When the disturbed Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division took his own life in 1980, his remaining band members decided bravely, to carry on under the name New Order. Not surprisingly, the band was initially under a lot of scrutiny and endured perhaps unfair comparisons to the former line up, especially with their first album, Movement. Slammed by critics and fans, this album seemed to spell the end for New Order, but with later releases, they managed to secure a great career and position in pop history.
After listening to Movement for the past week or so, I think it's earned a bum rap and deserves a re-listen particularly the Collector's Edition with the added tracks that include the amazing songs Ceremony and the Temptation 7″ Mix (that has me yelling:
Oh, you've got green eyes
Oh, you've got blue eyes
Oh, you've got gray eyes?
in my head for hours).
The original album, though dark and kind of mushy, lacking punch does begin with Dreams Never End, an undeniably great piece of post-punk electronica. The rest is the kind of swimmy music that begs for asymmetrical haircuts and could probably be a major favorite of Buffalo Bills from Silence of the Lambs as it is danceable, dreary, poppy, but never, ever upbeat (hey, they were all dealing with the loss of their friend, what do you expect, The Age of Consent).
While I understand it may not be the greatest that they had to offer, Movement, bolstered by the Collector's Edition tracks is definitely worth revisiting.
But what do you think?