New Order: Decades documentary
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I think I’ve got it as part of my Now TV package.
Fingers crossed that someone gets it recorded so that non-UK viewers can see it.
Here's the text from the website, in case anyone couldn't be arsed to click the link ;-) :
"New Order: Decades
A film by Mike Christie
A Caravan Production for Sky Arts
Almost forty years to the day of Joy Division's TV debut, "New Order: Decades" which will air on Saturday 22nd September at 9pm on Sky Arts is a unique and timely feature-length film about one of the UK’s most original and truly iconic bands.
Part concert, part documentary, this film follows the band’s preparations in the re-staging of their acclaimed collaboration So It Goes.. with the artist Liam Gillick and the 12-piece synthesiser orchestra that spectacularly captured the headlines during Manchester International Festival 2017. The complexities extend beyond the technical and logistical: this is a band that rarely looks backwards, yet for this project they had to reflect on - and de-construct – the band’s history, in order to create something very new.
With full access to New Order and their collaborators, this film is an unprecedented and intimate celebration of their story and their music. Through personal interviews with the band members and close collaborators including Gillick and art director Peter Saville, 'New Order: Decades' offers a rare chance to enter the band's private world, understand the visual philosophy of their aesthetic and design, and witness their collaborative, creative processes first hand. The full-length New Order and Joy Division song performances featured in the film - captured from the spectacular concert, designed by Gillick and augmented by the synth orchestra - look and sound simply incredible. They also serve as a perfect cross section of the musical journey the band have undertaken in their incredible career over the last four decades, and the perfect soundtrack to this very special film.
New Order: Decades
A film by Mike Christie
Featuring
∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.. Commissioned by Manchester International Festival, OGR Torino and Wiener Festwochen.
Looking at a couple of bits quoted above (namely "Part concert, part documentary" and "The full-length New Order and Joy Division song performances featured in the film...") seem to point to it being only a few songs. I can't imagine that the programme would be long enough to include both a documentary and a 1h30m (or so) gig.
If we assume that the programme is 1:30 - 2:00 long, there might be a chance of 6-8 songs, with documentary bits intertwined.
I guess there's always a chance that, once shown on TV, it might get a DVD/BD release in an expanded format (like the NewOrderStory was). It would be a shame to have this footage completely filmed but only partly released.
http://forums.neworderonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=4453#post28162 This might be worthwhile if it picks up after Republic. Those years have been covered 76709674534 times (I counted) and there can't be any fan who doesn't know them backwards by now. Ashes of Joy Division, REALLY?
Michael Monkhouse wrote: http://forums.neworderonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=4453#post28162 This might be worthwhile if it picks up after Republic. Those years have been covered 76709674534 times (I counted) and there can't be any fan who doesn't know them backwards by now. Ashes of Joy Division, REALLY?
From the original post:
"Part concert, part documentary, this film follows the band’s preparations in the re-staging of their acclaimed collaboration So It Goes.. with the artist Liam Gillick and the 12-piece synthesiser orchestra that spectacularly captured the headlines during Manchester International Festival 2017."
Something must have been affecting your reading (Mel C)omprehension.
Thanks, but don't make jokes about Melanie C. 'This is a band that rarely looks backwards.' This one always cracks me up.
First single JD covers 7", 12", rereleased 12", Record Day JD versions rerelease Still Rereleased JD first Peel Session 12" 1, Peel session 12" 2, Peel Sessions LP, rereleased LP in new cover, included in Complete BBC Sessions Substance 87 Atmosphere 88, Substance 88; Blue Monday 88 London reissues 93; 'NOStory' DVD, Radio 1 and MTV retros; London remix Spooky when the band aren't even talking to each other True Faith-94, Best Of 1963-95, Blue Monday-95, Rest Of, Love Will Tear Us Apart-95, Permanent Everything's Gone Green Advent Video 586 Heart and Soul Remastered Preston live, Bains Douches live, Fractured Box (Preston live and Bains Douches live), Re Fractured Box (including Preston live, Les Bains Douches live so Fractured Box) International, Retro 12" x 12" Best remixes (didital) Singles 2005, Singles 2016 Best of Electronic JD CD remasters; JD DVD interviews The Best Of JD 2008 2009 fucked up NO remasters, 'corrected' remasters, remastered again in 2015 Total
- / - JD CD remasters remastered for vinyl LTM resissue Revenge and both Other Two LPs (all three crap in the first place) Current projects, three years on from last 'un: revisiting a JD track, and possibly a fourth box set
How do they do it? What's their secret? I guess we'll never know.
Michael Monkhouse wrote: http://forums.neworderonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=4453#post28162 This might be worthwhile if it picks up after Republic. Those years have been covered 76709674534 times (I counted) and there can't be any fan who doesn't know them backwards by now. Ashes of Joy Division, REALLY?
Well, I can kind of see your point in that journalists often do go over the same ground.
But, I'll ask you this question. How weird would it be if they didn't mention Joy Division? You know, something along the lines of 'New Order were formed by three guys and a girl from the North West of England in 1980' and leave it at that. Absolutely no mention of JD whatsoever. Like they never happened.
You'd be a bit surprised, wouldn't you? You'd also think there was a case of sloppy research having been done.
Additionally, it would hardly be a documentary about the band without some mention of JD. It would be like having a documentary about Lynyrd Skynyrd and never mentioning the plane crash.
I'm guessing that the documentary will be mainly about the MiF gigs, but you still need a point of reference for the band; some idea of their history. After all, it's not just us 'fans' who may be watching. And, even if everyone watching it is aware of JD / Ian, it's still an interesting and important part of the band's history. Something to make the viewer more invested in the documentary. Spice it up a bit, if you like...
No mention of the MiF gigs can be made without reference to the significance of the location. It's all about *how* such references are made.
I can still remember exactly where I was & who I was with when I was first told how 'this great new band I've just discovered' in 1987 had in fact been a different band until... well, you know the story.
perspexorange wrote:
Michael Monkhouse wrote:
But, I'll ask you this question. How weird would it be if they didn't mention Joy Division? You know, something along the lines of 'New Order were formed by three guys and a girl from the North West of England in 1980' and leave it at that. Absolutely no mention of JD whatsoever. Like they never happened.
Fair point. It still tickles me though - most fans have been listening since the 80s. Big scoop.
Rorschach wrote: No mention of the MiF gigs can be made without reference to the significance of the location. It's all about *how* such references are made.
I can still remember exactly where I was & who I was with when I was first told how 'this great new band I've just discovered' in 1987 had in fact been a different band until... well, you know the story.
This. Exactly. Me too.
I was discussing this recently with someone. I would say that a fair proportion of my love for the band comes from their history. Not as much as their music obviously, but it adds that additional depth.
If you compare them to any of my other favourite bands (Depeche Mode, The Chameleons, The Comsat Angels, The Smiths etc.), New Order are just 'more'.
The bands I've listed, much as I love their music, they don't really have anything else to offer. Their history is pretty much summed up along the lines of 'school friends get together, form a band, make some music, split up / founder member leaves'. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But it doesn't really make for very interesting reading / watching etc.
New Order have the whole Joy Division / Ian episode, Factory Records (and it's impact on British music and Manchester), The Haçienda (ditto), Saville's sleeves, non-promotion of themselves and their records (during the glory days) etc.
There's so much more to this band. Hence why I never get bored of reading books about them, watching interviews and documentaries on them etc.
I love Depeche (circa 1984-1993 to be specific) but, really, I can't imagine wanting to read too many books about them. They've made great music but apart from Clarke and Wilder leaving and Dave's near-death drug overdose, they're a fairly ordinary band that haven't really set the world alight in their other endeavours (i.e. outside of the actual songs recorded). Mute were great but they weren't Factory and they didn't seem to have the same sort of 'anything goes' attitude of Factory. Mute also promoted the Hell out of DM (Chegger's Plays Pop and Wogan appearances anyone?). However great Mute were, in comparison with the cavalier attitude of Factory and their crazy and wonderful ideas, they were very much like a normal record label.
I now feel kind of dirty having slagged off DM, as I'm a big fan. I do love them. They just didn't bring as much to the party as JD/NO. To use a cliched rock metaphor, New Order's amps really did go to 11.
So, I say embrace that history. It's part of what makes the band so special.
That's what winds me up! So much talk, not enough music. I am a glass half-empty kinda guy.
Rorschach wrote:
I can still remember exactly where I was & who I was with when I was first told how 'this great new band I've just discovered' in 1987 had in fact been a different band until... well, you know the story.
No I don't. I love the way that orgasming narrator on NOStory points it out like a revealation: 'aaaanoooooootttthhhherr band'. Does anyone actually like that voice? For me it was Round and Round on TOTP. The Pet Shop Boys had always gone on about them so I was already curious. Not gay.
First became aware of em when i saw them do Blue Monday on TOTP, March 1983.Thought they were bloody awful.That all changed later though.
The start of a life-long relationship... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuMKJNJoGxo In retrospect, it was mainly just hype. The quality and quantity of songs wasn't really up to it. At least it wasn't as bad as this. What was I on back then?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_DtlEVpudw
Read something about the doc will be shown this weekend at Festival no 6. 1pm til 2.10 pm on one of the days. So the doc is not much more than an hour long? Thought it’d be 1.1/2 to 2 hours but probably it’ll be 1.1/2 hours air time but 20 minutes of that will be frickin ad breaks so 70 minutes of the actual doc.
Well that's a bit disappointing. Was kind of hoping for at least 1:30 of material, maybe 2 hours.
I suppose there's a possibility that an expanded version may get released on DVD / BD, a la NewOrderStory. It would be nice to get a disc with a longer documentary + a complete MiF gig.
I am attending Festival No.6 right now. The timetable on the official app is wrong, the program should be 1:00-2:40pm. I couldn’t catch the first 50mins though, it was the first day of the fest and the logistics didn’t allow me to get there in time alas. I saw the second half of the doc, that contained the Vienna and Turin scenes — I assume the first half contained the MIF scenes. The performed numbers in the part I saw are Subculture, Your Silent Face and Decades. Lots of interviews with band members, Joe Daddell, Liam Gillick and the RNCM students who played synths, as well as some key persons surrounding the band, Peter Seville, Dave Haslam, John Savage et al. Some really interesting rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage there. A great doc (even if judging from the part I managed) never to be missed. After the screening, Stephen and Gillian (re)appeared on stage — they had also done before the screening, apparently. To the question about the collaboration with the synth ensemble , “Will you do it again?”, Gillian replied, “It’s unlikely...” The audience gave a collective sigh of disappointment, “Oh...” Gillian hastily added, “But you never know.”
The Japanese One wrote: Gillian replied, “It’s unlikely...” The audience gave a collective sigh of disappointment, “Oh...” Gillian hastily added, “But you never know.”
So eloquent. You can see she's been in the spotlight for 40 years. Anyone remember Bernard on Star Test? 'Everyone's rebels... Everyone's rebels.'
Thanks for that, Japanese One.Sounds great.Encouraging to learn it's longer than that incorrect 70 min information.
The Japanese One wrote: I am attending Festival No.6 right now. The timetable on the official app is wrong, the program should be 1:00-2:40pm. I couldn’t catch the first 50mins though, it was the first day of the fest and the logistics didn’t allow me to get there in time alas. I saw the second half of the doc, that contained the Vienna and Turin scenes — I assume the first half contained the MIF scenes. The performed numbers in the part I saw are Subculture, Your Silent Face and Decades. Lots of interviews with band members, Joe Daddell, Liam Gillick and the RNCM students who played synths, as well as some key persons surrounding the band, Peter Seville, Dave Haslam, John Savage et al. Some really interesting rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage there. A great doc (even if judging from the part I managed) never to be missed. After the screening, Stephen and Gillian (re)appeared on stage — they had also done before the screening, apparently. To the question about the collaboration with the synth ensemble , “Will you do it again?”, Gillian replied, “It’s unlikely...” The audience gave a collective sigh of disappointment, “Oh...” Gillian hastily added, “But you never know.”
This is very heartening. Can't wait to see this now.
Incidentally, I was in Portmeirion on Friday for different reasons. I'm a massive fan of The Prisoner, with it being my favourite TV show of all time (easily). I've been watching a lot of it recently and thought to myself that I'd take a trip to Portmeirion, as I hadn't been there for years. Stupidly, I completely forgot that 'Festival No. 6' was on and, when I got there, it was (obviously) closed to the general public.
A four hour drive (round trip) for nothing. The one weekend of the year when the village is closed and I happened to pick that very weekend to drive all the way there.
It's my own fault. Can't believe that after talking about it on this thread, the festival completely slipped my mind. Even more annoying was that I was even going to ring up beforehand to book a table in one of the restaurants, but decided against it. If I had of done, I'd have saved myself the wasted journey.
I'm either too old or too foolish. Probably both.
perspexorange wrote: I'm a massive fan of The Prisoner, with it being my favourite TV show of all time (easily).
Ditto. When it was broadcasted in Japan for the first time in the Spring of 1969 (one and a half year after its original airing in Britain — things took a long time in those days), The Prisoner gave a huge impact on me as a young boy, one that has lasted to this day. I had since dreamt of visiting Portmeirion, “The Village”, for a long long time. The news that New Order would play as the Sunday grand headliner of the first FN6 in 2012 was therefore an icing on the cake for me. They took the stage with The Prisoner’s theme, instead of the usual one, played for the introduction on the background. The male members wore the iconic Patrick MaGoohan/No.6 black blazer with white lines along the lapel except Gillian who was in green cape and a hat, the Villager women’s costume in the drama. And all of them pinned a badge with a number on it on their chest! For the encore, a number of “the rovers” were unleashed to the crowd, bouncing over their heads during LWTUA — a tradition that have since continued for the festival’s Sunday closing headliner every year. Definitely one of the most bizarre, quirky performances in their entire career. Sadly this year’s FN6 is announced to be the last one, the organizers find it unsustainable to run. Last night headliner Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos turned up in No.6 blazer on stage. On one occasion he uttered the word, “l need INFORMATION.” When their set was over, The Prisoner’s theme was played through the PA speakers in full blast, sending off the festival attendees back home. All of this gave me a sense of full circle completed. Hopefully “Be seeing you” again.
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own."
Nice to meet a fellow Prisoner fan. ![]()
I'm a little too young to remember it first time around (I wasn't born for another few years) but picked up it when it was re-shown later on Channel 4. I actually own the show 6 times on DVD / BD, which is a little worrying. It's one of the only TV shows / movies where I watch special features on the DVDs, such is the depth to the programme. So, if there are different features on different discs, I tend to get them. The latest '50th Anniversary' edition is rather wonderful with some cool features included.
The fact that I missed that New Order performance at Portmeirion is one of my life's major regrets. It was at a time when I wasn't frequenting any boards etc., so didn't hear about the gig until the day after. Therefore, I missed what would've been one of the seminal cultural moments of my life. The whole idea of having both my favourite band and TV show combined is incredible and I'm still very annoyed I missed it. Sounds like it was awesome too. Curse my bad luck. :-(
A similar thing happened with the Jodrell Bank gig; I found out about that after the event. New Order under a giant radio telescope - that sounds pretty great too.
Never properly watched The Prisoner in full, only a few episodes here n there when it was repeated on tv sometime in the 80s.Have never been to Portmeirion but it's something i really want to do sometime.That's a bummer Festival no 6 is no longer after this year's because it's unsustainable
I listened live to New Order's set there in 2012, 6Music had it on live on the Sunday night and New Order sounded on fire that night.Still have the recording, got it from somewhere soon after, possibly it was NotAmod who provided a link and download for it.I remember reading the report that Gillian was wearing a cape and hat for the gig and googled obsessively for images of that but only ever really found a distant , slightly blurred pic.
I did manage to get to the Jodrell Bank gig in July 2013, a memorable evening.All the visuals projected on to the telescope and, i think, Steve had created some new music that was played while some more great visuals were projected on to the telescope before New Order came back on for an encore.Still have the video from my phone of that bit where Steve's new composition was played with the stuff on the telescope.
Fotzepolitic wrote:
I did manage to get to the Jodrell Bank gig in July 2013, a memorable evening.All the visuals projected on to the telescope and, i think, Steve had created some new music that was played while some more great visuals were projected on to the telescope before New Order came back on for an encore.Still have the video from my phone of that bit where Steve's new composition was played with the stuff on the telescope.
Debaser wrote:
Fotzepolitic wrote:
I did manage to get to the Jodrell Bank gig in July 2013, a memorable evening.All the visuals projected on to the telescope and, i think, Steve had created some new music that was played while some more great visuals were projected on to the telescope before New Order came back on for an encore.Still have the video from my phone of that bit where Steve's new composition was played with the stuff on the telescope.
Yep that's it.Can no longer find the clip i recorded on my laptop but i did upload it to YouTube back in 2013.It's a minute longer than that clip you linked to.
Edit:Edited clip so it's now in landscape and re uploaded to YT, deleted original.
Fotzepolitic wrote: Never properly watched The Prisoner in full, only a few episodes here n there when it was repeated on tv sometime in the 80s.Have never been to Portmeirion but it's something i really want to do sometime.
You should definitely try and pay a visit. It's a very special place with a unique atmosphere.
My only reservation about visiting is that it kind of kills the mystique of The Prisoner as a TV series, once you've been there - Seeing McGoohan struggling to escape from The Village, when you know that 100 yards behind him is a bus stop to Porthmadog. ![]()
But, seriously, if you're anywhere near, go and see it. You won't be disappointed. It's even worth a lengthy drive - just make sure it's open beforehand. ![]()
Fotzepolitic wrote: I listened live to New Order's set there in 2012, 6Music had it on live on the Sunday night and New Order sounded on fire that night.Still have the recording, got it from somewhere soon after, possibly it was NotAmod who provided a link and download for it.I remember reading the report that Gillian was wearing a cape and hat for the gig and googled obsessively for images of that but only ever really found a distant , slightly blurred pic.
There's footage on youtube of the gig:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m12zCR0z8b0
That footage of Transmission above includes shots of 'Rover' (The Village's guardian) menacingly on the beach, along with a sound clip of 'Dem Bones', which was famously used in the highly controversial last episode of the series, 'Fall Out'.
In the clip, you can see Bernard, Tom etc. were wearing the blazers, as previously mentioned. Incidentally, I've always wanted one of those blazers. You can buy them from The Prisoner shop at Portmeirion, which is actually in No. 6's fictional house in The Village (i.e. McGoohan's character's house).
You can also clearly see Gillian wearing the cape and hat favoured by the female villagers at around the 4:08 mark. Again, incidentally, McGoohan himself does get to wear a cape once during the series - during the famous 'human chess' scene in the episode 'Checkmate' (I'm geeking out a bit here, sorry!).
Fotzepolitic wrote: I did manage to get to the Jodrell Bank gig in July 2013, a memorable evening.All the visuals projected on to the telescope and, i think, Steve had created some new music that was played while some more great visuals were projected on to the telescope before New Order came back on for an encore.Still have the video from my phone of that bit where Steve's new composition was played with the stuff on the telescope.
Those clips you both posted are great. never seen that before.
The above things have not done much to allay my fears that I missed two magnificent events. ![]()