True Faith 30yrs

I'm always a bit wary of reminiscing, it's often not a good thing but True Faith was released 30 years ago on Thursday just gone.20th July 1987.By the 1990s i was fairly tired of the song but in that summer of 1987 when it was released and racing up the charts it was the catchiest, addictive thing New Order had ever done.I came home from town that release day with the 12" and 7" barely able to contain my awe at that beautiful blue sleeve with the falling yellow/gold leaf.Oh my god Saville had surpassed himself this time, the sleeve was impossible to tear my gaze away from.The song was exquisite, impossible to put back in the sleeve for another time, it just required play after play.The b side 1963 was as brilliant and addictive as True Faith.The lyrics and vocal some of the best Bernard had ever written and sung.The keyboard melody upon first listen immediately reminded me of Kraftwerk's Tour De France .The TOTP performance of True Faith was one of NO's finest TV appearances.Gillian looking demure, cool as fuck and a kind of unwillingness to give anything away, hiding behind her fringe and keyboard.....Barney cool as fuck with the haircut and white shirt with sleeves rolled up, Hooky growly as ever, the sound was electrically live,literally and emotionally as the camera panned down and round to the band as the intro played after Gary Davies's introduction (it was the first song of that edition of TOTP) It was just fricking brilliant, basically.Something Joy Division-ish came through in the vibe of that TOTP appearance, maybe it was Hooky's live bass and Steve's drums or maybe something else....Possibly NO's best TOTP performance, anyway,

The remix 12" was released a few weeks later and Shep Pettibone's mixes did not disappoint, they were ecstatic mixes.

Just the other day i stumbled across a Sophie Ellis Bextor cover version of the song from some years back , maybe even before George Michael's cover.Crap version but the core of the song is plain to hear, plain to hear it was and is a fucking great song even if we're all sick of hearing it live now.Amen.

The first NO song I heard, well, actually I saw the video on MTV Greatest Hits (I think) in the early 1994. Someone said they were Joy Division in the past and I could not see any resemblance to Closer, which was my favorite album at the time..

Running to TF in the 90's, ,repeated 6x per half hour , allowed for loping along nice and easy , and hurtling along at the speed of light to drums drumming and synths humming. Such a song has thousands more listens, for all occasions , for all time

It's their pinnacle really, isn't it? I'd like to think it's The Song that will be heard when the musicians finally slip off their perches, the one that's playing as the background to the news reports👍

But it will more than likely be World In Motion or some Joy Division (sorry Gillian).

Probably not helped by that f***ing awful George Michael cover version, and the diabolic True Faith 94 (they should have just left it alone after the Shep Pettibone mix) but True Faith is probably my least favourite of all of the New Order singles with the 'proper' line-up (well apart from Krafty maybe) - there you go, have had my Monday moan, as you were people...

Ken Doherty wrote: True Faith is probably my least favourite of all of the New Order singles with the 'proper' line-up (well apart from Krafty maybe)

Devil's Advocate? They did far worse. TF is too adolescent for me now. I used to mime to it in my bedroom. Now I do fuck all in my bedroom. Movin' On. The Shit Poppibones mix was a favourite back in the day but it hasn't aged well - too slick and polished. After all, this was the guy who mixed Bros. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUM4\_Eryt0Q My first listen to the 94 ''''''''''newbies'''''''' was the Perfecto mix and as I then heard 1963 - 95 I thought these were representative of the exciting new 94 mixes. Bollocks. They all sounded the same as the originals. 'Drier, less 80s'? Buggered if I can hear the difference.

Fotzepolitic wrote: Gillian looking demure, cool as fuck and a kind of unwillingness to give anything away, hiding behind her fringe and keyboard...

I wouldn't hunt for levels that aren't there, she's just crapping herself. 40 years in the biz and she still makes Chris Lowe look like Iggy Pop.

worked at my local odeon back then during school holidays as. proper cinema, massive 1200 seater. at the time on tv was a music show called wired, and for a while 'pepsi presents wired' played music vids in the interval, lights half up. True Faith was on rotation at the time on a massive screen and sound system, was very enigmatic to watch. the other song i remember having an impact was a very long pepe jeans advert (i think) which had a lot of T'Pau's Heart and Soul on it, which again sounded fantastic as it it quite sparse, the bass riff just bounced around the room.

something about a massive, quality, sound system (but not crap and overloaded like most clubs), focused in a big space, you just cant repeat

The summer of 1987 was a turning point for me as I was nearly 10 years old & starting to take an interest in pop music & 2 songs that came out back then would have a significant effect on me & 30 years on, I still love them both & as a result, I became major fans of both groups & still am to this day.

One was "It's A Sin" by Pet Shop Boys & the other was "True Faith" by New Order. Both songs were the first I'd heard of by either group, as I was a bit too young when either "West End Girls" or "Blue Monday" was released.

"True Faith" is just a masterpiece & I'll always have a soft spot for it. The Shep Pettibone Remix is brilliant & the '94 Perfecto Mix is good too. Even the B-side, "1963" was good too & of course was a single in it's own right, later in '95.

30 years on though & I still haven't a clue what the original '87 video is all about though, with the deaf turtle & those guys jumping up/down and slapping each other! The '94 video was good, with all the clips from their other videos all mixed together etc, shame it's not on the "Item" DVD, but it's on the '94 "Best Of" VHS.

So, happy 30th birthday to "True Faith"! :)