On November 13th, 1981 New Order—a band that was born from the ashes of Joy Division—released their first album Movement. This work followed the release of material originally intended to be recorded in the studio with Joy Division’s late singer Ian Curtis, such as the single “Ceremony”, backed with its b-side “In A Lonely Place”.
Openly referring to Joy Division’s musical effort and history, the newly formed New Order, which (re)added Stephen Morris‘ girlfriend Gillian Gilbert as a keyboardist and guitarist to the three remaining members of the band, saw this period as a dark time in their history fraught by the shadow of Ian Curtis’ legacy. Nevertheless, New Order’s debut album Movement is a very fine album and a good beginning—albeit somber—of a long and prolific career.
Of course, there are quite a few songs written about Ian Curtis—the most iconic ones are certainly “I.C.B.” (short for Ian Curtis Buried) and “The Him”. For some, Movement doesn’t meet their criteria as being the best New Order album—but the true value of this record may be in its historical context and tone, with songs like “Dreams Never End”, sung by bassist Peter Hook, or “Doubts Even Here” never ceasing to amaze.
Eventually, New Order’s sound would evolve, taking up influences from Italo Disco which led to the recording of their first true New Order track “Everything’s Gone Green”, and masterpiece “Temptation”, both of which were released shortly after Movement. Nevertheless, Movement is a beautiful and essential album in the history of post-punk.
To celebrate Movement watch a full concert in NYC just days after the album’s release (Find this footage and more on the album’s definite edition here).
Tracklist:
- “Dreams Never End” 3:13
- “Truth” 4:37
- “Senses” 4:45
- “Chosen Time” 4:07
- “ICB” 4:33
- “The Him” 5:29
- “Doubts Even Here” 4:16
- “Denial”
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