Everything’s Gone Green

The early New Order singles, as relentless as the album tracks on Movement, are more beat-oriented and feature synthesizers more prominently. On "Temptation," you can even make out the lyrics clearly, a New Order first. These 3 singles began the change away from (the) Joy Division towards (A) New Order.

The 5 track EP was put together mainly for the American market as a compilation of three of New Order's early singles. It contains "Procession" from September 1981, plus the 12" versions of "Everything's Gone Green" (released December 1981) and "Temptation" (released May 1982) plus two of the b-sides, "Mesh" and "Hurt". A second b-side to "Everything's Gone Green", "Cries and Whispers" is curiously omitted; as is New Order's first single "Ceremony" / "In a Lonely Place". The sleeve was designed by Peter Saville and uses a painting from his then-girlfriend Martha Ladly.

The songs of this era (in particular this version of "Temptation") signalled a critical turning point in the development of New Order as the group shifted from simply being the remnants of Joy Division after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis to becoming a singular band in its own right. The EP is frequently viewed as the bridge from the group's debut album, Movement, to the new electronic-based sound contained on their softmore album, Power, Corruption & Lies.

This version of "Temptation" has been described as being "where Manchester's finest stop hearing ghosts in their shell and stake their claim to a danceable pop of unprecedented grimness and power," noting that it was "the first real song this sharp-cornered sound-and-groove band has ever come up with.”

The EP also documents the band's break away from producer Martin Hannett, who had produced both of Joy Division's studio albums and Movement. While Hannett produced "Everything's Gone Green", "Procession" and "Mesh", the other two songs on the EP were produced by New Order. Bernard Sumner remarked: "Martin's last track was "Everything's Gone Green" – fact he walked out halfway through the mix because Hooky and me asked him to turn the drums up"

Ripped from an original 12” mini album (Factus 8) to 24bit FLAC

New Order; 1981-1982

1.      Everything’s Gone Green

2.      Procession

3.      Mesh

4.      Temptation

5.      Hurt