Exceptionally early this Wednesday and not really my time but somehow I want to introduce this slab, the extroverted debut of a band that has been with me since the early 80s: New Order, surely everyone of you knows well. They were formed 1980 by vocalist & guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris. Info: The band formed after the demise of Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis; they were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville. The initial release as New Order was the single "Ceremony", backed with "In A Lonely Place". These two songs were written in the weeks before Curtis took his own life. With the release of Movement in November 1981, the band initially started on a similar route as their previous incarnation, performing dark, melodic songs, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers. They viewed the period as a low point, as they were still reeling from Curtis' death. Hook commented that the only positive thing to come out of the Movement sessions was that producer Martin Hannett had showed the band how to use a mixing board, which allowed them to produce records by themselves from then on. More recently, Hook indicated a change of heart: "I think Movement gets a raw deal in general really - for me, when you consider the circumstances in which it was written, it is a fantastic record." Numerous albums & singles have been released and none of them sound like the previous ones, that's the great thing about the band, they develop and try out the equipment that is available and Movement is the beginning of a long musical diversity. Great music from a great band.
great!
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