Chart entered : 14 March 1981
Chart peak : 34
Number of hits : 29
I've already written copiously about Joy Division and New Order on The Clarke Chronicler's Albums site so please go there if you want to know more. I'll just lift the paragraph that relates to "Ceremony " ;
"Ceremony" sticks out like a sore thumb with nearly all elements of the Joy Division sound intact save for an absence of synths and a woefully weak lead vocal. Ian Curtis had neither sung it adequately nor written the full lyrics down before his death so Bernard Sumner had to put the tape through a graphic equaliser to decipher the words then re-record the vocal himself. As JD songs go it's at the melodic end of the spectrum led by Peter Hook's wandering bassline and decorated by much cymbal work from Steve Morris. Sumner and new recruit Gillian Gilbert* colour in the spaces with their guitar work alternating between thrash and laying down a higher tone over the bassline. With our knowledge the final lines about "watching love grow forever" will always perplex. There's no sense of this song being a suicide note; it's B-side "In A Lonely Place" fit the bill much better. The song reached 34 in the charts in March 1981.
* This is taken from my review of "Substance" which had the re-recorded 12 inch version of "Ceremony" from September 1981. Gillian wasn't in the band when they recorded the original hit version.
Between this and the previous entry is when I entered the world! Somewhere, I have the NME released on the day I was born that reviews this single - middling review, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteI like it a lot, in large part due to Hooky's bass and Morris' usual excellent drums. Obviously, a lot better was to come... along with the Cure, one of my favourite bands from the 80s: I've got a fair number of their 12" singles, although not this one.