'these crazy words of mine'
ok neworder's,
just killing some time before i get to the postings...
and now onto the much maligned single by new order..its puzzling how much love/hate this song evokes from many fans...
i'll have to admit, its hard to get 'into' this song..
the cryptic lyrics, the unconventional vocal inflections (or lack of)....and the especially damaging (to some) remixes that may have damaged 'new orders' entire appeal, and irrevocably sunk them down to the levels of sub-disco wannabe's thanks to john robies over-produced work on it....
but all is not as bad as it may seem...
some thoughts on the various incarnations..
1 - the album version 4:54 Sub-culture
...my original favorite...very evocative musically, and completely off-key singing..a rather annoyed/bored/lazy sounding take on the song...i don't know why, but i really liked it this way....very raw, and almost like a 'rough take' on it..
2 the original edits - 3:24 Sub-culture (edit) 3:34 Dub-vulture (edit)
don't know, still waiting on them.. (should be very soon now)..i take it that they will be similar to the full versions but shortened..
3 - 12" mixes 7:26 Sub-culture 7:57 Dub-vulture or subvulture 4:57 Sub-culture (remix edit) or 'substance' version
ok, this might be the point that new order officially sunk their previous attitude and appeal..
first of all, there was no real cover art...just some typography by peter saville, which in some ways could be construed as extreme minimalism (since the cover was black)...actually, the US and UK versions have different typography also..
..or, as reported in other accounts, he didn't like the mixes, so he didn't create cover art for them..
i'll have to admit it, but i actually liked the john robie mixes at first, they were upbeat, they transformed the song, and they had some really cool effects, like stutter-edits, yeah, back in 1985 it was new..
however, i grew tired of them quickly, (and even more tired when 'substance' came out with the edit)....
they deteriorated into the worst kind of over-produced disco, i'd heard in quite some time...(ok, at least the dub-vulture version had some rather ominous industrial sounding static at the end)... but those horrid back-up singers.. (night! tight!)......
uggghhhhh..what had become of them?
is this really new order? gone were the vocals, the guitars, everything...
to me, this really started the bad trend of the many, many, horrible remixes that would come out later for new order..
it also set a very bad precedent for the band... especially coming out after their penultimate relase of 'the perfect kiss'...
and ultimately for me, was a death blow for what direction i felt they were going with their mixes..
dj mixes
7:10 Sub-culture (exclusive remix) or a faded
version from the 1st razormaid mix..
(descriptions from another poster).. ?:?? 1st Subculture mix (1985): sort of similar to the Lowlife version, but with new synth breakdowns and some interesting effects.
(i'm not sure what the time for the full version is)
but yes, this is a decent version, building on the same synth parts, with a new beat.. not too bad overall...
8:30 2nd Subculture mix (1986): for this mix they brought in Debora Iyall of Romeo Void to do some additional vocals
similar to the first razormaid mix, but bringing in the new vocals destroys this, much like the john robie mixes...
7:18? 2nd subculture mix variant (????): this mix is a weird mish-mash of the excellent 3rd mix, along with vocals from some other guy at the end, and then the new female vocals after that... i have no idea where this came from, but its not recommended...
6:55 3rd Subculture mix (1990): a completely new mix that sounds absolutely nothing like the Lowlife mix or the Substance mix. A sparse mix made up of a bass line, a synth line, minimal percussion, and Bernard's vocals.
it took 5 years for this too come out, but HOLY COW, this is by far, one of the coolest, and best mixes of the song, EVER.. in fact it surpasses the album version...the vocals are slightly tweaked (not too much)...the instruments are very similar to the original, but more rhythmic, and there are some new vocal effects (whistling? 1 2 3 4...and some beats from 'blue monday' referred to in a very interesting way)..
search high and low and find this mix....it may just change your mind about 'sub-culture', i know it did for me..
later
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'you won't even notice that you are alone'
