Album: Power, Corruption & Lies
Artist: New Order
Born: Salford, Greater Manchester
Released: May 1983
Genre: Indie Dance
Influenced: Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy
The creations of New Order after the death of Ian Curtis is one of pop's great transformations. While grieving their friend's death, the remaining three members took solace in the New York club scene and were inspired by pioneering hip hop and dance music, such as Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock, to completely reinvent their sound. This transition can be heard on New Order's first LP, Movement, with the addition of synths and electro beats, but the shadow of Joy Division still loomed large over the record. It wasn't until the following year, with the release of single Temptation (1982), that New Order's rebirth as dance music innovators was complete. Temptation was their first release without Martin Hannett as producer, Bernard Sumner now confident enough to take on mixing as well as lead vocal duties, and Gillian Gilbert also now part of the line-up on keyboards. This unleashed a period of boundless creativity for the band, notably Blue Monday, which now sounds like the missing link between 70s disco and late 80s house music. Power, Corruption & Lies didn't contain either of those two singles, yet it's still New Order's crowning glory.
Blue Monday evolved out of an early version of 586 called Prime 586/Video 586, a 20-minute track that was played at the opening night of the Haçienda in May 1982. On two Power, Corruption & Lies songs, Ultraviolence and 586, you can hear the same rhythm elements as used on Blue Monday. Though opener Age Of Consent is brimming with energy, the album is far from a sustained burst of dancefloor positivity, and I like the light and shade throughout. Age Of Consent is full of dreamy synths, Peter Hook's shining bassline and Sumner's passionate singing and yelps, but then the mood darkens on We All Stand, as the band experiment with dub and lyrics exploring that familiar Ian Curtis territory of the borderline between life and death. Then the mood lifts with The Village, as Sumner sings of a love "like the flowers, the rain and the sea and the hours", and it feels like a rebirth, a transformation from gothic to romantic (as emphasised by the album cover). This emotional intensity peaks on Your Silent Face, which to me sounds like an elegy to Ian Curtis, in the same way Shine On You Crazy Diamond was to Syd Barrett. Your Silent Face is the heart of the album, its magnificent opening wearing its Kraftwerk and Augustus Pablo influences proudly on its sleeve, but the really affecting element is Sumner's vocals. Leave Me Alone channels the same emotional power. This is where New Order really emerge from Ian Curtis' shadow and on the band's subsequent 80s releases, like Low-Life and Technique, this dramatic tension eases off and the light pours in more and more.
The creations of New Order after the death of Ian Curtis is one of pop's great transformations. While grieving their friend's death, the remaining three members took solace in the New York club scene and were inspired by pioneering hip hop and dance music, such as Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock, to completely reinvent their sound. This transition can be heard on New Order's first LP, Movement, with the addition of synths and electro beats, but the shadow of Joy Division still loomed large over the record. It wasn't until the following year, with the release of single Temptation (1982), that New Order's rebirth as dance music innovators was complete. Temptation was their first release without Martin Hannett as producer, Bernard Sumner now confident enough to take on mixing as well as lead vocal duties, and Gillian Gilbert also now part of the line-up on keyboards. This unleashed a period of boundless creativity for the band, notably Blue Monday, which now sounds like the missing link between 70s disco and late 80s house music. Power, Corruption & Lies didn't contain either of those two singles, yet it's still New Order's crowning glory.
Blue Monday evolved out of an early version of 586 called Prime 586/Video 586, a 20-minute track that was played at the opening night of the Haçienda in May 1982. On two Power, Corruption & Lies songs, Ultraviolence and 586, you can hear the same rhythm elements as used on Blue Monday. Though opener Age Of Consent is brimming with energy, the album is far from a sustained burst of dancefloor positivity, and I like the light and shade throughout. Age Of Consent is full of dreamy synths, Peter Hook's shining bassline and Sumner's passionate singing and yelps, but then the mood darkens on We All Stand, as the band experiment with dub and lyrics exploring that familiar Ian Curtis territory of the borderline between life and death. Then the mood lifts with The Village, as Sumner sings of a love "like the flowers, the rain and the sea and the hours", and it feels like a rebirth, a transformation from gothic to romantic (as emphasised by the album cover). This emotional intensity peaks on Your Silent Face, which to me sounds like an elegy to Ian Curtis, in the same way Shine On You Crazy Diamond was to Syd Barrett. Your Silent Face is the heart of the album, its magnificent opening wearing its Kraftwerk and Augustus Pablo influences proudly on its sleeve, but the really affecting element is Sumner's vocals. Leave Me Alone channels the same emotional power. This is where New Order really emerge from Ian Curtis' shadow and on the band's subsequent 80s releases, like Low-Life and Technique, this dramatic tension eases off and the light pours in more and more.
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