Pop Elektron May 1984 - Interview & Thieves Like Us

Just thought I'd post a link to this here. I've never seen it in quite as good a quality as this. Plus, even better, it's complete. All other copies I've seen miss out the first few sentences / words.

Pretty good interview and performance. Also, a very weird setting; almost as if the band were interviewed in a café, but it's obviously a studio.

Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know the exact date of transmission for this programme? No one seems to know if it was 25/05/84 or 28/05/84.

Being the NO trainspotter that I am, I've managed to find some Belgian TV listings for the two days and can confirm that 'Pop Elektron' was shown on both dates. I'm wondering if the 28/05/84 (a Monday) programme was a repeat of the 25/05/84 (Friday) programme. This would explain the date confusion.

Wonderful performance of Thieves. Never heard this played live in person, but all the recordings of it sound brilliant, especially Top Of The Pops. Wish they'd reintroduce it to their live sets.

Yeah that is a very good quality version of the interview and performance. Seems it was uploaded to YouTube just in the last couple of days. I do have the interview and performance already but maybe not as superior quality as that. Can’t recall if the version I have had start of interview missing.

I’d say this performance of Thieves is slightly better than the one on TOTP, though they’re both good. The one on TOTP has Hooky’s bass maybe a tad too loud. The Pop Elektron performance has Hooky just about perfect in the mix. Synths and drum machine sound great, Barney on good form with his vocal.

I’d never seen this clip until a few years ago, which was also the case with that German tv one where they’re performing on the side of a lorry, never knew that one existed until some years back, was completely unaware of it.

Mr Discography wrote: Wish they'd reintroduce it to their live sets.

You and me both. This song and 'Everything's Gone Green' are my two top picks for tracks to be revisited live.

Fotzepolitic wrote: Yeah that is a very good quality version of the interview and performance. Seems it was uploaded to YouTube just in the last couple of days.

Yep. I noticed it about an hour after upload. According to the uploader, he has the whole programme on original tape, so was able to splice the complete New Order appearance. This also explains why the quality is so good; no 'copy of a copy of a copy etc.'

Fotzepolitic wrote: I’d never seen this clip until a few years ago, which was also the case with that German tv one where they’re performing on the side of a lorry, never knew that one existed until some years back, was completely unaware of it.

This is one of the many great things about the internet. I didn't know about this one or the 'Musik Convoy' appearance you mentioned above until a few years ago. I remember reading about the 'DJ' version back in the day (think it was mentioned in either the Johnson book or the Edge book) but, again, I didn't get to see until ten years or so ago. Again, thanks to the internet.

I would love a decent quality version of the 'DJ' appearance. It's sad / surprising that one hasn't emerged in this digital age.

The performance on 'Musik Convoy' quality is pretty decent. As I'm also a Depeche Mode fan, I was excited to see that they appeared on the same episode as New Order, doing 'People Are People'. Then, when watching it, was pretty disappointed that they mimed. This looked decidedly second-rate in comparison to NO's performance. Shame as DM were always a great live band.

Was kind of hoping that all four 'live in studio' versions of 'Thieves Like Us' would be included on the PC&L boxset (TOTP, DJ, Musik Convoy and Pop Elektron), but we only appear to be getting the first one. Still, I can make do with the versions on the internet, and what we are getting on the box is more than worth the trade-off.

perspexorange wrote:

I would love a decent quality version of the 'DJ' appearance. It's sad / surprising that one hasn't emerged in this digital age.

Was kind of hoping that all four 'live in studio' versions of 'Thieves Like Us' would be included on the PC&L boxset (TOTP, DJ, Musik Convoy and Pop Elektron), but we only appear to be getting the first one. Still, I can make do with the versions on the internet, and what we are getting on the box is more than worth the trade-off.

We did try for DJ, unfortunately it is 'unlicensable' (is that a word?). It's a long story involving most of the TVS archives. The short version is that the masters are lost and/or undocumented in a warehouse somewhere, and the ownership of it all is not exactly clear.

perspexorange wrote: I remember reading about the 'DJ' version back in the day (think it was mentioned in either the Johnson book or the Edge book) but, again, I didn't get to see until ten years or so ago.

What is the DJ version? Donald Johnson playing with them? Link?

That’s a bit disappointing as it probably means that we’ll not get to see a high quality version anytime soon. Unless someone else manages to rip a better version from an old video tape.

I’ve probably said this before, but I ripped all of my New Order videos a couple of years ago. Some of the tapes had degraded quite badly, so I’m glad that I got around to ripping them sooner rather than later.

It was pretty easy to do, once you buy a (cheap) gadget.

So folks, please hunt through your tapes and digitise anything you can before things are lost forever.

Who knows, you might find something lurking on a tape that’s not already on the internet. (I’m still desperate to see the ‘Villa Tempo’ footage from the mid-80s which had Barney, Hooky and Rob playing in a charity football match).

50poundnote wrote:

perspexorange wrote: I remember reading about the 'DJ' version back in the day (think it was mentioned in either the Johnson book or the Edge book) but, again, I didn't get to see until ten years or so ago.

What is the DJ version? Donald Johnson playing with them? Link?

The band appeared on a TV programme called ‘DJ’ in 1984 to promote TLU. The programme, hosted by David ‘Kid’ Jensen (hence the DJ name) was short-lived and was only broadcast in the TVS (Southampton / Bristol) ITV region.

So, it’s fairly rare. For years, there was only a b&w one on the internet, but a colour one did appear at some point:

perspexorange wrote: The band appeared on a TV programme called ‘DJ’ in 1984 to promote TLU.

Thanks!

Mr Discography wrote: Wonderful performance of Thieves. Never heard this played live in person, but all the recordings of it sound brilliant, especially Top Of The Pops. Wish they'd reintroduce it to their live sets.

I've been hoping for them to re-introduce this track into their setlist for ages.

However, after reading this 2015 a few days ago, it seems unlikely:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/new-orders-gill/

Are there any songs that never make the New Order setlist that you really wish would?

Yeah, there always are. We tried doing “Thieves Like Us” because I really like that one, but it’s the key that’s the killer really. Bernard has a lot of singing to do, and in the old days it was no problem to go from one octave to the next. He doesn’t really do that now. I know it sounds a bit restrained. I’d love to revisit Movement. At the time it was kind of put on the shelf but I think it sounds quite good nowadays. “Procession” I’ve always liked. We’re trying to drag a few more out [laughs].

It's amazing they found room on retro for anal wise and world but no thieves like us.