Just a few quick notes:

1) They are all in date order. The reason that 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' seems out of order is because it was released in 1983, so is nestled in just before 'Thieves Like Us'.

2) Blue Monday features twice. Once in 1983 and once following the 1988 remix.

3) The real oddity here is the inclusion of 'The Eternal'. Just to give this a bit of context, this was a selection by none other than Robert Smith. There is an accompanying article that went with it (which I cut from my booklet). If you're interested in reading about how much Bob loves Joy Division (and why wouldn't you be?), here is the complete article:



Maybe explains why him and Simon ripped off the band so many times...

No probs.
Hey, if even one person downloads it, I'll be happy!

Yeah - Bob talked some rubbish. To be fair, I think he was in a dark place around the time of that interview. He was off his face mostly and wasn't speaking to Simon, I think (which seems to be a prerequisite for him in order to be happy).

I like bits of The Cure (LPs 2-4 & Disintegration) but, frankly, most of their more poppy stuff was, IMHO, pretty awful.

Reminds me also of reading a piece about James Dean Bradfield of the Manics talking about The Eternal. He said he was travelling at speed in a car in Tokyo once and The Eternal came on the radio and the whole world seemed to slow to a stop. I think he said once that their song The Everlasting was their attempt at creating something like The Eternal. Similar title also.And the title of their song Design For Life was very similar in feel and vibe to JD’s An Ideal For Living

Downloaded the PDF. Many thanks, perspexorange.I do recall a few of them from back in the day.

Good to see some of the pics that accompany the lyrics.I do however have a few issues with Smash Hits' version of certain lines and words.I could spent a fair bit of time listing their errors (or maybe we hear different words?) but, hey, someone once upon a time took the trouble to sit down and listen to the songs and try and make out what Bernard was singing so maybe i shouldn't be too criticising

Edited by user 30 January 2019 12:48:58(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Yeah - I know what you mean. Looking at the 'Confusion' lyrics, they obviously went to a lot of trouble. 'What a day' indeed. (Talking of which, I never heard that line as being that. It's possible I guess).

There one line in 'Temptation' that I always thought of as 'It was emerging to myself, I do believe". However, in recent months, I've heard Barney sing the word 'urgent' live rather than 'emerging', so believed I got the word wrong. Looks like 'Smash Hits' either got it wrong themselves or I was correct all these years.

'Temptation' is a song where, I think, he's changed the words subtly as the song has progressed and metamorphosed into the track we all know.
Although I love the new (i.e. 1987 version), I still long for them to perform it like it was back in '82. That 12", and the accompanying live performances, we're just intense and everything I love about the band.



No problem. Glad you like!

I've always wanted to scan my complete cuttings and put together my version of 'A History In Cuttings' in several volumes, but the task would be a massive undertaking.

I have a tonne of stuff that most people won't have seen (i.e. not just stuff from NME, MM, Sounds, RM, Smash Hits etc.). Things like appearances in fanzines, one-off magazines, music industry magazines etc. I was a bit of a rabid collector back in the 90s and went on a big purge collecting every article I could find or I knew about.

I've envisioned that, if I was to do it, I'd do it in 'year' books; one book representing a single year. The first year would be 1978 (to include the two or three articles I have from 1977). I couldn't imagine me going past 1995 or so, though, as it gets a little ridiculous at this point.

It would be really nice to get them archived in this way, for posterity and to 'share the love'.
But the whole thing's a pipe dream. I'd need a proper scanner and a lot more hours in the day.

Maybe one day.

Yep. You’re right and I know he went on record as saying that NO were / are his favourite band.

That being said, whilst hunting through the cuttings I came across a review he did for either PC&L or Low-Life where he gave it 5 out 10.

May have been having an off-day, I suppose.

I always wonder with some of these reviewers whether they regret certain reviews. After all, LPs aren’t always ‘immediate’. Also, the passage of time can highlight things that weren’t apparent at the time.

Did people realise just how ground-breaking PC&L was at the time? Probably not.

Edited by user 31 January 2019 09:41:26(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Ah scrub my comment about Fine Time. I get the “acid box it man” thing now. Just listened again. Never thought that’s what it is but now and forever more I’ll always hear “Acid box it man” ( repeat 8 times).

Oh i used to think for years that it was “Hey.. spookeeeey.... yaaaaaa!!” In Spooky.


One of the common debates over the years was of course Run and the tan/ town thing. I always heard “ You don’t get a tan like this for nothing” and still believe that. Makes sense to me.


I did go through a phase of wondering if,in Blue Monday, Barney actually sang “ Anchored in a shallow bay” rather than “ I can and shall obey “. It kind of made sense after “ I see a ship in the harbour “.

Edited by user 01 February 2019 12:58:17(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Yep - I definitely think 'tan' was right.

Just thought of another:

Touched By The Hand Of God - I always heard 'never knew it, but I curse I was', but it's pretty obvious to me now that it's 'but of course I was'.

Agreed. As mentioned earlier, I think there are probably reviewers out there who would be a little embarrassed by some of their work many years later.

Tennant is a case in point. I’ll cut him some slack though as the PSBs were rather wonderful back in the day (first 3 LPs). And I could never be cross with the man that wrote ‘Rent’ which is, in my opinion, one of the finest, most beautiful songs ever written.

Interesting point to the ‘Low Life’ review is him mentioning the ‘humour in the words’; a shared trait that he would soon be synonymous with.

Haha, good one. Waldorf & Statler. Now there’s an idea for a new username. I could be Waldorf and perspexorange could be Statler.

since New Order never bothered to include their lyrics in their albums in the 80's, i only knew(or thought i knew) them from repeat listening. i'm sure i got a few words wrong here and there, but i justified it because Barney would make up lyrics on his own while performing. before he started using teleprompters, he admitted(back in the 90's) that he couldn't remember his own lyrics.