ArchaSung.com » Joy Division

Peter Saville: Arkitip Issue 49

Archa — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:04:14 +0000

Peter Saville is a well known name when it comes to fans of New Order and Joy Division. It’s like peanut butter and jelly. Saville’s name will always be synonymous with New Order. The famous designer of many of the record sleeves for Factory Records, he became an inspiration for many of today’s designers.

Arkitip showed their appreciation when they made Peter Saville their cover artist. If I had the money it would be a no brainer to grab one of these beauties. This is what the $50 box includes.

Arkitip No. 0049 will be a virtual catalog of Peter’s work including essays from Saville’s colleagues throughout his career. It will also include two original prints from the designer in an edition of 1500. The prints will be 12 x 12 inches on 100 lb. archival stock and will sit on top of the magazine inside a custom designed box carefully encasing the magazine and prints.

Sounds so heavenly (especially if you read it in an English accent). There’s two different designs, the “Contour” (my favorite) and the “Hazard” edition. You can also purchase both box designs and editions for $75. I’m not going to lie to you, but I want one real bad. The Arkitip site has more information regarding the two sets and how to purchase them. Below is a video of Peter Saville from the site.

Thanks to Johnny from Verum for the heads up on this wonderful tidbit.

New Order: Re-mastered

Archa — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:00:13 +0000

Classic New Order

This may be old news to some, but Rhino Records has re-issued 5 of New Order albums that was previously released in the 80′s. Each one re-mastered from the original recordings and containing a second disc with remixes, extended versions, B-sides, and sleeve notes with interviews from the band. Here’s the list for the bonus discs from neworderonline.

Movement- The early Singles and b-sides. Both versions of Ceremony, the original Temptation 7” and 12”, Everything’s Gone Green 12” and rarity Cries and Whispers

Power, Corruption and Lies- The 12” singles versions of Blue Monday, Confusion, Thieves Like Us and Murder. And their flips The Beach, Confused Beats, Lonesome Tonight and Thieves Like Us Instrumentals.

Low-Life- More 12” single versions of album tracks and their b-sides. The full 17 min Elegia. Let’s Go Instrumental and Salvation Theme from the film soundtrack.

Brotherhood- The 12” Touched By The Hand Of God and Blue Monday 88 remix. Dance mixes from Shep Pettibone of Bizarre Love Triangle and True Faith, with its rare B-side Evil Dust.

Technique – The 12” singles Run2 and Round and Round, and rare b-sides MTO, Best and Marsh and Vanishing Point Instrumental. The Steve Silk Hurley remix of Fine Time and b-sides Don’t Do It and Fine Line. New Order’s last release on Factory Records and only NO 1 UK Single, World In Motion in it’s Carabinieri mix.

I think I have some of these remixes already, but just to have the remastered album would be nice. Brotherhood, would be so nice to have. That album is the one that started it for me and the original recording is so low that I might just have to pick it up. I think this is a good start point to tell you what my favorite song from each album are. I do have many songs that I like from each album, but some of them just strikes a chord with me. So let’s get started.

Movement: Dreams Never End – This album was New Order’s first since the name change and the tragic death of Ian Curtis. You can tell they were trying to find a style to call their own throughout this album. They were taking chances and experimenting to find that New Order sound that will stand apart from Joy Division. Although they tried to get away from the influence of Joy Division, it was still evident like in the song Dreams Never End, which was actually sung by Hooky ( Peter Hook – Bassist).

Power Corruption and Lies: Your Silent Face – New Order’s sophomore album which contains one of my all time favorite New Order’s songs. Your Silent Face is a simple beat, a catchy hook and Bernard Sumner’s untuned vocals is what makes this song so great. Another great song worth mentioning is Leave Me Alone. With this album New Order is finally finding their way.

Low Life: The Perfect Kiss – This album was a representation of what New Order was good at. Mixing pop, dance, drum machines, synth, guitars, and catchy lyrics all blended together to make a good dance hit. I always believed that at that time New Order was so head of the pack with their sound production. The Perfect Kiss is an example of what New Order was good at.

Brotherhood: Weirdo, As it is when it was – I know I cheated and put two songs. I’m bad at sticking to the rules. Like I mentioned earlier this album is deep rooted in my soul. I was 13 when I founded this album and I played the tape 24/7 till it sounded like crap. This album was less synthesized then the others, but that’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much. Many of the songs off this album are evident of the quintessential Peter Hook bass line that guides the listeners through. Weirdo is a great catchy pop song and As it is when it was is a lovely song that I can listen to over and over again. There are other great songs like Broken Promise, All Day Long, and of course the popular Bizarre Love Triangle. Every Second Counts is a funny song and has one of the greatest lyrics that I ever wanted to say to a girl that did me wrong.

Technique: Mr Disco – This album is probably one of their strongest albums to date. They went back to the dance pop on this album and made one of my favorites, Mr Disco. New Order hit the nail on the head when they made that song. What’s that you say? Do I have another song that I like? Why yes I do. That song would be Loveless. It’s a slow ballad, but still a great song with a good hook. There’s definitely other songs like the dance hit Round and Round on this album that I enjoy and the entire album is actually worth listening too.

So there’s the list of my top favorites from each of the albums. Of course there wasn’t the album Substance on the list, since it was a compilation, but the album was very influential on me as well. Songs like Ceremony, True Faith, Temptation and all the other great songs off the album were such good times. New Order has to be one of the most underated and infuential bands of the 80′s. Releasing 5 albums in a decade and then a compilation of their singles and remixes with touring is no easy task. I truly loved this band.

Playlist: Cloudy Days

Archa — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:00:14 +0000

This past weekend reminded me why I love the winter months coming up ahead; however, here in California there’s not really a true winter season. To me winter is just a reminder of those calendars in elementary school with the image of the snowman and leaves being swirled up with a bunch of lines symbolizing the cold wind. So, when there’s an actual day of dark overcast skies, a touch of sprinkles and a cool breeze, I tend to enjoy it more.

There’s always been certain songs that I listen to through the years that reminded me of winter, or I should say a California winter. So What I’ve done is made a playlist of songs that reminded me of cool winter bliss. I decided to use the Yahoo Music Player instead of the usual links to the Apple ITunes store. I searched around for a music plugin for Word Press, but couldn’t find one that I trusted and have heard of. I did some research and the Yahoo Music Player was suppose to be real easy to use and it actually really was. I wanted you, the listeners, to experience more than just the 30 second clip of music. Those measly tidbits is not a good representation of what I’m trying to get across here. Just make sure that you have your javascript turned on and you should be good to go. You can either click on the play arrows, or on the music player that will show up on the bottom of the page. I hope you enjoy the playlist titled Cloudy Days.