Track Listing

1. Dreams Never End
2. Truth
3. Senses
4. Chosen Time
5. I.C.B.
6. The Him
7. Doubts Even Here
8. Denial

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29598 in Music
• Released on: 2000-04-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
After the tragic suicide of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, the band restructured. Guitarist Bernard Sumner, whose gift for combining the melodic with the hypnotic had been the band's cornerstone, stepped up to the microphone. The resulting debut MOVEMENT finds the group taking a brave step away from its unfortunate past. Preserved are Joy Division's dark edges--Sumner's guitar attack swerves deftly between funereal repetition and noisy bursts, while bassist Peter Hook continues to explore his instrument's upper registers.
From the slow, deliberate build and melodic interplay of its opening moment, the mid-tempo "Dreams never End", MOVEMENT boldly states the band's more experimental, slightly less emotionally turgid agenda. That Sumner is trapped under the influence of Curtis is undeniable--at times, the resemblance is alarming, but MOVEMENT is the sound of Sumner finding his voice. The spacey synth-pop of "The Him" foreshadows the sound New Orderwas to slowly develop, as Sumner became more comfortable with the upper reaches of his vocal range. Dynamic play abounds--the existentialist drone of "Truth" gives way to a crushing, chaotic guitar wail, while the intense, revealingly named "Doubts Even Here" slowly erupts beneath a disturbing double-vocal, stressing the burgeoning diversity of this legendary band in the making.

Customer Reviews

band in transition
By now you know the story; death of I.C., birth of New Order, and all that. Yes, this is the first New Order album, but if you are seeking the New Order sound so familiar to most this is not where to look. However, if you are a devout Joy Division/Section 25/Crispy Ambulance fan as am I, I do believe you will love this record (as do I). Listen closely (or perhaps not that closely) and Ian Curtis is audible on several tracks. Barney is not bad at all at capturing the Curtis-type crooning. Also noteworthy is the fantastic intermingling of synth and guitar, here in inchoate form, later to become the quintesence of New Order. But make no mistake, this album is not a get-up and dance/feel-good/perfect kiss/Blue Monday affair. The fact is this album is fairly dark, and considering its history, captures the mood of the events that surround it. To this effect it is both brooding and mournful, and yet remotely hopeful and expectant. True, this might be a projection, but it is hard to take this album out of context.

Not bad at all, a solid album
I can't understand most of the criticism of this album by fans. I've been a fan of New Order for over 10 years and this album isn't their worst in my opinion. Their poorest effort would have to be 'Brotherhood'.

I believe the reasons for the doubts about this album stem from the fact that the band had just been forced into a new direction, they were unsure, stuck between staying the same for their fans in their JD days or moving on. The press expected too much as did fans. This was a band in transition and the shows that.

The dark mood and lyrics are still there but notice the beginning of a much more electronic sound. The signs are there for the future. Maybe the new electronic sound unsettled fans, that would be a reason for their criticism.

The opener 'Dreams Never End' is brilliant, a powerful backbeat with strong guitars.

There are moments where the band seem unsure of where to go and just add more atmospherics and guitars, but from a group in change I think this was a great effort.

feeling
new orders true career charts from this in '81 through to Technique in '89, the rest is nostalgia - from both ours and
the bands perspective. the band hate it and from a musicians point of view I can see why, it's fragile in places.

whether the band are aware or not this album is an artwork, as much as PCL and Low Life. it captures losing a friend,
a singer, a world gone by. I came to this album retrospectively in '83 [as would be the want of the band], and it hooked me
in. I couldn't believe the band that created PCL made this stuff, they had worked hard at clearing their tracks.

Intensity gave way to optimism: time heals. NO became something new, something they do very well. a devotee to the band, both Brotherhood and Technique surprised me and that's creativity at work.

back to the tracks - everything makes up the whole, a whole that is as genuine as you could wish from any outfit. stand out tracks would be Dreams Never End, Chosen Time, and Denial for sheer drive, drive that gave NO weight which they never emulated. ICB, The Him, Doubts Even Here make you ponder the weight, the hope, the feeling.