Recycle 14: True Faith

[Link removed 20 November 2012] (108MB)
(File name should be truefaithv3.zip - verified all files will open)

True Faith
Factory Records FAC 183
Produced by Stephen Hague and New Order. Evil Dust and Paradise produced by New Order.
July 1987

Tracklisting:

1. True Faith
2. 1963
3. Evil Dust
4. Paradise (Robert Racic Remix)
5. True Faith (Shep Pettibone Remix)
6. True Dub
7. True Faith (UK 7" Edit)
8. True Faith (The Morning Sun Edit)
1 and 2 sourced from Factory UK 12" single Fac 183
3 and 8 sourced from Factory UK CD-Video Facdv 183
4 sourced from Retro London EU CD 0927 49499 2
5 sourced from 1963 London UK CD single NUCDP 6
6 sourced from Factory UK 12" single Fac 183R
7 sourced from Factory UK 7" single Fac 183

Notes from the restorer:

When I first did this up a few months ago for my own amusement, I thought I had collected all the versions and related material. However, I was mistaken... in any event, I've fine-tuned the tracks I had done previously, so here they are once again.

This is probably my favourite New Order song ever… it's a close toss-up between this and Regret. However, as a single, I think this is their very best. Not only is the song absolutely top-notch, but the B-side is equally good. 1963 could've easily been a single of its own, and that eventually happened some 8 years later. Oh, and it has coherent lyrics too!

In the mid-80s it became common for UK bands to issue multiple versions of a single, and True Faith was the first time New Order would take this route. In addition to the regular 7" and 12", a second 12" was released with Shep Pettibone's remixes. On top of that, the single was also released on the short-lived CD-V format, a hybrid CD/laserdisc which provided the video of the song playable on a LD player, and a few audio tracks playable on any CD player. Here it was presented with Evil Dust, an instrumental dubby remix of the song Angel Dust from Brotherhood, and an edit of the Shep Pettibone remix. Oh, and the Australian remix edition included a Robert Racic remix of Paradise which wasn't issued anywhere else until the Retro compilation in 2002. This might all seem kind of crazy, but it's nothing compared to the marketing and remix insanity which would occur in the early 90s.

Personally I'm not too fond of the Shep Pettibone mixes. I think he goes just a little too far over the top here, and takes away from the lushness of the original song… or perhaps the it just doesn't work very well in a purely dancefloor context. Nonetheless, others love this - one person commented on 50poundnote's Flickr stream that it was Shep's finest moment - so to each their own and all that.

True Faith was New Order's conscious effort to break America. When they entered the studio with Stephen Hague, no one was sure which would be the A-side or the B-side, so work on both songs progressed at the same time. Although the band now says 1963 was a waste as a B-side (and as Bruce said it would see release as an A-side in 1995), the pairing here places this as my favorite single of all-time, right alongside Love Will Tear Us Apart b/w These Days. Everything from the sleeve (an icon of our generation) to the video (shamelessly aped by Fine Young Cannibals a year later) made a strong statement. It was released just before my 17th birthday and my Senior year of high school, so it's the soundtrack to a very formative period in my life.

Unlike Bruce, I disagree about Shep Pettibone's mixes. They were a real touchstone of the late 80's alternative dance scene, and even now - 22 years later - I can spin his mixes and fill a dancefloor. They never get old.

Evil Dust found a broader release in 1988 on the Funky Alternatives Volume One compilation.

I never knew about the Robert Racic remix of Paradise until about 1991, although I certainly knew his name. Racic was a celebrated DJ and producer in Sydney who worked with Severed Heads and would go on to work with Boxcar and others.