Cuttings

THE 20 BEST MANCHESTER ALBUMS 1 JOY DIVISION CLOSER Factory (1980) IAN Curtis was beset by health, psychological and personal problems when Joy Division entered Britannia Row studios to record Closer in March, 1980. Their second tour de force was far removed from its predecessor: side two particularly revealed a new, breathtaking, almost supernatural, symphonic music. Painfully honest and unflinchingly emotional, Closer was Joy Division's triumph and Ian Curtis’ personal testament. By the time of its release, he’d committed suicide.  (Un?)intentional parting message to bandmates:  " You take my place in the showdown. I'll observe with a pitiful eye ” (“ Heart And Soul ”)  Highest UK chart position: 6 3 JOY DIVISION UNKNOWN PLEASURES Factory (1979) FOR...

Before I embark on the next stage of this blog, namely posts on concerts I attended with relevant clips, etc, I've taken the opportunity to update the following posts with better quality scans: New Order 1982 Feature Mist 1983 07 23 NME Feature 1983 07 The Face Feature 1984 06 Zigzag Feature 1984 08 23 Radio Times  1985 05 17 Powerhouse Melbourne 1985 11 16 NME Feature 1986 04 12 Sounds Feature 1986 09 06 Sounds Feature 1986 10 04 Melody Maker 1986 10 18 NME Feature 1986 10 Mix Feature 1986 11 The Face Feature 1986 Record Mirror Feature 1987 12 19 NME Feature 1987 12 19 Wembley Arena NME 1988 07 Sky Feature 1988 12 03 Melody Maker 1989 01 07 NME 1989 01 28 "Technique" NME Review 1989 01 28 NME Feature 1989 02 04 NME Feature 1989 04 01 Sounds Feature 1989 07 01 NME Cover Referring to FAC 227 1990 05 NME England Poster 1990 08 04 NME Hacienda 1992 01 Vox Tony Wilson 1993 05 08 Melody Maker 1993 05 Q Feature 1993 05 Q "Republic" Revie...

WE WERE ONLY BEING BORING ELECTRONIC  GLASGOW BARROWLANDS WHAT IS more important - music or love? Ask the couple who wander into the Celtic FC-obsessed pub before the gig. She’s wearing the Smiths shirt. He’s got the New Order one. Is this a cultural coupling of titanic proportions, or just a marriage of convenience? The jury has left the building. So the crowd screams a screechy scream every time Barney Albrecht indulges in a spot of ravey wiggling. So the crowd crows further when Johnny Marr gives out nonchalant homeboy-style flicks of the wrist. So the boy looked at Johnny, and then at Barney, and then at their four knob-twiddling mates and wondered, well, are the Gods taking the piss, or what? The kids want Electronic. Wide-eyed with wonder and desperate to dance, they need Electronic to plug the vacuum the Mozzer, Revenge, The Other Two and the bloke in the Buzzcocks have all failed to fill, In spite of the occasional thrill. The fact that The Smiths have as much to do with El...

GETTING AWAY WITH IT When Manchester rock titans BERNARD SUMNER and JOHNNY MARR formed Electronic in 1990, they were determined that their new band would live up to the glories of New Order and The Smith, even if it killed them. Which it very nearly did. By Stephen Dalton AS LIVE DEBUTS GO, THIS IS TURNING OUT to be legendary. A legendary fuck-up, that is. When the call came through five months ago. Electronic thought it would be a good idea to unveil their gleaming rock-disco roadshow in front of 60,000 hyped up Depeche Mode fans at LA's enormous Dodgers stadium. They only had three or four tunes ready but. what the hell, the two shows were five months away. But now that August has rolled around, they still haw only seven or eight numbers at a push. And most of them don't even have names. More importantly, by this point Bernard Sumner barely remembers his own name. He has filled the dressing- room shower basin to the brim with fresh puke before hanging a hand-made sign a...