New Order - North London Poly 22 January 1982

NME - CRIES AND WHISPERS

New Order
North London Polytechnic

NEW ORDER at the London Poly was sold out before it was announced: by Christmas most outlets were starting to turn people away. The straggle of fans desperately searching for touts outside the hall
demonstrated how popular New Order have become. It would be easy to put their popularity down to the legacy of an inherited legend, but they've not so easily dismissable.

That they have something valuable to offer in their own right was evident a long time ago from a Peel session recorded early last year, which sounded a lot more confident than their live appearance at the time. When they played Heaven in February, they were nervous and unformed, a condition catalysed by the heavy cloud of anticipation hanging over everyone, and the obvious scrutiny with which they were observed and assessed.

At Walthamstow in early autumn, they sounded old and tired, almost jaded before they'd fully begun.  Maybe they were disillusioned by the guarantee of fame hallmarked on their shoulders.

Now, gradually, New Order are finding their direction and becoming more immune to external pressure. There's still an aura of ghostliness about them, but this is more due to the unusually beautiful nature of their music than to the simulated fragility they tend to be associated with.

Inevitably, they lack the passion bought to Joy Division by Ian Curtis' searching and identifying vocals, but their mood is such that vocal subversion would be out of place. They explore new dimensions with conventional instruments, touching both melancholy and potency.

This new discipline shows a certain growth . . once they would just drift and float, but now they're almost equally able to retain taut, rigid patterns of movement. Only once, when the sound faltered, did they lapse into an incoherent jumble - at other times the fusion of instruments ventured on the sublime. Gillian's keyboards hinted and lifted, shades of 'Decades' and 'Atmosphere' glimpsed from behind, producing the preface to their future where 'Atmosphere' could be an epilogue to their past.

Comparisons will always be made between New Order and Joy Division. One similarity is clear: both produce(d) a feeling ultimately involving, and although it would be infinitely easier to watch from the wings, it’s almost impossible to remain dissociated.

Leyla Sanai