Andy Robinson - TOT

Hi folks, I'm new to this site so forgive me if this isn't the right forum or has come up before (I can't seem to find a 'search' function if there is one).

As you may know, Andy Robinson is now one half of New Order's management. Before this he was was in a Factory band called Life, and was part of a production/remix team called Primetime who did some remixes for SubSub on Rob Gretton's label. In between he also worked as a programmer/keyboard tech for New Order, and during this time he released a record under the name TOT.

Way back in 1989, I was listening to John Peel's show one night when he played a rather good (and familiar sounding) housey number that I was immediately struck with, so much so that I taped the track. In his introduction, he mentioned it was called 'What U R', and was by TOT, who he said was one of New Order's studio engineers (I originally thought it was Michael Johnson). I had already been a New Order collector for a few years by this point, so I set out to try and find the single in the local indie and dance shops over the the following weeks to no avail.

I had no luck at 2nd-hand shops, collector's fairs or even specialist online shops for 16 years, and in the last few years I had found out more about who TOT was, and the connection to New Order, which made finding a copy of the record more important to me. To cut a long and boring story slightly shorter, last week I finally found a copy in a small online 2nd hand record shop, purely by chance (as a result of a google search!).

The record arrived today, and as well as still being a cool dance track, it's a good document of how inter-related the people in Manchester/Factory/Hacienda scene were (and still are) Firstly, it was released in 1989, and the label says it was recorded at Real World Studios. I think is was recorded during the 'Technique' sessions, maybe even using some of New Order's gear (It sounds very like the more clubby moments of that album, especially Round and Round/Fine Time/MTO, and I'm sure I can even hear some of Stephen's drum sounds in there).

The links carry on in who did the remixes. There is a Pickering & Park Nude mix, an NYC Dub Mix by Mark Kamins (who did some remix/production work for Quando Quango), and the Rhythm Mix by Andy Robinson and Dave Rofe (ex-ACR drum roadie, Hac DJ and now manager of Doves).

Even though it's not a side project directly related to New Order, I thought it would be interesting to bring it up here. Has anyone mentioned it before?

Thanks for the welcome, guys! Unfortunately, I'm not that Andy Poole - I'm just a long-time fan of New Order/Factory who lives at the wrong end of the M62:)

There is a link to an MP3 of the 'Original Mix' below (many thanks to Max at feeleverybeat.co.uk for the webspace ), so give it a bit of the 'right click and save target as' - it's not the best one of the four (that would be the Rhythm mix IMHO) but it's the one that sounds the most New Order-ey. Sorry about the quality, but the record is well-used and could do with a good clean, and it's quite a low bitrate to keep the file small.

TOT - What U R (Original mix)

If you manage to ask Mssrs. Robinson or Rofe about this, I would be very interested in finding out what they remember. When Graeme Park had a show on what used to be our local dance station I tried to get in touch to ask him about it, but got nowhere. Years ago I also tried to find the details of the record company in the Music Master catalogues to try and find out more information but that came up a blank too - I guess they were too small to get registered?

Brilliant!

Welcome to the site!

thx!

love it- could be a b-side to a technique release... it reminds me of the good days... may be a pre-cursor to round and round???

TOT??? The Other Two???

What an INTERESTING track.brings back a lot of good memories aswell of those days.I have nor heard this track before though so it well worth a listen.And welcome to the site ANDY.A very good post too. Rocket Mick

Cheers guys! I used to be an occasional poster on the New Order usenet group until about 5 years ago, mostly technical observations about things like Biff & Memphis using a sample of the EIII choir pad from The Beach on their TBTHOG remix..... :)

I've found out a bit more background on the label. Its on Dun For Money Records, which was run by Dave Rofe, and latterly financed by Rob Gretton (by paying Dave £40 a week when his small business grant ran out!). Rob would then ask Dave to put the occasional record out for him, of which this was one. The vocals apparently are by Debbie Anne Turner.

The name thing hadn't struck me before - the label definitely credits Andrew Robinson published by Copyright Control though, so maybe it was a little in-joke of his? Steve & Gillian didn't start using that name until later on though, and they were still doing soundtracks at that time as New Order, like Making Out for BBC1 (instrumental versions of a few Technique tracks, plus The Happy One).

They had all been out to Ibiza getting off their faces and going to the clubs where the acid house was kicking off (I was just reading the Mojo article where Hooky tells the tale of him and Andy Robinson doing the sound for a Sham 69 gig on the beach). There were a lot of studio bods putting dance tracks out anonymously at that time, so I think that in a bit of downtime at Real World while the band were away/in a strop/hung over he thought he would have a go himself!

The release date I have for it puts it just after Round & Round, but I think they probably were recorded at the same time, in the same studio and possibly with the same gear? It was the similarity to Round & Round that I was playing to death at the time what caused me to take notice. Maybe we can find out more via some of the more connected posters round here?

If I'm not mistaken - Andy Robinson also did some djing at the Hacienda on Friday nights in the mid 90s

I can clear this up for you. TOT was a late 80s Manchester girl band - or a duo, to be exact - starring Debbie Turner on vocals and Carol Morley on various instruments. Debbie and Carol were well-known Hacienda regulars and got to know New Order and Andy Robinson, who was at the time chief engineer for New Order. New Order were asked if they could lend TOT some keyboards and drum machines to record a track, as they only had a crap beatbox and two guitars. New Order, being the nice guys they are, let them into their studio and Andy Robinson, being the nice guy that he is, helped produce it. (If the truth be known, he wrote most of the track). DFM eventually released it with the remixes. Although TOT produced their own badly-recorded cassettes and flogged them round Manchester, the track in question was their only proper vinyl release. New Order never spoke to the TOT duo afterwards, as they wrecked the flat they were renting out in London and were involved in some very bad alchohol-related shennanigans. Carol Morley is now a film maker and some of the outrageous behaviour that shocked the previously unshockable New Order is detailed in a DVD film called 'The Alchohol Years'. It may be available on the net somewhere.

welcome and thanks. reminds me quite a bit of MTO, except that it is better.