Low-life

NEW ORDER – Synth-Pop Heroes’ Masterwork Album ‘LOW-LIFE’ Is 40 Today

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from the past

13 May 2025

Manchester‘s synth-pop/rock heroes NEW ORDER released their third album LOW-LIFE today 40 years ago, on 13 May 1985. Along with their sophomore LP ‘Power, Corruption And Lies’ the band’s two premier achievements, in my book. Amazing tunes, dance-floor knockouts, and memorable melodies for all moods. Overall a glowing masterpiece.

It peaked at #7 on the UK Album Charts.

Smash Hits (former British music weekly) wrote: “The songs are much stronger than
usual, not just doomy electronic workouts but memorable melodies with a sense of humour lurking in the words.”

SINGLES

ALBUM

Linktree – All NO Albums

BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 10 Classic Albums Turning 40 In 2025

Posted on by JL

Back in time

24 December 2024

Band: NEW ORDER
Album: Low Life
Their 3rd one,
#7 in the UK.

Melody Maker said: “The album boasts the most articulate sound
since The Cocteaus’ Treasure, elevating depression to ecstasy.”

STREAM

Instagram – All Albums
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Band: THE POGUES
Album: Rum Sodomy & The Lash
2nd LP, #13 in the UK.

The album’s title is taken from a quotation attributed to Winston Churchill:
“Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.”

NME wrote: “A collection of free-ranging stuff to be sure. It’s never
sentimental, it’s rarely polite, and it’s certainly not ordinary.”

STREAM


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Linktree – All Albums
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Artist: TOM WAITS
Album: Rain Dogs
9th LP,
#188 in the US,
#29 in the UK.

The Village Voice wrote: “Waits worked out a unique and identifiable lounge-lizard
sound that suits his status as the poet of America’s non-nine-to-fivers.”

STREAM


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Instagram – All Albums
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Band: THE FALL
Album: This Nation’s Saving Grace
8th longplayer.

AllMusic: “This collection is ample proof of the pure confidence the group had
at this time. The Fall sound mysterious, down-to-earth, and hilarious all at the
same time.”

STREAM


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Instagram – All Albums
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Band: THE CURE
Album: The Head On The Door
6th one, #7 in the UK.

Pitchfork: “Their most focused
pop album. A tight, terrific package.”

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Instagram – All Albums
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Artist: BRIAN ENO
Album: Thursday Afternoon

AllMusic: “Thursday Afternoon is an hour-long, uninterrupted ambient piece
created in Eno’s “holographic” compositional style, in which even the most brief
snippet of music is representative of the performance as a whole.”

STREAM


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Instagram – All Albums
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Band: TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
Album: Southern Accents
Their 6th LP,
#7 in the US.

AllMusic: “An ambitious album, attempting to incorporate touches of soul,
psychedelia, and country into a loose concept about the modern South.”

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Linktree – All Albums
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Band: THE CULT
Album: Love
Their second LP,
# in the UK.

AllMusic: “Considering the musical schizophrenia that would plague each
subsequent Cult release, Love just may be the band’s purest moment.”

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Instagram – All Albums
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JesysCandy

Band: THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
Album: Psychocandy

NME said: “A great searing citadel of beauty whose wall of noise,
once scaled, offers access to endless vistas of melody and emotion.”

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Instagram – All Albums
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Band: HÜSKER DÜ
Album: Flip Your Wig
4th longplayer
#1 Indie charts UK

AllMusic: “Flip Your Wig would be a remarkable record on its own terms, but the fact that it followed New Day Rising by a matter of months and Zen Arcade by just over a year is simply astonishing.”

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All Albums

NEW ORDER – Definite Edition For Third LP ‘LOW-LIFE’ Out Now

Posted on by JL

30 January 2023

Manchester’s synth-pop heroes NEW ORDER start 2023 with
a Definitive Edition Boxset of their third LP LOW LIFE. One of
their best, released on 13 May 1985.

The box includes the original album on 180g vinyl LP and CD – remastered.
A second CD of unreleased audio, and 2 DVDs of live performances from
1984 and 1985, the singles, plus a hardback book.

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Order info here.

This live performance of Sunrise at the infamous Haçienda club
in Manchester in 1985 features on one of DVDs of the Box Set.

The Full Definitive Edition

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NEW ORDER: Bio – Discography – Facebook – Instagram

Lyrics Of The Day – By… NEW ORDER

Posted on by JL

From ‘Love Vigilantes‘ by New Order

[Verse 1]
Oh I’ve just come
From the land of the sun
From a war that must be won
In the name of truth
With our soldiers so brave
Your freedom we will save
With our rifles and grenades
And some help from God

[Chorus]
I want to see my family
My wife and child waiting for me
I’ve got to go home
I’ve been so alone, you see

[Verse 2]
You just can’t believe
The joy I did receive
When I finally got my leave
And I was going home
Oh I flew through the sky
My convictions could not lie
For my country I would die
And I will see it soon

[Chorus]
I want to see my family
My wife and child waiting for me
I’ve got to go home
I’ve been so alone, you see

[Verse 3]
When I walked through the door
My wife she lay upon the floor
And with tears her eyes were sore
I did not know why
Then I looked into her hand
And I saw the telegram
That said that I was a brave, brave man
But that I was dead

[Chorus]
I want to see my family
My wife and child waiting for me
I’ve got to go home


LOVE VIGILANTES was the opening track from their 1985 Low-life album

YESTERDAY’S CRACKERS – This Week: 25 Killer Tracks And 3 Top LP’s From 1985…

Posted on by JL

The best of the past…

Every week Turn Up The Volume! jumps into the past! Relive 25 Killer Crackers
and 3 Top Albums per year/per week. Let’s go back this week to: 1985.

The 25 Killer Crackers

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The 3 Top Albums…

– Rum Sodomy & The Lash by THE POGUES –

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– Low-Life by NEW ORDER –

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– Little Creatures‘ by TALKING HEADS

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TODAY’S YESTERDAY ALBUM – ‘Low-life’ – Third NEW ORDER Longplayer…

Posted on by JL

Remarkable albums from the past…

‘Low-life’ by NEW ORDER
Released: 13 May 1985 / NO’s third longplayer

ALL MUSIC review: “New Order’s third LP, Low-life, was, in every way, the artistic equal of
their breakout, 1983’s ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’. The point where the band’s fusion of rock
and electronics became seamless, it showed the band members having it every way they wanted: heavily sequenced and synthesized, but with bravura work from Bernard Sumner’s guitar and Peter Hook’s plaintive, melodic bass; filled with hummable pop songs, but still experimental as far as how the productions were achieved – But there was no mistaking that New Order had reached a peak, experimenting with their sound and their style, but keeping every moment wrapped in an unmistakable humanness.”
Score: 4.5/5 – Full review here

TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: A 24-hour party album and with previous LP
‘Power, Corruption & Lies‘ the very core of New Order‘s work to my ears.

TOP TRACKS: Love Vigilantes / The Perfect Kiss / Sub-Culture

* LOVE VIGILANTES

* PERFECT KISS

* SUBCULTURE

Album in full…

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NEW ORDER: Website – Facebook – All Albums

 


15 May 1981 – AB venue, Brussels
My first NO gig – already that long?…