Mapping The Definitive Editions - Low-life

Woah. Thanks for that, P & D. Interesting to hear the differences from the album version.

Yep. Great to hear those bits of guitars without vocals over the top. Plus a couple of extra bits.

A full two minutes longer than the LP. Fab indeed.

perspexorange wrote:

A full two minutes longer than the LP. Fab indeed.

Sounds like they did a couple of runs through the instrumental album version, playing about with the volume levels of various parts, then edited the best bits together, as there's parts of the track you hear more than once (like the four snare drum hits at the start of the track, and Barney's fast strumming in the middle of the song, both of which you hear twice in this version).

Mr Discography wrote:

perspexorange wrote:

A full two minutes longer than the LP. Fab indeed.

Sounds like they did a couple of runs through the instrumental album version, playing about with the volume levels of various parts, then edited the best bits together, as there's parts of the track you hear more than once (like the four snare drum hits at the start of the track, and Barney's fast strumming in the middle of the song, both of which you hear twice in this version).

....and technically, it's not an instrumental.

Andy wrote:

Mr Discography wrote:

perspexorange wrote:

A full two minutes longer than the LP. Fab indeed.

Sounds like they did a couple of runs through the instrumental album version, playing about with the volume levels of various parts, then edited the best bits together, as there's parts of the track you hear more than once (like the four snare drum hits at the start of the track, and Barney's fast strumming in the middle of the song, both of which you hear twice in this version).

....and technically, it's not an instrumental.

Well - there are no word/lyrics being sung, beyond the doo-doo-doo backing vocals, but yeah I see your point :)

Weird that they did such a long edit. Like someone might need to do a 6 minute TV montage of something

Love it though!

Andy wrote: [ ....and technically, it's not an instrumental.

Neither is 'Thieves Like Us Instrumental 'in that case.

Mr Discography wrote:

Andy wrote: [ ....and technically, it's not an instrumental.

Neither is 'Thieves Like Us Instrumental 'in that case.

Advantage, Mr D !

Mr Discography wrote: Nice.

Sounds like the instrumental dub version that might have appeared on a 12" B-side had 'Love Vigilantes' ever been released as a single...

"Dub Vigilantes"?

i like it, its an excellent song,

and this instrumental would make a good start for an extended version, to add the vocals back into..

hmmmmm........

====== update a very quick and dirty attempt to add some lyrics back.

the instrumental is 6 bpm faster than the album version, so the vocals sound sped up.

later -1

GotBlueEyes wrote:

Just checked and my Movement box cost £89.22 and PCL cost £90.93

As part of this year's Black Friday sale, both the Movement and PC&L box sets were on sale in the US New Order store for $67.49 each (£56.24 by today's exchange rate) through yesterday (28 November) with free shipping. Buying BOTH boxes together was still $15 cheaper than the US pre-order price for the Low-Life box. So, if you want to save some coin, just stream the Low-life box for 10 months and then order it when Black Friday 2023 comes around! 😎

-Mike

[TWITTER]1599826184589611008[/TWITTER]

My as well post this while we're here (two tracks)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c8U6HNd18E

Another quick promo video for the Low Life def box.

Rorschach wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c8U6HNd18E

Another quick promo video for the Low Life def box.

Just noticed this myself.

Hooky mentions that the sleeve was sealed in tracing paper and you had to rip the sleeve open. He mentioned this back in one of his Jack chats a coup,e of years ago. Don’t think that’s correct is it? Unless the first prints were like that? I think the sleeve was just a wraparound, wasn’t it? No damage required?

Also, it might just be me, but there’s something weird in the way Gillian is sitting that makes her arms look really short. Anyone else think this?

I bought Low Life the week it came out and it was just a normal LP. I think HMV shrinkwrapped their albums but think Hook is as usual misremembering things. No wonder after all that went on.

tapebias wrote: I bought Low Life the week it came out and it was just a normal LP. I think HMV shrinkwrapped their albums but think Hook is as usual misremembering things. No wonder after all that went on.

You didn't get the tracing paper outer sleeve? Like in the images here, which make the outer images of Steve and Gillian less clear than the inner sleeve images of Hook and Sumner? No track listing for you on the back? No "Order New" titling on the front?

Hooky thinks the tracing paper had to be ripped open? Utter drivel

Debaser wrote:

tapebias wrote: I bought Low Life the week it came out and it was just a normal LP. I think HMV shrinkwrapped their albums but think Hook is as usual misremembering things. No wonder after all that went on.

You didn't get the tracing paper outer sleeve? Like in the images here, which make the outer images of Steve and Gillian less clear than the inner sleeve images of Hook and Sumner? No track listing for you on the back? No "Order New" titling on the front?

Yes it had all the above but didn't have to be ripped open. Should have said tracing paper sleeve.

Thanks all for confirming my suspicions, i.e. that it was a tracing paper sleeve, but didn't have to be defaced to get to the record.

It's quite possible his memory is being influenced by Factory's sandpaper sleeve for the return of the Durutti Column album.

"A very Factory thing to do..."

Well I'm not swearing to this, so please don't all "rip into" me (pun intended). But...

I may or may not have a memory of the tracing paper being joined inside the sleeve opening, with perforations. So you had to stick a ruler (or equivalent) in there to separate the front from the back.

Anyone got their original Factory vinyl to hand so they can check the neatness of the tracing paper inside the sleeve?

Debaser wrote: I may or may not have a memory of the tracing paper being joined inside the sleeve opening, with perforations. So you had to stick a ruler (or equivalent) in there to separate the front from the back.

No. Hook's memory is faulty here (as usual). The tracing paper was never joined or perforated. It folds neatly inside the cover and the photo credits are printed on the flap tucked into the back. I'm amazed they'd let a (former) band member state an incorrect fact like that in the video, unless the thinking is "don't correct him, leave it in there to make him look silly."

***deleted due to incorrect quotes in my post, which I couldn't change due to being marked as SPAM***

50poundnote wrote: I'm amazed they'd let a (former) band member state an incorrect fact like that in the video, unless the thinking is "don't correct him, leave it in there to make him look silly."

Well, I doubt that any of the other three have even seen Hooky's contribution to pull him up on it.

It seems likely that the producers made the error, and I think it probably is a mistake rather than something deliberate. It's probably that the person creating the video, or interviewing Hooky, didn't know he was wrong. After all, the people behind the video possibly have never owned or seen the original vinyl LP (possibly too young, given that it's almost 40 years ago).

I mean, look at me, I'm as much of a super-fan as you're likely to find, and even I was a bit sketchy on the fine details of this release (I knew it was tracing paper, but doubted the 'ripping' part).

(Incidentally, I have never owned a vinyl copy of the LP. I had the standard cassette first, then the linen box variant, then the original Factory CD and finally the Rhino collectors CD when that was released years later).

Big review in the new issue of Uncut magazine (Neil Young on the cover...dated February 2023 already!). Stephen & Hooky interviewed, and review mentions one of the early rough instrumental jams on the extras disc is an early version of Bizarre Love Triangle

aysie wrote: Big review in the new issue of Uncut magazine (Neil Young on the cover...dated February 2023 already!). Stephen & Hooky interviewed, and review mentions one of the early rough instrumental jams on the extras disc is an early version of Bizarre Love Triangle

Thanks. Will look out for that issue in town tomorrow. Bit odd they didn't save a BLT demo til the Brotherhood box

I think it's an early jam from the Low-life sessions, though. The review says: "Most surprising, though, and demonstrating how prolific they were, might be “Untitled 1”, a discarded writing session workout that sounds very much like it is about to become “Bizarre Love Triangle”, key track to New Order’s next LP, 1986’s Brotherhood."

There’s a couple of tracks available on Spotify.

Love Vigilantes (TV pitch instrumental edit) and The Perfect Kiss (Writing Session Recording).

Mr Discography wrote:

Andy wrote: [ ....and technically, it's not an instrumental.

Neither is 'Thieves Like Us Instrumental 'in that case.

I see this post every time I load this page of the thread

I think an important distinction to make regarding the vocals on "Love Vigilantes TV Pitch Instrumental" is that they're a melodic element to the song. Barney's voice on "Thieves Like Us
Instrumental" is more like a voice sample. I would consider "Murder" an instrumental, for instance, even though it contains voices.

Andy wrote:

Mr Discography wrote:

Andy wrote: [ ....and technically, it's not an instrumental.

Neither is 'Thieves Like Us Instrumental 'in that case.

I see this post every time I load this page of the thread

I think an important distinction to make regarding the vocals on "Love Vigilantes TV Pitch Instrumental" is that they're a melodic element to the song. Barney's voice on "Thieves Like Us
Instrumental" is more like a voice sample. I would consider "Murder" an instrumental, for instance, even though it contains voices.

Do you mean the "Come in" part by Bernard on start of TLU instrumental? If so, yeah i'd agree. But i assumed Mr Discography was referring to the , admittedly slightly low in the mix , " Ooh ooh ooh-ooh/ Ooh ooh ooh-ooh" at around 5.35 to 5.45 ish on the 12" instrumental.

Fotz wrote:

Andy wrote:

Mr Discography wrote:

Andy wrote: [ ....and technically, it's not an instrumental.

Neither is 'Thieves Like Us Instrumental 'in that case.

I see this post every time I load this page of the thread

I think an important distinction to make regarding the vocals on "Love Vigilantes TV Pitch Instrumental" is that they're a melodic element to the song. Barney's voice on "Thieves Like Us
Instrumental" is more like a voice sample. I would consider "Murder" an instrumental, for instance, even though it contains voices.

Do you mean the "Come in" part by Bernard on start of TLU instrumental? If so, yeah i'd agree. But i assumed Mr Discography was referring to the , admittedly slightly low in the mix , " Ooh ooh ooh-ooh/ Ooh ooh ooh-ooh" at around 5.35 to 5.45 ish on the 12" instrumental.

Yeah, the "Come in". I forgot about the "Oohs". Definitely not an instrumental! The same goes for "Turning Point' by Electronic.