In Praise Of : New Order's 'Movement'

I saw Taras Schevchenko last year and thought the music was nice but the band wasn't much to look at despite their intense circles, although it's always nice when someone doesn't posture and just plays.

"Unknown Pleasures" wasn't 40 minutes of production genius?

Several ILM regulars have been very vocal about "Movement" being their fave NO album!

"Blue Monday"? "Confusion"?

Most of us are on this thread!

I would imagine that Sumner felt a lot of pressure to emulate Curtis.

Movement is not just my favourite New Order album but my favourite album of all time. It took several plays for me to really connect with it, though and even then I didn't realize just how strongly I felt about it until about 10 years had passed. When I hear it today it still hits me exactly the same way as it did 20 years ago. It's lost none of its power, and sounds like it comes from a different planet: a barren, frozen landscape at permanent dusk.

While I accept that it can't help but be in his shadow - the phrase 'memorial album' sounds like a hollow tribute, trying but failing to *be as good as* JD. My whole point is that musically it hasn't got much to do with JD, it's a NEW sound.

Also don't underestimate the resolve of these guys - they were strong enough to carry on and make something entirely new. They were out and gigging again 3 months after Ian died.

Nearly.

Bummed - no. Sounds like they're playing at the back of a giant aircraft hanger. I am warming to it slightly, but I think MH was over the hill by then.

Nearly.

Sorry to stray off-topic, but where do you think Hannett misses the mark on UP, Dr. C? I'll wager a guess that you'll say "Interzone", and maybe "Wilderness".

While comparing it to Joy Division is inevitable, it often seems like people deride it for sounding "too much" like Joy Division - as if it weren't within New Order's right to do so. I mean, 3/4 of the band co-wrote and played on every recording of each Joy Division song. Ian Curtis was not Joy Division any more than Peter Hook's bass was Joy Division.

Anyway.

I view Movement as a natural progression from Closer, "Atmosphere" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart." I love Hannett's production, though the band wasn't pleased with the final result (to say the least, it wasn't an easy album to make) despite it not sounding terribly different than the Peel session versions of some of these tracks.

I don't know what to say about the songs which hasn't already been said. Movement makes me want to walk after dark under the cold glare of streetlights - a lot of shadows with sudden bursts of blinding brightness.

My other JD weirdness is that I prefer the BBC recordings to any of the others--but I actually know a few others who concur with that one.

UP is a fine production - I just think Movement is the one production you'd play to someone if you wanted to convince them of his greatness.

Funny how Hooky didn't sing any more in New Order. He's superb on Movement. I've just been listening to the Ceremony demo with Steve Morris singing! He was OK too.

Thursday May 5 at The Hiro Ballroom (Maritime Hotel)

Girls & Boys and GBH presents

NEW ORDER (DJ set) featuring Peter Hook and the Official Concert After
Party along with DJs Alex English, Alex Malfunction and
Shawn Christiansen of stellarstarr*

Hosted by Filter Magazine, + 1, and Cornerstone

Limited Tickets $8 on sale starting Wednesday April 27 at www.GBH.tv
or GBH box office(open 12pm-6pm)153 W. 27 St. Ste 1107
bet 6 and 7aves.

$12 at the door

Doors Open 10pm-4am

Hiro Ballroom 363 W. 16 St and 9 Ave

are you talking about Movement? or something else?

Hence this album, without any pomp, any affectedness, made of transparent songs, all built on three chords, or very nearly. The clarity of inspiration and the - apparent - ease of some arrangements of the record will cause - or has caused, as they probably have all bought it, a serious surprise for those who considered Joy Division only as a gloomy gothic band. Starting from Joy Division's intense and
groping lucidity, New Order has reached a plain and appeased clairvoyance. Ian Curtis's terrorized voice, while breaking the organized din of the band, gave to the release the bitter taste of a fall.
Absent and serene, Albrecht's voice, mixed as if from a distance, seems to harmonioulsy and willingly find its place in the thickness of the whole lot.

The unofficial EP that was available at New Rose last fall, already featured the four best songs of "Movement" : "Dreams Never End", "Truth", "Senses" and "I.C.B.". I must confess that it is the first time for me, that the words "hypnotic", "under a spell", or even "oriental" have an entirely positive meaning to describe music. These tracks filled with salient nervures, made of a miraculously pacified tension, condemn the more and more boring and overestimated The Cure to the incurable autistic lodge they belong to. Cure provoke a smug apathy in their audience : they are Madras Radio, the
snake-charmer radio. New Order are million miles away from Cure's whining complacency, in its grey emptiness. Things are limpid, open, clear, cut out, sharp. Joy Division's music was nyctalopic, it could see with a supernatural accuracy in the darkness of inner chaos. New Order freely sails in the full light of day. The dizziness created by "Movement" originates from this extreme precision, from this pure clarity and brightness : guitars with geometrical arpeggios, pour into a naked wilderness, irrigated by a dense and liquid rhythmic basis, where drums clashes burst out, never misplaced, and
furious electronic squeak blasts hiss. Its pictorial equivalent would be Mondrian's geometrical strict and hallucinated compositions.

Everywhere I see people giving this record a chilly reception or even ignoring it. People are put out because it is too simple, not mysterious or enigmatic - or God knows what else - enough. It displeases because it is too restrained. But I would not trade this intense moderation and this cleared emotion for anything in the world, all that mediocrity, all these conceited guys we had to endure for years, with their artistic pretentions. With their permission, they are no Otis Redding - that demands a lot. It demands a lot to be New Order too.

for me, "denial" is the absolute be-all and end-all: my love of post-rock and post-metal has its genesis in the first time i ever heard this track. it takes my breath away every single time.

(xpost)

I assume you mean from the Western Works demo? I'm glad you brought that up actually because this thread made me think of that song "Homage" in the sense that when people say Movement lacks something because it's a "transitional" album, etc. I would say it's "Homage" where they sound rough like they're just getting their bearings rather than on the album itself. It's a good thing they scrapped that song because as much of a fan as I am I've never been able to see the worth in it. I haven't played the Western Works demo in a long time actually because I recall the sound quality being atrocious, but I've pulled it out just now and yes the overall impression is still that they just didn't have their act together yet, it's awful really. Steven's vocals are okay, but only just. He has no problem hitting the notes, but has a pretty high pitched voice compared to the others and (understandbly) lacks confidence.

I like the fact that you've called attention to Hooky's vocals. It's not something I've really given a lot of thought to, actually, but it struck me today what a superb job he really did of it. It's also interesting to revisit the more restrained and consistent approach he takes on the studio version of "Doubts Even Here" in comparison to the live versions I've become accustomed to where he's liable to use a bit more force and volume.

I was very convinced by mark s's argument that Closer is really the first New Order album (versus Movement being a JD hangover). The two albums seem very connected to me, rather than there being some sort of radical break.

Okay so I'm cheating and listening to the Peel Session versions now (that version of "I.C.B." in particular is absolute godhead) but I still say, even after all these years that this album is my favourite of all time. I didn't expect to come to that conclusion so late in the game, really. But here it is again in my life and I just know music never really gets any better than this album for me. Ever. Dare I say even Everything's Gone Green cowers below it?

When I hear this album I just feel like I'm home. That's all I know. It makes me feel like I've come home to something.

Everything's Gone Green has been my favourite song of all time for about 10 years now, but after listening to this album heavily for the past week, (Inspired by the talk of an ILXor djing a Halloween party with Movement and nothing else) Chosen Time could very nearly top it. Since nobody has ever re-edited it and doubled it in length I may have to give it a go myself.

Hey, I care! Downloaded them yesterday, gave a listen.

I haven't expressed much excitement because a) I've been listening to their Scamps, Blackpool show (performed two days before the WW demos!) and b) girls distract me.

ha! just watching that bbc live footage... christ! bernard sumner can't sing for shit, nor can he play guitar very well, even easy stuff. peter hook does the same exact thing in every song, gilian just held down 2 notes on some argegiator preset through the whoe song, and the drumming, while not being as noticeably bad as the rest of them, is sloppy. how on earth did they ever manage to become the best band of the 80's?

therein lies the beauty of new order.

and yet, perfect kiss is out there wild in the world, gainsaying all naysayers.

Okay people, look. You're supposed to get excited about this. The thread can't just die. You can actually hear HOMAGE now, clearly, okay? YOU CAN HEAR THE SONG CLEARLY FOR THE FIRST TIME. This is an early New Order fan's wet dream. Ah, but never mind. Carry on not caring.

'Homage' is not terribly good though, is it?

I have the whole show on a VHS in the loft somewhere.

It was simultaneously broadcast in stereo on Radio 1, I had that on cassette (they finished the version of Confusion (or was it Temptation), which faded out on the TV, but god knows where *that* cassette is)

― Mark G, Tuesday, 9 December 2008 10:35 (4 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Actually, do you know what? I *think* I had the stereo sound from the Radio 1 broadcast fed into the VHS instead of the mono terrestrial sound. So, the NO session continues whereas the BBC pics go to something else.

Still haven't actually found it tho.

Frankly, I spent ages downloading stuff to deal with Flac and RAR files or whatever, and wished I hadn't bothered. Still love Movement though.

NEW ORDER: Movement (Factory).

The clean, industrial sound of New Order fulfills all the expectations that inevitably result from their history (Joy Division) without being predictable. Insistent, itching rhythms underly music that is electronic but human (even romantic!), sometimes beautiful and often melancholy. Only the vocals let it down by their characterlessness. Let's have more passion, please! Bernard Albrecht, Peter Hooke, Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris are Very Serious Young People as tracks like "Truth", "Sensors" and "Denial" underline. And there's nothing wrong with that.

(8 out of 10)

Neil Tennant

-Taken from Smash Hits album reviews, November 26th 1981 - page 25.

Note: Everything typed above is how it actually appears.

AHHHH

http://ventsmagazine.com/2018/12/19/new-order-announce-release-of-movement-definitive-edition-boxed-set/

TRACKLISTING
LP / CD1 (original album)
Dreams Never End
Truth
Senses
Chosen Time
ICB
The Him
Doubts Even Here
Denial
CD2 (previously unreleased tracks)

Dreams Never End (Western Works Demo)
Homage (Western Works Demo)
Ceremony (Western Works Demo)
Truth (Western Works Demo)
Are You Ready For This? (Western Works Demo)
The Him (Cargo Demo)
Senses (Cargo Demo)
Truth (Cargo Demo)
Dreams Never End (Cargo Demo)
Mesh (Cargo Demo)
ICB (Cargo Demo)
Procession (Cargo Demo)
Cries And Whispers (Cargo Demo)
Doubts Even Here (Instrumental) (Cargo Demo)
Ceremony (1st Mix – Ceremony Sessions)
Temptation (Alternative 7”)
Procession (Rehearsal Recording)
Chosen Time (Rehearsal Recording)

New Order – Movement DVD
Live Shows
Hurrah’s, NY 1980
In A Lonely Place
Procession
Dreams Never End
Mesh
Truth
Cries & Whispers
Denial
Ceremony
Recorded on 27th September, 1980.
Produced, directed and filmed by Merrill Aldighieri

Peppermint Lounge, NY 1981
In A Lonely Place
Dreams Never End
Chosen Time
ICB
Senses
Denial
Everything’s Gone Green
Hurt – instrumental
Temptation

TV Sessions
Granada Studios 1981
Doubts Even Here
The Him
Procession
Senses
Denial

BBC Riverside 1982
Temptation
Chosen Time
Procession
Hurt – instrumental
Senses
Denial
In A Lonely Place

Extras
Ceremony CoManCHE Student Union 1981
In A Lonely Place Toronto 1981
Temptation Soul Kitchen, Newcastle 1982
Hurt Le Palace, Paris 1982
Procession Le Palace, Paris 1982
Chosen Time Pennies 1982
Truth The Haçienda 1983
ICB Minneapolis 1983

12” Singles
Ceremony (version 1)
Recorded at Eastern Artists Recordings in East Orange, New Jersey, during the US visit the previous September, New Order’s first single might, in an alternative universe, have been Joy Division’s next. The 12” single, originally released in March 1981 (the 7” having been released in January) including the original version of ‘Ceremony’, will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.
Side 1
Ceremony (version 1)
Side 2
In A Lonely Place
Ceremony (version 2)
The alternative, re-recorded version of ‘Ceremony’ now also featuring Gillian Gilbert in the band was released later in 1981 and will feature the later alternative ‘cream’ sleeve rather than the original green and copper. This 12” will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.
Side 1
Ceremony (version 2)
Side 2
In A Lonely Place
Everythings Gone Green
Originally released on Factory Benelux in December 1981, this 12” featured Everythings Gone Green, which had previously been on the reverse of the band’s second 7” single ‘Procession’ in September 1981,and ‘Cries And Whispers’ and ‘Mesh’ whose titles were flipped on the cover causing confusion amongst fans and compilers ever since. This 12” will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.
Side 1
Everythings Gone Green
Side 2
Cries And Whispers
Mesh
Temptation
Featuring the full versions of both tracks this 12” was first release in May 1982 and were the first self-produced released recordings. With ‘Temptation’ being a cast iron New Order classic, this is an essential part of any New Order collection. This 12” will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.
Side 1
Temptation
Side 2
Hurt

remix:

12” Singles

Ceremony (version 1)

Recorded at Eastern Artists Recordings in East Orange, New Jersey, during the US visit the previous September, New Order’s first single might, in an alternative universe, have been Joy Division’s next. The 12” single, originally released in March 1981 (the 7” having been released in January) including the original version of ‘Ceremony’, will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.

Side 1

Ceremony (version 1)

Side 2

In A Lonely Place

Ceremony (version 2)

The alternative, re-recorded version of ‘Ceremony’ now also featuring Gillian Gilbert in the band was released later in 1981 and will feature the later alternative ‘cream’ sleeve rather than the original green and copper. This 12” will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.

Side 1

Ceremony (version 2)

Side 2

In A Lonely Place

Everythings Gone Green

Originally released on Factory Benelux in December 1981, this 12” featured Everythings Gone Green, which had previously been on the reverse of the band’s second 7” single ‘Procession’ in September 1981,and ‘Cries And Whispers’ and ‘Mesh’ whose titles were flipped on the cover causing confusion amongst fans and compilers ever since. This 12” will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.

Side 1

Everythings Gone Green

Side 2

Cries And Whispers

Mesh

Temptation

Featuring the full versions of both tracks this 12” was first release in May 1982 and were the first self-produced released recordings. With ‘Temptation’ being a cast iron New Order classic, this is an essential part of any New Order collection. This 12” will feature remastered audio on heavyweight vinyl.

Side 1

Temptation

Side 2

Hurt

I am looking forward to this because I never did get the two CD reissues after all the kerfluffle about sound quality, so if this is a full new series, I'm happily on board.

Yeah, this looks amazing. Hopefully Mute don't fuck up the actual box like they did with the Music Complete set. Going to wait to read reviews of the sound quality before shelling out big bucks for this though. Been burned by New Order reissues many times in the past.

putting out four 12"s instead of a 3rd disc in the album plays like a fuckup to me

putting out four 12"s instead of a 3rd disc in the album plays like a fuckup to me

Exactly what I said on Twitter. Why aren't the 12"s in the box set? You know damn well why not. ($$$)

this makes me really glad that I already have all those 12"s ripped and hard filed, the hell with remasters

wait, aren't the 12"s part of the box set?

No.

it might be both? lots of people might want just some of the 12s, fuck a box set imo

I kinda just want the CDs, I'm already swimming in New Order 12"s

Ah, I see. They're in the 'bundle' for 150. I have all the 12"s already, but if these sound good, i'd rather play the reissues than the originals. BTW, my original 12" of Ceremony (green sleeve, 1st version) sounds phenomenal. I can hear the guitar in the background so much clearer than on any other CD or vinyl version.

hey f.hazel, i'm looking to complete my collection and I am missing a couple 94/95 singles, and the Jetstream promo with a J on the front. if you're looking to get rid of some, i'm looking to buy.

Thanks to this thread for turning me on to that Taras Chevchenko performance, which is incredible. I agree that it throws the Movement tracks into a whole new (Hannett-free) light.

What is Peter Hook playing at that concert - is that a 6-string bass, or did the band just have 2 guitars at this point?
Also, interesting that Hook never got a lead vocal again after "Dreams Never End"... it's not like his voice is any worse than Bernie's.

^ (what is Hooky playing on the first few songs, I should say -- he seems to switch back and forth with a regular 4-string bass later in the set)

New Order 12" reissues is a weird move. All decent used record stores seem to have loads. Plus I got a pristine Ceremony cream sleeve off Discogs for $20 just last year.

All accounts I've read talk about how none of them wanted to sing. I'm surprised Hook wasn't stuck with it again.

I am all over this if they're mastered properly!

Also thanks to this thread for being, IIRC, my introduction to ILM all of 13 years ago.

"Also, interesting that Hook never got a lead vocal again after "Dreams Never End"."

doesn't he sign Doubts Even Here? Or is that Barney trying to be Ian Curtis?

sing obviously, i haven't had any coffee yet

pretty sure that's Hook

Once I untangled the grammar on the wikipedia page for that song, I confirmed that Hook did indeed sing Doubts Even Here:

This led to a dispute over who should fill Curtis' shoes with the lead vocalist role. All three male members were in contention, but due to Bernard Sumner's voice being significantly different from Curtis', New Order opted for him to take the role, wanting New Order's sound to be different from Joy Division's. Ironically with this new vocalist, in addition to "Doubts Even Here", the first track ("Dreams Never End") on the first album recorded by New Order, Movement, is sung by bassist Peter Hook.

so I bought Movement: The Definitive Edition with some unexpected catsitting money, and it's pretty great. the box and book and everything are very nice, but the real treasures are the two bonus discs, a CD and a DVD. The CD has the Western Works demos and the Cargo demos and some other neat stuff, but the DVD is so great! Four live shows (two in clubs, two in studios) from 1980-1982 showcasing all kinds of possible New Orders before they settled in and the recordings sound really good. Presumably it's mostly stuff that has been out there floating around but it's nice to have it all together... so far liking most the Cargo demos, a sorta un-Hannetted Movement and the Peppermint Lounge show from 1981 with a bonkers version of Temptation I think I've heard before but is delightful. By the 1982 versions they've already pretty much locked it down.

gross title

they wisely did not emboss that on the front of the box or anywhere inside on the artwork, only only the one-sheet stuck to the back (which can be removed)

I want to say clips from some of those live sets show up in the New Order Story doc.

> unexpected catsitting money

what? that's a great title

Some Unexpected Catsitting Money was the working title of Some Great Reward, IIRC.

Anyway, the Cargo demos are so fucking good, let me reiterate. I don't know if it's more the fresh sound of an album I've been listening to for thirty years now, or if it really just works better without the Hannett sheen... Unknown Pleasures for me was certainly drastically improved by his production (vs the Warsaw demos), but I dunno about Movement. They buried the vocals on the original Movement, but I really like them being way forward in the mix on the Cargo demos.

The guitar on the Cargo version of Dreams Never End sounds like some great lost Galaxie 500 track (Hook singing on that track... quite alarming) but his vocals work on Mesh, with the bass on that one there's a nice Gang of Four thing going. And the stripped-down Doubts Even Here has a nice Seventeen Seconds thing going. As I said, it's like a catalog of possible New Orders, before they chose.

Why is "Procession" nowhere to be found in all this remastering and reissuing? Just because it was a 7"? Or have I missed it somehow?

Too bad the 12"s don't seem to be available digitally - no CD or download.

It's on both the recent-ish Movement reissues (2CD deluxe has the original 7" version and the Definitive Edition has six various demo/live versions) and on the re-remastered Singles compilation.

You can download the singles here - in the uk anyway

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/interpreter/new-order/download-streaming-albums?s=rdc#results

I think they are on iTunes too