I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Album # 363
Album Title: Substance
Artist: New Order
Genre: Dance Rock, Post-Punk, Electronic Dance
Recorded: Various Locations (Compilation Record)
Released: August, 1987
My age at release: 22
How familiar was I with it before this week: Somewhat Familiar
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Blue Monday
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| New Order - Substance Album Cover |
The British electronic, dance-rock, quartet New Order was a by-product of tragedy. Originally, the group was called Joy Division but, in 1980, lead singer and lyricist Ian Curtis committed suicide and the remaining band mates, honouring a previous agreement, retired the name and the group. (We will revisit the tragedy of Curtis and the music of Joy Division when we get to album #157, Closer.)
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| Joy Division singer/lyricist Ian Curtis |
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| New Order (1981) Morris, Hook, Gilbert & Sumner (l-r) |
In the early 80s, New Order experimented with their own production in an attempt to establish an identity distinct from Joy Division. The quartet was already enamored with the German avant-garde electronic group Kraftwerk who created a synthetic auditory-landscape that some dubbed "Robot-Pop".
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| Trans-Europe Express by Kraftwerk (#256 on The 500) |
As technology improved, New Order began to integrate more synthesizers and drum machines into their sound. A trip to New York City further invigorated their fascination with electronica. The New York scene was, at the time, a crucible for a colourful variety of sounds, including post-punk, hip-hop, dance, rock and electronica. This era, affectionately called "post-disco", refers to a brief period between the "death to disco" era of the late 70s and the mainstream acceptance of new-wave in the early 80s.
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| New York Club Scene - 1980s |
Substance was a compilation record released by New Order in September, 1987. It included all of the band's singles but not the original versions. Instead, the group re-recorded previously released material or released the versions that were found on 12-inch singles.
Some Background
Prior to the 1980s, singles were released on seven-inch vinyl discs, which meant that they were seven inches in diameter and played on turntables at a speed of 45 revolutions per minute (rpm). Typically, they had one song on each side. With the rise in popularity of dance club disc jockeys (DJs), singles were released to DJs in the standard album size, 12 inches in diameter, to be played at the standard speed, 33 1/3 rpm.
The larger format allowed DJs to swap records on their turntables more easily because they were a uniform size and speed. It also eliminated the need for the plastic insert, or spider clip, that allowed some seven-inch records to play on a conventional turntable.
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| A common insert for 7-inch records, (The Spider Clip) |
The 12-inch sacrificed some sound quality, mainly volume, for greater capacity. Consequently, remixed and extended-play (EP) versions of songs were common, and the EP became mainstream. Initially, these were only available to DJs but the consumer demand for them led artists to release them commercially.
For New Order, this was an ideal situation. Multiple EPs of a single song could be released -- their biggest hit Blue Monday has been remixed and released over a dozen times. There are extended versions, European adaptations, dance floor remixes and Dub-Mixes.
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| Blue Monday - So Hot Mix |
Additionally, DJs could match the beat per minute (bpm) of two songs on two different turntables and seamlessly move from one to the other -- or swap out one while the other played. Consequently, much to the delight of the dance-floor crowd, the music never stopped
Personal Connection
New Order was not a band I particularly liked in the eighties. However, my "clubbing" days corresponded with the group's popularity. Consequently, I was familiar with their music. Their sound was inescapable during that decade. Surprisingly, as I researched for this post and gave Substance several listens, the record grew on me. It is a sound that motivates nostalgia and captures the energy of a time for those who lived it.
I selected Blue Monday for my Spotify Playlist because it comes from such an aggregation of influences. First, the title comes from a tragic, but humorous, sub-heading from my favourite book by one of my favourite authors, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Breakfast Of Champions or Goodbye Blue Monday.
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| Vonnegut's most popular novel Breakfast Of Champions or Goodbye Blue Monday |
The band borrowed from Donna Summer's Our Love, Kraftwerk's Uranium and even lifted a bass line from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack from the Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western For A Few Dollars More. As an educator who encourages his students to remix through group collaboration, how could I not select this eclectic musical mongrel? Besides, it is New Order and there are a dozen remixes to choose from if I need a change.
Quite a few nuggets of knowledge in this post! I like Joy Division and Kraftwek ( given my Gary Numan days) but didn’t know their connection to Joy Division. The 12” and 7” vinyl record nugget was gold too!
ReplyDeleteYes, early electronica was such an endeavor for these artists. It would require thousands of dollars and so much patience to create sounds that can now be emulated with any laptop in seconds. Tech wizards.
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