New Order Low Life

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...

Recorded live on 9th November 2018 (their only UK show of 2018), education entertainment recreation is a brand new live album from London’s Alexandra Palace.

Finsbury Park, 9th June 02 With music that celebrates the thrill of the moment and played a pivotal role in the emergence of electronica and techno, New Order established themselves as one of the great bands of the '80s and '90s. Here they're seen in their Finsbury Park concert from June 2002, playing many of their now-classic songs and their 'comeback single', 'Crystal'. A documentary made during the setup and sound check takes the viewer backstage and close-up. Like the companion volume 316, 511 offers one of those rare opportunities to see this enigmatic band on camera talking about their music and their future.

Rising from the ashes of the legendary British post-punk unit Joy Division, the enigmatic New Order triumphed over tragedy to emerge as one of the most influential and acclaimed bands of the 1980s; embracing the electronic textures and disco rhythms of the underground club culture many years in advance of its contemporaries, the group's pioneering fusion of new wave aesthetics and dance music successfully bridged the gap between the two worlds, creating a distinctively thoughtful and oblique brand of synth pop appealing equally to the mind, body, and soul.

New Order had been so good at integrating synth and guitars (often on the same song) that fans who greeted 1986's Brotherhood with the realization that it was split into a rock side and a dance side couldn't help but be a little disappointed. Still, the songs and the band's production had reached such a high level that the concept worked superbly, without calling undue attention to itself. The rock side comes first, revealing more of the emotional side of Bernard Sumner's singing and songwriting, even leading off with acoustic guitar for one song. But Brotherhood was also a little harder than what had come before; Sumner often sang with a come-on sort of brio, matching Peter Hook's seething work on the bass…