stageright…stageleft

the impetus for pulling out what could arguably be called u2’s strongest album was the tune acrobat. there is a moment in the hbo show where the audience is allowed to ask questions and someone wanted to know about the story behind ‘acrobat’. as much as ‘acrobat’ is probably my favorite u2 song, when i pulled out the album today, i was struck by another track – the dark, sensual and mysterious love is blindness.

love is clockworks / and cold steel / fingers too numb to feel / squeeze the handle / blow out the candle / love is blindness

this track is truly unlike anything that comes before it on the album (and that’s saying something considering the “kitchen sink” production style on the album). from the opening organ swell (who the hell is playing the organ), to what can best be described as lush bass line and rolling percussion you know this somber track is going in a different direction than what came before.

there has been much debate on what this song is about… is it simply a love song (in the most obvious fashion)? is it about the edge’s marriage failing? is it about terrorism? i wouldn’t be surprised if it were a fragile mix of all three.

love is drowning / in a deep well / all the secrets / and no one to tell / take the money / honey / blindness

out of that opening of organ, bass & percussion, comes a voice that honest-to-god sounds broken and bruised. buried just beneath the tortured, disturbing lament of the lyric, the haunting guitar begins a tentative wail. now, the edge is one of those rock-n-roll guitarists i’ve never thought much about – yeah sure he’s great, a solid-go-to-guy – but he’s never been (i thought) what drew me to u2. until the interview on hbo the other night – a great amount of time was spent discussing the edge’s “sound”. fuck, what an idiot i’ve been. listening with fresh ears i’ve come to a conclusion…. the sound of u2 has very little to do with bono as i had always (foolishly) thought – indeed, it’s all wrapped up in how the edge plays his guitar…. with ‘blindness’ in particular he makes his guitar cry. it’s really quite the perfect mix between adam clayton‘s tight as a piano string bass line, larry mullen’s perfect drumming and the edge’s sublime (yes, cb, i said sublime) guitar (in my estimation, the best guitar solo the edge has ever done). bono’s vox weaves in and out, never pulling focus – rather adding to the story.

love is blindness / in a parked car / in a crowded street / you see your love / made complete / thread is ripping / the knot is slipping / love is blindness

the song is the brilliant cap to a phenomenal album. it’s sobering clarity (and simple instrumentation) puts the rest of the album’s heavily produced and programmed sound into perfect perception. the cacophony of sounds that is the opening track, zoo station, slowly evolves over the course of album and fades into the organ that slowly, tightly and oh so powerfully powers love is blindness.

inspired by a sex pistol’s gig in 1976 (interesting how many bands were begun after seeing the pistol’s drunkenly swagger through a rock-n-roll show), three friends from manchester england (bernard sumner, peter hook & terry mason) formed what would become joy division (originally titled stiff kittens and then warsaw; either one a great name if you ask me – picture it “ladies & gentlemen, please put your hands together for stiff kittens”). an advert in a manchester record store brought ian curtis into the mix and the band was solidified (sort of). fast forward 9 months and 3 drummers later – a young stephen morris was installed as drummer and the stage was set.

joy division offered a darker, more complex version of what was happening in the london punk scene. whereas punk was enthusiastically blunt, loud and aggressive; joy division offered a more solitary and bleaker version of the future. indeed; modern ambient giants such as aphex twin, massive attack and the orb owe as much to 1979’s unknown pleasures and 1980’s closer as they do to the works of erik satie, pink floyd & phillip glass.

in 1980 ian curtis’ health (read: depression) was reaching dangerous proportions. on may 18, on the eve of joy division’s inaugural u.s. tour, curtis reportedly watched werner herzog’s stroszek — with the final scene suggesting the main character’s suicide— and hanged himself – therefore sealing himself in the rock-n-roll pantheon of tortured artiste.

while agreements were made between members of the band prior to curtis’ suicide to disband should any member leave – the band would dissolve, the three remaining members of joy division continued to tour the summer after curtis’ death and even went back into the studio and recorded a number of tracks. with the album closer released posthumously (to excellent reviews), and the track “love will tear us apart” lodged solidly in the top 20, sumner, hook & morris, emerged re-born as new order.

taking their new name from an entry in the guardian entitled “the people’s new order of kampuchea” and adding gillian gilbert (morris’ girlfriend at the time) on keyboards and synthesizers, the band released the songs “ceremony” and “in a lonely place”; the last tracks recorded as joy division and then immediately went into the studio to work on what would become 1981’s movement album.

movement, released november 1981 featured what would become one of new order’s signature tracks; “temptation”. while similar in style to joy divisions dark tones, “temptation” and the rest of movement hinted at a more spirited, more electronic, more dance oriented future sound. one could even say “temptation” was almost whimsical – a great departure from the dark path of “atmosphere” from the joy division days.

the final nail in the coffin of joy division however came in 1983 with the arrival of power, corruption and lies. the electronic tip of the iceberg found on movement came to the forefront here. with their more guitar based sound now embracing and mixing fully with electronic/techno music, along with abstract / nonsense lyrics, new order was fully formed.

the cornerstone to power, corruption and lies was “blue monday” (the 12″ single becoming the biggest selling 12″ in the history of music). “blue monday’s” ominous kick drum opening, throbbing synth-bass line (produced on a moog, then overlaid with hook’s physical bass guitar lead) and sumner’s dead-pan lyrical styling’s is often seen as one of the most critical crossover hit’s of the 80’s new wave scene. indeed in 2003, q magazine voted “blue Monday” the 9th most influential song ever (and the only dance track in the top ten).

20 years on from power, corruption & lies (and another 7 albums later; low-life, brotherhood, substance, technique, republic, get ready and waiting for the sirens call), new order have become ‘god-like geniuses’ (nme 2005)… a band that was radical for it’s time and continues to inspire people to pick up a guitar or turn on a keyboard, has, for now, gone quietly into the night.
the nice thing about new order tho’ is you never know if the end is really the end. with these blokes the end is usually just the beginning.

i used to think that the day would never come / i’d see delight in the shade of the morning sunmy morning sun is the drug that brings me near / to the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
new order – true faith

that beautiful beautiful man summed up something i’ve been struggling with for a long time. how to properly communicate my distaste for myspace – check it out: digital vomit

i used to think that i was a pretty average gay man, i like the hotties, i like dance music, i like sex – but the realization that i’m not your typical gay man has been creeping into my consciousness quite a bit lately.

i’ll give you a few examples:

clint mansell’s amazing score for the sublimely beautiful film ‘the fountain’