Tag Archive: New Order


LOU REED’S SAD SONGS

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May 20, 2013

LOU REED’S BERLIN directed by Julian Schnabel (USA, 2008)

What’s the saddest record you own?

Some contenders from my collection would be Leonard Cohen’s Songs From A Room, Neil Young’s Tonight’s The Night, Richard Buckner’s Devotion And Doubt, Joy Division’s Closer, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s I See A Darkness and Gorecki’s Symphony No 3.

Top of the list, though, would have to be Lou Reed’s Berlin.

I bought this on vinyl when I was 17, and to this day there’s not an album that can touch it for unremitting bleakness.

The songs are fearlessly uncompromising, covering topics like domestic violence, suicide, drug abuse and distraught kids in broken homes.

Reed writes of personal grief without filter and drags you into a world of pain with no attempt to make this suffering seem glamorous or cool. Continue reading →

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BACKTRACKING #15 : NEW ORDER (Fac.53)

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May 10, 2011

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

New Order – Procession  b/w Everything’s Gone Green
(A Factory Record, 1981)

If New Order were going to establish an identity of their own they had to establish a sound that was radically different from Joy Division.

This took time to perfect but already with this, their second single, they set a marker for the more upbeat, electro-pop that they have become known for.  This is particularly true of the B-side which is the better of the two excellent songs.

The lyrics to Procession still have  some of the morbidity of Joy Division (“There is no end to this / I can’t turn away / Another picture but the scene / It’s just the same”) but he sound is a little lighter and Sumner doesn’t seem to be trying to imitate Ian Curtis.

Martin Hannett died in April 1981 aged 42 and Everything’s Gone Green was the last track he produced for the band. He ended on a high note and the song was later released as an A side.

The track shows a dynamism absent from the A side and from their debut album, Movement.

Peter Saville’s sleeve design is equally bold, taking ideas from the Italian Futurist movement.

Groove notations read SOFT  for side A and HARD for the B side.

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BACKTRACKING #14 – NEW ORDER (Fac.33)

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May 7, 2011

Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)

New Order – Ceremony b/w In A lonely Place (A Factory Record, 1981)

I went to see New Order live at the Forum Ballroom, Kentish Town, London on Wednesday, 6th May 1981.

The atmosphere was electric and the intense mood was set by playing Lou Reed’s ‘Sad Song’ from ‘Berlin’ over the PA system immediately before they took the stage.

The sound quality was poor and Sumner’s vocals seemed strained. He was never a natural singer and I wouldn’t have been surprised if  New Order had split after one album. I don’t think he was ever comfortable as a Curtis imitator and they needed to change direction to get away from the past.

In 1981, they were still very much into the Gothic post-punk phase; still young men with the weight of the world on their shoulders. Continue reading →

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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO WOVENHAND

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December 2, 2010

According to Wikipedia, Colorado has an above average proportion of citizens who claim no religion – David Eugene Edwards is not among them.

Born in the city of Eaglewood in 1968, he makes no secret of the fact that he is a committed Christian who literally believes every word of the Bible.  He spent many of his formative years accompanying his grandfather, a Nazarene preacher, as he travelled through small towns to spread the word of the gospel.

In touring as leader of Alt.Country band 16 Horsepower, and now of  Wovenhand,  Edwards is a type of modern-day roving preacher-man delivering his sermons in the form of mostly very bleak songs.

He leaves the listener  in no doubt  that the wages of sin signify death and the prospect of eternal life in Christ doesn’t seem to provide much in the way of consolation or joy. Continue reading →

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