Movement [Definitive Edition] (1981)

Movement is a first hesitant step in the transition from Joy Division to New Order. After the tragic loss of Ian Curtis, the three remaining members of the former band added keyboardist/guitarist Gillian Gilbert and soldiered on. Despite a relatively assured debut single ("Ceremony," which didn't appear on the album), the first New Order album revealed a band understandably caught up in mourning for its former lead singer. (But of course, themes of loss and isolation were hardly novel for them.) Movement was made up of ... Read More

Movement is a first hesitant step in the transition from Joy Division to New Order. After the tragic loss of Ian Curtis, the three remaining members of the former band added keyboardist/guitarist Gillian Gilbert and soldiered on. Despite a relatively assured debut single ("Ceremony," which didn't appear on the album), the first New Order album revealed a band understandably caught up in mourning for its former lead singer. (But of course, themes of loss and isolation were hardly novel for them.) Movement was made up of songs written just after the suicide of Ian Curtis, and it was recorded with alternating vocal spots to see whose would fit best -- although neither bassist Peter Hook nor guitarist Bernard Sumner sounded quite worthy of the mantle. Sumner wound up taking lead on all the tracks except for "Dreams Never End" and "Doubts Even Here." At times, both vocalists' hesitancy makes it sound as if they were recording guide vocals for a Joy Division LP, expecting Ian Curtis to come in later. Despite the band's opaque lyrics, there are easily spotted references to Curtis all over the record, with despair and confusion reigning, especially on "Senses" ("No reason ever was given") and "ICB" ("It's so far away, and it's closing in"). More so than on any Joy Division record, it also revealed a group unafraid to experiment relentlessly in the studio until it had emerged with something unique. It showed, too, on tracks like the very hooky "Dreams Never End" or the insistently danceable "Chosen Time," some of the pop smarts that would flower fully later on in their career. Spurred on by producer Martin Hannett, despite his antagonistic relationship with the band (and perhaps, because of it), New Order produced a ghostly, brittle record, occasionally uptempo but never upbeat, with drum machines rattling and echoing over dark waves of synthesizers and Hook's iconic basswork. A masterpiece in the career of any other post-punk band, Movement paled only in comparison to the band's later work. [The album was reissued in 2019 by Rhino in a fancy blue box that included a remastered version of the album on both vinyl and compact disc and a giant hardcover book that was filled with museum quality photos of the band's old gear. The set also included a DVD made up of live performances filmed in NYC in 1980 and 1981, two television appearances from the same years and a smattering of songs recorded at live shows during the same time frame. The real prize is a second CD of previously (officially) unreleased music that includes the first mix of "Ceremony," an alternate mix of "Temptation" and rehearsal recordings of "Procession" and "Chosen Time." The real finds are the two demo sessions that were cleaned up for the release. The Western Works demo as recorded a mere three months after Ian Curtis' death and finds the band in a gloomy space, working through skeletal and nervy versions of songs that ended up on Movement, plus a mesmerizing take on "Ceremony" that is far more abrasive than the final version that was released on the 1981 single. The Cargo demo was recorded in 1981 and the band sounds more sure of themselves here; starting to move out from under the shadow of Joy Division and with the addition of Gillian Gilbert on second guitar and keyboards, sounding much fuller. They lay down powerful versions of most of the songs that ended up on the album plus a a few more like "Mesh" and "Procession." This disc is a perfect addition to a beautifully constructed and executed reissue.] ~ John Bush, Rovi Read Less