Recycle: Joy Division & New Order - The Factory Years

More fan-made boxes

2011-06-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded two more examples of fan-made Recycle boxes to my Flickr stream. Check out how Mark M. and Pete R. crafted theirs, starting here.

Joy Division LP Sleeves

2011-06-19T10:08:00.001-07:00

As I did earlier with the sleeves for New Order's Factory albums 1981-1989, I've put together an artwork bundle of the 4 albums Joy Division released on Factory 1979-1988. You may grab it here.

Still is a web-sourced image which is just a few pixels smaller than the 600x600 iTunes/iPad standard, but I think you'll understand why I chose it once you see it.

Saville On Saville

2011-05-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice piece from The Guardian where Peter Saville talks a bit about his Joy Division and New Order sleeves.

Joy Division Rehearsal Tapes - Lossless

2011-05-18T06:41:00.001-07:00

Over at The Power Of Independent Trucking, Mr. Analog Loyalist has made the Joy Division rehearsal tapes available in a lossless format.

Mr. Loyalist is who originally mastered this material at the band's request, and provided Rhino with the material used for the Record Store Day 12". He's now sharing more of the material than was posted here.

Artwork from here on out...

2011-05-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

Those of you who download the RSD 12" immediately below this entry may be surprised to find it doesn't include any DIY artwork (i.e. jewel case insert, slipcase, CD label). From this point forward the only artwork that will be included is the front of the sleeve - and possibly the back if it's something of interest.

Entries here and over at Extra Track are always delayed by me, because the artwork takes a lot of time. I wanted to take that degree of care when restoring the original Factory singles, because Saville was an integral part of the whole presentation, but it was such a time-consuming process that two years later I still haven't even assembled my own slipcases. It's really just a tremendous headache with very little payoff, so I'm not doing it anymore (once the current run of Smiths singles is finished).

The purpose of Recycle was to create a box set for the original Factory singles, and we've done that. Anything else is just a bonus. :)

In this day and age, 90% or more of you will be listening to these song via your computer, or iPod/iPad, or whatever portable device you use, so you really don't need any more than the cover image for your digital library anyway. I'll continue to provide high-resolution scans taken from the sleeves, and having just tackled the LP/EP sleeves from '81-'89, I'll also be posting the sleeves from Joy Division's four proper albums released on Factory between '79 and '88.

As always, you can follow the artwork progress here.

Recycle: Record Store Day - Ceremony 30th Anniversary Edition

2011-05-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

*NOTE* Due to a complaint of copyright violation the file has been removed

New Order/Joy Division

Ceremony - 30th Anniversary Edition/Record Store Day

Rhino Records UK

16 April 2011

Tracklisting:

New Order
1. Ceremony (1st Version)
2. In A Lonely Place (1st Mix)

Joy Division
3. Ceremony (Rehearsal)
4. In A Lonely Place (RSD 12" Take, Stereo)
5. In A Lonely Place (Heart And Soul Full Take, Stereo)

Sourced from:
1: FAC 33 Italian 45 RPM 12" single
2: FAC 33 45 RPM UK 12" single (green sleeve, 2nd version of Ceremony on A-side)
3-5: Low (1st?) generation copy of 1/4" rehearsal recording reel

Notes from the restorer:

Despite being spread out over the entire side of a 12" single, the Italian pressing of the original New Order recording has loads of compression on it. I suspect this was applied at the mastering stage but I don't know.

Tracks 1 and 2 were transcribed at 33 RPM, de-clicked, and then pitch-shifted to 45 RPM in the digital domain at which point the remaining processing was done (20Hz highpass filter, convert from stereo to mid/side, noise reduction on side channel only, convert back to stereo, EQ and just a touch of limiting).

Tracks 3-5, for the purposes of this post, magically landed in the restorer's lap courtesy of some kind and generous space aliens. It is alleged they were taken from a possibly 1st generation cassette dub from the rehearsal room 1/4" reel master, but this is only supposition. A fair amount of work was needed to goose the recordings into quality listening material; mainly EQ and, surprisingly, mid/side decoding due to the supplied source coming to us mid/side encoded (engineer technobabble, those with further interest are suggested to Google it). A touch of gentle noise reduction, tasteful limiting, and done.

As archivists dispatched to preserve the Joy Division and New Order single release legacy, the ultra-limited 2011 Record Store Day 12" featuring the original New Order "Ceremony" and "In A Lonely Place" recordings, and on the flip the Joy Division rehearsal recordings of the same, could not be ignored.

We've already discussed the original FAC33 here, and have used these same files for the A-side of this re-factored FAC33. The only difference between the 2011 Rhino FAC33 and the original Factory FAC33 green-sleeved 12" (the *very* original that is, with the September 1980 recordings) is that Rhino used the mix of "In A Lonely Place" which featured on the re-released cream-sleeve FAC33 12" and, later, on Substance - not Martin Hannett's original less-thunderclappy mix originally released in early 1981. We've preserved the original mix here, as it was originally released at the same time as this version of "Ceremony".

On the other hand, the Joy Division half is quite a new one. 1997's Heart And Soul box set featured two never-released rehearsal recordings (supposedly found on a tape by Peter Hook, whilst rummaging behind his couch or some similar story), those of "Ceremony" and an edited "In A Lonely Place". "Ceremony" is complete, but "In A Lonely Place" - as all serious fans know - abruptly ends at roughly 2:30, or shortly before Ian Curtis would begin singing the third verse. Allegedly this is the only version that existed on Hooky's tape, so it was what got used.

Leaping forward 14 years, new sources were located for both Joy Division tracks, essentially from a rehearsal room recording reel-to-reel tape. "Ceremony" from the reel was the same take as on the box set, but in a bit higher fidelity. Also on the reel was more than one take of "In A Lonely Place" - the full, unedited version of the take used on the box set (which was the last one on the reel, sequentially, and therefore surmised to be the last one they recorded), and the take - the last-but-one on the reel - used by Rhino on this year's Record Store Day 12".

It was discovered that - roughly speaking - the versions on the reel had been (technoweenie talk ahead) "futzed with" by (presumably) the survivors, trying to pull out Ian's lyrics for their own versions of the songs. The box set featured the futzed-with "Ceremony", and a collapsed-to-mono "In A Lonely Place". Without getting too detailed, "Ceremony" on the box set is a modified, compromised stereo that's not true, while on the RSD 12" it has been restored to real, as captured by rehearsal room microphones, stereo. Similarly, "In A Lonely Place" is also full-stereo on the reel, and presented in true stereo on the 12". Fans will be glad to know that were it not for other fans, these restored versions would not have been used on the 12".

This last single in phase one of Recycle is a good one: the Joy Division recordings are not captured from vinyl, but are the exact sources given to the label for the 12" release (compressed for Recycle, that is - the label was not provided with lossy AAC/MP3 masters!). We've auditioned the actual 12" and determined that the mastering is very faithful to the source given to the label. That said, multiple keen listeners have discovered a mastering flaw - on multiple copies of the 12" - beginning towards the latter third of the Joy Division "In A Lonely Place", whereby it gets a bit distorted in places. The version here, doesn't.

Factory LPs and EPs 1981-1989: Artwork

2011-05-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Zip File

Several people have asked if we'll be giving the Recycle treatment to the the studio LPs released between 1981-1989. We've decided against it for the time-being, because the albums are all in print (or in the case of 1981-1982 and Substance can be recreated with the work previously posted here), and once Warners/London/Rhino got the 2-disc remasters sorted out the sound is actually not that bad.

We would be sourcing from the Factory CDs manufactured between 1986-1992, so if you have those already, consider them the Recycle masters. The one exception is Low-Life, which had some questionable pre-emphasis added at the mastering stage. At some point we may decide to transcribe the Low-Life vinyl, but that's not on the horizon.

I've carefully scanned the sleeves of the LPs/EPs released between '81 and '89, and bundled them together so you can tag the albums in your own digital library. The one new addition is a variation on the Substance sleeve, seen above. I put together my own 2-disc version which encapsulates the Factory singles nicely.

01. Ceremony (second version)
02. Procession
03. Everything's Gone Green (12" version)
04. Temptation (12" version)
05. Blue Monday
06. Confusion
07. Thieves Like Us
08. Murder
09. The Perfect Kiss (12" version)
10. Sub-Culture (12" remix)
11. Shellshock (12" remix)
12. State Of The Nation (12"version)
13. Bizarre Love Triangle (12" remix)
14. True Faith (12" version)
15. Touched By The Hand Of God (7" version)
16. Blue Monday 1988 (12" version)
17. Fine Time (12" version)
18. Round & Round (12" version)
19. Run 2 (7" version)
20. World In Motion (7" version)

Mediafire

2010-12-16T06:13:00.001-08:00

I frequently get comments that links are broken or someone is having trouble downloading or decompressing a file. I can assure you that all the links work just fine and all the files are there. Sometimes Mediafire is overloaded with requests and will hiccup, but the problem is usually on your end.

If you're having trouble downloading you need to:

1. Clear your browser cache.

2. Restart your computer.

3. Wait.

In some cases you might be able grab everything at once with no problem. In other cases you might have to wait a day and then retry certain files, clearing your cache every time. I would avoid trying to download during peak business hours in the US - 8am EST - 5pm PST.

I know it's not the most graceful system, but it allows me to track the number of downloads per file, plus it's free. If I was hosting the files on my own server I'd soon be overloaded with requests and have to start paying my host for going over my monthly limit of downloads.

The Smiffs

2010-10-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hey kids,

How's life? Mine is busy. In two weeks I head off to New Zealand and Australia for some DJ gigs, followed by one in Los Angeles over Thanksgiving weekend.

I just wanted to poke my head out and remind you that we're far from finished here. After the holidays I'm going to keep my schedule wide open until Coachella. I plan on working normal 40-hour weeks and spending my evenings and weekends at home, so I can finally focus on some fun projects like this blog.

There's still a lot to come: expanded listening bundles for each of the five Factory albums, Substance live, some previously uncirculated soundboard recordings, and sometime down the road there'll be Recycle part 3 covering the London years.

In the meantime, you might want to keep an eye on Extra Track for a makeover of The Smiths' complete singles, from the same production crew that's been at work here. They'll start going up sometime in the next 48 hours...

JD Recycle 8: Atmosphere (1988)

2010-07-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Zip File (45.7 MB)

Atmosphere (1988)
Factory Records Fac 213
June 1988

Tracklisting:

01 Atmosphere (Live)
02 Digital (Live)
03 Transmission (Live)
04 Love Will Tear Us Apart (Live)
05 She's Lost Control (Live)
06 Transmission (Live)

1-5 Recorded live at Paradiso, Amsterdam, 11 January 1980. Recorded by Omroepvereniging VARA for broadcast on Dutch public radio.
6 Recorded live at The Factory, Hulme, Manchester, 13 July 1979

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

And so we finally come to an end.

Out of nowhere came 1988's FAC213, released as the lead-in to Substance. As Factory had little left in the vaults to release (that they knew of), they padded Atmosphere - the easy choice for the single - with lesser-known studio recordings and a then-unreleased live take on Transmission from The Factory, Hulme 13 July 1979.

To avoid excessive reduplication we decided to take an alternate path ourselves, the plan being an EP with live takes on all the Factory A-sides. And that is what we have for you.

Friends of the program have recently obtained complete copies of the 11 January 1980 Paradiso, Amsterdam gig *directly from Dutch radio* - in stellar, pristine, unbelievable uncirculated quality. We took a subset of this gig and chose to use it here. Subsequently professionally mastered to sound like a continuous performance, these tracks are the pinnacle of live Joy Division in terms of sonics: you won't find any better than this. These collective 5 tracks can be released tomorrow, just as we have them here, and sell millions.

And so as to not leave out the one unique track from the original 1988 FACD213 release, we close out the proceedings with Transmission from the 13 July 1979 Factory, Hulme, Manchester gig. A different mastering from the original 1988 CD, this is a cleanup of the source used to seed the 2007 Unknown Pleasures bonus disc (the entire 13 July 1979 gig). It is better than the 2007 release, and loads better than the 1997 Heart and Soul CD4 version as well.

www.50poundnote.com

2010-06-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

I know, I know..."WHERE IS ATMOSPHERE '88??"

Well, look at it this way: 7 years elapsed between She's Lost Control and Atmosphere '88. 3 months is nothing. ;)

I wanted to let you all know that I've completely relaunched my website. What's probably going to interest you the most are 3 New Order mixes I recorded in '06-'07 that were posted to neworderonline. Of course that predates the work in this blog, so you'll hear some pops and cracks in the tracks taken from vinyl.

New Order Vol. 1 – The 50 Pound Note Mix
New Order Vol. 2 – The 50 Pound Note Mix
New Order Vol. 3 – The 50 Pound Note Mix

In my 20+ years as a DJ I have to say, one my favorite mixes I've ever done is the transition from Waiting For The Sirens’ Call (Planet Funk Remix) to Hurt in Vol. 2. I've got both tracks playing in tandem for over 60 seconds, in the same key, without the assistance of any kind of software program - it's all done by hand. I was proud of that one.

Tower Box

2010-05-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

If you scroll down the page a couple of entries you'll see some Recycle package designs submitted by a couple of readers. Well, check these out:

WOW!

This design was done by Chris, who made the previous box. Here's what he had to say:

"i saw that you have placed photos of my box i made from christmas-time, and i'm emailing to say thanks.

BUT, you should know that shortly after talking with you last, i loaned my box to my sister. long story short: box got stolen.

SO, i've been spending these past months rebuilding it all over again: cutting sleeves, printing cd labels [this time, however, i used the cd labels you provided], and so forth. i pretty much scrapped my whole box design, even the book, on this second build.

the first box was a real pain in the ass to make, so started looking for alternatives. i have become somewhat of an origami nut, and i came across a particular design that i thought was perfect for these new order singles. i'm sending you photos of my new box design.

it is called a tower box. there is a cap, a base, and a middle section. the best part of this design is that there can be as many middle sections as i want. the scale of the shell is at the right height to get 10 sleeves easily in. this box took 25 sheets of 7.5" paper, all folded, no glue or tape. the only cutting i did was cutting down some cardstock to 7.5", which when folded, gave me a 5" shell, perfect for the sleeves. i used left over cardstock from the first build for the new design [cause that's all i had at the time], but if i find some really cool paper, i'll probably make another. surprisingly, the box is incredibly stable - before making this one, i made a demo version out of cheapo printer paper, and even that was more than sturdy to support these selves. all in all, it took me a few hours to make it [if i had a paper cutter, it would've been maybe an hour].

anyhoo, thanks for everything.

chris"

You can download PDF instructions for this design here.

I'm really amazed by the response this project has gotten, and I'd like to see more photos from those of you who've assembled your own set. You can e-mail them to 50poundnote at gmail dot com.

30 years...

2010-05-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Rest in peace, Ian.

I wonder what you'd think of your band. Would you love New Order's music? Would you marvel at the technology and realize it's OK to let your troubles go for a while and lose yourself on the dancefloor? Would the 53-year old you have moved to America, gained 50 pounds, and grown a big beard? Would you have retreated from the public eye in 1981 and be running a small bookshop in Holland? Would you be the person Bono became because your band was bigger than U2?

Assembly

2010-05-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

I promise the last Joy Division single is coming. To be quite honest, both myself and Mr. Analog Loyalist are suffering a little burnout. While the work we're doing is both rewarding and necessary, spending so much time on one project/band has dampened my enthusiasm. I haven't even assembled my own CDs of the New Order singles yet, which brings me to today's entry.

My OCD doesn't like interrupting the sequence of singles, but I had to share these. A couple of readers have sent photos of their finished singles sets:

Fedge is storing his in mini poly sleeves just like LPs.

Chris took this several steps further and I'm just really impressed. The fluorescent green and orange of the box are the colors of the inner sleeves for Round & Round/Round & Remix. Alongside the artwork for each single the book uses stock photos similar to the artwork used for Republic and it's singles. Bizarre Love Triangle and Touched By The Hand Of God have been tweaked to be gatefold sleeves like the their 7" and CD singles respectively, and he used a unifying titling/color scheme across the CDs instead of the labels I made, which are kinda haphazard since they're based on the labels from the vinyl singles.

What I'd always envisioned in my head was using a prefab plastic CD flip file to store the singles (plastic=recycle). I was going to print and mount Saville's original Recycle "waste painting" to the top, and craft a booklet to go inside, but I'd like to open this up to all of you. Have you put together your own set yet? Do you have any ideas for housing the package? Please share your ideas and photos with us.

Update-y

2010-04-30T18:06:00.001-07:00

Obviously I didn't get to see Bad Loo at Coachella. No Delphic or Cribs (Johnny Marr), either. The festival was otherwise wonderful - I never thought I'd get to see Public Image Limited live. Devo, Little Boots, Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, Aeroplane, and Gorillaz were other highlights for me.

I've got three DJ gigs in the next eight days - one of them in another state. Work on Recycle continues, however. Just to recap what's coming up:

- Atmosphere '88 reconceptualized as a live EP

- Substance documentaries produced by Radio 1 in 1988 covering both bands

- Substance live - recorded front-to-back in Irvine, September 1987

- "Factory Extras" discs covering non-album/single material 1980-1990

Bad Loo

2010-04-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hey kids,

I'd hoped to get Atmosphere '88 online this week but I'm heading for Indio bright and early in the morning to attend Coachella (where I'll get to see Bad Lieutenant). I'll return next week.

Woo!

Anarchy In The UK

2010-04-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

RIP Malcolm McLaren.

JD Recycle 7: She's Lost Control

2010-04-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Zip File (63 MB)

She's Lost Control
Factory Records US Facus 2
Produced by Martin Hannett
August 1980

Tracklisting:

01 She's Lost Control (12" Version)
02 Atmosphere
03 Twenty Four Hours (Live from the High Hall, Birmingham 2 May 1980)
04 She's Lost Control (Full Mix)
05 These Days (Live from the Lyceum, London 29 February 1980)
06 Sister Ray (Live from the Moonlight Club, London 2 April 1980)

1, 2 from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
3 from Factory Records LP Still FACT 40, original 1981 pressing
4 from Factory Records CD Martin Factory FACD325
5 a blend of a previously unreleased soundboard recording and Duncan Haysom's audience master recording
6 a blend of the Still version (same as 1-2) and a low-generation audience recording

Thanks to Mr. Anonymous for his unparalleled talents in creating the matrix mixes for tracks 5 and 6, without whom...

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

This was the most fun of all the Joy Division Recycle bundles to put together, and it's my favorite to listen to as well.

Since I know you're all reading the tracklist, I want to immediately step in to head off any further sourcing questions. First, no, we don't have the Birmingham recording of Twenty Four Hours in any other source than the original vinyl. Second, These Days is the only track we have - that is usable in any fashion - from the previously-unknown soundboard recording. Third, we do not have any idea if other soundboard tracks exist anywhere for the Moonlight gig from which Sister Ray was taken.

There is no further information known or that can be divulged about the soundboard source for the Lyceum track.

Onward.

Perhaps only the late Tony Wilson knows why Factory asked the band, already at Strawberry Studios, Stockport in March 1980 to re-record Love Will Tear Us Apart, to also record a new version of their already-a-classic She's Lost Control. The story goes that it was intended to launch the band in the US dance clubs, and while we'll never know if it would have worked due to intervening events, it did give the world a new, fresh interpretation of the track. And the story also goes that Martin Hannett used this track to audition some new production techniques he'd been working on.

Two distinct variants (due either to perversity or poor master reel labeling, nobody knows for certain) eventually were issued. The original, what we are calling the 12" Version, is what was released August 1980 in the US and one month later in the UK as FACUS2. The alternate Full Mix - and it's definitely a different mix, more in a moment - first appeared on UK copies of 1988's Substance, while US copies retained the earlier 12" Version. The Full Mix also appeared on 1991's Martin compilation, issued by Factory to memorialize the late Martin Hannett, which is where I sourced the version presented here. 1997's Heart And Soul featured the Full MIx as well, though several other compilation or soundtrack records post-1997 featured the earlier version.

They are definitely different mixes: the 12" Version is more claustrophobic and dense than the Full Mix, it has a longer keyboard/synth part (essentially, it comes in earlier in the mix), and the entire track fades out prematurely. The Full Mix has a different mix of acoustic/electric guitars, as well as some of the underlying electronic sounds/effects.

Finally, all known releases up to now of the 12" Version suffered from tape dropouts during the first 0:20 of the song. These have all now been repaired.

Twenty Four Hours was taken from a mint 1981 UK pressing of the Still LP (though not from the Hessian bound version). Professionally cleaned up and mastered for this release, you will not find a better sounding version unless you're sitting on the soundboard 1/4" master reel. It's a shame this track hasn't been restored and released officially, because it's as good a performance as you'll find of this song, and in this "get it all out" day and age there have been plenty of opportunities for Warners to do so.

These Days from the Lyceum, London 29 February 1980 is from a never-before-heard soundboard recording, artfully blended with Duncan Haysom's audience master recording of the same gig. We commissioned the "matrix" mix because the soundboard recording was too sterile, lacking of any energy or emotion, or depth. It's as raw a soundboard recording as you will ever find for this band, and it, in and of itself, was not appropriate for release. Believe us when we say the version here is leaps and bounds better, in all ways, than the raw soundboard version.

Sister Ray from the Moonlight Club, West Hampstead, London 2 April 1980 was blended with a low-generation audience recording of the same gig, for the same reasons as These Days. It betters, in all ways, the version found on Still.

As a side note, in the mastering of this package it was discovered that (as you've probably by now come to expect) both versions of She's Lost Control were mastered at the incorrect pitch. This time it's a bit flat (slow), so watch The Power Of Independent Trucking for the repitched variants.

I really didn't know about New Order's previous incarnation as Joy Division until Substance was released in 1988 - now I suddenly had an entirely new catalog to explore. I picked up an import copy of the cassette because I never went anywhere without my Walkman and I liked that the artwork was different to the US version - the printing was richer, and the typography was laid out differently. Actually, I can put it down to one tiny element that I preferred - I was a graphic design student at University at the time, and I loved that the barcode was centered on the spine of the UK cassette. That was a design detail I would borrow for years after when I was designing packages for local bands. Anyway, the cassette was my portable version, but I also bought the US edition of the CD to listen to at home. Years later it finally occurred to me that I'd been listening to two different mixes of She's Lost Control, but at the time it was more of a sub-subconscious thing, like "doesn't this song fade at the end?" I could never quite put a finger on it, but I must have started to associate that odd sensation with the song in general because it made a lasting impression. It's just about my favorite Joy Division song - but only this re-recording. I don't actually like the version on Unknown Pleasures (heresy! LOL).

Numbers

2010-03-31T22:53:00.000-07:00

She's Lost Control will be posted tomorrow. Here are the Recycle stats to date (beginning 4 August 2009):

1. Ceremony - 2969 (downloads)

2. Touched By The Hand Of God - 2616

3. The Perfect Kiss - 2488

4. Temptation - 2472

5. Everything's Gone Green - 2427

6. Blue Monday - 2403

7. Shellshock - 2382

8. Bizarre Love Triangle - 2374

9. Subculture - 2319

10. Procession - 2295

11. Confusion - 2291

12. Thieves Like Us - 2222

13. True Faith - 2208

14. Murder - 2071

15. State Of The Nation - 2057

16. World In Motion - 2045

17. Blue Monday '88 - 1943

18. Run 2 - 1919

19. Round & Round - 1902

20. Fine Time - 1842 (aww, really? I love that single!)

21. An Ideal For Living - 1649

22. Transmission - 1593

23. A Factory Sample - 1482

24. Licht Und Blindheit - 1390

25. Love Will Tear Us Apart - 1343

26. Komakino - 1166

JD Recycle 6: Komakino

2010-03-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

Zip File (24 MB)

Joy Division
Komakino
Factory Records Fac 28
Produced by Martin Hannett
April 1980

Tracklisting:

01 Komakino
02 Incubation
03 As You Said

1, 2 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
3 sourced from London Records CD box set Heart And Soul 828 968-2

Thanks again to Craigie for scanning assistance.

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

A record you could simply get free by walking into a record shop and asking for it. Granted it was a shoddy flexidisc, but free? In those pre-filesharing days, legally this was something.

And the first track is among the band's best ever. A very oppressive, dense, kinetic track that by all rights should have been on Closer. Bernard lets it rip a bit towards the end (feedback rather prominent in the mix), and Ian's lyric is amongst his most emotive and prophetic. "As the questions arise and the answers don't fit into my way of things", indeed. The next obvious step would be to say, well, what next? And we all know what came next.

Incubation comes off as more of a disposable guitar workout, with Ian's hyper strumming throughout - I wonder why Ian never saw fit to match a lyric to the tune, as the tune itself is kind of unique.

As You Said, a track that could be as much a Hannett composition as a Curtis/Hook/Morris/Sumner one for all the crazy effects on the track, was taken from the box set because that's the only digital version not sourced from scratchy flexi plastic. The box set compilers actually were able to source the 1/4" master tape and use it for the box, so it made sense to grab the track from there.

Minor EQ and volume adjustments only.

To me, As You Said is a clear "eff off" to the deniers who say Joy Division would never have gotten into all that synthy disco bullshit. The signs were there. I'd never heard the track until sometime in the early 90's when I managed to acquire a copy of the flexidisc, but I recognized it right away because it was beautifully sampled by Meat Beat Manifesto and used as the rhythm bed to Hello Teenage America on their 1990 album 99%. MBM is another of the bands I've followed obsessively (see also: Nitzer Ebb, The Cure, Depeche Mode).

JD Recycle 5: Love Will Tear Us Apart

2010-03-10T05:21:00.000-08:00

Zip File (49 MB)

Joy Division
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Factory Records Fac 23
Produced by Martin Hannett
April 1980

Tracklisting:

01 Love Will Tear Us Apart
02 These Days
03 Love Will Tear Us Apart (Pennine/alternate version)
04 The Sound Of Music
05 Love Will Tear Us Apart (1995 Don Gehman Radio Mix)
06 Love Will Tear Us Apart (1995 Arthur Baker Remix)

1, 2 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
3 sourced from 1988 Factory Records CD single Atmosphere Facd213
4 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Still COCY-9331
5, 6 sourced from 1995 London/PolyGram Canada CD single Love Will Tear Us Apart 422 850 129-2

Thanks to Josef, Ken, Craigie, and Dave for sleuthing and scanning assistance.

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

Ask any random stranger on the street to name a Joy Division track, and if they actually come up with an answer, it's usually this single.

Not much I need to add, though for punters who think the jaunty music is the band's signature style based on this song alone, obviously they've not done enough digging into the catalog. An utterly incongruous match between such jolly, Radio 1-esque music and one of Ian's bleaker lyrical contributions - perhaps that's why it works so well?

Track 1 was largely recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport in February/March 1980 with the vocals tightened up during the March 1980 Closer sessions at London's Britannia Row Studios. Ian famously modeled his vocals after Frank Sinatra, per Tony Wilson's suggestion. Tracks 2, 3 and 4 were recorded in January 1980 at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham, and because the band never agreed on the quality of this original LWTUA interpretation, re-recorded it as per Track 1.

Track 2 was recently discovered to be not pitched correctly, so please keep an eye on The Power Of Independent Trucking for a repitched variant (giving it much more of a sonorous depth than the too-fast common version).

Tracks 5 and 6, largely disposable, came about during the first wave of JD renaissance retro fashion in 1995, upon the release of Debbie Curtis' "Touching From A Distance" and the first London-era JD compilation, the useless Permanent. Neither interpretation strengthens the song though Gehman (known for his work with John Cougar Mellencamp and R.E.M.) does bring up the acoustic elements a bit (too much?), and Baker's effort does give the track a bit of a dance feel.

Minor EQ and volume adjustments only.

I actually like Arthur Baker's remix a lot, and will occasionally close out one of my DJ sets with it. Another remix which was commissioned (but rejected) at the time is by Trouser Enthusiasts (Ian Masterson). I find it laughably inappropriate, but if you want to hear it, download this (192 kbps MP3, 10MB).

Dead Souls

2010-02-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

One thing I forgot to mention.

When listening back to the AAC file of Dead Souls I noticed some distortion in Bernard's guitar line at those points where he goes up high on the neck (first time at :49). I thought it may have been the conversion process, or that the FLAC file had a mastering flaw. I asked our friend who is doing the mastering and he pointed out that it's always been there.

Sure enough, I went back to my Factory LP copies of Still and Substance, along with all the subsequent CD issues. It would appear that Martin Hannett recorded the guitar a little too hot, and it's part of the master recording. I'd never noticed before.

That's how good these remasters sound. ;)

JD Recycle 4: Licht Und Blindheit

2010-02-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Zip File (60 MB)

Joy Division
Licht Und Blindheit
Sordide Sentimental SS33002
Produced by Martin Hannett
March 1980

Tracklisting:

01 Atmosphere
02 Dead Souls
03 Ice Age (pitch corrected)
04 Dead Souls (pitch corrected)

1 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
2-4 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Still COCY-9331

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

And then we have the blink-and-you'll-miss-it Sordide Sentimental limited edition 7".

Which, of course, contained two of the most beautiful Joy Division tracks committed to tape. Any record company not named Factory would never have let Atmosphere - or Dead Souls, for that matter- be released first by a bloke in France in such a bizarre package.

Only being 8 years old at the time this was recorded (in October 1979) and released the following spring, I can't imagine the impact this single had to listeners just getting used to the Transmission 7" or the Peel tracks broadcast in December 1979. Atmosphere is probably the most desolate, inspiring, ugly and beautiful track the band has ever recorded and released. Bernard says this was the best job Martin Hannett ever did with a Joy Division recording and I wholeheartedly agree - it's just one giant spot of awe. And apparently, according to an interview given to Paul Morley for the 2007 Closer reissue liner notes, there's confusion to this day as to whether Martin, or Cargo Studios owner John Brierly, is ultimately responsible for the sound, as both were involved in the production.

Dead Souls was Rob Gretton's favorite JD track and its propulsive musical element, with the bitter, intelligent and forlorn nature of the lyrics, can be seen as a capsule of the band in its entirety. They indeed keep on calling me.

When the 2007 expanded reissues were being put together, it was discovered that Ice Age - recorded at the same October 1979 Cargo Studios session as Atmosphere and Dead Souls, but not released until 1981 on the catch-all Still - was released from the word go at the incorrect speed. Apparently, when Martin recorded Ian's vocal lines for Atmosphere (and presumably Dead Souls and Ice Age), in order for Ian to sing in a more appropriate range for his voice the musical bed was sped up (what Ian would hear in his headphones, and sing along to). So Ian would sing at this increased pitch and tempo, in a more comfortable range for him. When Atmosphere was mastered for release, it was brought back down to a more appropriate speed and pitch - which is what we have today.

However, when Dead Souls and Ice Age were mastered for release - remember, they were recorded at the same session and presumably mixed down at the sped-up tempo to the same master reel of 1/4" tape as Atmosphere - apparently the "downpitching" applied to Atmosphere, as described above, was not also done so for the other two tracks. Therefore, Dead Souls and Ice Age have always been released at the incorrect, too-fast, speed and pitch. This has been corrected for Dead Souls and Ice Age, to pitch-accurate concert pitch, for this special release. It's amazing how much more power both songs gain just from a speed and pitch adjustment, just compare #2 and #4 here. Ian sounds much less helium-inflected, and the tracks just get back that sonorous "oomph" that previously seemed oddly lacking.

JD Recycle 3: Transmission

2010-02-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

Zip File (43 MB)

Transmission
Factory Records FAC 13/FAC 13.12
Produced by Martin Hannett
Atrocity Exhibition (Piccadilly Radio Sessions) produced by Stuart James
October 1979/December 1980

Tracklisting:

01 Transmission
02 Novelty
03 Transmission (Central Sound Rough Mix)
04 Novelty (Central Sound Rough Mix)
05 Atrocity Exhibition (Piccadilly Radio Sessions)

1, 2 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
3, 4 sourced from a recently-surfaced extremely low generation "rough mix" tape, from an unnamed band associate or member
5 sourced from the private collection of a longtime fan and associate of the band

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

Only a band on Factory would release the lead single AFTER the album.

The first true kickass JD track, Transmission and its sibling Novelty were recorded twice by Martin Hannett. The first attempt is captured on tracks 3 and 4, here in never-before-heard quality. These were recorded in July 1979 at Manchester's Central Sound Studios, and as the title implies, are presented here as "rough mix" versions. As far as we know these are the only versions that ever made it out from the masters. Two other tracks recorded at the same session, Dead Souls and Something Must Break, are on the Heart And Soul box set - though in lesser fidelity.

Having decided to give the single tracks another go, the band re-recorded Transmission / Novelty with Hannett at old home Strawberry Studios, Stockport in late July/early August 1979. Far better than the Central Sound versions, these tracks - Transmission in particular - showcase the driving, rocky postpunk side of the band far more than the debut LP did (bar Shadowplay).

Track 5 was recorded on 3 June 1979 at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham for Piccadilly Radio, produced by Stuart James. It is unknown if this session was ever actually broadcast. Four other tracks from this session (These Days / Candidate / The Only Mistake / Chance (Atmosphere)) were released on the Heart And Soul box set, but this track was held off. Available on noisy bootleg releases, this particular version was sourced from the private collection of a longtime friend of the band, who received it from an unnamed band member in the early 1980s.

Tracks 1 and 2 had just slight EQ and level adjustments only. Tracks 3 and 4, sourced from cassette, underwent slight cleaning and EQ / level adjustments. Track 5, also from cassette, was heavily de-screeched via EQ, and again had level adjustments. Tracks 3 through 5 are easily best ever versions and are far, FAR cleaner sounding than any previous bootleg release.

I don't know for certain why Factory decided to re-release Transmission seven months after Curtis' suicide, but I have a theory. When Rob Gretton stepped in as the band's manager, one of his first tasks was to have An Ideal For Living repressed in 12" format, which allows for a better signal-to-noise ratio (meaning an overall louder mastering), better dynamics, and better bass. As one of the band's signature tunes, this was a chance to put a better sounding version in the marketplace...and - let's be honest here - it gave Factory a chance to do a little cashing in. New Order wasn't releasing material yet, OMD had jumped ship to Dindisc, and it's not like Section 25, Durutti Column, or A Certain Ratio sold loads of records, yet they were always packaged in extravagant ways. A sort of Joy Division "memorial" 12" single packaged in a new (yet modest) Peter Saville sleeve was a guaranteed seller, and could help Factory recoup some money.

I really love Saville's design for this one - both 7" and 12" formats.

2010-02-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

In the wake of recent MP3 blog deletions by Blogger, I've gone ahead and secured an alternate site. If this blog should disappear for any reason, you can find me at WordPress (which is currently empty).

Make note!

Transmission will be posted in the next couple of days. The audio is done, I just have to finish the artwork.

JD Recycle 2: A Factory Sample

2010-02-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

Zip File (39 MB)

A Factory Sample
Factory Records FAC 2
Produced by Martin Hannett
Digital (Genetic Demo) produced by Martin Rushent
December 1978

Tracklisting:

1. Digital
2. Glass
3. Digital (Genetic Demo)
4. Autosuggestion
5. From Safety To Where...?

1, 4, 5 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
2 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Still COCY-9331
3 sourced from from the private collection of a longtime fan and associate of the band

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

Tracks 1 and 2 were the first collaboration between the band and Martin Hannett, recorded in October 1978 shortly after Hannett received delivery of a then-brand-new AMS Digital Delay rack unit. Innovative to the extreme, the sounds captured - and created - by Martin and the band set the pace for the hugely influential series of recordings that would follow. Slight EQ and volume adjustments only. Please note that Glass features the full intro as heard on Still, while the Substance version lopped it off.

Track 3 is a diligent - and FAST - run through for (and produced by) Martin Rushent, part of a series of demos recorded at Eden Studios, London on 4 March 1979 for Genetic Records. Oddly enough the only track from these sessions not to be released on Heart and Soul, I find this take - while pedestrian - as gravitating as the Hannett recording. Slightly cleaned up from a low-generation cassette copy, originally sourced in the early 1980s from an unnamed band member.

I still rate Digital in my top 5, if not greater, recordings by this band - not only for its innovation, but for its extreme advancement in songwriting and delivery from the sessions recorded just 5 months prior for RCA. Band "historian" and collaborator Jon Wozencroft notes in the Grant Gee documentary that the lyrics themselves are "digital" in the rough interpretation of the title's meaning - "day in, day out, day in, day out." A very astute observation which gives pause to the theory that the track was named after Hannett's digital delay unit.

Tracks 4 and 5 - in-studio compositions written at Hannett's behest to fill out the Unknown Pleasures sessions, so therefore more experimental than their canon to date - are much more dub-oriented and point to yet another interesting direction the band could have taken. I love these tracks, so unlike their album brethren, and while it's understandable why they were bequeathed to Bob Last for the Earcom compilation, I think their inclusion(or at least Autosuggestion) on the debut LP would have made that record even more astounding at first listen. Slight EQ and volume adjustments only.

While Autosuggestion and From Safety To Where...? were recorded seven months after the session that yielded Digital and Glass - then released another six months after that - it makes the most sense to include them here in a nice little bundle of all the band's compilation appearances.

In case anyone is wondering why the Durutti Column, John Dowie, and Cabaret Voltaire tracks aren't included, those songs fall outside the scope of the Recycle project. Most if not all of them were officially released elsewhere, so a little detective work should unearth them.

*EDIT* - there was a typo on the CD label (Rushnet, not Rushent). You can grab the fixed one here

JD Recycle 1: An Ideal For Living

2010-01-27T15:53:00.000-08:00

Zip File (41 MB)

Artwork File (7MB), for those who have trouble with the larger zip.

Joy Division
An Ideal For Living
Enigma/Anonymous Records
Produced by Joy Division
At A Later Date (live) produced by Mike Howlett
June 1978

Tracklisting:

1. Warsaw
2. No Love Lost
3. Leaders Of Men
4. Failures
5. At A Later Date (Live at the Electric Circus, Manchester, 2 October 1977)

1-4 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
5 sourced from Virgin CD Short Circuit Live At The Electric Circus CDVCL 5003

Thanks to Josef K and John C for the artwork scans!

Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:

This (barring track 5 here, see below), and the majority of the previously-released material that will be featured as part of this chapter in the Recycle saga, was sourced from the Japanese Joy Division 1977-1980 CD box on Nippon Columbia ('COCY 9329->32'), from 1991. The box consisted of the catalog albums Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Still, Substance and the only CD pressing of the FACUS2 Atmosphere/She's Lost Control single. The sound on these particular CD issues, barring the FACUS2 CD, is the best we've been able to track down. Warmer than the Factory UK pressings, more detailed and just plain better than any other release of these tracks - including Heart And Soul. I chose not to use the Heart And Soul box set tracks themselves because I'm not fond of the EQ used on the box, and the tracks were a bit too compressed for my tastes.

Tracks 1-4 were taken from the Substance CD from this box. Gently EQ'ed, a touch of peak limiting (and JUST a touch), and slightly cleaned up, these tracks - recorded in December 1977 - form a nice introduction to this series, if only to show how much the band would progress by the time we get to 1980.

Interestingly enough these tracks as found on Heart And Soul are different than found on Substance. I suspect Substance used the actual tape mastering, and Heart And Soul may have been mastered from vinyl. Regardless, this tops either of them and becomes the definitive issuing of this session.

Track 5 was sourced from the Virgin UK CD issue of Short Circuit Live At The Electric Circus CDVCL 5003 - recorded on 2 October 1977 at the closing of the Electric Circus. Famously featuring Bernard shouting "You all forgot Rudolf Hess!" at the beginning, this is primitive punk-by-numbers and is best used, again, as a signpost to show just how much *better* the band was to become. Again, just gently EQ'ed, limited and run through the "just sound better" procedure I've developed.

Punk by numbers or not, I've always had a fondness for At A Later Date.

Just like the previous series of New Order's Factory singles, the Joy Division singles will each be presented with artwork taken from the 12". In the case of An Ideal For Living, this downplays the well-known and controversial illustration of an Aryan drummer boy done by Bernard Sumner and features an image that few people have seen in it's original form. The scaffolding photo has been used and reused for bootlegs to the point where the effect is like a photocopy of a photocopy and all the subtlety is gone. Two friends who own original editions of both the 7" and 12" (1000 and 1200 made, respectively) scanned the sleeves at 600dpi and sent me the files so they could be cleaned up and presented here.

Wait for it...

2010-01-24T20:23:00.000-08:00

Hey gang,

Mastering of the Joy Division singles is moving right along. The audio for the first couple is finished, but I'm holding up the process because I haven't finished the artwork. I'll try and wrap up An Ideal For Living this week.

Since our good friend Mr. Analog Loyalist over at The Power Of Independent Trucking is doing the audio, he'll be making some tandem posts of alternate and outtake material.

There'll be approximately 36 tracks appearing here, spread across eight singles (Love Will Tear Us Apart '95 is now being folded into the original single to cut down on the number of repeated songs). I estimate about 10 of the tracks have never before been released (or at least never widely heard...although I know for certain a few of them will be exclusive to this series).

Stay tuned!

Beautiful Christmas

2009-12-16T14:44:00.000-08:00

Recently Bruno and myself did some work for our friend Vinny Vero, who was asked by Pet Shop Boys to remix the song Beautiful People from their album Yes. His mixes were to be included on a limited single, but due to scheduling conflicts they did not make it onto the final track listing.

Vinny has now posted them in his blog So Hip It Hurts, in a package he and I art directed together, with final mastering done by Bruno.

Please to enjoy. :)

A Message From Bruno

2009-12-15T11:14:00.000-08:00

Several people have tracked down Bruno through clues dropped in these entries and asked him to work his magic on recordings by _______. He's asked me to post this on his behalf:

"Can this audience/bootleg recording/MP3 be fixed?"

The answer is no, nothing can be done to make muffled cassette/audience recordings sound professional. And if anyone is asking, the same goes for low bit-rate MP3s which sound like gurgling water. The reason is that when cleaning up a vinyl recording, all of the sonic information in hearing range is there: it may be littered in clicks, compressed, strangely EQd, etc., but it's all there. With vinyl, the sound degradation is caused by *added* noise. So, restoring a vinyl recording is really about selectively removing all the added noise, to reveal the details of the recording underneath. With cassettes, MP3s, etc., the problem isn't so much noise, but that the finer details simply aren't there to begin with.

Think of a vinyl recording as a large printed poster which is full of creases and scratches, and perhaps a bit faded on the edges. You can scan it into Photoshop, and using "smart blur", eliminate some of them, although you'll also introduce other problems. But if you're patient, you can carefully zoom in, and with a variety of tools at your disposal, carefully patch each little imperfection one at a time. It's tedious, but the results are as good as one can get without going back to the masters. In essence, this is what I do.

In contrast, the cassette and the MP3 are the aural equivalents of the Polaroid picture and the heavily-compressed JPG. They were created for convenience and not for quality. They sound the way they do because they are lacking so much. There is simply no way, no matter how skilled one is, to restore the details that these formats lose. Forget about plug-ins which claim to restore lost harmonics; all these do is add harmonics via distortion.

"________ is my favorite band! Will you help me restore all their singles?"

Unfortunately, I'm already swamped with projects I wish to complete. It takes time to do this right.... a lot of time. So much that it can only be done as a labour of love, and by someone with a lot of spare time. I have never given serious consideration to offering my services for hire, simply because I don't see how I could do so at a reasonable cost. Secondly, I have no idea how long it will take me to do any given piece until I finish it. It depends not just on the condition of the record, but also the type of sounds recorded, and the types of surface noise present. Some albums I have been able to start and complete in the course of an evening, whereas a recent project of mine took approximately 2 hours of work for every *minute* of music.

Finally, my main focus is for recordings for which the master tapes are likely lost or damaged, in particular for obscure disco and electronic recordings from the 70s which have also suffered the indignity of being pressed at a time when the standards for vinyl quality in North America were quite low. It's rare that I would do this sort of work for an act as prominent as New Order. Most of the original Factory UK pressings are stellar (with the Temptation 7" and Run 2 being exceptions), and it's likely that the masters for all of their material are accounted for... [just so you know, most of them are missing - £50] it just seems that their label was unwilling to look for them or use them when it came to the recent reissues. However, there are untold thousands upon thousands of recordings, many unjustly fading into total obscurity, for which the only remaining existence of is through the ever-shrinking pool of second-hand vinyl. These have always been, and remain, my focus.

That's a wrap!

2009-11-20T11:42:00.001-08:00

20 singles

100 songs

9.5 hours of music

It's been both mine and Bruno's sincere pleasure to compile this virtual box set. There will be some additional materials for those of you who've been assembling the mini sleeves - a booklet and some packaging suggestions/instructions.

To date, Ceremony has logged the most downloads at just under 2000. London/Warners, are you listening? There is a market for a carefully curated box set.

We'll be taking a break for a few weeks, returning after the holidays to tackle 9 Joy Division singles:

1. An Ideal For Living
2. A Factory Sample
3. Transmission
4. Licht Und Blindheit (Dead Souls/Atmosphere)
5. Love Will Tear Us Apart
6. Komakino
7. She's Lost Control
8. Atmosphere (1988)
9. Love Will Tear Us Apart '95

Each of these will include bonus tracks, some of which have never been heard by a wide audience.

Recycle 20: World In Motion

2009-11-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

Zip File (74 MB)

World In Motion
Factory Records Fac 293
Produced by Stephen Hague (except The B-side, produced by Roli Mosimann)
May 1990

Tracklisting:

1. World In Motion
2. The B-side
3. World In Motion (Subbuteo Mix)
4. World In Motion (Subbuteo Dub)
5. World In Motion (Carabinieri Mix)
6. World In Motion (No Alla Violenza Mix)
7. World In Motion (Alternate Subbuteo Dub)

1 - 6 sourced from rips of PolyGram Canada CD single 846 237-2
7 sourced from Factory/MCA UK 45 RPM 12" single Fac 293R

Notes from Bruno Republic:

A string of tragedies struck English football starting in the mid-80s. On May 11, 1985, 56 people were killed in a horrific fire at Valley Parade stadium in Bradford. Later that same month, 39 spectators were killed at Heysel stadium in Brussels at the European Cup Final between England/Liverpool and Italy/Juventus after confrontational Liverpool fans started a melee. On April 15, 1989, 96 people were crushed to death at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield due to inadequate crowd control. Finally, on June 3, 1990, mobs of football fans pushed sales of this single to the top of the charts, giving New Order as well as Factory Records their only number one hit. How did this happen? Well, the song was done as the theme for the English football team during the 1990 world cup.

50PoundNote doesn't want me to be too harsh on this song, so I'll hold back the snark from this point on, and stress the positives.

[Insert protracted silence here.]

Not too much to do here, mercifully. For the most part, just volume adjustments.

There are numerous different edits of several of the tracks. We've gone with the longest ones that we know of in each case. The only exception to this is what we're calling the Alternate Subbuteo Dub, which appeared on the remix 12", which is being included as it's a slightly different mix and cannot be recreated from editing down the longer version. There's a few snippets of spoken word near the beginning and end, the now-horribly-dated M1 piano sound is panned slightly differently.

Many thanks to JohnC for the lossless rips of this single. The Canadian CD from which most of this was sourced now goes for a fortune on eBay, as it's the only place where many of these mixes ever appeared on CD. Although for many years I could easily obtain this disc locally, I never bothered. I chose to get a UK copy instead because it had a superior tracklisting, with only four versions instead of six.

Some notes from Wikipedia:

• The lyrics were co-written by comedian Keith Allen, who also appears on the track
• The original title was to be "E For England", but the Football Association nixed it
• The backing track is strikingly similar to the Reportage theme, which was also written by Stephen and Gillian
• The track has regularly topped polls to decide the best football song ever

At the time it was released, I quite liked this track. May 1990 was pre-internet, and Americans were/are largely ignorant to the World Cup, so it was a nice surprise to have an unexpected New Order single dropped in my lap. It's a shame, though, that the band's only #1 single amounts to a novelty song.

Recycle 19: Run 2

2009-11-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

Zip File (38 MB)

Run 2
Factory Records Fac 273
Produced by New Order
August 1989

Tracklisting:

1. Run 2
2. Run 2 (Extended Version)
3. MTO
4. MTO (Minus Mix)

Source: Run 2 Factory UK 12" single Fac 273.

Notes from the restorer:
Released at the height of their popularity, this single is surprisingly rare. A remix of a track from their 1989 album Technique, it was quickly deleted after John Denver took action against the band, claiming that part of the tune resembled his song Leaving On A Jet Plane (after listening to Denver's song, I must confess I don't really hear much resemblance).

For the longest time, this was the most expensive record I'd ever bought. I paid $50 for one in a rather battered sleeve over fifteen years ago. I'd never seen another copy before, and I still haven't seen one since, so I was a bit surprised to read that apparently 20,000 were pressed. I've also been told that the single was deliberately limited and this was the plan all along, but that would seem to defy even Factory's reality-deficient business logic.

In addition to being quite scarce, this single is unusual in a couple of other ways. It's cut at 33 RPM instead of 45, and the overall quality of the pressing isn't as high as their other releases.

Slight cut at 3KHz.

Oh, and there are a couple of really bad edits in MTO -- so bad that I thought the needle had jumped the groove when I first heard it.
Run 2 was remixed by Scott Litt, who during the late 80's was notable for working with REM. The main difference between the album version and Run 2 is that the song has been made more radio-friendly by replacing the long instrumental run-out with another repeat of the chorus. I'm not sure if this was geared toward the American market, but the video was in rotation on MTV's 120 Minutes and there were promo cassettes of these tracks circulating at Warner Brothers during the summer of 1989. My hunch is that the lawsuit nixed a US single release because Denver had to be given a co-writing credit (and would have to be paid royalties).

Despite being listed on later compilations, Run 2 only appeared on this single. All other tracks titled Run 2 play the standard album version from Technique - with the exception of the video on A Collection.

It's never been clarified whether the B-side MTO stands for "made to order", "mid tempo one" (standard demo naming convention within the New Order camp), or "much too old", which is a play on the lyrics from Fine Time. It's pretty much a throw-away track, and the bad edits in question are actually more like the effect of a DJ cutting in and out of a song by using the faders on a mixer - something I've seen and heard Derrick May do during his live sets.

"Little Lewie For New Order"

2009-11-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

"Little Lewie for New Order"

Thomas puts on his best Sleeveface.

Recycle 18: Round & Round

2009-11-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

Zip File (104 MB)

Round & Round
Factory Records Fac 263
Produced by New Order and Stephen Hague
February 1989

Tracklisting:

1. Round & Round (12" Version)
2. Best & Marsh
3. Vanishing Point (Instrumental 'Making Out' Mix)
4. Round & Round (Club/Ben Grosse Mix)
5. Round & Round (12" Remix)
6. Round & Round (Detroit Mix)
7. Round & Round (7" Version)
8. Best & Marsh (7" Edit)

1, 3, and 7 sourced from Factory UK CD single Facd 263
2 sourced from PolyGram Canada CD single 874 079-2
4 - 6 sourced from Factory UK 3" CD single Facd 263R
8 is an early fade of 2

Notes from the restorer:

Not too much to do here. For the most part, just a slight bit of EQ and volume adjustments on the UK CD singles, as well as fixing a couple of polarity issues.

The perfect blend of pop, dance, and rock, Round & Round shows the band at their best. The catchy melody and superb production is enough to allow me to forgive the heavy use of an orchestra hit in the track. I remember actually hearing this a lot on top 40 radio back in the day, which was quite rare for New Order.

According to Wikipedia, the song was inspired by their deteriorating relationship with Factory owner Tony Wilson. Drama begets pop music.

I don't really have much to add to this one. It's not one of my favorite singles, although I think the extended 12" version with the long lead-in is far superior to the version on Technique. I'm all about Best & Marsh (composed by request for the UK sports program of the same name) and the instrumental mix of Vanishing Point used as the theme to Making Out, a BBC dramedy that aired from 1989-1991.

Recycle 17: Fine Time

2009-11-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

Zip File (64 MB)

Fine Time
Factory Records Fac 223
Produced by New Order
November 1988

Tracklisting:

1. Fine Time (12" Version)
2. Don't Do It
3. Fine Line
4. Fine Time (Silk Mix)
5. Fine Time (Messed Around Mix)
6. Fine Time (7" Edit)

1 sourced from Factory UK 45 RPM 12" single FAC 223
2 - 6 sourced from PolyGram Canada CD single 827 277-2

Notes from the restorer:

Acid house arrives, and New Order embrace it. The sleeve deserves an award for the 'most obvious drug reference that anyone ever got away with'.

I don't have much else to say about this one… I know it's a favourite of many, but I always thought it was one of the weaker tracks from the Technique album.

I didn't know that the 12" version was slightly different from the LP version until £50 Note pointed it out to me. Whether by accident or design, there are a few variations in the mix, and this version has never appeared on CD. The rest of the tracks were lifted from the Canadian CD single, which contains all the other versions. However, it has a few quirks: Fine Line and Don't Do It have their channels reversed compared to the UK 12", and all the tracks are EQd somewhat strangely, as if the release was geared for AM radio. The bass is reduced and there's a big boost in the upper mids, making it sound rather tinny. These oddities have been undone to the best of my abilities.

One of my favorites.

The band was accused of jumping on the acid house bandwagon, but considering the slick dance/rock hybrid they'd been perfecting over the five previous years, I see it more as a defining statement. Recording had commenced in Ibiza, which was a haven for European clubgoers. The band owned The Haçienda, which was finally starting to explode as a nightclub instead of a live venue, going on to become one of the greatest clubs in the world, ever. Madchester was beginning with the likes of Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, and all the other baggy bands. Fine Time anchors them in the middle of a scene they largely facilitated, and was the perfect lead single for the album that would follow three months later.

Recycle 16: Blue Monday 1988

2009-11-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

Zip File (68 MB)

Blue Monday 1988
Factory Records Fac 73R
Produced by Quincy Jones, remixed by John Potoker
March 1988

Tracklisting:

1. Blue Monday 1988
2. Beach Buggy
3. Blue Monday 1988 (Dub Version)
4. Blue Monday 1988 (7" Mix)
5. Beach Buggy (7" Mix)
6. Blue Monday 1988 (Alternate 7" Mix)

1 , 2, and 4 from Factory UK CD single FAC 73R
3 from PolyGram Canada CD single 870 354-2
5 from Factory/Nippon Columbia Japan CD single 15CY-5020
6 from Factory UK FACDV 73R

Much thanks to Osamu T. for providing track 5 and Clive W. for track 6!

Notes from the restorer:

Blue Monday 1988 was the first in what would become a long line of remixes of Blue Monday. Produced by Quincy Jones with the actual remix done by John Potoker, it keeps most of the original track intact, and simply adds a few minor parts and loads of utterly ridiculous sound effects on top. I've read that this remix even outsold the original, but others have told me it didn't. I hope not.

As for the mix itself, well… it has its fans, but I'd never choose to hear it over the original. While some of the added synth parts are good and work quite well, the sound effects are a total ADHD attack. To me, it's like listening to the song in the same room as someone channel surfing through the most banal TV programming imaginable. Had it been done today, I would expect to hear "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!" and maybe some Jar-Jar Binks amongst the sonic detritus peppered across the tune.

The flip side, Beach Buggy I suppose is an update of The Beach, and includes brief samples of other New Order tracks. How very meta.

I suppose my indifference to this remix is quite evident. However, as needless as I felt this was, it was nothing compared to the onslaught of needless remixes which would start in the mid-90s, oh no.

The alternate 7" mix appeared on the CDV. It has the structure of the released 7" version, but portions of it are from the 12" mix.

With New Order now signed to Qwest in the US, Quincy Jones saw an opportunity for their groundbreaking track to have a legitimate single release and a shot at radio airplay, where it peaked at #68 (although it reached #1 on the Billboard Dance chart). It also served as a chance to bundle in non-album single Touched By The Hand Of God, and made a nice stop-gap falling almost halfway between Substance and Technique.

I agree that the mix is a little ADHD, but it gave Stephen Morris a chance to use some of the odd samples he'd been collecting. It's saving grace, though, is the wonderful video directed by William Wegman, featuring his dog Fay Ray, and animation sequences by Robert Breer. It's one of the band's best clips.

FLAC Vs AAC

2009-10-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

I'm getting some comments lately asking why I'm not making FLAC sets available and generally disparaging the AAC format. Most of them have a tone of entitlement I find annoying.

If you'd take the time to read back through this blog you'll see the reason I'm not posting FLAC sets is because I have some hope the record label will take up this project and actually manufacture it. Posting FLAC sets would defeat that purpose.

With the time and attention to detail we've taken to make Recycle happen, there's a thought process behind every step/decision. If you have some prejudice against iTunes, that's your own issue - not mine. There are plenty of other programs that will play AAC just fine, and the AAC format sounds better than MP3.

This is a project by the fans, for the fans - not for the hoarders who just want free music.

Any further comments asking for FLACs or generally insulting the format will not be published.

1987 re-EQed

2009-10-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

During the course of this project a lot of good discussion about EQ has gone back and forth between this blog and The Power Of Independent Trucking.

With 15 singles down and 5 more to go, there's a total of 69 songs so far in Recycle, and my friend Bruce has done the audio transfer on all but one song - the remix of Paradise, which was done by our friend Mr. Analog Loyalist over at TPOIT. I think Bruce has done a stellar job, but he himself says in hindsight he would approach EQing the tracks differently, matching everything to the warmth of the vinyl tracks as opposed to the muddiness of Substance.

While Bruce has preserved everything as it was originally released, TPOIT has respectfully stepped forward and offered his own fresh take on the two 1987 re-recordings included with Touched By The Hand Of God, along with two possible explanations for why the originals sound so off:

Idle, restless speculation #1: They were in a rush to prepare Substance and caught [Anthony H. Wilson] off-guard when going into the studio in May 1987 to re-record these, so the resulting tracks were never properly mastered in the first place. They sound flat, lifeless enough that this could be a very real possibility.

Idle, restless speculation #2: Having just come off the Hague all-digital True Faith/1963 sessions, the band themselves recorded all-digitally as well (proof? None.) and didn't get the EQ dialed in just right. Perhaps the monitors they were using were abnormally brittle-sounding and mixing to those means the resulting product is lifeless everywhere else?

So, for those of you who'd like to hear them, download this zip file (24 MB).

This version of Temptation and the non-dub '87 re-recording of Confusion will appear in this blog later, in a bundle of tracks from '86-'87 to sit alongside Brotherhood.

Run 2 promo mixes

2009-10-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

Our good friend over at The Power Of Independent Trucking has posted a few New Order/related/Factory gems recently, but his latest post will be of interest to many of the readers here.

In the summer of 1989 Warner Brothers US was circulating three different in-house promo cassettes featuring mixes of Run 2 and it's B-side MTO. While the single proper will be posted here in just a few entries, TPOIT has compiled all three of these cassettes into one FLAC bundle, including a beautiful instrumental mix.

Please to enjoy.

Recycle 15: Touched By The Hand Of God

2009-10-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

Zip File (71 MB)

Touched By The Hand Of God
Factory Records FAC 193
Produced by New Order. Touched By The Hand Of God mixed by Arthur Baker.
December 1987

Tracklisting:

1. Touched By The Hand Of God
2. Touched By The Hand Of Dub (7" Edit)
3. Confusion Dub 1987
4. Temptation (1987 Version)
5. Touched By The Hand Of God (12" Mix)
6. Touched By The Hand Of Dub

1 and 6 sourced from PolyGram CA Blue Monday 1988 CD single 870 354-2
2 edited from 6
3-5 sourced from Factory UK CD single Facd193

Notes from the restorer:

Written for the soundtrack to the movie Salvation!, Touched By The Hand Of God isn't one of the group's stronger tracks IMHO, although there's nothing offensive about it either. The single version was remixed by Arthur Baker, and it sounds very much of its time, complete with the ubiquitous orchestra hits. The vinyl was backed with a mostly-instrumental dub mix, and the CD single came with two other unique tracks… or at least, it was supposed to. Along with a previously-unreleased dub mix of the 1987 version of Confusion, the sleeve claimed to have the original mix of Temptation which was not on CD at the time. In actual fact, the disc plays the 1987 version found on Substance, helping to establish a long tradition of the band's releases having the wrong track names or details (one which Warner/Rhino has generously continued on through to the 21st century with the recent re-issues).

One truly remarkable thing about this song is the video for it, which consists of scenes of car chases along with footage of the band dressed up as a cheesy hair-metal act, acting out every cliché of the genre. It's hilarious, and even more so when you remember that back then, there were actually people who listened to (and even performed in) hair metal bands without irony.

The version as it appears on the soundtrack to Salvation! is actually very raw - almost like a demo. It was refined for the single release, and despite what the above says I think it's one of the better late-80's New Order tracks.

Apart from the band dressed in over the top heavy metal gear, the video also features Bill Paxton and Rae Dawn Chong in uncredited roles.

I still remember the day when my local record shop got the CD single in. It was December of my Senior year, and I'd skipped out of school. I was so excited I couldn't wait to get home and play it. A year later I'd have almost the same experience with Fine Time.

Fixed!

2009-10-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

True Faith has been fixed and re-uploaded. I decided not to delete the original entry to preserve the comments, so please scroll down a couple of entries and happy listening. :)

The changes are as follows:

1. True Faith (now transfered from vinyl to avoid the glitch inherent on all digital sources like Substance)
2. 1963 (also transfered from vinyl for consistent sound)
3. Evil Dust (no change)
4. Paradise remix (still taken from Retro, but with the clipping fixed and a little dynamic range trickery)
5. True Faith remix (no change)
6. True Dub (glitches fixed)
7. True Faith UK 7" (new transfer from vinyl instead of a re-edit)
8. True Faith Morning Sun edit (no change)

The transfer of Paradise was done by our good friend over at The Power Of Independent Trucking, and while it's not possible to put missing dynamics/audio/data into a sound file if it was never there, he was able to massage it a little and get it sounding better than just a straight rip from Retro (which fell victim to the loudness war).

NOTE: the corrected file name should be "truefaithv3.zip" - I've verified that the complete contents will open properly.

QA

2009-10-01T20:11:00.001-07:00

This is just a placeholder entry, but we're in the process of doing QA on the True Faith bundle, as the versions I posted were not up to our high standards. Five of the eight tracks have been redone, and so far everything sounds perfect.

Recycle 14: True Faith

2009-09-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

Zip File (108MB)
(File name should be truefaithv3.zip - verified all files will open)

True Faith
Factory Records FAC 183
Produced by Stephen Hague and New Order. Evil Dust and Paradise produced by New Order.
July 1987

Tracklisting:

1. True Faith
2. 1963
3. Evil Dust
4. Paradise (Robert Racic Remix)
5. True Faith (Shep Pettibone Remix)
6. True Dub
7. True Faith (UK 7" Edit)
8. True Faith (The Morning Sun Edit)

1 and 2 sourced from Factory UK 12" single Fac 183
3 and 8 sourced from Factory UK CD-Video Facdv 183
4 sourced from Retro London EU CD 0927 49499 2
5 sourced from 1963 London UK CD single NUCDP 6
6 sourced from Factory UK 12" single Fac 183R
7 sourced from Factory UK 7" single Fac 183

Notes from the restorer:

When I first did this up a few months ago for my own amusement, I thought I had collected all the versions and related material. However, I was mistaken... in any event, I've fine-tuned the tracks I had done previously, so here they are once again.

This is probably my favourite New Order song ever… it's a close toss-up between this and Regret. However, as a single, I think this is their very best. Not only is the song absolutely top-notch, but the B-side is equally good. 1963 could've easily been a single of its own, and that eventually happened some 8 years later. Oh, and it has coherent lyrics too!

In the mid-80s it became common for UK bands to issue multiple versions of a single, and True Faith was the first time New Order would take this route. In addition to the regular 7" and 12", a second 12" was released with Shep Pettibone's remixes. On top of that, the single was also released on the short-lived CD-V format, a hybrid CD/laserdisc which provided the video of the song playable on a LD player, and a few audio tracks playable on any CD player. Here it was presented with Evil Dust, an instrumental dubby remix of the song Angel Dust from Brotherhood, and an edit of the Shep Pettibone remix. Oh, and the Australian remix edition included a Robert Racic remix of Paradise which wasn't issued anywhere else until the Retro compilation in 2002. This might all seem kind of crazy, but it's nothing compared to the marketing and remix insanity which would occur in the early 90s.

Personally I'm not too fond of the Shep Pettibone mixes. I think he goes just a little too far over the top here, and takes away from the lushness of the original song… or perhaps the it just doesn't work very well in a purely dancefloor context. Nonetheless, others love this - one person commented on 50poundnote's Flickr stream that it was Shep's finest moment - so to each their own and all that.

True Faith was New Order's conscious effort to break America. When they entered the studio with Stephen Hague, no one was sure which would be the A-side or the B-side, so work on both songs progressed at the same time. Although the band now says 1963 was a waste as a B-side (and as Bruce said it would see release as an A-side in 1995), the pairing here places this as my favorite single of all-time, right alongside Love Will Tear Us Apart b/w These Days. Everything from the sleeve (an icon of our generation) to the video (shamelessly aped by Fine Young Cannibals a year later) made a strong statement. It was released just before my 17th birthday and my Senior year of high school, so it's the soundtrack to a very formative period in my life.

Unlike Bruce, I disagree about Shep Pettibone's mixes. They were a real touchstone of the late 80's alternative dance scene, and even now - 22 years later - I can spin his mixes and fill a dancefloor. They never get old.

Evil Dust found a broader release in 1988 on the Funky Alternatives Volume One compilation.

I never knew about the Robert Racic remix of Paradise until about 1991, although I certainly knew his name. Racic was a celebrated DJ and producer in Sydney who worked with Severed Heads and would go on to work with Boxcar and others.

Tweaks

2009-09-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

• If you downloaded Bizarre Love Triangle before noon PST, Wednesday, September 9th, please trash those files, scroll down, and download it again. The files I posted were not properly mastered and have been fixed. In addition, the Canadian 7" edit has been redone/re-EQed and sounds significantly better.

• Of the 20 singles in Recycle, only one - Procession - had a slipcase design that opened on the top like the original 7" single, instead of on the side like a 12" single. This bugged me. I have redesigned it so that all 20 singles will be consistent. To download it, click on "all sizes", then click on "original" to get the full resolution image.

• Since Ceremony came in two different 12" configurations with any number of A-side/B-side combinations, I've designed an alternate slipcase, jewel case insert, and CD label, so you can choose between the green sleeve or the blue and white one.

Recycle 13: Bizarre Love Triangle

2009-09-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Zip File (77 MB)

Bizarre Love Triangle
Factory Records FAC 163
Produced by New Order, remixed by Shep Pettibone
November 1986

Tracklisting:

1. Bizarre Love Triangle (12" version)
2. Bizarre Dub Triangle
3. Bizarre Love Triangle (7" version)
4. Bizarre Dub Triangle (7" edit)
5. Bizarre Love Triangle (7" version re-edit, AKA "unique Canadian edit")

1 and 2 sourced from Factory UK 45 RPM 12" single FAC 163
3 and 4 sourced from Factory UK 7" single FAC 163-7
5 sourced from Factory/PolyGram Canada 7" single FAC 26, revised version, EQ'd to match UK 7". Thank you very much, Clive!

Notes from the restorer:

Bizarre Love Triangle is truly a classic, right up there with Blue Monday. It's gone on to become one of those seminal tracks that is ubiquitous at any 80s retro dance event. Unlike the much-criticized and overcooked Sub-culture remix, here Shep Pettibone brilliantly shows how to adapt an album track to the dance floor. The breaks and effects are perfectly timed to keep people on their toes, without being so overboard or excessive as to wreck the flow of the song. Meanwhile, the 7" version is not an edit of this or the LP mix, but a unique creation which balances elements of both.

Now, it's been over a month since we posted State of the Nation… so what happened, you ask?

Well, presenting this track here turned out to be much more difficult than initially expected. While the dub version was not included on Substance, it was issued on a US CD single - inexplicably retitled "I Don't Care" [supposedly manager Rob Gretton's flippant answer to a rep from the US label who phoned up to ask what the dub mix was named. - 50poundnote] - in 1994, some 8 years after its initial release - a testament to the song's enduring popularity! We had planned to use that as a source. Likewise, there was a unique edit of the 7" version which was issued only in Canada, and in a lovely gatefold sleeve (FYI, custom 7" sleeves were quite rare in Canada, as most 7" singles were sold with blank or company sleeves). Since both 50poundnote and I had copies of these singles, we figured we were set.

Problem number one: the US CD single turned out to have surprisingly crushed dynamics, a sign of the loudness wars to come. EAC might show peak values of only 80%, but beneath that it was fairly crushed. Also, the EQ was pretty wonky. Sourcing one track from Substance and the other from this single would've led to inevitable inconsistencies. I tried to find a used copy of the vinyl 12" single locally, but came up empty-handed. Eventually 50poundnote mailed me his copy, which took about two weeks to arrive.

Problem number two: while waiting for that, I started working on the UK 7" version, which is not an edit of the album mix (though it initially sounds like it is), and then the unique Canadian version. However, both our copies of the Canadian version simply played the UK 7" mix. I figured that the "unique Canadian mix" was simply one of those mix-ups or misunderstandings that got perpetuated over the internet, and gave an update to the New Order Online forum that it was a myth.

Only it wasn't. NOOL member Old Blue mentioned that he had the record, and it was unmistakably different, right from the very start. A check of the deadwax inscriptions confirmed that the record was initially released with the UK 7" version, then subsequently done with the new edit. Both 50poundnote and I had original pressings. Trying to order this online would be risky, since aside from a tiny deadwax number (FAC-26-A for original, FAC-26-A2 for the re-edit) the two different editions look nearly identical. Same sleeve, label, time listed, etc. Fortunately, Old Blue was willing to loan his copy to me. Despite Old Blue sending his all the way from the UK, his copy arrived first, but that wasn't so surprising. I long ago discovered that something mailed from across the Atlantic ocean will arrive sooner than something mailed from across Lake Ontario.

Problem number three: when I compared similar sections on the dub version to the A-side, I could hear major differences in EQ. After painstakingly matching the EQ on dub to get it consistent with the A-side, I discovered that other portions of the song sounded completely messed up. I debated breaking it down into chunks and EQing each section individually, but thought better of it. So I've left it as-is. The only other thing I did was fix the click that happens right on the 5th kick on the 12" version. This is on both Substance and the 12", but not the 1994 CD single, so I'm guessing it's a flaw on the master tape which was later fixed. It's always bothered me, so I've copied-and-pasted an adjacent kick to patch it.

Problem number four: the artwork. I figured with the sleeve looking like one big blur, it would be easy to assemble the artwork. Not so, for there are several distinct lines and forms, and 50poundnote struggled to weld both sides together while reconstructing the small portion that runs across the spine. Also, we wanted to include the shot of the band from the Canadian gatefold. The fold from the spine runs right through Bernard's face, making it difficult to photochop out. 50poundnote has a large poster of this photo hanging in his home, but when he went to photograph it, he discovered the seam was there too. Seems they simply copied the single for the poster as well. Truly LULZ-worthy.

So, after many trials and tribulations, we finally have this done and out of the way. Hopefully the rest of this project should go much more quickly.

My first experience with New Order was hearing the 12" version of The Perfect Kiss. It was April 1985 and I was 14. A friend who worked at an indie record shop played it for me, and while I liked it, I didn't buy it. It stayed in the back of my mind, though (and would go on to become my all-time favorite song). Jump ahead 18 months to November 1986. I'm a Junior in high school and watching MTV one evening before dinner, when this colorful, energetic video comes on with this great hook "every time I see you falling..." It was Bizarre Love Triangle. The next day I rode my bike to the record store near the University of Kentucky's campus and bought Brotherhood on cassette. It didn't leave my Walkman for months. I bought the import 7" because it was closer to the mix used in the video, but I don't recall owning the 12" version until I got Substance a year later.

Incidentally, the video (which was directed by artist Robert Longo) went on to define the look of MTV with it's quick editing style.

To this day, Bizarre Love Triangle remains my 2nd favorite New Order track, as well as one of my all-time favorites. It's such a wonderfully uplifting song that, no matter what my mood, it will make me smile.

Anyone want a BLT?

2009-08-23T17:31:00.001-07:00

So, Bizarre Love Triangle. Who'd have thought this would be the single that sidelined us temporarily?

There are three hurdles here. While a US CD single was released in the mid-90's containing all the mixes, it appears to be an early victim of the loudness war. The volume of the disc isn't maxed out, but the dynamics within each track are crushed. My friend who is doing the audio restoration had intended to source Bizarre Dub Triangle (a.k.a. I Don't Care) from this disc, but it wouldn't have sounded right alongside the other tracks. He doesn't own a physical copy of the 12" single, so off to Toronto my copy goes. I mailed it a few days ago but it could take up to two weeks to reach him.

We'd also planned to include the unique Canadian 7" mix, but discovered that (just like The Perfect Kiss) one version was issued commercially, then withdrawn, then a second version was released in its place. Neither of us has a physical copy of that second (unique) mix, so a friend in England is sending his over. Again, it could take a couple of weeks to reach Toronto.

Finally, the artwork, which is a photo of treated metal that has some distinct markings running from front to back, is taking a little longer than expected. Scanning the sleeve was no problem but piecing it together to make a nice, seamless image for the slipcase requires some photoshop trickery to fill in the 1/8" inch gap where the image wraps around the spine of the single. I've made a couple of attempts already but they weren't up to my (admittedly unforgiving) standards. I'll continue working on it while waiting for the audio to be finished.

Once Bizarre Love Triangle has been posted, there are seven singles left:

True Faith (already done)

Touched By The Hand Of God

Blue Monday '88

Fine Time (already done)

Round & Round

Run 2 (already done)

World In Motion

Recycle 12: State Of The Nation

2009-08-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

Zip File (48 MB)

State Of The Nation
Factory Records FAC 153
Produced by New Order/New Order and John Robie
September 1986

Tracklisting:

1. State Of The Nation
2. Shame Of The Nation
3. State Of The Nation (7" Edit)
4. Shame Of The Nation (7" Edit)

1 and 2 sourced from Substance
3 and 4 edited from 1 and 2

Notes form the restorer:

Unlike most of the tracks on Substance, I thought these needed a bit of boost in the highs instead of a cut.

State Of The Nation is either an album cut from Brotherhood or a non-LP single, depending on which version of the album you bought. The vinyl LP doesn't have it at all, while the CD has it tacked on at the end, and then there's the deluxe cassette edition I have which has both State and Shame added one apiece onto each side.

Once again, the band broke form by not only giving the song a title that referenced the lyrics, but also using the most obvious line for it. The big surprise here is the B-side, which given the previous tracks with titles that consisted of similar wordplay (Shellcock, Dub-Vulture), would lead one to expect a randomized and chopped-up dub mix. Instead, Shame Of The Nation is really John Robie's mix and production of the song, for which he was given co-production and songwriting credit, whereas State is credited only to the band. Unlike his previous efforts, here he pulls back on the excessive effects and edits that characterized Shellshock and Sub-Culture, giving something that is equally as listenable as the A-side.

It seems this one is regarded as a somewhat average effort by the group. Personally, while I didn't care much for it at first, the song has really grown on me. I will occasionally drop State in one of my DJ sets.

John Hughes

2009-08-06T20:38:00.001-07:00

"When you grow up, your heart dies."

John Hughes is dead.

I was born in 1970. John Hughes' films were an integral part of my teenage years. When I came home from work this evening the first thing I did was watch the last 15 minutes of Pretty in Pink, where Andie makes the dress and goes to the prom anyway. I sat there choking back tears and thinking how Hughes' passing affects me 1000 times more than Michael Jackson's.

I hadn't planned on posting another single yet, but it seems appropriate to go ahead and post Shellshock.

Thank you, John. You taught me so much, and all these years later your films still move me in a way few others can.

Recycle 11: Shellshock

2009-08-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

Zip File (68 MB)

Shellshock
Factory Records FAC 143
Produced by New Order and John Robie
March 1986

Tracklisting:

1. Shellshock
2. Shellcock
3. Thieves Like Us Instrumental '86
4. Shellshock (7" Edit)
5. Thieves Like Us Instrumental '86 (7" Edit)

1 and 2 sourced from Factory UK 45RPM 12" single FAC 143
3 sourced from A&M Canada 45RPM 12" single SP-12174
4 sourced from Factory UK 45RPM 7" single FAC 143
5 edited from 3

Notes from the restorer:

I initially created the full-length Shellshock by taking the Substance edit and putting back the edited-out portions from vinyl, carefully EQing it to match. While most people couldn't hear where the edits were, one person claimed to, so for this version, it's all from vinyl. I was hesitant do to this, for there is a very faint bit of pre-echo audible at the intro... but oh well.

Annoyingly, the 7" version cannot be created from editing the other versions down. I say annoyingly because I spent a couple of hours working on it and was almost done, only to discover that there's a brief snippet at around the three-minute mark which isn't anywhere in the 12" or dub versions.

Written for the Pretty In Pink soundtrack (which used a version different from both the 7" and 12" editions here), the single was New Order's second collaboration with John Robie. While it's not quite so excessive as his re-work of Sub-Culture, the full 12" version is still quite long and peppered with Robie's trademark abrupt edits. The song was edited down to under 7 minutes for the Substance compilation, and the full-length version has never appeared on CD.

It's always been my understanding that New Order was asked to do the entire soundtrack for Pretty In Pink but for whatever reason the studio opted not to use their work. While not confirmed, I suspect some of the music they created was used for the film Salvation! a year later. With the deadline approaching fast, several bands went into the studio to record music for the soundtrack. Shellshock was one of those 24-hour marathon sessions, as was OMD's If You Leave, which went on to become one of the biggest singles of the 80's.

The instrumental mix of Thieves Like Us was used in the film, as was Elegia. There's also a poster for Lowlife hanging in the record shop where Andie/Molly Ringwald works. It's obvious that John Hughes (or at least director Howard Deutch) was a fan.

The instrumental version of Thieves Like Us is very similar to but *not* the same as the one on the flip of Murder. The full-length version of this was not issued in the UK, but only on the international editions of the single licensed on the A&M label.

Stats and commentary

2009-08-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

In just the few hours this blog has been live Sub-Culture is leading the race with the most downloads. Murder is last, but to be fair both those cuts are on Substance (although they have been tidied up a bit).

Keep in mind that the commentary for each single is frequently the combined thoughts of two different people. It's meant to entertain, and should be taken with a grain of salt. I love all of these singles as though they were my own children, but that said, some are geniuses while other are stuck in remedial math. ;)

Halfway

2009-08-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

We've now reached the halfway point. While the singles for Shellshock and State Of The Nation are already finished, I'll wait a few days before posting them and moving on. Currently my friend the audio restoration guru and I are in the middle of Bizarre Love Triangle, with a couple of later singles like True Faith and Run 2 already finished. Patience.

By now some folks are probably asking "what about this and that edit?" The focus here is only those tracks that appeared on the Factory/UK releases, with the occasional odd duck. No one wants to listen to 15 different edits of the same song (something I'll touch on if and when I tackle the post-Factory singles). I mean, I'm a collector, but it's not my job to complete your collection for you. Do what I did - log on to eBay, GEMM, or visit your local record shop. :)

Once the remaining ten singles are done there'll be some more surprises to wrap up New Order's Factory years. Remember that rarities box set you wished Retro was going to be? Yeah.

Then it's on to tackling Joy Division's singles.

Recycle 10: Sub-Culture

2009-08-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

Zip File (59 MB)

Sub-Culture
Factory Records FAC 133
Produced New Order
November 1985

Tracklisting:

1. Sub-Culture
2. Dub-Vulture
3. Sub-Culture (7" Edit)
4. Dub-Vulture (7" Edit)
5. Sub-Culture (Record Mirror Exclusive Mix)

1 and 2 sourced from Rough Trade DE 45 RPM 12" RTD 023 T
3 and 4 edited from elements of 1 and 2
5 sourced and edited from an unofficial CD-R created by a certain remix service

1 - 4 EQ matched to Substance

After the brilliance of The Perfect Kiss, things went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sub-Culture was a good, albeit flawed, song from Low-Life and an ideal choice for a single, now that the band was putting singles on albums (or would that be pulling singles from albums?) With their now-trademark sequences and riffs, the strong melody is somewhat let down by Bernard's rather poor vocal performance. While he's never been known for technical perfection, he's alarmingly off-key in this song at certain points. Evidently remixer John Robie thought so too, for he did everything he could to bury the original vocal in the 12" mix. Unfortunately, the results weren't really any improvement.

While it's customary for remixes to be jazzed-up and to focus on different elements, the 12" remix of this was pushed so far over the top that it fell back down, crashed onto the floor, and shattered into a thousand pieces. At least, that's what it sounds like. Much like a written work where every sentence ends with exclamation marks!!, there's just far too much embellishment and hardly any substance here (pun not intended). Robie hired backing vocalists to drown out Barney, and they sound very out-of-place on a New Order track. He peppered the piece with jarring orchestra hits, pointless fills, and other needless effects. The bass sequence was delayed by a sixteenth note which only adds to aural chaos, and countless abrupt jump-cut-esque edits were done, mimicking an effect which was very fashionable for about 15 minutes in the mid '80s. mid '80s. mid '80s. for aboutfor aboutfor aboutfor aboutfor aboutffffffffffrrrrforforforforforforforforforforfor for for *TIGHT!*. In essence, the A-side already sounds like a just-throw-the-two-track-in-the-blender dub version, and thus the B-side is just completely absurd, eventually decaying into a blast of solid noise.

I find this quickly gets very tiresome. Seems that just about everyone agrees, for the song was edited down to under 5 minutes for the Substance compilation, and the B-side was not included on the CD at all. Having said that, much better remixes of the song do exist, but they were never issued commercially. The R*zorm*id DJ remix service did three different versions of this song, and one of them came out on a 7" 33 RPM EP (along with three other songs by other artists) which was included as a freebie with an issue of Record Mirror magazine in the UK. I think most people will agree that this is a tremendous improvement over the absurd 12" version. The original EP sounds pretty bad due to the limitations of the format, but fortunately the R*zorm*id mixes were made available in the form of an unofficial CD-R release a few years back, so we have the RM version here in pristine quality.

One other unique thing about Sub-Culture is that it has no proper sleeve, which is quite unusual for a group and label that put so much effort into visual presentation. Allegedly, sleeve designer Peter Saville was so unimpressed with the song that he refused to create any artwork for it. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me either way. :)

I think Subculture gets a bum rap because the remixes are so jarring and over the top. However, it's one of those songs that really shines in a live context. I think the band missed an opportunity with this single. With a re-recorded vocal and more traditional/danceable mixes a la the 5th mix, this could have been a hit. While it topped the indie singles chart in the UK, it only reached #63 in the traditional singles chart.

Recycle 09: The Perfect Kiss

2009-08-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

Zip File (82 MB)

The Perfect Kiss
Factory Records FAC 123
Produced New Order
May 1985

Tracklisting:

1. The Perfect Kiss
2. The Kiss Of Death
3. Perfect Pit
4. The Perfect Kiss (7" Edit)
5. The Kiss Of Death (7" Edit)
6. The Perfect Kiss (Ivan Ivan Edit)
7. The Kiss Of Death (Ivan Ivan Edit)
8. The Perfect Kiss (Live Video Version)

1, 2, and 3 sourced from Rough Trade DE 45 RPM 12" single FAC 123/RTD 022T
4 edited from album version, sourced from London Low-Life CD 8573 81313-2
5, 6, and 7 edited from elements of 1, 2, and 3
8 sourced from A Collection DVD

Notes from the restorer:

12" EQ matched to Substance.
4 with considerable bass added to make it fit in better
8 massive high cut and low boost, channels re-synced, phase on highs corrected, extra treble on right channel

This was much more work than I expected. It seems many UK copies have the A-side pressed off-centre, which causes a slight but noticeable wow/pitch fluctuation. I didn't want to gouge out the spindle hole on £50 Note's copy to correct this, so I used my German copy (which I bought new sometime in the early 90s) instead.

The single edits were another matter entirely. As far as we can tell, the first UK single version was simply the album mix coupled with the 5-minute edit of Kiss Of Death on the flip. Since I expect any serious New Order fan already has a copy of Low-Life, I saw no reason in including that here. Anyway, apparently this was withdrawn and replaced with the much shorter Ivan Ivan edits. Outside of the UK, it seems the version released is what I'm presenting here as the" 7" edit. This is the album version with some very minor edits, and the five-minute Kiss Of Death (titled Perfect Kiss Instrumental on some copies) on the flip. I've heard of another withdrawn UK 7" version that supposedly contains unique elements not found anywhere else... but as I've yet to actually hear this, I'm not sure it exists.

The video of the song simply shows the band playing the song in their studio (filmed by Jonathan Demme). What's interesting is that unlike most videos, they're not lip-syncing to the album; they're actually playing the song live, so we've decided to include that here. The video version posed all sorts of problems for me: one channel slightly delayed, phase problems, really messed-up EQ (with less treble on the right channel)... I've been able to fix most of this, but there's still a bit of a comb-filter effect that I can't fix, and the phase between the two channels shifts around a bit at first. And then there's the fact that it sounds like it's out of tune compared to the album and single versions...

...at first, I assumed that the video version was likely playing at the wrong speed, since pitch often goes out the window when videos are converted from film 24 FPS to 25 FPS PAL TV broadcast, or from PAL to NTSC 29.97 FPS. And it's unlikely that the band would retune all their instruments for one song.

But upon closer examination, it turns out that the video is at concert pitch. The album and single versions play about 20 cents flat.

I considered the possibility that the album and single versions had been unwittingly slowed down. This sort of thing is rare, but it does happen (for example, every single copy of Miles Davis' landmark jazz LP Kind Of Blue made until the mid-90s has one side playing half a semitone sharp). Then I discovered that the video and album/single versions, though not in tune, are in near-perfect sync. If you pitch up the album (or slow down the video) they're in tune but they don't stay in sync at all. Since the song has sequencers and drum machines driving the tempo, it would seem unlikely that there would be any tempo variations between versions unless the band wanted them. The best guess I can come up with is that after recording the song, they decided the tempo was slightly too fast, and back then, the only way to address that was to slow the tape down, or re-record the entire song. Thing is, the difference isn't really significant... but it sure does sound rather jarring to hear the album and then the video.

Truly an epic New Order track, The Perfect Kiss has everything that made the band famous: dark lyrics, driving synth chords, automated rhythms, and a long duration that builds into an incredible climax. It's also got a touch of daftness with the non-sequitur of sampled frogs in the middle. :) It marked the first time that a New Order single appeared on one of their albums, although the version on Low-Life is much shorter and a slightly different mix. This version starts to fade out just as the track is reaching its emotional peak.

Surprisingly, the full-length version has never appeared on CD. The version on Substance has about 40 seconds edited out (my favorite part of the song), supposedly done due to timing limits on earlier CDs. This has never been corrected, and the track has never appeared in full anywhere else. So, enjoy it here in its full glory.

This is my favorite song of all time. The full-length version was the first New Order song I ever heard, but it would take another 18 months before things clicked and I started to really get into them. I used to mow lawns after school, and New Order become a constant companion on my Walkman. This song really captured my imagination, and because I hadn't seen the video (and wouldn't until 1989) I'd developed a really elaborate short film in my head that included things like a film noir plot with German dialogue and English subtitles!

The majestic synth jam at the end of the song - particularly starting at the 7:04 mark - still gives me chills 24 years later. When I got to hear it live at Wembley in '06, I nearly cried.

Recycle 08: Murder

2009-08-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

Zip File (21 MB)

Muder
Factory Benelux (Belgium) FBN 22
Produced New Order
May 1984

Tracklisting:

1. Murder
2. Thieves Like Us Instrumental

Sourced from the Substance CD. Just a bit of level adjusting and a slight touch of limiting.

Murder was New Order's second and last exclusive single for Factory Benelux. For a group which had occasionally put very strong songs on B-sides (Cries And Whispers, Lonesome Tonight, 1963), this one seems more like a B-side than an A-side, and was relegated to the B-side disc on the Substance compilation. It's a short song by New Order standards, and not very melodic. Driven by a pounding, somewhat tribal drum rhythm, it's really just a few riffs which repeat throughout the track. It's instrumental aside from some dialogue and music samples from the films Caligula and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Originally intended for Power, Corruption & Lies, Murder was left off at the last minute.

New Order (and Joy Division before them) had a long-standing relationship with film. The band started naming songs after movies because their original rehearsal space had some old posters hanging on the wall: The Sound Of Music (named so by Ian Curtis because he did actually love the movie, but also to be funny), Ice Age (Eiszeit), In A Lonely Place, Cries And Whispers, Age Of Consent, Thieves Like Us, and on Technique we have Vanishing Point, which is not only a film, but the lyrics make a direct reference to Whistle Down The Wind.

To me, Murder is the last of the New Order songs to bear any resemblance to Joy Division. I love this track a lot, and I think it would have been right at home on Power, Corruption & Lies, which has one more film connection in the song Ultraviolence, taking it's title from Clockwork Orange.

What's most interesting to me here is the use of sampled dialogue in lieu of any lyrics. Having bought an E-Mu Emulator in late 1982 - one of the first affordable sampling synthesizers - if the band had actually put this on the album, it would have been the first record to use sampling in such a way. By the late 90's sampled dialogue in dance and industrial music was commonplace.

Just as one would say "a school of fish" or "a flock of sheep", the correct usage is "a murder of crows". In both films, the sampled dialogue deals with murder - either human or mechanical - but in Caligula, Malcolm McDowell keeps seeing crows as an omen of impending death, and he fears them.

Murder is one of the very few songs from the Factory years that was never played live. Best of all is the sleeve, which serves as a night-time counterpart to Thieves Like Us.

Recycle 07: Thieves Like Us

2009-08-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

Zip File (39 MB)

Thieves Like Us
Factory Records FAC 103
Produced by Arthur Baker and New Order
April 1984

Tracklisting:
1. Thieves Like Us
2. Lonesome Tonight
3. Thieves Like Us (Promo 7" Edit)
4. Lonesome Tonight (Promo 7" Edit)

1 and 2 sourced from Substance, 3 and 4 edited from 1 and 2. Just a bit of level adjusting and a slight touch of limiting.

Between '84 and '86 New Order had this odd flirtation with country music. Lonesome Tonight is my favorite of the bunch, but you also get Love Vigilantes, As It Was When It Was, and a principle character in Paradise named Jolene. Drummer Stephen Morris had this to say about the song:

"It came into being as a result of a mild Elvis fixation. The live version of Are You Lonesome Tonight (the one where Elvis changes the lyrics to great comic effect and cracks up in hysterical laughter) was very popular on the New Order car cassette player at the time. I found it very hard to listen to without cracking up in sympathy with The King - and we all like a laugh, don't we? It was at a gig in Ireland I think, stuck for an encore, that Bernard had the idea of doing Lonesome Tonight. Not knowing how the tune goes has never held us back, so in the grand tradition of New Order cover versions we made something up and Bernard sang the Presley lyrics with the odd bit of swearing. We enjoyed it so much it became a semi regular item in the set. The lyrics and music evolved over time until all that remained was the title, which refused to go. I really love Lonesome Tonight, and like 1963 a great lost B side. Although live it could be a bit hit and miss, when it did work it was always fantastic."

The same can be said about Thieves Like Us, which is built around the guitar line from Hot Chocolate's 1974 single Emma. It didn't always sound great live because it's such a dense song, but when it did work, it was magical.

Recycle 06: Confusion

2009-08-04T18:57:00.001-07:00

Zip File (73 MB)

Confusion
Factory Records FAC 93
Produced by Arthur Baker and New Order
August 1983

Tracklisting:
1. Confusion
2. Confused Beats
3. Confusion Instrumental
4. Confusion Rough Mix
5. Confusion (UK Promo Edit)

1 - 4 sourced from Factory NL 45 RPM 12" single FAC 93
5 edited from 1, 2, and 3

Notes from the restorer:

This 12" is cut quite bright and with very little bass, presumably because at ~14 minutes per side at 45 RPM, the mastering would be under similar constraints to an LP except for a little more headroom on the highs. Major bass boost and treble cut were applied to match the Instrumental version on Substance. Although I could've sourced that one track from the CD, I used the vinyl just for consistency.

This was New Order's first effort with Arthur Baker, who had made a name for himself in the New York music scene with his production work on several early and influential hip-hop and dance records. Confusion followed the formula of many dance records at the time in that it had four different mixes of the track on one record, making it ideal for DJs to chop up and remix live. In true dance music fashion, the song has since been remixed many times, first for the Substance compilation, then again in 1990, another time in 1991 for Volume magazine, and quite drastically by The Pump Panel in 1995.

Personally, I don't think this is one of their stronger songs, and the fact that it's quite repetitive only emphasizes its weaknesses. Four mixes is a bit overkill too, unless you really, really like the song... although in all fairness, records like this weren't intended to be heard from beginning to end. I do much prefer this version to the remix on Substance though. I'm assuming it was redone because it seemed dated at the time. However, the Substance version makes heavy use of then-novel DX7 bell-like timbres, and ironically now sounds more dated than the original. I think the version on Substance is overcooked. Every live version I've heard pisses all over the recorded versions - a compact (5 minute) structure, a much heavier beat, harder electro-style sequencer tracks, and Barney and Hooky both playing bass. They stripped out all of the Arthur Baker elements and made it much more their own song.

Recycle 05: Blue Monday

2009-08-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Zip File (35 MB)

Blue Monday
Factory Records FAC 73
Produced by New Order
March 1983

Tracklisting:

1. Blue Monday
2. The Beach
3. Blue Monday (Promo Edit)

1 and 2 sourced from Substance CD, minor edit on 1
3 edited from 1

Notes from the restorer:

Before taking on this project, I'd read quite a bit of discussion about how the version of Blue Monday on the Substance compilation had been slightly edited, with some of the opening beats removed. This would seem perfectly sensible, given that several other songs were edited down for this compilation. But when I compared the original 12" to the CD, it turns out that the opposite is true: the 12" is shorter, having the first two beats trimmed off (well, more like one and three-quarters; you can hear the tail end of the previous beat). So, I edited this one down to match.

I had originally intended to source this from vinyl, as I have a first UK pressing (A1/B1 in the deadwax) which presumably would have the best sonics. To my surprise, there was a pretty significant mastering flaw on the vinyl. It sounds like the tape deck's playback head isn't aligned properly, giving a distracting phase-y quality that occasionally shifts around during the song. You can still hear this slightly on Substance-- particularly in the reverb on the opening beats -- but it's *really* bad on the 12".

I was supplied a file with the promo edit of the song, but since it had clearly originated from a lossy source, I decided to re-create it.

Okay, here comes the big one, at least in terms of impact. A big hit BITD and still getting steady play today, Blue Monday marked a major change in direction for the group. Primarily electronic and well-suited to the dancefloor, it melded the sounds and beats of the underground Hi-NRG scene with post-punk. Depending on your point of view, this was either the beginning of the band's golden era, or the end of it. Much has already been written about the impact and significance of this song, so there's no need for me to rehash it here.

As refreshing as it sounded at the time (and still holds up pretty well today), it wasn't entirely as original as it may have seemed. The same rapid-fire kick drum pattern can be found in Donna Summer's Our Love, from her 1979 Bad Girls LP. The choir sound was sampled from Kraftwerk's Uranium from their 1975 Radio-Activity LP (synth trainspotter note: the sound originated not a Mellotron as is often reported, but a ridiculously obscure instrument called the Vako Orchestron). The Wikipedia entry cites Sylvester's You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and Klein + M.B.O.'s Dirty Talk as influences while Bernard Sumner has also named Patrick Cowley and (by extension of the nod to Donna Summer) Giorgio Moroder.

New Order had a reputation as being very difficult in the early years. Because of Ian Curtis' suicide, the band were reluctant to give interviews, and manager Rob Gretton seized on that and ran with it, helping build a mystique around them as "the band that won't give interviews." Their live sets were often VERY short, say, 40 minutes in length. Peter Hook would play with his back to the audience. He says it wasn't arrogance, it was nerves, and that after 40 minutes of seeing any band live the audience starts to get bored anyway, so it just seemed the right thing to do in keeping the sets short. They didn't play encores because they thought it was fake and pretentious. All rolled together, this behavior often resulted in fights breaking out in the audience, damaged property, people asking for money back, promoters getting pissed off, and general mayhem at the end of a New Order show. It added to the legend.

As a sort of compromise, Blue Monday was an experiment. The band wanted to write a song that could essentially play itself as an encore, giving the crowd what they wanted, and leaving the band backstage to sit and drink the rider. It was born out of 5 8 6, an instrumental piece Stephen Morris had written for the opening of The Haçienda nightclub.

Synthesizers, computers, and sequencers were developing at an alarming rate in the early 80's, but even so, the leap in sound, production, songwriting, and skill between Temptation and Blue Monday - which appeared a mere 10 months later - is staggering.

The promo edit is VERY rare. It's debated whether the UK promo 7" actually exists. Only 25 copies were pressed in Japan, and rumor has it that half of them are in Peter Hook's possession. Nevertheless, a video was made in 1983 (by Stephen Morris) using the short version. It uses lots of Tron-like vector graphics and colorized images of tanks...in other words, it looks like something Front 242 would have done in 1987.

Peter Saville's floppy disc sleeve design was inspired by visiting the band in the studio. He picked up an old-school floppy and asked what it was, and if he could have it. Stephen told him "no, that has the new album on it!" The result was an inner/outer sleeve with a diecut, metallic ink, and 4-color printing for something that would sell at the price of a single. Legend has it Factory actually lost 5 pence on every copy sold, but as it wasn't available in 7" format, it went on to become the best selling 12" single in history. It's gone into the UK Top 20 three separate times.

Although some would argue that it has been unjustly overplayed and that New Order did much better, it's still an outstanding track. It's been covered, sampled, and mashed-up countless times since. It was somewhat pointlessly remixed in 1988 by Quincy Jones (which I'll get to later) and then in 1995, it was even more pointlessly remixed by... well, just about everyone. None of these versions offer any improvement on the original.

Recycle 04: Temptation

2009-08-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

Zip File (64 MB)

Temptation
Factory Records FAC 63
Produced by New Order
April 1982

Tracklisting:

1. Temptation
2. Hurt
3. Temptation (7" Version)
4. Hurt (7" Mix)

1 and 2 sourced from PolyGram Canada 1981 - 1982 CD EP 830 408-2
3 and 4 sourced from Factory UK 33 RPM 7" FAC 63

Notes from the restorer:

This was quite difficult. Major compromises had to be made to fit the 7" versions on disc, even at 33 RPM. The 7" is cut very low, so the surface noise is quite evident. It was mastered with little bass and too much treble. There's a lot of distortion too, but I can't tell what is due to tracing distortion/goove wear and what is due to the mix. In contrast, the 12" versions sound muffled and muddled. So getting all of them to play nice together was no easy task. I'm still not happy with the sound of the 7" versions, but I can't get them any better right now.

Interestingly enough, the 7" was re-issued in 2009. I was provided with a FLAC rip of this, and it sounds... quite different, and not just because the channels were reversed. It seemed clearer, but less open, if that makes any sense. I don't know if this was due to the difference in playback equipment -- which makes a major difference with vinyl -- or mastering, which can also make a major difference. I decided to go with the original Factory issue.

12" versions have a slight (~2dB) cut at about 3K and about +2dB shelving above 10K.
7" versions have about 5dB low/mid boost all the way up to about 1K, and -2dB above 12K. Hurt has some additional cut at about 9K.

Temptation was the band's first self-produced single, and it shows :) . The mix is often very muddled, unfocused, and distorted, and would have really benefited from further refinement, which I guess explains why they did just that when they put it on the Substance compilation.

The song was quite long for the group's standards at the time, and even the 7" version is over 5 minutes long and had to be cut at 33RPM. The vinyl geek in me is tickled by how the 7" is 33 while the 12" is 45, the opposite of the standard for each respective format.

The 7" is not just a different mix, but I'm told a different recording altogether. I had assumed that Hurt was merely an edit of the longer 12" version, but this turned out not to be the case either. It's a different mix, with more reverb and high end (although it's hard to tell due to the vast difference in mastering). A key difference is right around the 3:40 mark. On the 12" version, it breaks down to drums and vocals (run through pitch-shifted delay), while on the 7" the whole band is still there.

Recycle 03: Everything's Gone Green

2009-08-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

Zip File (26 MB)

Everything's Gone Green
Factory Benelux (Belgium) FBN8
Produced by Martin Hannett
November 1981

Tracklisting:

1. Everything's Gone Green (12" Version)
2. Cries And Whispers (usually mis-titled Mesh)
3. Mesh (usually mis-titled Cries And Whispers)

1 and 3 sourced from PolyGram Canada 1981 - 1982 CD EP 830 408-2
2 sourced from Substance

Everything's Gone Green is an unusual New Order single in many ways. First of all, the 12" and B-sides were issued by Factory Benelux, so it was only available in the UK as an import. Second, the A-side was the B-side to Procession, as noted on the previous installment. Third, it was their first recording to feature a sequencer, which would go on to become a defining part of their sound in just a couple of years. It was also their last work to be produced by Martin Hannett. Finally, due to a mix-up on the sleeve, the two B-side tracks had their titles transposed on the Substance compilation, which was never corrected in the 20+ years that the album was in print. The artwork for this bundle has been revised to reflect the correct running order.

While all of these tracks have been issued on CD at some point, the respective discs (both the Factory Benelux issue in 1990, and the Canadian 1981 - 1982 EP) have been out-of-print for many years now.

Recycle 02: Procession

2009-08-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

Zip File (19 MB)

Procession
Factory Records FAC 53
Produced by Martin Hannett
September 1981

Tracklisting:

1. Procession
2. Everything's Gone Green (7" Version)

Sourced from:
1. PolyGram Canada 1981 - 1982 CD EP 830 408-2
2: FAC 53 UK 45 RPM 7" single

Notes from the restorer:

Track 2 was transcribed at 33 RPM, de-clicked, and then pitch-shifted to 45 RPM in the digital domain at which point the remaining processing was done (20Hz highpass filter, convert from stereo to mid/side, noise reduction on side channel only, convert back to stereo, EQ and just a touch of limiting).

The sleeve for this came in no less than 9 different colours. Green was picked to match the B-side. :)

Procession was a bit of an usual choice for a single, lacking any strong melody or riff. Seems that the band feels the same way, since it was relegated to the B-side disc on the Substance compilation. Then again, the single doesn't even list an A or B side, and even the deadwax inscription doesn't provide any clues. The side with Procession has the word "soft", while Everything's Gone Green shows "hard". Nonetheless, all the discographies list Procession as the A-side, so I'll play along.

The version here of Everything's Gone Green is not just an edit of the 12", but a slightly different mix.

Recycle 01: Ceremony

2009-08-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

Zip File (58 MB)

Ceremony
Factory Records FAC 33
Produced by Martin Hannett
March 1981/September 1981

Tracklisting:

1. Ceremony (1st Version)
2. In A Lonely Place (7" Edit)
3. In A Lonely Place
4. Ceremony (2nd Version)
5. In A Lonely Place (Alternate Mix)

Sourced from:
1: FAC 33 Italian 45 RPM 12" single
3: FAC 33 45 RPM UK 12" single (green sleeve, 2nd version of Ceremony on A-side)
4 and 5: current CD issue of Substance
2 edited from 3 to match B-side of FAC 33 Italy

Notes from the restorer:

Despite being spread out over the entire side of a 12" single, the Italian pressing of the original recording has loads of compression on it. I suspect this was applied at the mastering stage but I don't know.

Tracks 1 - 3 were transcribed at 33 RPM, de-clicked, and then pitch-shifted to 45 RPM in the digital domain at which point the remaining processing was done (20Hz highpass filter, convert from stereo to mid/side, noise reduction on side channel only, convert back to stereo, EQ and just a touch of limiting). The 7" edit of In A Lonely Place is nothing more than an early fade of the full-lengh first version.

Slight EQ and a touch of limiting on the tracks sourced from Substance. Nothing drastic.

New Order's first single was initially done during the brief period when the band was a trio, effectively being Joy Division minus Ian Curtis. The song itself was one originally performed by Joy Division. Soon after it's release, Gillian Gilbert joined the band, and the decision was made to re-record the song with her. This second version is much more common today, having been included on the Substance compilation. Personally, I prefer the first version, being much more upfront and having that delightful eerie sound that kicks in at around the 2-minute mark.

The original version is quite difficult to obtain these days, for it was not in print very long. Futhermore, the catalog number was not changed for the new version. The sleeve was changed, however there were still old ones left over, so these were re-used. To complicate things even more, the B-side was ever-so-slighly-remixed too, with the most notable difference being that the synthetic "thunder" noises occur at different times. So, depending when and where you got the record, it may have the first versions on both sides, the new version of side one with the old version of side two, or the new versions of both.

During the course of transcribing this single six distinct pressings/variations were identified.

Recycle

2009-08-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

The purpose of this blog is to archive the work of Joy Division and New Order during their tenure on the legendary Factory Records from Manchester, England. While the stories of both bands have been documented thoroughly in book, film, and CD/box set formats, many of their recordings from 1978-1990 remain unreleased on any other format than the original (now out-of-print) vinyl singles.

The concept for Recycle was proposed by the late Rob Gretton, who was the manager of both bands until his death from a heart attack in 1999. He wanted to release a comprehensive singles box similar to what The Clash, Blondie, and Depeche Mode have done, with each disc collecting all the A-sides, B-sides, and remixes of each single, and house them in miniature sleeves with faithfully restored/reproduced artwork. When Gretton died, the project died with him.

Although London Records/Rhino is about to roll out 2-disc deluxe editions of the five studio albums New Order recorded for Factory, there's not enough room on the bonus discs to collect everything together, and as many of you may know, the first rollout of these discs was a huge disaster, plagued with horrible mastering and culling many tracks from vinyl, despite being promoted as remastered. Most of the master tapes are missing, and it's taken the label almost a year to fix the problems and get remanufactured discs into the stores.

New Order was such a singles band that it seems criminal not to give them the singles box treatment. Substance isn't even in print anymore, so it's back to the basics. Sourcing from my personal collection and working closely with a friend who is an audio restoration expert (along with input from a small circle of other superfans), I'll be posting Recycle as a virtual box set of 20 singles, from 1981's Ceremony to 1990's World In Motion, providing detailed notes and anecdotes along the way.

A few things you should know:

- The files are in AAC/iTunes format at 256kbps. They are already fully tagged and ready for your iPod. They will not be made available in any other format.

- Each folder also contains jpegs of the sleeves (7", 12" and CD formats).

- Documentation of the artwork restoration process can be found here.

- Using files found in the above link, creative types can assemble their own minature sleeves following these instructions.

I hope you enjoy this project as much as I do. It's something I've wanted to do for a very long time and has reaffirmed just how important this music has been in my life. Whether you've been a fan since the early days or have just discovered Joy Division and New Order, if you like what you hear, please support the band by purchasing their catalog.

Cheers, and thanks for listening.

DJ £50 Note