New Order - blue monday '95 (London)

Thirty years ago today Blue Monday was first released on an unsuspecting world, its iconic floppy disc cover and innovative electro beat fused with essential pop melodies helping propelling it to become the biggest selling 12" single ever. I do not have that version however, but i do have the '95 re-release so lets review that instead...

We'll get the 1995 "Hardfloor" version out of the way first, its fine and updated though oddly sounds a bit more dated than the original version though that may be down to the original just being so timeless. There are 3 other mixes too which are OK, the Manuella one for example has some beautiful keyboards and builds up into a luscious soundscape. Its nothing terrible and is indeed pretty good, just not that essential compared to...

The original then, drum machines drive this futuristic journey through disco, funk and synths. Dead pan vocals and sound effects add to the overall effect. Its retro, its the early 80s, its when we had our VIC-20s and BBC Micros and 8-bit graphics were our window into the early cyber world... where this could have been the soundtrack.

The synths and electro-beat are just... unique even though they have been the inspiration for so much that has come subsequently. Thirty years on its still brilliant.