New Order
Movement: The Factory Years; Power, Corruption & Lies: The Factory Years; Low-Life: The Factory Years; Brotherhood: The Factory Years; Technique: The Factory Years
Reviewed by Marc Savlov, Fri., Dec. 19, 2008
New Order
Movement: The Factory Years (Rhino/Warner Bros./London)New Order
Power, Corruption & Lies: The Factory Years (Rhino/Warner Bros./London)New Order
Low-Life: The Factory Years (Rhino/Warner Bros./London)New Order
Brotherhood: The Factory Years (Rhino/Warner Bros./London)New Order
Technique: The Factory Years (Rhino/Warner Bros./London)Joy Division's abrupt end via the suicide of singer Ian Curtis on May 18, 1980, begot New Order, guitarist Bernard Sumner replacing Curtis on vocals; Peter Hook stepping up his bass playing, which would become the band's driving sonic signature; and partner in rhythm, drummer Stephen Morris, bringing in his girlfriend, Gillian Gilbert, to handle keyboards and more guitars. Until 2007's disbanding, and like the serpent that gains sustenance from its hindmost, New Order rarely played a gig without including at least one Joy Division song. New Order's first five albums with Factory Records, here remastered and each with a bonus disc of remixes, B-sides, rough studio gems, and comprehensive liner notes by Ian Harrison, compose the most audacious and formidable run of post-punk pop ever attempted. Movement (1981) is shaded by the hanged leader: the tribal, driving "Denial"; the ethereal sorrow of "Doubts Even Here"; and a rougher take on "Ceremony." It's the wake prior to the Ecstasy-influenced Power, Corruption & Lies (1983) and the beginning of the band's club-friendly age of condescension. Gilbert's famously rampant keyboards announced "Blue Monday" (still the bestselling 12-inch of all time), alongside overlooked gem "Murder," its eerie samples from Caligula and 2001: A Space Odyssey. John Hughes loved Low-Life (1985), scoring Pretty in Pink with singles "Shellshock" and bits of the 17:30-minute "Elegia," but it's the oft-covered "Love Vigilantes" that scores your heart. Brotherhood (1986) remains fitfully chaotic, proto-cyberpunk poetics, including a propulsive rechristening of "Blue Monday" as "Beach Buggy" (as opposed to the jauntier "Blue Monday '88," also included). New Order's final work with Tony Wilson's Factory was 1989's Technique, an album of shiny, happy, floor-fillers ("Round & Round," "Vanishing Point") and better: the "Call in the Carbinieri" mix of England's World Cup 1986 anthem, "World in Motion." UK striker Gary Lineker exited Mexico with the Golden Shoe, but it was Manchester's New Order that consistently brought home the coolest gold of all.
(Movement; Power, Corruption & Lies; Technique) 
(Brotherhood) 
(Low-Life)
