Just finished listening to the extras CD.That part of the box was my first priority to check out.
Thoughts on some of the tracks:
Untitled No.1 writing session recordingAs i said earlier, interesting to hear.Some lovely sounds on this but i can't place anything that eventually made it to a released song, not even BLT.
Sunrise instrumental rough mixThis is the version that was released on that magazine cassette thing circa 1986, yes?
Sooner Than You Think album session unedited versionInteresting to hear the parts that were cut out for the eventual album version.Great to hear but you can kind of understand why they were cut out of the final edit, they would have made the song a little meandering and unnecessarily overlong.Still, really nice to hear some of the extra guitar and synth passages.
Sub Culture album session early instrumental versionPretty cool mix, this.And no Hooky i think? Just purely synths and beats.
Face Up writing session recordingThis reminds me a lot of the live version at Royal Festival Hall, 14.05.84 , that early outing.Liking the synths and sounds on this.
Untitled No.2 writing session recordingRight, this is one that i was very curious to hear.
Originally Posted by: Debaser
Re: Untitled 2 (writing session). The arpeggio-ish keyboard melody from 0:00 to 0:29 (and 1:27 to 1:56, and 2:53 to 3:21 etc) reminds me of something, but I cant think what. Possibly not New Order.
Liking the funky synth bass line, and Hooky really gets into it as the track goes on. It doesn't seem to be an obvous precursor to a better known NO track. That's a shame because it feels like it could have gone to be something worthwhile. But great that it has been unearthed. Perhaps not for the first time?
3 months ago when the tracklist was released i posted:
Originally Posted by: Fotz All very intriguing. Wondering if one of the untitled ones is that 9 minute instrumental that was or still is available on YouTube. Think there was a Sept 1984 recording date associated with it. It had some qiite melodic passages and also the car skidding noise that they use on live versions of TPK.Hope so.
This is it.Well, it is and it isn't .It has many of the same elements and melodies as that Sept 84 thing but it's a different , clearer, recording and with some things added and some taken away.Sadly the car skidding noises are not present in this version.But it's essentially the same track.There are some fantastic ideas and melodies in both the version on this extras CD and the other, Sept 84, version that i shared through MediaFire with you i think, Debaser? This in another life could have developed into a New Order classic.It's possibly my favourite on the extras CD.
Sunrise writing session recordingStarts with some fierce Hooky bass.Bernard's first guitar parts on this sound even more like his raw and angular Joy Division guitar than the eventual album version.The synths have a more primitive sound than the finished album version.
Let's Go album session instrumentalI have to admit, i've got a bit lost on the various different versions of Let's Go over the years.Has this version already been out there for many years? Still, sounds great.
Love Vigilantes writing session recordingIt's ok and is that a drum machine on this version?
Sooner Than You Think writing session recordingNow this version reminds me a lot of the 'Aleph' live version they were playing in 1984 and in particular the version they did at Volkshaus, Zurich 02.04.84, the drum beat is identical.Listen to the bootleg, it's almost the same except the live version had early attempts by Barney at lyrics, this doesn't have any.
So, through these early and writing session recordings for Low Life it becomes clear yet again with that unique special chemistry, creativity, originality and single mindedness why New Order became one of the biggest, loved around the world bands of the 80s and beyond