04 September 2024
Newsdesk
Today (4th September), New Order announce a new remastered set of formats for their album Brotherhood, to be released via Warner Music on 22nd November 2024, available in 2CD, 2DVD and 1LP. Also being made available are reissues of the respective 12” singles Bizarre Love Triangle, State Of The Nation and Touched By The Hand Of God with corresponding b-sides. Brotherhood is the fourth in the series of limited edition Definitive boxsets which includes Movement (2019), Power, Corruption and Lies (2020) and Low-Life (2023).
Written, recorded and produced by New Order, Brotherhood was originally released via Factory Records in September 1986 and peaked at #9 in the UK Albums Charts. This new collection for Brotherhood includes the album remastered on vinyl and CD and 2CD which features 9 unreleased tracks and demos from a recording session in Japan in 1985 and a 2DVD with live performances from Brixton Academy (1987), G-Mex Manchester (1986), Glastonbury and TV shows from UK and Europe, all previously unavailable on DVD.
Also announced today is Season 2 of Transmissions: The Definitive Story of Joy Division & New Order, featuring brand new and exclusive interviews with band members Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert and Peter Hook and special guest contributors including: Johnny Marr, Billy Corgan, Christine And The Queens, Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa, Keith Allen, Peter Saville, Andrew O’Hagan, Arthur Baker, Kevin Cummins, DJ Paulette, Megan Louise, The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands, Paul Morley, Jo Whiley, Kevin Saunderson, Tarquin Gotch, Will Sergeant, Virgil Abloh, Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Mike Pickering, Neil Tennant, Daniel Avery, Charlie Gunn… and Bez.
Narrated by BBC Radio’s Elizabeth Alker, Season 2 finds our unlikely heroes adjusting after the surprise global success of Blue Monday transforms New Order into stars; Quincy Jones is knocking down their door with offers of a US record deal, John Hughes is hunting them down for soundtrack work, New York’s hippest producers are lining up to get in the studio and huge US success beckons. But as New Order’s profile grows, so too do the demands and excesses and the band begin to realise just how far they’ve come, and to question how far the road might take them. This series documents arena tours, Ibizan insanity, a behind-the-scenes look at the chaotic peak of the Hacienda, the creation of three more classic albums Brotherhood (1986) Technique (1989) Republic (1993) and a certain timeless soccer World Cup anthem… World In Motion.
Speaking about New Order’s career to date, singer Bernard Sumner says, “If you do it the way everyone else does it, you might have more success. But it'll be a short burn, whereas with the way New Order did it, it made us more interesting. But it wasn't intentional though, we just did what we wanted to do and didn't really listen to anyone.”
On New Order’s 80s success in the US, drummer Stephen Morris, “America had never heard of Joy Division. In England and Europe at the time there was still this thing where you get people coming to see you, expecting you to play ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. Whereas in America, they would approach you with an open mind, and the fact that the audiences did get bigger justified our bloody mindedness with not being Joy Division…”
Keyboardist Gillian Gilbert on experiencing the US music industry, “I don't know what they thought of us. Rob [Gretton, manager] was always, ‘You shouldn't single out one person as the main focus, even Ian. You’re all the same.’ We were all on the same level. So I don't know what they made of us. They used to turn up in suits. That was the main thing you'd see. All really smart record guys in suits.”
Peter Hook on how their club The Hacienda anticipated the coming rave music scene, “Watching the Hacienda and watching Rob and Mike Pickering's belief in Detroit and Chicago House in 1983, 84, all the way through nights that they put on with exactly the same DJs in 91, in 83! They believed in the music a long time before Ecstasy swept it along in its tidal wave.”
Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins, "I was at a club. So I'm standing there and it's a normal night. And for the first time, here comes the kick drum for Blue Monday. As the kick drum hit, everybody in the club started running to the dance floor. Running. So it instantly went from like 30 people to 300 in seconds. And I'm like, ‘What is happening?’ I'm getting chills even just thinking about the moment. And it was like, Oh my God, I'm hearing a song I will hear for the rest of my life. I saw my generation go, ‘This is the song'."
DJ Paulette, “New Order gave Manchester a place to socialise. A place to dream. Music to have babies by. Meet their friends by. Gigs to remember for the rest of their lives. Record collections to treasure. It's like New Order have given people in Manchester everything, everything.”
Tom Rowlands, The Chemical Brothers, “I think the key to them is the strength of the individual voices in the band. And each individual voice being so recognisable on the record. It’s insane, really, they get it all to fit into these songs, every single person in that band has a voice that would carry a whole other band.”
New episodes will be released weekly via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and wherever you get your podcasts.
