Cuttings

WHICH MEMBER OF NEW ORDER LOVES BALLROOM DANCING? Come again? Alright, do any of New Order listen to George Hamilton IV? Have any of them ever heard 'Walk On The Wild Side'? And what is it about Steven's cardigan? You thought New Order were deadly serious - oh brother, are you in for a surprise Story: Stuart Bailie Photography: Joe Shutter Why don't we just kick off with the obvious here, and find out why New Order have called their fourth, and latest, album 'Brotherhood'. Peter Hook obliges with the explanation. "Recently, all of us have been through a little bit of adversity in one way or another. But the thing was, we decided to stick together with Factory and with the Hacienda, and everything. So we thought it was quite a nice idea - what 'Brotherhood' represented. Actually staying together. Which is what we've done, against all odds really. "Nearly all of us, including the road crew and everyone we've been associated with...

PRINCESS OF WAILS BJORK Debut (One Little Indian/All formats) LET'S ADMIT it, the Sugarcubes resided in a border town south of Obscure and just north of Wacky. They juddered and lurched like difficult children, throwing toys against walls, scratching non-existent itches. They were the Euro B-52's. But there was, above everything, that voice, an alien screech that coughed up puffin feathers, cracked, screeched and soared like nothing you'd heard before. Five years on and 'Birthday' still sounds ridiculously stark and extraordinary because of it. But, then, as you found yourself consumed by its strange beauty, in walked Einar The Irritant barking a bizarre psycho-babble rap, bringing even the most goo-goo eyed back down to earth with an ugly bump. It should, therefore, come as some relief to find Bjork left to journey alone without the ideas of a group cluttering up the landscape.  The surprise, though, is that she has fashioned an album as elaborate, u...

DRIVNG AMBITION New Order have a new album, Republic, and a new record company, though their confidence was dented by Factory's crash. But as Hooky says, 'We're still on our feet'. So what forces them on? By Steve Malins Photos by BARRY MARSDEN Designer Ben Kelly may have dreamt of a chic, industrial-styled watering hole for Manchester's drinkers. But the reality of the Dry Bar is less enticing. "It has the atmosphere of a bus station", states New Order's Stephen Morris, who's invested a lot of money in the place over the years. "You wouldn't believe how much it cost to achieve that effect. And because of this ridiculous design concept the beer pumps lose about a gallon of the stuff every time they're used. They look nice but they're chucking money away.” As Morris pulls out a £10 note for another round of drinks, a bear-like, slightly grizzled Peter Hook stares in disbelief. "You haven't been paying, have you?...

THE FACS OF LIFE With the new Factory Records compilation, Palatine , providing a lavish retrospective, Martin Townsend speaks to ANTHONY WILSON and NEW ORDER about the label's enduring (if erratic) success Factory Records' chairman Tony Wilson has an enthusiast's obsession with minute detail. Mention OMD, for instance, and he can take you to the exact bend in the road, just outside Manchester. where his wife first played him the band's demo cassette. As with most enthusiasts, however. 41-year-old Wilson lets his heart rule his head - the history of Factory Records is a bizarre and often shambolic catalogue of triumphs and misadventures. The new four-record retrospective, Palatine (named after the road in which the label's first HQ was located), fails to tell even half the story. " Palatine , interestingly, is not a history," says Wilson, lounging in the company's enormous loft-cum-board-room in central Manchester, It's four very good al...

Blood Simple New Order Low-Life THE contradictions, the confusions, the confessions continue. "Low-Life" is New Order really, it's as deliberately basic as that. Those one-string sentimentalisms still stir the senses, those explosive dynamics still jolt complacency, that disco blast still sounds cheap and mechanical and yet thumps home, those lyrics still sting like a slap and sometimes embarrass. It’s all so minimal, it's mountainous. Somehow, through a process of brutal attrition, New Order have established a cleaving purity. And remember all that Nazi business? Well, it’s not over yet, it's not that inappropriate. "Low-Life" functions with fascist intensity, shepherding the sympathies, every note honed for maximum impact. There's nothing on this record that isn't essential to its purpose and there's really no escaping its traumatic effect. It uplifts, it begins to live a life of its own beyond calculation and maintains the Ne...

Marching Order NEW ORDER will be playing their only live UK date of 1988 at Manchester G-Mex on December 17. Support for the gig will be provided by recent A&M signings A Certain Ratio and Factory labelmates Happy Mondays . The Hacienda's Mike Pickering will be guest DJ for the evening and tickets are £8.50. The gig will follow the release of the band's 'Fine Time' single which comes out on November 21 - as revealed in NME two weeks ago. 'Fine Time' is backed with 'Don't Do It', with the 12 inch including an extra track, 'Fine Line'. An album, titled 'Technique', will be released in January, following the group's short tour of Brazil and Argentina. The band will also be providing theme and incidental music for a new television series, Making Out which starts an eight-week run on BBC1 on January 6. The first four episodes of the programme were directed by Chris Bernard, who was director of Letter to Brezhnev an...

REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE WITH THE RELEASE OF NEW ORDER'S NEW SINGLE, 'FINETIME', BERNARD ALBRECHT BREAKS HIS TWO-YEAR SILENCE AND TALKS TO JONH WILDE ABOUT THE GROUP'S PAST MISTAKES, PRESENT HAPPINESS, THE SINGER'S FUTURE COLLABORATION WITH JOHNNY MARR, AND WHAT SETS THE MOST GLORIOUS POP BAND OF THE EIGHTIES A WORLD APART FROM THEIR CHART RIVALS. PORTRAITS BY ANDY CATLIN "THIS SOUNDS REALLY F'***ING PRETENTIOUS... BUT I DON'T REALLY BELIEVE THE MUSIC WE write comes from us. I think it comes from the people who listen to it. We are like a mirror. They are like mirrors. "This could sound mad, right... but I think the music we write comes from psychic immanations from the people who listen to it." I'm laughing. Bernard is not laughing. "Oh yeah. For instance, if I start writing a song, my mind will go completely blank. From nothing, I'll get an impression in my head. I believe that comes from our fans. Really. I st...

THE PERFECT BEAT Once an underground myth, New Order now have loads of children and play at fashion shows in front of Andrew and Fergie. Story by Barry Walters Black ties and soap opera hairstyles are crowding out the Stock Exchange in Los Angeles - long hair, bleached hair, blow-dried hair, teased hair, Joan Collins hairstyles all turn in unison as a line of models trot down a makeshift runway. Amid the hairspray, the Duke and Duchess of York give their undivided Royal attention. After a few outfits, the models take a break and, as part of the British/Los Angeles fashion exchange, New Order step up to provide the evening’s musical entertainment. The hairstyles turn to watch the group and for a while don’t know what to do. New Order open with True Faith . Singer Bernard Sumner comes on in a shoulder-padded suit. Drummer Steven Morris and his girlfriend - guitarist/keyboard player Gillian Gilbert - are similarly dressed. Peter Hook is completely different. He’s wearing motorcy...