Cuttings

PRESSURE FLOP! ELECTRONIC Raise The Pressure [Parlophone/All formats] THE MOST disappointing facet of the entire Euro '96 footie malarkey — apart from the rampant xenophobia displayed by our ever-hospitable tabloids — was the manner in which the supposedly classier sides, rather than providing us with jaw-dropping entertainment, simply cancelled each other out. Holland against France was a priceless example, as some of the continent's best players were so familiar with the opposition's style and technique they struggled to inspire themselves, let alone any possible audience. Enter Electronic, enter Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr and enter a world of potentially wibbling wonderment, wherein the man from The Smiths and the bloke from New Order huddle together once more within the basement of barminess to indulge in a spot of electrified alchemy. And slide me down the banisters on one of Mrs Miggins' finest Spam flans if 'indulge' isn't the key word ...

BLUE FAITH Over 200 weeks in the top 200, more than 800,000 12 inch single sales, five years in the chart...  And now New Order's 'Blue Monday' is back - 1988 style.  At the recent San Remo pop festival, Francesco Adolphi met Barney Sumner and Peter Hook who reveal 'we're not hip'  Bernard Albrecht and Peter Hook are sitting in the bar of one of San Remo's trendiest hotels. New Order embracing the rock 'n' roll carnival that is the San Remo pop festival? Surely not. Perhaps they've realised that San Remo is the only way to reach 20 million Italian viewers ... "The reason we are here," Peter Hook announces forcefully, "is that we as a band have never done play-back and when we were asked to play San Remo, we said that we wanted to play live. They said no, so we answered 'well, we won't do it!'. "But our record company implored us to play and we thought, 'well, we've never done p...

BACK IN the 1970s Barney and Hooky (schoolmates) used to go from Salford into Manchester on a Friday night to a club called Pips. Pips had about four discos going on at once which, at different times, reflected the changing trends of the decade: soul, funk, punk and ska. Johnny Marr could be found getting down to Roxy Music and there was a big chart room where everybody could be happy (and where, as ever, all the boys could fight). Barney and Hookey would wander round all night because they didn't go for the music, they say. “It was just a search to find people to talk to, as most of them wouldn't," Barney remembers. "Maybe I've got no personal magnetism," he adds. I want my heroes to be captivating, unique and enigmatic and when they're not, their appeal is harder to fathom. Perhaps New Order are more like folk-heroes; ordinary Joes doing a showbiz job and doing it successfully. Everybody says Barney and Hooky are good lads, and no one feels t...

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...