to not love as much, hold back.Whatever.An ok song but with great lyrics by Barney, it has its moments and i always actually liked the "town called liberty" line.Though the line i liked more was "There was a time i call before when all i knew was what i saw". A really good lyric.Thinking about the lyrics now it brings vague distant memories of those days back in the mists of time in the 80s when for some of us of that "doom laden" 80s generation where Sumner's lyrics in every single line or even word contained a message or pathos or an inspiration.

Fuck, someone on NOOL forums almost agrees with me on something. The Lioncock mixes of 1963 were acceptable in their own right but still a total rip off cos they exploited the NO flag. Everyone who bougt 'em wanted a fresh slant on the track and didn't get it. They did however achieve two seemingly imposible feets: 1) 764654505760874507646534537 hours and not one billisec of the original; 2) Convince even me it that being a vinyl completist was a total waste of beer money, wanking time and more beer money. So well done.

Best & Marsh and Guilty Partner reviews now up.

Apols for delay... been enjoying the new Goldfrapp album, and not enjoying the new Depeche Mode album.

/DR

Best & Marsh is ace.

Only thing i ever really took to about Guilty Partner were the keyboard bits 3/4 way through.

Guilty Partner is awesome and like Turn, it shows how strong a songwriter Bernard is when he can be arsed. Apparently it was shite live though (98).

Run + MTO reviews now up.

MTO was worthwhile IMO (this is English for YES). A downbeat, vague and weird delve into house minimaliasm, and for the retard that I was in 1992 getting a curio and locating samples from both Fine Time and Bizarre Love Triangle was the most fun I could have without the use of Susannah Hoffs and a shower attachment. Run 2? The single tightened up the original but the extended mix was total shite.