Cuttings

Tales of Ordernary Madness NEW ORDER are an enigma. Fifteen years on from their seminal post-punk beginnings as Warsaw / Joy Division, they are still regarded by many as our finest pop group, seemingly incapable of making a less than great record. Indeed, their latest album, 'Republic', suggests they are currently making the best music of their lives. PAUL LESTER travels to Los Angeles to meet his heroes on and around the set for their infamous 'Baywatch' / 'Top Of The Pops' performance for 'Regret' and, genuinely baffled, asks: how do they do it? Son of a beach: ANDY CATLIN  WILL THEY EVER SOUND THE SAME AGAIN? THE FIRST THING BERNARD SUMNER, ETERNALLY BOYISH singer and guitarist with New Order, says as the flame-haired journalist enters LA's Sunset Marquis hotel is, "Hey, it's Mick Hucknall!" The first thing Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris, respectively New Order's keyboardist and drummer, ask me as I approach their ...

Smile! New Order had it all, then it began to slide. The drugs got out of hand; the record company disintegrated behind their backs; the album took forever to record. “It’s been like pushing a car with the handbrake on,” they tell Stuart Maconie. And now, worst of all, they’ve got to have their picture taken ... Barney Sumner slips snugly into line between his three chums. As one, they turn to face the camera. But Barney’s face bears the pained expression of the MD at the Christmas “do” forced to don the crepe hat. The flesh is willing but his heart isn’t in it. “You don’t think this all a bit Wet Wet Wet, do you?” In the cavernous, monochrome photographic studio in Ancoats, an area of Manchester that makes Warsaw appear roguish and carefree, New Order are having their picture taken. The proceedings are moving at glacial speed. They are suavely attired ... with exceptions. “This isn’t a full body shot, is it? I hope you can’t see these fucking trainers.” Barney hitc...

Out of Order! Electronic Raise The Pressure (Parlophone) OH, THE eulogies that greeted Electronic’s landmark debut in 1990. Somehow, ‘Electronic’ seemed to be exactly what the world was waiting for. Boasting New Order’s left-field synth-pop smoothness and the instantly recognisable jangle of Johnny Marr's heroic guitar, it skipped into our hearts on a roll of sharp dance beats. It was in other words, perfect pop. Perfect for a world then in the fevered grip of indie-dance crossovers. Six years on, nothing has changed - except the world. ‘Raise The Pressure' still offers plenty of perfect pop moments, but these are emphatically not of the moment. Four years in the making, ‘Raise The Pressure’ blithely strolls along from dance-pop ditty to dance-pop ditty, oblivious to the revolutions in electronic music ignited by the likes of jungle and trip-hOp. Where before, Barney Sumner's synthesised strings and simple, house-y rhythms sounded clean and bright, they now trig...

See also -  https://mycuttings.blogspot.com/2019/05/1989-07-01-nme-factory-catalogue.html

This article subsequently given its own catalogue number, FAC 227

JE NE REGRETTE IAN JOY DIVISION Unknown Pleasures / Closer / Still / Substance NEW ORDER Movement / Power, Corruption & Lies / Low-life / Brotherhood / Technique / Substance (All London/CD/Cassette) THE MAN swallows Factory's finest and coughs out the predictable array of reissued goodies, affording us the welcome opportunity to binge on New Order/Joy Division's back catalogue and wonder whether anyone's really so lax that they don’t have the lot already. Thirteen years on and ‘Unknown Pleasures’ is still not so much a record as a full-scale nuclear winter. As bleak and cold as the Ballard fantasies lan Curtis so admired, it offers no rest, no comfort, no hiding place at all, just a spine-jellying groan beset by sharklike guitars and baleful drums. ‘Day Of The Lords’ gnaws big lumps out of the soul, ‘New Dawn Fades‘ pokes the wounds with a pointy stick and ‘She’s Lost Control’ grinds with unending cruelty. The inspiration for an avalanche of existential b...

NEW ORDER are sitting in their hotel bar while a pianist begins the nightly rendition of ‘Groovy Kind Of Love’ in his familiar Richard Clayderman manner. “Let’s get out of here ,” says Barney impatiently. The rest of the band are not inclined to disagree. Even his five-month old baby appears to nod in frustrated agreement. It’s Friday evening and New Order are in Rome. They’ve been here since Sunday, shooting the video for the new single ‘Regret’ (out in two weeks). But, for most of the time they've been surplus to requirements for promo director Peter Care - the man behind most of REM’s best work. Stephen Morris, Barney Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook and manager Rob Gretton have sat in the Excelsior Hotel waiting for Care’s occasional call to stand by tourist attractions such as the Trevi Fountain or the Spanish Steps. Meanwhile, Hookie snipes at Barney, Barney oozes a cool disregard, Stephen shoots caustic sideways glances at each of them in turn, while Gillian...

THE CURE: In Between Days ( Fiction ) Three thoughts occur. One: how does he do it? How on earth does Smithy keep that face straight as he unloads these records? ‘The Top' was a schoolboyishly cruel - legs torn slowly from helpless insects - companion to the Bunnymen's contemporary and equally silly-sod-psychedelic ‘Ocean Rain', while his butter wouldn‘t melt 'Love Cats' routine was sublime, media-mocking TV. The man is a comic to be rated with Keaton. Two: if I didn't believe New Order to be as rich as Tsars, I'd advise them to grab this record and their own ‘Temptation' and ‘Power, Corruption And Lies', and to hotfoot it to the nearest court of law. The monstrous scale, nerve and cynicism of Smith's plagiarism, in a world where most claim unique creative genius (Dahling), has, oddly, to be admired. Three: either because of, or in spite of one and two, ‘In Between Days' - a sneeringly offhand debunking of all that Factory‘s finest...

SALVATION BARMY I am the most the world's most enthusiastic NEW ORDER fan and I have collected everything this divine band have thrust my way throughout the years, including live cuts, odd mixes and I-don't-know-what-else. But bloody hell! — I've just read in an Italian biography that there was a version of the 'Everything's Gone Green' single that included a song called 'Cries And Whispers'. Can this be true? Additionally, I know I've missed some songs that New Order recorded for the film Salvation . One of them, I think, is called 'Sputnik'. Can you supply any further details and perhaps tell me where I can obtain copies of these tracks?  Michael De Gier, Parma, Italy  ■ ' Tis true — those fun-loving Mancunians craftily shoved out the required single on Factory Benelux FBNL 8 in late 1981. A 12" affair, it contained 'Everything's Gone Green' (extended version), plus 'Mesh' and 'Cries And Whisper...

NEW ORDER release a new remixed version of 'True Faith', entitled 'True Faith '94'. on Monday (October 31). The single is taken from their forthcoming greatest hits album, enigmatically titled '?'. Released through London Records, on November 21 the LP features new Stephen Hague remixes of 'True Faith', 'Bizarre Love Triangle', '1963' and 'Round and Round'. The full track-listing is: 'True Faith '94', 'Bizarre Love Triangle '94', '1963', 'Regret', 'Fine Time', 'The Perfect Kiss', 'Shell Shocked', 'Thieves Like Us', Vanishing Point', 'Run (2)',  'Round And Round '94', 'World (The Price Of Love)' , 'Ruined In A Day', 'Touched By The Hand Of God', 'Blue Monday '88' and 'World In Motion'. Hague told NME: "We were really unsure about doing the remixes„ especially 'True Faith...

(Despite being titled on cover as "New Order", this is really only Peter Hook from the band) WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS ROCK GOD MARRIES THIS OLD LADY? A strange and wonderful tale of comedy, nuns, New Order and good old fashioned romance. We give you Mr and Mrs Peter Hook... story by Jon 'Derek Batey' Wilde Half an hour after interrogating top married couple Peter and Caroline Hook about the ins and outs of their rampant sex life, I'm safely ensconced in my hotel room attempting to locate the Swedish pom channel on the goggle-box, when the telephone rings. Someone purporting to be a loaded employee is on the line, eager to find out how the interview had gone. It all sounds innocent enough. How was Caroline? Friendly enough but a touch on the tentative side. A bit dull? Not dull exactly. But inclined to keep her cards too close to her ample chest. Did I find her attractive? Well, put it this way, I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating Chocol...