ALBUM REVIEW: New Order – ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes ..
In July 2017, New Order returned to Manchester’s Old Granada Studios, where Joy Division had made their TV debut on Tony Wilson’s So It Goes programme way back in 1978.
With the help of visual artists Liam Gillick they deconstructed, rethought and rebuilt a wealth of material from throughout their career, over five nights, as part of the Manchester International Festival..
If you’re expecting a live New Order greatest hits with a few Joy Division classics thrown in, you’ll be disappointed; there’s no Transmission, Love Will Tear Us Apart, She’s Lost Control or Atmosphere, no Blue Monday, Temptation, Regret or True Faith.
But if you’re ready for a deeper exploration of the rich back catalogue of one of the UK’s best bands of the last 40 years, you’re in for a treat.
The album, released on triple vinyl, double CD and download, includes the full show and encore from July 13, plus three extra tracks performed during the residency to give a full flavour of the material.
Things begin in low-key fashion with the instrumental Times Change, followed by Who’s Joe from 2005’s ninth studio album Waiting For The Sirens’ Call.
Things take an unexpected but welcome turn four songs in when they launch into a thrilling Disorder, the first track on Joy Division’s debut Unknown Pleasures – and not played live since 1980.
Even the absence of the long-estranged Peter Hook doesn’t detract from the song, with Tom Chapman handling its delicious bassline most adeptly, and Bernard Sumner doing justice to the late Ian Curtis’s vocals.
‘Barney’ tells the adoring crowd “I never had to play and sing that at the same time – I hope I’ve mastered the art!”
There’s plenty more twists and turns where that one came from, with Ultraviolence unwrapped for the first time since 1984, and the classic Sub-Culture getting its first live airing in 28 years.
The sparse In A Lonely Place, written before Curtis’s death and recorded as the B-side to New Order’s first single, Ceremony, is a standout moment, driven by Stephen Morris’s drums and a 12-song synth ensemble from the Royal Northern College of Music.
Main set closer Plastic, from 2015’s top five album Music Complete, brings things right up to date.
It shows New Order can be as relevant today as they were 30 years ago, when they were releasing dance-rock classics like Shellshock and Bizarre Love Triangle, which are also featured here.
If you don’t just want to hear the hits, this is an essential album. 8/10.
