Ceremony, 7'' singlerelease date: Mar. 6, 1981
format: vinyl (first pressing - FAC 33)
[single rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,25]
producer: Martin Hannett
label: Factory Records - nationality: England, UK
Tracklist: A) 1. "Ceremony" (5 / 5) - - B) 1. "In a Lonely Place"
First single by New Order released as FAC 33 on Factory Records. This is my most beloved single. The fact that I rate it as a near masterpiece, is because of its originality - you simply couldn't find anything remotely as avantgarde on the post-punk scene at this point of modern popular music. And then it also marks the rebirth of a band. At this point I guess they still play in concordance with Joy Division and Bernard does his best to (at least) make his voice match the tone of Ian Curtis - the latter being a much better singer, though. Despite the odds, it works almost beyond perfection. The trembling, simple, and thin voice combined with the beauty and roughness of the instruments makes the song reach a dreamy state of despair. And the skills with the instruments are at a new higher level than heard of before. It’s not that the guitarist or bass is played with extreme skilfulness - it’s more the way they are capable of using the instruments to produce brand new music. The inclusion of keyboardist Gillian Gilbert only opens the potential. The perfection in handling an instrument comes from Stephen Morris, who was the only true skilled instrumentalist, and who was the driving force within the band and who has always known to find new ways of expressing himself as a drummer, and composer of music. I bought this single the day it was released in Denmark. Luckily my hometown had a small but great record shop. The owner imported lots of new stuff, especially from London, and he was interested in the new scene and left the major music stores to sell pop / rock, disco, dance pop, and whatever people heard on the national radio. I just recall how I spotted the cover and immediately knew the music was interesting and something different - unique. I had the owner play the single and by the first 5 seconds I knew I had to buy it. Alas, I knew almost zero of Joy Divison, so I started by buying New Order's first ever single [today a collector's item] - falling head over heels for this band and its music, and then I moved backwards trying to collect Joy Division material as fast as I could, which is another story. A must for anyone interested in modern pop / rock music.
[ Joy Division live version from Still, another live version featuring Ian Curtis ]
[ collectors' item ]
