Before we get around to talking about the stupid band New Order’s dumb 1982 EP “1981-Factus 8-1982,” please allow me to say that one of the things I force myself to do as a responsible music critic is what I call Prejudice Testing. This entails my listening to the music of a contemptible band or musical artist I’ve loathed for decades without going to the unnecessary effort of actually listening to them.
The completely lame English band New Order is such a band. My reasons for not listening to New Order were two-fold. One, they were, as we all know, just Joy Division without Ian Curtis, and seeing as how Ian Curtis is the only reason I liked Joy Division, why bother listening to the riff-raff behind him?
They were bound to suck, and in my mind, the best thing they could have done after Curtis’ death was give up music and take desk jobs at a travel agency. Two, it was my understanding that New Order specialized in a smarty-pants species of synthesizer-heavy dance music, which has never been my idea of a good time. And they didn’t sound like much fun, which is the only reason I listen to synthesizer-heavy dance music in the first place. Be brainless or go home, that’s always been my philosophy.
In most cases, my Prejudice Testing confirms my long-held and completely ignorant distaste. Nick Cave really is the pompous windbag and Lazarus-voiced poet manque of modern rock; the music of Oingo Boingo is as dumb as its name; and The The are indeed boring boring. And I could go on.
But in some cases, I find out I’ve been wrong, or even dead wrong, and such is the case with New Order. Or at least when it comes to the early work. Much of New Order’s later and more mature work appalls me, but some of it is gentle and lovely and the best kind of dance-friendly. Songs like “Run 2″ and “1963″ and “Regret” make me happy; songs like “Blue Monday” and “World in Motion” make me hide until they go away. And songs like “State of the Nation” and “True Faith” confirm my worst paranoid suspicions about the band.
As for “1981-Factus 8-1982,” well, it’s proof that I may have been unnecessarily unkind when I recently placed New Order in a list of the Ten Most Overrated Bands of All Time. I continue to think they’re overrated, but “1981-Factus 8-1982” is a fine slab of vinyl. One of the biggest reasons why I like it is that it was only their second release after Ian Curtis put a noose around Joy Division’s neck, and you can still hear echoes of Joy Division in its songs.
They have a rock edge to them, although there’s nothing on it as Joy Division-influenced as their 1981debut single “Ceremony”/”In a Dark Place,” but that’s hardly surprising—both songs were first recorded by Joy Division, then re-cut and released under the New Order moniker. The EP’s predecessor, New Order’s 1981 debut LP Movement, also has a lot of Joy Division in its DNA, but it doesn’t have a cut as strong as the EP’s “Temptation.” That said, “Dreams Never End,” “Senses,” and “Denial” from Movement are all keepers.
Three previously released singles, and two of their B-Sides, “1981-Factus 8-1982” was released for the American market, and I’d say it’s odd that I missed it were it not for the fact that I missed EVERYTHING New Order ever released, and the only one of their songs (I swear) I’D EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE was 1983’s “Blue Monday,” which was a smash but left me feeling vaguely queasy.
And I wasn’t just New Order illiterate. I spent much of the eighties in the throes of a savage case of Anglophobia. The only Brit bands I liked were the Pogues, The Smiths (and later Morrissey), PiL, and The Mekons. Pathetic, I know. I had yet to even hear The Fall, the greatest band England’s Green and Pleasant Land has ever or will ever produce. Or bands like The Pooh Sticks, Happy Mondays, or Oasis, even. The great Oasis!
“1981-Factus 8-1982” opens with the gloomy but dance-floor propulsive “Everything’s Gone Green.” Some percussive rattle by drummer Stephen Morris and a cool bass line by Peter Hook open up into a compelling riff over which multi-instrumentalist Bernard Sumner sings, “Help me somebody, help me.” The down-in-the-mouth disease didn’t end with the suicide of Curtis, and Sumner sounds like he’s attempting to channel the ghost of poor Ian.
That said, the synthesizer line is repetitive cool, Sumner’s guitar line joins it to wonderful effect, and Sumner actually throws off the shade of Curtis in order to do a little yipping. And the song has enough rock punch to it to placate this synthpop-phobe.
“Procession” sounds like the title of a Joy Division song, but New Order transcends their predecessor band with an atmospheric Bowie/Eno synthesizer by Gilbert (I think—Sumner also contributes on synthesizer), an opening that leads us by the nose into a metronomic, fast groove that also boasts rock punch. “There is no end to this,” sings Sumner, once again channeling Curtis’ vision of romantic heartbreak and doom, but he’s undercut (and it’s nice) by the brightness of the sound. It produces tension, this disconnect, and I can’t help but endorse the song’s gallop and commanding melody.
“Mesh” opens with a menacing guitar riff, the drums come in, followed by some fractured guitar, and it’s a groove-lover’s dream. Sumner sounds like he’s singing from very, very far away, Latvia would be my guess, and the synthesizer is mercury-fluid and just as silvery. It’s over before you know it, but not bad for a B-side.
“Temptation” is the EP’s standout track, a melodic victory with a savage guitar riff. The bass and Sumner’s phrasing are pure Joy Division, but that’s where the resemblance ends, and I love the way the song summits the mountain of cool when Sumner sings, almost cheerfully, although that would be going too far:
“Up, down, turn around
Please don’t let me hit the ground
Tonight, I think I’ll walk alone
I’ll find my soul as I go home.”
It’s as chipper in its own way as anything by Culture Club, and Sumner strikes again with the rapid-fire lines,
“Oh, you’ve got green eyes
Oh, you’ve got blue eyes
Oh, you’ve got grey eyes
Oo, you’ve got green eyes
Oh, you’ve got blue eyes
You’ve got grey eyes.”
Hook’s bass will hook you; the guy’s a real treasure, but what really takes the song over the top is the way everything builds to a wonderful peak, and the boys in the band sing, “Ooooo, oooo, ooooo” and also toss in some vocals. Sumner’s opening lines: “A heaven, a gateway, a hope/Just like a feeling I need, it’s no joke” sound hopeful, even if Sumner himself remains a hard read. He’s not the emotional type, but you get the sense he’s trying.
Closer, “Hurt” is all percussion and rhythmic drive, with 80 percent of Morris’ drums, which open the song and are followed by Hook’s bass and some frosty synthesizer. And while the drums are something (I like to listen to from another room so they’re ALL I hear), the song, while propulsive as fuck, lacks a melody and is all groove, nothing but groove. Sumner’s vocals don’t help much—his lack of personality can be alarming—and the song only really transcends itself when it (briefly) gets borderline funky. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get funky enough, and what you’re left with is a great rhythm track badly in need of a song.
After praising “Temptation,” Robert Christgau complained that “I can’t remember which of the four [other songs] is which after playing them all fifteen times.” He’s exaggerating, I think—even I can tell, and no one has ever called me a rapt (or even good) listener. He’s also wrong when he calls “Temptation” “…the first real song this sharp-cornered sound-and-groove band has ever come up with.” The first truly great song? I can agree with that.
New Order would go on and on, and in fact are still going on, despite a long hiatus and the acrimonious departure of Hook and some subsequent very ugly legal wrangling. Sumner would have his famous moment of satori in a NYC club when he realized New Order had taken the doom and gloom shtick as far as it would go and that all he really wanted to do was (to paraphrase the great Glenn Frey) was dance.
And that’s just what the band did—put on its dancing shoes and tapped its way popwards, finally exorcising the shade of Ian Curtis, who must have been grateful to finally be laid to rest.
Prejudice Testing is a dangerous pursuit—I’d much sooner have continued to despise New Order than (begrudgingly) admit to enjoying some of their work. I suppose I’ll have to do the same with Depeche Mode or Gang of Four at some point, although I’m holding out hope that I get hit by a bus first. Or a train. Or any moving vehicle, really, including a unicycle.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
