The place was packed.....and dotted among the audience were the luminaries of the North West scene, from Pete Wylie, manic, high, through to Tony wilson, dry and smirking....svengali-like, knowing what he had.

And suddenly there they were, legends already, Dreams Never End assaulting the thick smoky clubby atmoshere, fast, energetic - the link to the past, evoking memories of Transmission and Love Will Tear Us Apart....and Truth, the quirky drum machine....I forget the gig order now but they did the whole of this short album plus In A Lonely Place and Ceremony.

For me this album remains a memory of something very special.... the crysalis stage of something that blossomed into a glorious freedom of expression. In some ways this is a tough listen - a bridge to the swirling, delirious Power Corruption and Lies from the sombre Closer. It does get waylaid in places, but the high points - The him, and the breathtaking Doubts Even Here are reminders of how these people reached out and made us all wonder about things which in our more cynical moods we would dismiss as pretentious nonsense....like how modern music can approach the soul, and be art.


WAY overdue for a remastering   August 7, 2005
Carl Howard (Columbus, OH USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I have adored this album of New Order's for over twenty years. Thereafter lay a quick skate downhill to the only initially-promising "Power, Corruption and Lies," which can never hope to redeem itself with lyrics like "You're not the kind who has to tell MEEEEEE... about the birds and the bees."

"Movement" is in desperate need of a reissue. The early-'90s Qwest/WEA version suffers from low overall volume and clipped first notes on two tracks - a common ailment in CD reissues of that era in which no mastering producer bothered to check the work before signing off on it.

Album producer Martin Hannett lended some of his finest work to this album, considering that the band members could have hardly yet been ready to assert their post-Joy Division identity at that time. It's just a distinct pity that after this album and the "Everything's Gone Green" single, the band opted for a shallow and biteless direction that essentially orphaned this great album in the process.


Ghosts   November 4, 2003
Mark Champion (San Antonio, TX United States)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

They might have goofed in front-loading their debut with the sprightly, catchy 'Dreams Never End'- -the rest of the album is pretty dour after such an auspicious beginning. It seems they couldn't make up their collective mind as to direction. Hence 'Dreams', which sounds like a hit single and, remarkably, like nothing in the Joy Division canon; the haunting 'Doubts Even Here', ostensibly the sequel to both 'Atmosphere' and 'In A Lonely Place'; and the sequencer-driven 'Chosen Time' which anticipates the follow-up POWER, CORRUPTION AND LIES and the direction the band would pursue throughout the 80s. Not surprising, really, as much of the material was probably written as Joy Division while Ian Curtis was alive and had to be finished without him. ('Ceremony', the debut single, was performed live with Curtis on JD's STILL.) A hint of cynicism concerning the band's audience pervades the album as well, though - - the vocals are treated in more than a few spots so as to mimic Curtis, most notably on 'Dreams Never End' and 'Doubts Even Here' in which Ian's ghost seemingly performs (it's actually Peter Hook). The band was definitely haunted by Curtis: his absence permeates the album. There are some great moments, to be sure - - aside from 'Dreams Never End', 'ICB' lopes merrily along and manages to transcend its own weight with its whoopy synth calls and ascending progression. And 'Doubts Even Here' is darkly beautiful. It's also rather aptly titled- -IS that Curtis? It isn't, but it's easy to imagine it isn't Hook, either. That's the thing about ghosts. They're there but they're not.


Dark and Artsy   June 30, 2004
Eric Byrnes (Burlington, VT USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This first album released by New Order in 1981 is a wonderful gloomy taste of sturm und drang, echoing out of poignantly scattered debris of Ian Curtis' suicide. This gloomy, artsy, beautifully dark album seems like it comes from the hauntingly hope-devoid streets of Manchester which wrought this foundational New Wave band. Excellent album: dark bored vocals, beautifully woven guitars, haunting synths.