After some hemming-and-hawing over the New Order name, word escaped that Sumner and Morris had a new project called Bad Lieutenant and would be writing/releasing new music under that name. People said "ummm, OK".
In March 2009 Sky Arts in the UK featured Bernard Sumner on their recurring series "Songbook" that blends MTV/VH1's "Storytellers" and "Unplugged" series into a narrative interview with several acoustic performances interspersed.
Bernard, backed by guitarists Phil Cunningham and Jake Evans, performed 4 tracks "unplugged" - just acoustic guitars and Bernard's legendary voice.
That's not that impressive in and of itself - the thought of New Order tracks unplugged just doesn't really jibe, if you know what I mean - but it turns out Bernard turned in one of his most inspired performances ever.
Not only that, but it was the first public airing of a Bad Lieutenant track, which I'll get to shortly.
What was played? Well, you've come to the right place!
1) "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division, 1979)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3
Three acoustic guitars, no "whooping" from Bernard. Perhaps the best non-Joy Division performance of this song, ever. Really really good performance, perfectly suited for Bernard in this interpretation.
High-quality YouTube footage
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2) "Bizarre Love Triangle" (New Order, 1986)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3
Oddly I'd never imagined this song in an acoustic setting, but it works, and it's fantastic. Of course I'm discounting Frente!'s version but I don't really count that....
High-quality YouTube footage
- - -
3) "Getting Away With It" (Electronic, 1989)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3
The debut Electronic single (the side project that Bernard started with Johnny Marr in the late 1980s), never before heard in an acoustic setting. Again, a stellar performance, and it really gets to the root of the melody. And when Jake comes in with a fairly spot-on Johnny Marr imitation in the solo, it's really something else.... I would have to say this is the best version of this song I've EVER heard, no question.
High-quality YouTube footage
- - -
4) "Sink Or Swim" (Bad Lieutenant, 2009)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3
The first public airing of this brand-new Bad Lieutenant track, this is REALLY good. Interestingly, the main guitar motif suggests a possible Peter Hook bassline, which makes this even more poignant. Stellar, stellar stuff, and a fantastic teaser for any further upcoming efforts....
High-quality YouTube footage
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On YouTube you can also find the interview segments, but I'll leave that for you guys to get. I just wanted to feature the music... ;)
enjoy!
Posts
Thank you very much for this!
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch! How do you rip such HQ audio from youtube videos? Cheers!
ReplyDeleteIt's actually NOT ripped from the youtube videos... ;)
ReplyDeleteAh no wonder! If only more bloggers were like you and went through the trouble of making the highest possible quality available. Thank you again! :)
ReplyDeleteThe playing and singing on this session is very reminiscent of the two acoustic CD's recorded by The Chameleons earlier this decade. Great stuff. Thanks for the rip!
ReplyDeletethanks a lot for this post
ReplyDeletePlease reupload this "2) "Bizarre Love Triangle" (New Order, 1986)"
thank in advance!
Arturo: The track is still available ... ? Try re-downloading it.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't the youtube URLs include a "&fmt=18", for the high-quality (mp4) version?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. Haven't heard it yet, but look forward to.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Arturo's still right. I got the other three, but not Bizarre Love Triangle.
Have you heard it by Poi Dog Pondering?
Bizarre Love Triangle post is off!!!
ReplyDeleteCan you re-up??? Please!!!
Tanks!!!
Hi, Can you re-up Bizarre love triangle, please?.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post!
BLT is updated!
ReplyDeleteThanks!!! Thanks so very, very, and very much!
ReplyDeleteA.L.-I read in an article about Electronic that they recorded the Dodgers Stadium shows with the intention of releasing a live recording as the debut Electronic album but subsequently changed their minds. Being a guy with connections, a high-quality FLAC of the professionally recorded Electronic live gig would be a sweet Christmas gift to followers of your blog!
ReplyDelete@Dan the Librarian: the same would be a sweet Christmas gift to myself! I may have "connections" but they're very tenuous, and moreso Electronic's affairs were/are handled by Marcus Russell (Ignition Management), not anyone related to New Order/Joy Division. I think we'd have as big a chance of a megagig happening with Revenge, Electronic, Monaco and The Other Two all supporting New Order as we would of the soundboard recording leaking out of the first two Electronic gigs....
ReplyDeleteNo matter! You run an excellent blog and I always look forward to your weekly postings! Carry on my friend...
ReplyDeleteBTW-Have you ever considered posting some things by The KLF? Excellent band that really took the punk ethos to its logical conclusions. Their whole catalog is out of print and as they were the "Kopyright Liberation Front" nobody would give you a hardtime for posting their stuff.
These are fantastic performances; Barney sounds oddly amazing and the acoustic versions really work well, especially the version of Getting Away With It, a track I had a hard time figuring for an acoustic rendition.
ReplyDeleteIn case you want to expand on the Bad Lieutenant response, I wrote this a couple years ago to comabt the negative reaction toward Never Cry Another Tear:
http://thesmokingcupcake.blogspot.com/2009/10/case-for-bad-lieutenant_6585.html
There's a Part II as well you'll likely find enjoyable!
The Smoking Cupcake
These are fantastic performances; Barney sounds oddly amazing and the acoustic versions really work well, especially the version of Getting Away With It, a track I had a hard time figuring for an acoustic rendition.
ReplyDeleteIn case you want to expand on the Bad Lieutenant response, I wrote this a couple years ago to comabt the negative reaction toward Never Cry Another Tear:
http://thesmokingcupcake.blogspot.com/2009/10/case-for-bad-lieutenant_6585.html
There's a Part II as well you'll likely find enjoyable!
The Smoking Cupcake
thank you very much for this post :)
ReplyDelete