JANUARY 1981
Eight months on from the death of frontman Ian Curtis, the remaining members of Joy Division unveiled themselves as New Order with a re-recorded version of the last song the frontman wrote lyrics for, Ceremony. The track had been recorded by Joy Division just four days before Curtis’ suicide (that one can be heard on the Heart And Soul four-disc boxset), but in late 1980, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris reconvened with producer Martin Hannett to wax a new version, with Sumner taking over lead vocals; Bernard had to transcribe the lyrics from the original recording as Curtis had never actually written them down. The single’s release (FAC 33, catalogue number fans) would mark the band’s first use of the ‘New Order’ moniker on record and was backed by another song with Curtispenned lyrics, In A Lonely Place. The band would re-record Ceremony yet again a few months later, with new recruit, keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, and it’s this, more New Order-fied version that is most commonly found on compilations. Steve O’Brien
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