Recycle 07: Thieves Like Us

[Link removed 20 November 2012] (39 MB)

Thieves Like Us
Factory Records FAC 103
Produced by Arthur Baker and New Order
April 1984

Tracklisting:
1. Thieves Like Us
2. Lonesome Tonight
3. Thieves Like Us (Promo 7" Edit)
4. Lonesome Tonight (Promo 7" Edit)

1 and 2 sourced from Substance, 3 and 4 edited from 1 and 2. Just a bit of level adjusting and a slight touch of limiting.

Between '84 and '86 New Order had this odd flirtation with country music. Lonesome Tonight is my favorite of the bunch, but you also get Love Vigilantes, As It Was When It Was, and a principle character in Paradise named Jolene. Drummer Stephen Morris had this to say about the song:

"It came into being as a result of a mild Elvis fixation. The live version of Are You Lonesome Tonight (the one where Elvis changes the lyrics to great comic effect and cracks up in hysterical laughter) was very popular on the New Order car cassette player at the time. I found it very hard to listen to without cracking up in sympathy with The King - and we all like a laugh, don't we? It was at a gig in Ireland I think, stuck for an encore, that Bernard had the idea of doing Lonesome Tonight. Not knowing how the tune goes has never held us back, so in the grand tradition of New Order cover versions we made something up and Bernard sang the Presley lyrics with the odd bit of swearing. We enjoyed it so much it became a semi regular item in the set. The lyrics and music evolved over time until all that remained was the title, which refused to go. I really love Lonesome Tonight, and like 1963 a great lost B side. Although live it could be a bit hit and miss, when it did work it was always fantastic."

The same can be said about Thieves Like Us, which is built around the guitar line from Hot Chocolate's 1974 single Emma. It didn't always sound great live because it's such a dense song, but when it did work, it was magical.