BE MUSIC
BE MUSIC is the production tag used by all four members of New Order in the early 1980s. Both COOL AS ICE and TWICE AS NICE focus on their dance and electro productions, and also include related tracks produced by Donald Johnson (DoJo) of A Certain Ratio and American producers Mark Kamins and Arthur Baker.



COOL AS ICE (LTMCD 2377) £10 (DLP = £12)
Stone classic old school 80's electro and dance cuts produced by Be Music and DoJo, available both on CD and as a limited DJ friendly double vinyl set. Largely produced between 1983 and 1984 for release on Factory Records and Factory Benelux, the full tracklist runs as follows:
52nd STREET CAN'T AFFORD (TO LET YOU GO) 6.50
SECTION 25 LOOKING FROM A HILLTOP 8.07 *
MARCEL KING REACH FOR LOVE 5.25 *
QUANDO QUANGO LOVE TEMPO 6.58 *
52nd STREET COOL AS ICE 7.25 *
PAUL HAIG THE ONLY TRUTH 7.02 *
QUANDO QUANGO ATOM ROCK 6.42 *
NYAM NYAM FATE/HATE 8.03
LIFE TELL ME 3.04
THICK PIGEON BABCOCK + WILCOX 3.43
SECTION 25 BEATING HEART 5.02
BE MUSIC THEME 3.04

Tracks marked with an asterisk* were co-produced by Be Music (Bernard Sumner) and DoJo (Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio). Nyam Nyam and the Be Music Theme were produced by Peter Hook, and Life and Thick Pigeon by Steve Morris and Gillian Gilbert. The collection has been digitally remastered and runs for 74 minutes. The vinyl version will be limited to just 1000 copies.

Reviews: "Album of the fortnight! The tracks by 52nd Street and Section 25 are brilliant" (DJ Magazine, 8/03); "Electroclash fans take note!" (Magnet, 03/05); "These are significant events in the British electronica timeline - Cool As Ice was effectively the first electro-funk single made in Britain. Four stars" (Uncut, 11/03); "Innovative electro and club curios. Marcel King should have had a major hit with Reach For Love" (Q Magazine, 10/03); "Essential - New Order's invisible history" (Les Inrockuptibles, 10/03); "Includes necessary club classics like Looking From A Hilltop, Love Tempo and Cool As Ice. A necesary compilation for those wishing to explore Manchester's very important contribution to dance music, and an amazing and often overlooked facet of one of the 80s most influential bands - New Order" (Other Music, 8/03); "A frankly magnificent compilation, at times this is new technology in search of itself. Reach for Love by Marcel King is pure Soul by any definition. Genius" (Glasgow Herald, 9/03); "Playful and ecstatic, and allows us to ponder what New Order might have sounded like if they'd come out of Manchester's R&B scene" (Exclaim!, 08/03); "Excellent. While we're familiar with the magic New Order frequently conjured when working on their own music, the majority of the 12 selections here leave you in little doubt of their capabilities on the other side of the studio glass. Crucial stuff abounds, especially 52nd Street (Can't Afford) and Quando Quango (Love Tempo). Rediscovery is essential." (Whisperin' & Hollerin', 8/03); "The familiar seal of quality is apparent all over this work, and the songs themselves still hold a lot of relevance" (Leonard' Lair, 10/03); "These tracks still sound fresh. Know why? Many of these songs have rhythms that have been sampled, borrowed or stolen, and these mixes prove that New Order were a significant force to be recknoned with in the underground dance world. This compilation certainly shows how ahead of the game they really were" (mundanesounds, 8/03)



TWICE AS NICE (LTMCD 2398) £10 (DLP = £12)
Twice As Nice is the sequel to our hugely successful 2003 compilation Cool As Ice. Produced between 1982 and 1986 for release on Factory Records and Les Disques du Crepuscule, the Twice As Nice tracklist runs as follows:
52nd Street Express 5.02 #
Cheyne Call Me Mr Telephone 6.27 >
Quando Quango Low Rider (400 Blows Remix) 3.47 >
Anna Domino Summer (Baker Remix) 7.26 <
52nd Street Look Into My Eyes 6.59 #
Quando Quango Genius (Part 2) 6.48 >
Marcel King Keep On Dancing 3.30 *
Shark Vegas You Hurt Me (version) 6.33 *
New Order Video 586 (edit) 6.10
Section 25 Sakura 3.58
Thick Pigeon Jess + Bart (remix) 3.12
RFATP Motherland (Remix) 4.44
52nd Street Cool As Ice (Jellybean Mix) 7.45 #

Those tracks marked with an asterisk* were jointly produced by Be Music (Bernard Sumner) and DoJo (Donald Johnson, of A Certain Ratio). # indicates DoJo alone. > indicates Mark Kamins. < indicates Arthur Baker. The others are all Be Music (New Order) productions. The remastered CD runs for 73 minutes.

Reviews: "In the early 1980s, energised by hip hop and electro, New Order produced a string of acts for Factory under their studio moniker Be Music, the results of which were greeted with indifference in the UK. Quite why is hard to fathom since, as this CD attests, tracks like Sakura by Section 25 and Motherland by Royal Family and the Poor were taut, bewitching slices of robo funk that still excite today. The other producers herein (Arthur Baker, Mark Kamins and Donald Johnson) all had their moments too" (Uncut, 11/04); "Another winning collection. Let it be said that 52nd Street's contributions to the electro-dance/new wave sound is immeasurable, while surrounding songs by New Order, Thick Pigeon and Royal Family and the Poor are ripe even for today's upmarket dancefloors" (The Big Takeover, 9/04); "Genius Pt 2 is a cross-over hit that never was, between Art of Noise and Orbital. The advent of the sequencer is one of the main aural interest of this collection and its use in diverting the dancefloor's attention away from disco and funk to electro-pop, and eventually onto Acid to full House. Essential" (Whisperin & Hollerin, 10/04)

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