As a taster of New Order’s upcoming live album release (the snappily titled “∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes…”), which features songs from their live performance at the Manchester International Festival (MIF) in 2017 from a show of the same name as the album, the band have released the song Sub-Culture. The MIF performance was critically well-received, and the album promises to capture the mood of the concert for those who either missed out on attending or did and wish to relive the experience.
The show, ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes.., featured reworkings of songs from the entirety of New Order’s back catalogue – even stretching as far back as their days as Joy Division – orchestrated by Joe Duddell with the band supported by a 12-strong synthesiser ensemble drawn from students at the Royal Northern College of Music, with visuals by artist Liam Gillick, performed at the Old Granada Studios, where the band, as Joy Division, made their television debut on the music show So It Goes way back in 1978.
Sub-Culture originally appeared on New Order’s third album Low-Life (1985) and was the third and final single to be released from the album. The single version, heavily remixed by John Robie, is the version used as the basis for the live performance, complete with soul/gospel style female backing vocals. Where the live version really stands out is the use of the orchestrated synthesisers, who extend the introduction to the song with loops of sound and which make the song sound even more of the 1980s than the original album version ever did. The analogue synthesisers used actually make the song more reminiscent of songs from the debut album of Electronic, the spin-off band New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner formed with the ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. The bolstering of the band’s sound with the additional synthesisers in the introduction, along with some Nile Rodgers-esque style guitar flourishes, breathes new life into a song which at the time of the recording was thirty-three years old. As the song nears its climax, there are hip-hop flavoured stabs of synthesised sound while a guitar solo plays before the music builds up for its final chorus in a truly exhilarating style.
The recording itself captures the live performance well, with the sound of the audience clapping along as the introduction plays out (some even whoop with delight when the song itself kicks in) and even Bernard Sumner’s voice holds up well and he is ably supported by the backing vocals. Stephen Morris’ drum work is slightly obscured by the rhythms of the additional synthesisers but Gillian Gilbert faithfully recreates the synthesiser lines which appeared on the original album recording of the song. On bass, Tom Chapman is a good replacement for Peter Hook (although no-one could properly replace Hooky, despite his acrimonious split from the band) and Phil Cunningham adds some nice guitar textures to the sound. The band sound like a complete unit, reinvigorated by the opportunity to revisit this song with the new arrangement provided by the additional synthesisers.
Given the rapturous reception to the show after its performance, it is a safe bet that the rest of the album, released on the 12th July, will carry through this song’s sense of rediscovery and joy. With this project, New Order have dug deep and struck gold.
Reviewer - Andrew Marsden
on - 10/7/19
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