New Order - Movement (Factory Records 1981)

A controversial choice for our 100 seminal albums perhaps, but we've never really felt like bandwagon jumpers and i remember being mystified by the negative reviews at the time of its release.

I love everything about this album from the matt blue futurist cover to the heavyweight vinyl used in the manufacture. Oh! sure I can understand the difficulty that the band have in revisiting it. After all it was obviously part of their grieving process at the time. The guilt, despair and regret is worn on their collective sleeves and heightened by Hannett's trademark dark and atmospheric production.

I have 2 copies of the vinyl artifact. I NEED two. One could get damaged or scuffed. I have no record player.

I'm using the CD re-issue (the remastered and expanded one from 2008) for this review. It's a horrible compressed affair that doesn't do justice to the original. It still sounds great.

I remember being at a party in Burnage, Manchester on the first day of it's release. Joy Division, The Cure, Magazine and Bauhaus were played followed by Movement in its entirety. Everybody thought it was dark and logical. It was accepted as another iconic Factory release, there was no euphoric reception, there never was in Manchester in the early eighties. Music mirrored your lifestyle, it was an accompaniment like a dreary walk home form work in the rain. BUT it spoke to us more than anything coming out of the sanitised south. David Lynch rather than Guy Ritchie if you will.

Perhaps lured into a fresh sounding safety zone by the glorious Ceremony single, critics expected a leap forward from JD but it was too early and the Hannett influence cannot be underestimated. Perhaps more important than any of the band members of the time, this was Martin's album.

Dreams Never End:
One of the best ever intro's to a song (along with Procession) and perhaps a false premise on which to start the album with such an uplifting riff. So, against conventional wisdom i'm going to come out and say i really enjoy Hook's vocal on this track. Like Ceremony (which was only given a single release), it is an isolated pointer to the future direction of the band.

Truth:
With truth the dark zone is entered and the haunting melodica/keyboard intro reaches into the souls of the band. The death rattle percussion a perfect reflection of the mood at the time:

"Oh, it's a strange day
In such a lonely way
I saw some children dance
I watched my life in a trance
And the people around me
Seemed so glad to be here
Will my time pass so slowly
On the day that I fear?"

Senses:
Again an unmistakable Hannett intro with panned percussion, the guitars sound like they have been recorded in a bathroom some distance away. Sumner takes over vocal duties and at least reflect the mood of the music. The last minute of this song has a glorious swirling keyboard crescendo.

Chosen Time:
A more upbeat intro with a sublime refrain, the lyrics are in my mind an obvious ode to Curtis:

One day it's now or never
To stay at home
Sometimes the dreams are better
One thing you hold
Believe that all these changes
Keep me alone
What brought the last reaction
I'll never know

ICB:
Forever reported as an acronym for 'Ian Curtis Buried', I don't think the band have ever owned up to this. The lyrics are strangely similar in style to those penned by Curtis, so I don't think it's out of the question to suggest they may in fact be Curtis lyrics.
Again the trademark Hannett experimentation, the track gets up a nice head of steam without ever reaching the heights of Senses.

The Him:
Probably the 'Eternal' of the album the track has more of a haunting melancholy than some of the other tracks which is some feat.
Stephen Morris is all over the kit in true JD style.
"Small boy kneels, wandering in a great hall
He pays pennance to the air above him
White circles, black lines surround me
Reborn, so plain my eyes see
This is the reason that I came here
To be so near to such a person

I'm so tired, I'm so tired"

Doubts Even Here:
Continuing the dark almost lifeless quality of the album Doubts has a sorrowful bass line and sees Sumner singing much deeper. The section where Gillian Gilbert recites over Sumners vocal is paradoxically a high point of the album.

Denial:
Attempts to finish the album off on a high but Hannett is having none of it. His heavy treatment of the vocal and string synthesizer sound soon brings it into line with the prevailing mood.

"Here I am in a house full of doors but no exits
In a light that is grey like the stain on my windows
All of this is a gift, such a painful companion
Inside of me"

There is such beauty and tragedy in these songs. I suppose it reminds me of a time and place but i can still listen to it after so many plays and be enraptured completely. No album will ever sound the same and significantly it marked the parting of ways between the band and Hannett.

Ken Foster

 

Movement reached number 30 in the UK album chart. Catalogue number was FACT50. It was re-issued by London Records in 1993 and then again in 2008 as a collecter's edition with bonus tracks.

 

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