Low Order

This 1978 set of recordings over two days at an Amsterdam theater reveals that two musicians who are disciplined enough can also be free enough to improvise completely without regard for structural convention or the force placed upon improvisers from within their own circle to make their music sound "spontaneously composed." In other words, these two cats make some cool-assed noise and could care less if the serious art types dig it or not. Insecurity is not an issue for this pair. These 11 improvisations have titles, but they are of absolutely no consequence and were probably added when the recordings were about to be issued…

New Order's third LP, Low-Life, is, in every way, the artistic equal of their breakout, 1983's Power, Corruption & Lies. Building on the genre-hopping brilliance of the two singles they released in between - the Arthur Baker-produced electro track "Confusion" and the dramatic synth rocker "Thieves Like Us" - Low-Life marks the point where the band's fusion of rock and electronics becomes seamless. It's heavily sequenced and synthesized, but with bravura work from Bernard Sumner on guitar and Peter Hook's plaintive, melodic bass taking a lead role. The record is filled with hooky, hummable pop songs, but just as important are the experimental techniques that the band and engineer Michael Johnson employ…

With the 1985 release of Low Life, New Order put forth their most commercially accessible effort to date. While some of the dark-wave drippings of their Joy Division roots are evident, high energy progressions, which would carry them for years to come, began to emerge here...