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Chapter and Verse - New Order, Joy Division and Me
Founding member and guitarist of Joy Division and the lead singer of New Order, Bernard Sumner has been famous over the years for his reticence. Until now. An integral part of the Manchester music scene since the late 1970s, his is the definitive version of the events that created two of the most influential bands of all time.
Chapter and Verse includes a vivid and illuminating account of Bernard's Salford childhood, the early days of Joy Division, the band's enormous critical and popular success, and the subsequent tragic death of Ian Curtis. Bernard describes the formation of New Order, takes us behind the scenes at the birth of classics such as 'Blue Monday' and gives his first-hand account of the ecstasy and the agony of the Haçienda days.
Sometimes moving, often hilarious and occasionally completely out of control, this is a tale populated by some of the most colourful and creative characters in music history, such as Ian Curtis, Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton and Martin Hannett. Others have told parts of the story, in film and book form. Now, for the first time, Bernard Sumner gives you chapter and verse.
Chapter and Verse includes a vivid and illuminating account of Bernard's Salford childhood, the early days of Joy Division, the band's enormous critical and popular success, and the subsequent tragic death of Ian Curtis. Bernard describes the formation of New Order, takes us behind the scenes at the birth of classics such as 'Blue Monday' and gives his first-hand account of the ecstasy and the agony of the Haçienda days.
Sometimes moving, often hilarious and occasionally completely out of control, this is a tale populated by some of the most colourful and creative characters in music history, such as Ian Curtis, Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton and Martin Hannett. Others have told parts of the story, in film and book form. Now, for the first time, Bernard Sumner gives you chapter and verse.
352 pages, ebook
First published August 28, 2014
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December 18, 2021
Me encanta que llevo días con la canción de "Love will tear us apart", una canción icónica y perfecta, que no importa cuando la escuches, vive en su propio tiempo, como si el tiempo no existiera. El solo hecho de que Bernard haya estado ahí, en ese grupo y cuando se compuso esa canción, ya es para un libro. Pero encima, también cuenta sobre la composición de "Blue Monday", que en cuanto escucho ese bombo del principio de inmediato empiezo a bailar. Así que con esas dos canciones pegadas me leí estas memorias del vocalista de New Order, y guitarrista de Joy Division. El libro en sí tiene sus defectos: una es que parecería un estilo medio británico el de arreglar cuentas pendientes en los libros de memorias (hace no mucho me leí uno que también tenía lo mismo, de Cosey fanny tutti, la guitarrista de una banda experimental que se llamaba Throbbing Gristle, en donde le echa durante todo el libro le cantante Genesis O-Porridge) Acá se pelea con el bajista, y le dedica un capítulo a la bronca. Me parece que eso hace que el libro quede medio atrapado en un tiempo muy específico, pero no importa. Otra cosa, que no sé si es la traducción, es que se hace el chistoso, y como que se caen siempre los chistes, es hasta tierno eso. Igual son detalles que para mí quedan pequeños, y hasta hacen entrañable el leer sobre otras cosas que me encantó saber, no tenía idea cómo había sido la transición de Joy Division a New Order, o toda la movida de Manchester cuando surgieron, o el show icónico se Sex Pistols, que llegaron a cambiar todo. Y bueno, más que nada que soy fan de leer memorias que tienen que ver con música. Así que lo disfruté un montón.
August 27, 2016
So many charismatic lead singers fronted UK bands in the 1980s – Morrissey (The Smiths) pranced around the stage in half-open silk shirts, bathed in crowd adulation and air-born gladioli; David Gahan (Depeche Mode) was all confidence and sex appeal, spinning a mic stand like a gothic baton; Ian McCulloch (Echo & the Bunnymen), like Jim Morrison, looked cool just standing there; Matt Johnson (The The) radiated intelligence, stalking the stage like a welterweight boxer; even Robert Smith (The Cure) had gothic, minimalist charisma, even if it was mostly all hair and makeup.
And, of course, Ian Curtis (Joy Division) was coiled intensity, thousand-mile stare, doing his maniacal Ian epilepsy dance.
And then Ian Curtis killed himself…
Into Ian’s considerable shadow stepped the 80s reluctant front man, Bernard Sumner, Joy Division’s erstwhile guitarist. Bernard Sumner looked like a fresh-faced school boy in 1980 when he stepped up to the mic stand as the lead singer of New Order (Bernard was 24 but looked 16, and he probably got carded well into the 1990s). His voice, a thin tenor, had none of the power, character, or beauty of any of the aforementioned 80s lead singers. And his stage presense, if I’m being kind, has always been net neutral – he does a little twirling thing on stage, and a little hopping thing too, neither of which happen to the beat of the music. And his stage banter – mostly non-jokes and non-sequiters – borders on embarrassing.
But the music, oh, the music! I’ve been listening to these great UK 80s bands for 30+ years and while my love and devotion for all of these bands (as well as several others from this period) burn bright, New Order might be – Might be! Don’t hold me to it! – my favorite band from that formative 80’s period.
I write all of this nostagic preamble because I just read Bernard Sumner’s autiobiography “Chapter and Verse: New Order, Joy Division, and Me,” a sort of slapdash romp through the life and career of the New Order lead singer and Joy Division guitarist.
Like Bernard’s vocals, “Chapter and Verse” is a little rough around the edges – it’s often repetitive or vague, it skips over whole albums or periods from the band’s history, and it’s far from being well-written let alone poetic or literary. But I read it, compulsively, over a 2-day period, my eyes glued to the page. Part of my focused attention was due to the drama surrounding the band, in particular Bernard’s rivalry with former New Order bassist, Peter Hook.
At this point I should point out that Peter Hook wrote a rollicking and amusing autobiography himself about Joy Division in 2013 called “Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division.” Hook’s book reads like a drunken bar conversation, embelished war stories told by a semi-reliable witness. It is profane, laugh-out-loud funny, and often vulnerable – for every dig at Sumner, Hook offers an honest-to-god compliment. (For example, Hook says he prefers Bernard Sumner’s guitar playing to Johnny Marr’s – I kid you not!)
In contrast, Sumner’s biography is less personal, more dispassionate – he’s setting the record straight, telling it like it is, or was. Sumner waxes eloquent and nostalgic about his childhood in rough Salford, a suburb of Manchester; he’s open and straightforward about the devasatation Curtis’s suicide wrought on Joy Division; he’s vulnerable regarding his anxiety and apathy about taking over lead singer duties; he plays raconteur when recounting various scenes of on-the-road debauchery; and in some cases Sumner seems to be directly responding to Hook’s book – for example, Hook reports that Sumner hated to be called “Barney,” (and then proceeds to all him “Barney” for the rest of the book), while Sumner, in his book, reports that the nickname “Barney” never bothered him.
Hey, I loved both books. Hook was funny and amusing, and I loved his track-by-track analysis of the Joy Division records as well as his anecdotes about the rival bands he met and played with on the road.
But Bernard Sumner is the main character, the hero of the New Order story. That New Order even happened, let alone flourished; that it transcended Joy Division; that the boyish, sometimes off-key Bernard Sumner was able to step into Ian Curtis’s charismatic shoes… is something of a miracle. And reading Sumner’s autobiogrpahy helped cryistalize why – Bernard Sumner is a pramatist, a plodder, and an exacting task master, he knows what makes a perfect pop song, and he’ll work at it, musical layer upon layer, until he gets it right. Sumner recognizes Peter Hook’s genius bass work (“Do your thing, Hooky!”) and Steve Morris’s impeccable drums, and works them into every New Order song – but the rest of the magic is all Sumner. And after 2 Joy Division, 9 New Order, 3 Electronic, and 1 Bad Lieutenant records, and countless non-album singles, Bernard Sumner’s stellar track record stands for itself.
As for the ongoing he-said-he-said, Sumner-vs-Hook battle for ownership of the New Order story I’m not sure I care any more. If anything maybe we should be grateful – but for their breakup would we have these great behind-the-scenes, tell-all memoirs? (Peter Hook’s New Order memoir is currently in the works, his third following the aforementioned Joy Divison book and his “Hacienda: How Not to Run a Night Club” book about the legendary Manchester nightclub he co-owned with the other band members of New Order and executives from the Factory record label.)
I’ve saved the best thing about Bernard Sumner’s memoir for last – it will make you compulsively listen to all of your old Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant records on a neverending loop. And when you’re not doing that you’ll be doing a deep YouTube dive into the JoyDivision-NewOrder-Electronic-BadLieutenant-related videos, interviews, and live performances. “Up, down, turn around, please don’t let me hit the ground; Tonight I think I’ll walk alone, I’ll find my soul as I go home…”
And, of course, Ian Curtis (Joy Division) was coiled intensity, thousand-mile stare, doing his maniacal Ian epilepsy dance.
And then Ian Curtis killed himself…
Into Ian’s considerable shadow stepped the 80s reluctant front man, Bernard Sumner, Joy Division’s erstwhile guitarist. Bernard Sumner looked like a fresh-faced school boy in 1980 when he stepped up to the mic stand as the lead singer of New Order (Bernard was 24 but looked 16, and he probably got carded well into the 1990s). His voice, a thin tenor, had none of the power, character, or beauty of any of the aforementioned 80s lead singers. And his stage presense, if I’m being kind, has always been net neutral – he does a little twirling thing on stage, and a little hopping thing too, neither of which happen to the beat of the music. And his stage banter – mostly non-jokes and non-sequiters – borders on embarrassing.
But the music, oh, the music! I’ve been listening to these great UK 80s bands for 30+ years and while my love and devotion for all of these bands (as well as several others from this period) burn bright, New Order might be – Might be! Don’t hold me to it! – my favorite band from that formative 80’s period.
I write all of this nostagic preamble because I just read Bernard Sumner’s autiobiography “Chapter and Verse: New Order, Joy Division, and Me,” a sort of slapdash romp through the life and career of the New Order lead singer and Joy Division guitarist.
Like Bernard’s vocals, “Chapter and Verse” is a little rough around the edges – it’s often repetitive or vague, it skips over whole albums or periods from the band’s history, and it’s far from being well-written let alone poetic or literary. But I read it, compulsively, over a 2-day period, my eyes glued to the page. Part of my focused attention was due to the drama surrounding the band, in particular Bernard’s rivalry with former New Order bassist, Peter Hook.
At this point I should point out that Peter Hook wrote a rollicking and amusing autobiography himself about Joy Division in 2013 called “Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division.” Hook’s book reads like a drunken bar conversation, embelished war stories told by a semi-reliable witness. It is profane, laugh-out-loud funny, and often vulnerable – for every dig at Sumner, Hook offers an honest-to-god compliment. (For example, Hook says he prefers Bernard Sumner’s guitar playing to Johnny Marr’s – I kid you not!)
In contrast, Sumner’s biography is less personal, more dispassionate – he’s setting the record straight, telling it like it is, or was. Sumner waxes eloquent and nostalgic about his childhood in rough Salford, a suburb of Manchester; he’s open and straightforward about the devasatation Curtis’s suicide wrought on Joy Division; he’s vulnerable regarding his anxiety and apathy about taking over lead singer duties; he plays raconteur when recounting various scenes of on-the-road debauchery; and in some cases Sumner seems to be directly responding to Hook’s book – for example, Hook reports that Sumner hated to be called “Barney,” (and then proceeds to all him “Barney” for the rest of the book), while Sumner, in his book, reports that the nickname “Barney” never bothered him.
Hey, I loved both books. Hook was funny and amusing, and I loved his track-by-track analysis of the Joy Division records as well as his anecdotes about the rival bands he met and played with on the road.
But Bernard Sumner is the main character, the hero of the New Order story. That New Order even happened, let alone flourished; that it transcended Joy Division; that the boyish, sometimes off-key Bernard Sumner was able to step into Ian Curtis’s charismatic shoes… is something of a miracle. And reading Sumner’s autobiogrpahy helped cryistalize why – Bernard Sumner is a pramatist, a plodder, and an exacting task master, he knows what makes a perfect pop song, and he’ll work at it, musical layer upon layer, until he gets it right. Sumner recognizes Peter Hook’s genius bass work (“Do your thing, Hooky!”) and Steve Morris’s impeccable drums, and works them into every New Order song – but the rest of the magic is all Sumner. And after 2 Joy Division, 9 New Order, 3 Electronic, and 1 Bad Lieutenant records, and countless non-album singles, Bernard Sumner’s stellar track record stands for itself.
As for the ongoing he-said-he-said, Sumner-vs-Hook battle for ownership of the New Order story I’m not sure I care any more. If anything maybe we should be grateful – but for their breakup would we have these great behind-the-scenes, tell-all memoirs? (Peter Hook’s New Order memoir is currently in the works, his third following the aforementioned Joy Divison book and his “Hacienda: How Not to Run a Night Club” book about the legendary Manchester nightclub he co-owned with the other band members of New Order and executives from the Factory record label.)
I’ve saved the best thing about Bernard Sumner’s memoir for last – it will make you compulsively listen to all of your old Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant records on a neverending loop. And when you’re not doing that you’ll be doing a deep YouTube dive into the JoyDivision-NewOrder-Electronic-BadLieutenant-related videos, interviews, and live performances. “Up, down, turn around, please don’t let me hit the ground; Tonight I think I’ll walk alone, I’ll find my soul as I go home…”
December 10, 2015
While containing a lot of interesting technical and historical material on synthesizers, Sumner's book offers little of interest to Joy Division and New Order fans.
The man gets most of his facts right (with the exception of the creative role of Peter Hook, whom I've interviewed and whose books on Joy Division and The Hacienda are a bawdy delight), but the many other films and books on Joy Division give better accounts. Hooky's book, the JD doc, Control, the new book of Ian's lyrics...all give the history with LIFE and different perspectives.
And don't get me started on the jumbled mess of the New Order part of the book. Sumner misses out on the opportunity to give true insight into New Order's art by skipping entire albums etc. And his story of the creation of Republic doesn't jive with Hooky, whose account (which he gave me personally) seems more fleshed out and, well, factual.
Sumner needed to offer one thing and one thing only to make his book better - a look into his creative inspiration and personality. We never really learn what inspires specific songs and albums. We learn some very interesting facts about Sumner's tough upbringing, possible depression, and the music that inspires him. But he never does the work to delve deeply into his own psyche and discuss his process.
Sumner gives Steve a lot of credit here - which isn't surprising because they're the two original members of Joy Division. But, as we all know, Ian and Hooky were equally important. Why doesn't he discuss the books Ian read? His process? And it bugs me that he never mentions Hooky's utter brilliance on bass.
Hooky has praised Sumner to the skies. He's told me that he thinks Sumner is a better guitarist than Marr and that he's a fine singer and lyricist. Why couldn't Sumner return the favor?
The man gets most of his facts right (with the exception of the creative role of Peter Hook, whom I've interviewed and whose books on Joy Division and The Hacienda are a bawdy delight), but the many other films and books on Joy Division give better accounts. Hooky's book, the JD doc, Control, the new book of Ian's lyrics...all give the history with LIFE and different perspectives.
And don't get me started on the jumbled mess of the New Order part of the book. Sumner misses out on the opportunity to give true insight into New Order's art by skipping entire albums etc. And his story of the creation of Republic doesn't jive with Hooky, whose account (which he gave me personally) seems more fleshed out and, well, factual.
Sumner needed to offer one thing and one thing only to make his book better - a look into his creative inspiration and personality. We never really learn what inspires specific songs and albums. We learn some very interesting facts about Sumner's tough upbringing, possible depression, and the music that inspires him. But he never does the work to delve deeply into his own psyche and discuss his process.
Sumner gives Steve a lot of credit here - which isn't surprising because they're the two original members of Joy Division. But, as we all know, Ian and Hooky were equally important. Why doesn't he discuss the books Ian read? His process? And it bugs me that he never mentions Hooky's utter brilliance on bass.
Hooky has praised Sumner to the skies. He's told me that he thinks Sumner is a better guitarist than Marr and that he's a fine singer and lyricist. Why couldn't Sumner return the favor?
September 8, 2023
I may be nearing the end of "essential books about JD/NO" now. This one was perfectly readable and obviously gives a few "Bernard unique" points of view and focus points. Hardly anything new though. The narrative is ok, oddly repetitive at times and giving an oddly 'naïve' impression at others.
No big reveals, but do read it if you are a fan.
No big reveals, but do read it if you are a fan.
February 15, 2015
Disappointing, badly written with shed loads of gaps. Where was the editor? He flips backwards and forwards, repeats many sections and the only real insight is into his childhood.
It's almost as if he rushed it out so he could give a detailed rebuttal of Hooky's version of the end of New Order.
Speaking of which, Hooky's books are far more amusing and give more detail on the band. He talks about other people a lot more than Barney's almost self-obsessed tome.
I preferred David Nolan's book on Mr Sumner even though it's (probably) less accurate.
It's almost as if he rushed it out so he could give a detailed rebuttal of Hooky's version of the end of New Order.
Speaking of which, Hooky's books are far more amusing and give more detail on the band. He talks about other people a lot more than Barney's almost self-obsessed tome.
I preferred David Nolan's book on Mr Sumner even though it's (probably) less accurate.
June 17, 2016
I really want to give this memoir a high rating because it's subject is New Order, one of my favorite bands, but I just can't. Vague, uninformative, un-self-reflecting memoirs are a pet peeve of mine. I'm never quite sure if it's because the memoirist is writing the book under duress and really does not want to share about his/her life(but signed a contact because they need the money) or if the memoirist is devoid of reflective thought, incapable of deep introspection or serious contemplation. I think in Bernard's case it's about 50/50 - he's a private person who did not really want to write a memoir but after Hooky's memoir he felt he had to set the record straight. Unfortunately for us readers, Bernard is frustratingly obtuse when it comes to looking at himself. Also he is not a very good writer. This is the part of the review when I bemoan the lack of strong editors in the current publishing world. It seems the latest trend is to allow people who don't write very well to pen their own memoirs without the aid of a ghost writer. Sure, I'm all for getting the unvarnished truth straight from the horse's mouth, but sometimes the horse needs speech therapy in order to be understood. I kept telling myself throughout this book that "Hey, at least it's not as bad as Morrissey's memoir!" I mean, honestly, what was going on in Manchester public schools in the early 60s? They certainly weren't teaching the students how to write concisely and effectively. On the plus side, the schools were so horrible they helped develop Bernard and Morrissey's lovely, haunting songwriting abilities!
As for this memoir, the first bit about Bernard's childhood was the best, most open, most informative part of the book. It's amazing how different the lives of the baby boomer generation in Britain is from the childhoods of American ones. That generation in Britain had childhoods more like our American silent generation had during the thick of the depression. Just devastatingly poor, grey, hopeless, limited etc. I mean, Bernard didn't live in a home with an indoor bathroom until he was a teenager! That is nuts! He points out that rationing of food had just ended about 18 months prior to his birth. Wow. And of course the cities were still devastated from the German blitz, bombed out buildings, empty lots, etc. The stories of his youth reminded me a bit of the UK tv show Call The Midwife, set in the slums of London in the 1950s. The same sort of Victorian poverty straight out of a Dickens novel. That sort of childhood makes the transition to famous pop star so, so, so fascinating to me. It's just pretty much unimaginable - going from that bleak childhood to jetting all over the world,having all these amazing experiences, meeting talented, interesting, sometimes famous people and experiencing such a broad swath of the world. It's like going from the black & white beginning of Kansas in A Wizard of Oz to the full technicolor of the land of Oz. What a trippy sort of life.
Even though there are so many personal avenues to explore, so much change going on, Bernard rarely mentions his personal thoughts. It's all very surface. Oh, he delves a bit - a bit! - but not really. He mentions going on prozac in the late 80s when it first came out, but does not mention seeing a therapist, which needs to go hand-in-hand with taking SSRIs. If anyone needs to see a therapist, it's Bernard - if only to talk about his horrible mother and strange childhood and lack of a father(I was surprised he didn't mention the possibility that his mother had been raped and that is how he came about. It certainly makes the most sense in terms of her behavior and the situation he explained) I also think anyone who becomes famous should enter therapy for a bit in order to help them come to grips with the disorientating lifestyle that comes with fame.
Bernard says almost nothing about his personal life or that of the band. Just weird little one sentence asides without explanations. ("When I got married and changed my name legally to Sumner so my son could have the name Sumner my mom didn't speak to me for 6 months." - Whoa, slow down Bernard! Married? To whom? Why did you get married? Were the other band members there at the wedding? Wait, a kid? You have a kid? Was that planned? How do you feel about fatherhood after not having a father yourself? Do you wife & kid travel with you at all? Why isn't your mom speaking to you? And hold on, you still speak to your mom? You haven't mentioned her in a 100 pages. Are you helping support your blind grandma and crippled mother with your band earnings? Do you feel guilty or relieved not seeing them? I assume you don't see them because you never mention them. Did you get married in order to have a wife to help you manage the care of your mom and grandma? WHAT IS GOING ON.
The parts about the band are nearly as frustrating. He does not mention the album Power, Corruption and Lies at all. AT ALL. My favorite album of theirs. WTF. Yet I must suffer through reading a dozen pages about some soccer anthem the band wrote in the 90's to earn 100,000 pounds? I don't care about that soccer song. I cannot fathom that many of the fans do care. He spends more time talking about the band's support staff than he does the members of the band. OK, I'd like to hear a bit about the machinations keeping the band going but primarily I want to hear about the band itself and I don't.
The list of what I still don't know about New Order is much, much longer than what I gleamed from reading this memoir. Very sad. I think I am going to have to resort to reading a biography of Bernard and of the band in order to find out what actually went on. I prefer reading directly from the source but when that source is so opaque I must resort to other means. Sigh.
As for this memoir, the first bit about Bernard's childhood was the best, most open, most informative part of the book. It's amazing how different the lives of the baby boomer generation in Britain is from the childhoods of American ones. That generation in Britain had childhoods more like our American silent generation had during the thick of the depression. Just devastatingly poor, grey, hopeless, limited etc. I mean, Bernard didn't live in a home with an indoor bathroom until he was a teenager! That is nuts! He points out that rationing of food had just ended about 18 months prior to his birth. Wow. And of course the cities were still devastated from the German blitz, bombed out buildings, empty lots, etc. The stories of his youth reminded me a bit of the UK tv show Call The Midwife, set in the slums of London in the 1950s. The same sort of Victorian poverty straight out of a Dickens novel. That sort of childhood makes the transition to famous pop star so, so, so fascinating to me. It's just pretty much unimaginable - going from that bleak childhood to jetting all over the world,having all these amazing experiences, meeting talented, interesting, sometimes famous people and experiencing such a broad swath of the world. It's like going from the black & white beginning of Kansas in A Wizard of Oz to the full technicolor of the land of Oz. What a trippy sort of life.
Even though there are so many personal avenues to explore, so much change going on, Bernard rarely mentions his personal thoughts. It's all very surface. Oh, he delves a bit - a bit! - but not really. He mentions going on prozac in the late 80s when it first came out, but does not mention seeing a therapist, which needs to go hand-in-hand with taking SSRIs. If anyone needs to see a therapist, it's Bernard - if only to talk about his horrible mother and strange childhood and lack of a father(I was surprised he didn't mention the possibility that his mother had been raped and that is how he came about. It certainly makes the most sense in terms of her behavior and the situation he explained) I also think anyone who becomes famous should enter therapy for a bit in order to help them come to grips with the disorientating lifestyle that comes with fame.
Bernard says almost nothing about his personal life or that of the band. Just weird little one sentence asides without explanations. ("When I got married and changed my name legally to Sumner so my son could have the name Sumner my mom didn't speak to me for 6 months." - Whoa, slow down Bernard! Married? To whom? Why did you get married? Were the other band members there at the wedding? Wait, a kid? You have a kid? Was that planned? How do you feel about fatherhood after not having a father yourself? Do you wife & kid travel with you at all? Why isn't your mom speaking to you? And hold on, you still speak to your mom? You haven't mentioned her in a 100 pages. Are you helping support your blind grandma and crippled mother with your band earnings? Do you feel guilty or relieved not seeing them? I assume you don't see them because you never mention them. Did you get married in order to have a wife to help you manage the care of your mom and grandma? WHAT IS GOING ON.
The parts about the band are nearly as frustrating. He does not mention the album Power, Corruption and Lies at all. AT ALL. My favorite album of theirs. WTF. Yet I must suffer through reading a dozen pages about some soccer anthem the band wrote in the 90's to earn 100,000 pounds? I don't care about that soccer song. I cannot fathom that many of the fans do care. He spends more time talking about the band's support staff than he does the members of the band. OK, I'd like to hear a bit about the machinations keeping the band going but primarily I want to hear about the band itself and I don't.
The list of what I still don't know about New Order is much, much longer than what I gleamed from reading this memoir. Very sad. I think I am going to have to resort to reading a biography of Bernard and of the band in order to find out what actually went on. I prefer reading directly from the source but when that source is so opaque I must resort to other means. Sigh.
October 27, 2014
Two things immediately hit me about this book: it is pretty badly written and incredibly coy. Compared to ex-bandmate, Peter Hook's Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division, Bernard Sumner's Chapter and Verse, seems at first glance mundane, lacking in humour, restrained and perhaps even willfully evasive. He doesn't go in for Hooky's sly line in character assassination or wry rock 'n' roll anecdotes. He doesn't have Hooky's ability to spin a funny yarn or move a story along. I would have said that Chapter and Verse was plodding and a bit of a chore except . . . about halfway in the author finds his feet and the autobiography becomes a page-turner.
There isn't as much dirt dished as in other rock autobiographies I've read and there certainly is a lot of holding back as regards drug/drink/sex stories. There is, though, a real depth that pulls you in and holds you till the very end. After the author finds his voice, you get a real sense of knowing Bernard Sumner; he's not the extrovert and showman his former bassist was and neither is he the brooding, angst-ridden songwriter Ian Curtis was. In many ways, because of the author's reticence, the mystery of the book is not why Ian Curtis killed himself or how such ordinary Manchester adolescents could make such groundbreaking noise, but lays in figuring out what kind of man Sumner is: reluctant star?; introverted exhibitionist?; a natural-born but shy performer?; a bastard (as Hook would posit)?
The book will be of interest to any Joy Division/New Order fan and gives another perspective on both these bands and the Manchester music scene all the way from post-punk to baggy. For a sometime musician such as myself there was great joy in reading the detailed technical accounts of how songs such as "Blue Monday" or indeed entire albums were put together. The crazy, spendthrift world of Factory Records is gone into, as is the legendary Haçienda club. It's not a song-by-song autobiography. You won't get the low down on the motivation behind the lyrics to "Leave Me Alone" (to pick a random track). Large parts of the post-Joy Division period are skipped over, but a general impression of how the band wrote, recorded, toured and partied is given. The last section of the book is an analysis of the New Order v Hooky split. Sumner is reasoned, mild in his language and, it appears fair. He leaves it to the reader to judge who may be the awkward character in the mix.
Overall verdict: if you can ignore the shoddy writing, annoying repetition and tautologies, it's a solid and engaging read. There are not very many skeletons pulled out of wardrobes, but there are worthwhile insights into what made JD and NO the great bands they were.
There isn't as much dirt dished as in other rock autobiographies I've read and there certainly is a lot of holding back as regards drug/drink/sex stories. There is, though, a real depth that pulls you in and holds you till the very end. After the author finds his voice, you get a real sense of knowing Bernard Sumner; he's not the extrovert and showman his former bassist was and neither is he the brooding, angst-ridden songwriter Ian Curtis was. In many ways, because of the author's reticence, the mystery of the book is not why Ian Curtis killed himself or how such ordinary Manchester adolescents could make such groundbreaking noise, but lays in figuring out what kind of man Sumner is: reluctant star?; introverted exhibitionist?; a natural-born but shy performer?; a bastard (as Hook would posit)?
The book will be of interest to any Joy Division/New Order fan and gives another perspective on both these bands and the Manchester music scene all the way from post-punk to baggy. For a sometime musician such as myself there was great joy in reading the detailed technical accounts of how songs such as "Blue Monday" or indeed entire albums were put together. The crazy, spendthrift world of Factory Records is gone into, as is the legendary Haçienda club. It's not a song-by-song autobiography. You won't get the low down on the motivation behind the lyrics to "Leave Me Alone" (to pick a random track). Large parts of the post-Joy Division period are skipped over, but a general impression of how the band wrote, recorded, toured and partied is given. The last section of the book is an analysis of the New Order v Hooky split. Sumner is reasoned, mild in his language and, it appears fair. He leaves it to the reader to judge who may be the awkward character in the mix.
Overall verdict: if you can ignore the shoddy writing, annoying repetition and tautologies, it's a solid and engaging read. There are not very many skeletons pulled out of wardrobes, but there are worthwhile insights into what made JD and NO the great bands they were.
November 30, 2022
After cracking the cover, I was hit by a bit of buyer’s remorse. I feel like I have read a lot of music autobiographies lately and they all seem to cover a similar time and place. But I am a huge New Order and Joy Division fan, generally consuming what I can about these bands.
And because of the latter, I really enjoyed it. Sumner is a modest narrator and I was taken with his conversational style. The book is likely helped by Sumner for sticking to the big topics- from Childhood to Joy Divison to the early days of New Order to the Hacienda to his solo projects and so on. There’s discovering house music in America, the English World Cup song “World in Motion”, and that infamous Prozac prescription.
The book could afford to be 5-10% shorter, but covering a 60 year lifespan means choices need to be made. Sumner could easily have written two full books but I like the choice here.
My favorite part, probably not surprising, is the Joy Division days. One thinks of the band now in mythical terms, but they very much were like any gang of lads who pick up instruments.
After reading the book, I saw a lot of negative reviews. To be sure, with the exception of a handful of the band’s truly biggest songs- there’s no real coverage of the band’s albums. “Power, Corruption and Lies” perhaps the band’s best album (and my personal favorite) doesn’t even rate a mention in the book’s index.
But like I said, it’s not that type of book. Also of note, of course the feud with co-founder Peter Hook is there, and generally Bernard keeps his punches above the belt. I know there’s another side to the story and perhaps I will get to Peter’s book one day, but Bernard keeps things light and positive.
February 3, 2023
I've read many books on Factory and New Order (in fact, this is my 2nd reading of this one) and, unfortunately, Sumner's is not one of the best. It is very light on detail and skips over many aspects. Although it's reasonable reading, Sumner feels like a distant participant. There are a handful of new stories I've not seen elsehwere, but in general there are better books out there. Tony Wilson makes a small appearance - Paul Morley's recent biography is the place to go for him. The Hac gets some coverage, but Peter Hook's How Not To Run A Club is an alternative. Then, of course, are Hook's other books. Like Stephen Morris (which I'm yet to pick up) Hook has covers the Joy Division, then New Order years separately. And there's a lot more in them for that. Clearly a significant antipathy remains between Hook and Sumner, which is a shame, but sometimes people fall out.
So, an okay, but not a definitive, read.
So, an okay, but not a definitive, read.
October 9, 2016
As Bernard Sumner is the singer and lyricist of one of my top three lifetime favorite bands, New Order, I was particularly predisposed to enjoy his autobiography.
It was cool learning about the fundamentals of his life, and I was never bored, but his writing has the same clear, direct, opaque quality as his lyrics. He's always talking right to us, but he's a master of using simple language to mask and obfuscate his particulars, even if we know basically what he's talking about. So we follow through his rather sweet, sand, and rascally childhood in Salford, a borough of Manchester, with painful but handled family pain, his mild rebellions and growth in music, the formation and implosion of Joy Division, the rebuilding into New Order and global hits, the Hacienda and the dissolution of his contentious partnership with Peter Hook, and continuing touring and recording with New Order. It's all rendered sketchily, point to point, and emotions are expressed, but I don't know if it's his stiff upper lip or just the tonal evenness of his fundamental personality, but it's all quite factual and dispassionate, elided, skirted, and hinted at in coy ways, while still not shying away from actual events.
For instance, there are drugs and partying and late late nights and club life and overdosing and out of control abuse he describes offhandedly while barely copping to being involved with any of it at all, even as he admits that substances took him to very dark places. It's all so strangely disassociated.
The same goes for his fights with Peter Hook. They were friends and musical partners since grade school. Really, they're the kernel of the whole band, with Stephen Morris and Ian Curtis joining later, and then Gillian Gilbert being hired after Ian's death. So it's amazing how little Bernard actually focuses on Hooky. Their relationship is mentioned but never described. We have no idea how it functions, which grows increasingly odd as the cipher of a partnership strains and comes apart because of Hook's supposed jealousy. This is Bernard's take, of course, but it almost feels like Hook was never significant at all. It's true of so many of the relationships here; they're present but unfelt. The emotions are hidden elsewhere. In the music.
Quite bizarre, really, how he manages to tell us everything while still saying so little. Really, if you've listened to New Order's lyrics, you already know exactly how this dichotomy works. Yes, the lyrics are meaningful, yes, they stick with me and I sing bits in appropriate moments that suit the happenstances of my own life, but sometimes the words are detached and weightless, too. I wouldn't say empty, even as that's how they sound. I'd say sublimated.
But then, of course, the songs have all that gorgeous music, the antagonistic but precise layering of melodies, the pull and push of the guitar and synths and bass, which emotionally and visually develop the words, explaining them sometimes, commenting, emphasizing, or sometimes just building castles and cathedrals and other sonic landscapes around the lyrics.
Maybe that's what's missing from this book. The music. Bernard tells us his about his love for music, and he repeats that it's everything to him, but he can't explain it. He's a kind of savant. He lives the music and expresses it and that's enough for him.
Meanwhile, the included pictures reminded me how much I based decades of attraction on his beautiful youthful appearance. He was my idol. Thank you, Bernard.
It was cool learning about the fundamentals of his life, and I was never bored, but his writing has the same clear, direct, opaque quality as his lyrics. He's always talking right to us, but he's a master of using simple language to mask and obfuscate his particulars, even if we know basically what he's talking about. So we follow through his rather sweet, sand, and rascally childhood in Salford, a borough of Manchester, with painful but handled family pain, his mild rebellions and growth in music, the formation and implosion of Joy Division, the rebuilding into New Order and global hits, the Hacienda and the dissolution of his contentious partnership with Peter Hook, and continuing touring and recording with New Order. It's all rendered sketchily, point to point, and emotions are expressed, but I don't know if it's his stiff upper lip or just the tonal evenness of his fundamental personality, but it's all quite factual and dispassionate, elided, skirted, and hinted at in coy ways, while still not shying away from actual events.
For instance, there are drugs and partying and late late nights and club life and overdosing and out of control abuse he describes offhandedly while barely copping to being involved with any of it at all, even as he admits that substances took him to very dark places. It's all so strangely disassociated.
The same goes for his fights with Peter Hook. They were friends and musical partners since grade school. Really, they're the kernel of the whole band, with Stephen Morris and Ian Curtis joining later, and then Gillian Gilbert being hired after Ian's death. So it's amazing how little Bernard actually focuses on Hooky. Their relationship is mentioned but never described. We have no idea how it functions, which grows increasingly odd as the cipher of a partnership strains and comes apart because of Hook's supposed jealousy. This is Bernard's take, of course, but it almost feels like Hook was never significant at all. It's true of so many of the relationships here; they're present but unfelt. The emotions are hidden elsewhere. In the music.
Quite bizarre, really, how he manages to tell us everything while still saying so little. Really, if you've listened to New Order's lyrics, you already know exactly how this dichotomy works. Yes, the lyrics are meaningful, yes, they stick with me and I sing bits in appropriate moments that suit the happenstances of my own life, but sometimes the words are detached and weightless, too. I wouldn't say empty, even as that's how they sound. I'd say sublimated.
But then, of course, the songs have all that gorgeous music, the antagonistic but precise layering of melodies, the pull and push of the guitar and synths and bass, which emotionally and visually develop the words, explaining them sometimes, commenting, emphasizing, or sometimes just building castles and cathedrals and other sonic landscapes around the lyrics.
Maybe that's what's missing from this book. The music. Bernard tells us his about his love for music, and he repeats that it's everything to him, but he can't explain it. He's a kind of savant. He lives the music and expresses it and that's enough for him.
Meanwhile, the included pictures reminded me how much I based decades of attraction on his beautiful youthful appearance. He was my idol. Thank you, Bernard.
December 31, 2022
Sumner has certainly had an impressive enough career, there are not many people who can claim to have been a significant part of two great bands or even three who produced some great music, Electronic did release two great singles! On top of that he was partly responsible for the greatest selling 12” single in history in Blue Monday, and in recording by far the best football single so far in World In Motion, though to be fair there isn’t too much competition with the latter.
He opens up about his childhood to reveal an almost Dickensian background. His mother was wheelchair bound with cerebral palsy and he never met his dad or knew who he was. And yet in spite of the many trials and hardships, he insists that he had an enjoyable and loving enough upbringing. Luckily for him he was smart and determined enough to pass the Eleven Plus and make it to grammar school.
Though in saying that Salford Grammar was clearly not the safest of schools when Sumner was there, among the so called responsible adults on the staff included a Maths teacher clearly still suffering from PTSD from WWII and an unhinged Science teacher who locked all the Jewish kids in the class and tried to gas them until one of them smashed the window.
There are plenty of amusing stories to be told, like the scene where Joy Division are in the studio and a guy shouts at Curtis to sound more like James Brown during a doomed recording session, then later asks the band if they want a saxophone or synth player (which made cat noises) for the overdubs the next day?...
Elsewhere we get a lot of detail about the doomed Hacienda, where Madonna would play her first British gig, and the venue's part in the burgeoning Acid House movement. He confesses to taking the Pet Shop Boys into the badlands of Moss Side, as well as showing them the notorious Kitchen in Hulme, both areas were so notorious that the local police even saw them as off limits. There are also many stories about the charismatic Factory label owner Tony Wilson and manager Rob Gretton, who both died in middle age.
Aside from the bizarre and pointless interviews tagged on at the end, there’s actually a lot of meaningful and interesting revelations in here. He deals with Curtis and his suicide with maturity, reason and sensitivity. He opens up about his strained relationship with Hook and his displeasure with the production of Joy Division’s debut album. And for more obvious reasons he has little love or affection for New Order’s debut album either, with Curtis’s recent suicide looming large over the sessions. Overall this was a really insightful and entertaining memoir, which had most if not all the key ingredients to make it highly compelling and really enjoyable.
He opens up about his childhood to reveal an almost Dickensian background. His mother was wheelchair bound with cerebral palsy and he never met his dad or knew who he was. And yet in spite of the many trials and hardships, he insists that he had an enjoyable and loving enough upbringing. Luckily for him he was smart and determined enough to pass the Eleven Plus and make it to grammar school.
Though in saying that Salford Grammar was clearly not the safest of schools when Sumner was there, among the so called responsible adults on the staff included a Maths teacher clearly still suffering from PTSD from WWII and an unhinged Science teacher who locked all the Jewish kids in the class and tried to gas them until one of them smashed the window.
There are plenty of amusing stories to be told, like the scene where Joy Division are in the studio and a guy shouts at Curtis to sound more like James Brown during a doomed recording session, then later asks the band if they want a saxophone or synth player (which made cat noises) for the overdubs the next day?...
Elsewhere we get a lot of detail about the doomed Hacienda, where Madonna would play her first British gig, and the venue's part in the burgeoning Acid House movement. He confesses to taking the Pet Shop Boys into the badlands of Moss Side, as well as showing them the notorious Kitchen in Hulme, both areas were so notorious that the local police even saw them as off limits. There are also many stories about the charismatic Factory label owner Tony Wilson and manager Rob Gretton, who both died in middle age.
Aside from the bizarre and pointless interviews tagged on at the end, there’s actually a lot of meaningful and interesting revelations in here. He deals with Curtis and his suicide with maturity, reason and sensitivity. He opens up about his strained relationship with Hook and his displeasure with the production of Joy Division’s debut album. And for more obvious reasons he has little love or affection for New Order’s debut album either, with Curtis’s recent suicide looming large over the sessions. Overall this was a really insightful and entertaining memoir, which had most if not all the key ingredients to make it highly compelling and really enjoyable.
April 4, 2019
Would have benefited from a ghostwriter or a stricter editor
Bernard Sumner is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He is a founding member of both Joy Division and New Order. Sumner is credited with the latter band's move towards electronica and synthpop. He was a founding member of Joy Division, a Salford band formed in 1976. He and childhood (but not later) friend Peter Hook both attended the fabled Sex Pistols concert at Manchester's Free Trade Hall on July 20, 1976 and were inspired to form a band. The band is considered one of the most influential bands of the era. He is known as the band's lead guitarist. But he also plays keyboards for synthesizer parts and made his first vocal appearance on record singing the chorus of "Walked In Line" on the Warsaw album. In May 1980, the band's singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide, resulting in Joy Division's end.
Sumner and remaining band members Peter Hook and Stephen Morris started a new band named New Order. They were later joined by keyboardist Gillian Gilbert in October 1980. Though Peter Hook, Morris and Gilbert also contributed vocals on some early tracks, Sumner emerged as the band's permanent singer and lyricist, alongside playing guitar and keyboards.
In 1989, Sumner joined up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form Electronic. He later went on to form Bad Lieutenant which as a result of the 2011 reformation of New Order, went on hiatus.
I started reading this book not long after having read both Peter Hook's books: Unknown Pleasures and Substance. While Peter Hook's book’s are VERY detailed descriptions of the Joy Division and New Order, Sumner's book takes a different approach. The early years in Salford and early days of Joy Division are fascinating. But then the chronology goes out of the window. After having discussed Blue Monday, for instance, he skips a whole era and talks about Touched by the Hand of God and Confusion. In fact, he mostly discusses individual songs rather than albums. Movement is discussed in length, but the next album he talks about is Technique. He doesn't mention Power, Corruption and Lies and Low-Life. Brotherhood is talked about in one sentence, specifically Saville's cover. Also, many other things are not or only minimally discussed. He skates over things a competent editor would have insisted he elaborate on.
Another aspect missing is the highs and lows of key relationships. Especially the conflict with Hooky. Apart from some token self-deprecation, he genuinely doesn't seem to think he's done anything wrong. He is keen to tell the world about it (I suggest he reads Substance: Inside New Order by Hooky). Bizarrely, he chooses not to focus on this yet there are lengthy passages about getting wrecked in Ibiza. You’re left wondering if any of this is going anywhere? If you read Hooky’s books, you’ll find Hooky had a larger creative role to play than Sumner acknowledges here. What would Blue Monday sound like without Hookys bass lines for example?
The book will be of interest to any Joy Division or New Order fan. It gives another perspective on both these bands. But its best read in conjunction with Hooky’s literary output.
Bernard Sumner is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He is a founding member of both Joy Division and New Order. Sumner is credited with the latter band's move towards electronica and synthpop. He was a founding member of Joy Division, a Salford band formed in 1976. He and childhood (but not later) friend Peter Hook both attended the fabled Sex Pistols concert at Manchester's Free Trade Hall on July 20, 1976 and were inspired to form a band. The band is considered one of the most influential bands of the era. He is known as the band's lead guitarist. But he also plays keyboards for synthesizer parts and made his first vocal appearance on record singing the chorus of "Walked In Line" on the Warsaw album. In May 1980, the band's singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide, resulting in Joy Division's end.
Sumner and remaining band members Peter Hook and Stephen Morris started a new band named New Order. They were later joined by keyboardist Gillian Gilbert in October 1980. Though Peter Hook, Morris and Gilbert also contributed vocals on some early tracks, Sumner emerged as the band's permanent singer and lyricist, alongside playing guitar and keyboards.
In 1989, Sumner joined up with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to form Electronic. He later went on to form Bad Lieutenant which as a result of the 2011 reformation of New Order, went on hiatus.
I started reading this book not long after having read both Peter Hook's books: Unknown Pleasures and Substance. While Peter Hook's book’s are VERY detailed descriptions of the Joy Division and New Order, Sumner's book takes a different approach. The early years in Salford and early days of Joy Division are fascinating. But then the chronology goes out of the window. After having discussed Blue Monday, for instance, he skips a whole era and talks about Touched by the Hand of God and Confusion. In fact, he mostly discusses individual songs rather than albums. Movement is discussed in length, but the next album he talks about is Technique. He doesn't mention Power, Corruption and Lies and Low-Life. Brotherhood is talked about in one sentence, specifically Saville's cover. Also, many other things are not or only minimally discussed. He skates over things a competent editor would have insisted he elaborate on.
Another aspect missing is the highs and lows of key relationships. Especially the conflict with Hooky. Apart from some token self-deprecation, he genuinely doesn't seem to think he's done anything wrong. He is keen to tell the world about it (I suggest he reads Substance: Inside New Order by Hooky). Bizarrely, he chooses not to focus on this yet there are lengthy passages about getting wrecked in Ibiza. You’re left wondering if any of this is going anywhere? If you read Hooky’s books, you’ll find Hooky had a larger creative role to play than Sumner acknowledges here. What would Blue Monday sound like without Hookys bass lines for example?
The book will be of interest to any Joy Division or New Order fan. It gives another perspective on both these bands. But its best read in conjunction with Hooky’s literary output.
August 19, 2019
Great to read Bernard Sumner's personal account on Joy Division and New Order and once again immersing on the Manchester music scene.
October 18, 2014
I've been an avid fan of Joy Division and New Order for three decades and I have the utmost respect and admiration for Bernard Sumner as a musician and composer. Unfortunately, he's not a very good writer. As a lyricist he pales in comparison with Ian Curtis, and as a biographer he falls short of Curtis's widow. This book, while a worthwhile read for a fan like myself, would have benefited from a ghostwriter or stricter editor. There are several annoying repetitions, while difficult subjects and controversies (like the early flirtations with nazi imagery) are hurried past and somewhat glossed over.
The broken down relations with Peter Hook are unavoidably a recurring theme. Like in other famous musical partnerships gone sour (think Lennon & McCartney, Simon & Garfunkel, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, etc), I can understand that there is a lot of bitterness, and I do believe that Sumner has tried to show restraint when dealing with the topic in his book. However, apart from some token self-deprecation, he genuinely doesn't seem to think he's done anything wrong, and he's keen to tell the world about it.
He is candid about his drinking problems, though. The story of the iconic bands is fascinating. And sometimes there's a wry humor in Sumner's writing. But when he writes (on page 259) "I can't see myself from the outside", it kind of sums up the problems with his book.
The broken down relations with Peter Hook are unavoidably a recurring theme. Like in other famous musical partnerships gone sour (think Lennon & McCartney, Simon & Garfunkel, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, etc), I can understand that there is a lot of bitterness, and I do believe that Sumner has tried to show restraint when dealing with the topic in his book. However, apart from some token self-deprecation, he genuinely doesn't seem to think he's done anything wrong, and he's keen to tell the world about it.
He is candid about his drinking problems, though. The story of the iconic bands is fascinating. And sometimes there's a wry humor in Sumner's writing. But when he writes (on page 259) "I can't see myself from the outside", it kind of sums up the problems with his book.
August 14, 2019
I enjoyed this book far more than I expected too..having read Peter Hooks books on Joy Division and the Hacienda it was likely I would maybe gravitate more towards his camp in regard the whole New Order division..however I enjoyed Bernard's book immensely.
Unlike a lot of biographies in which you are willing the pre fame parts away to get to the sections which deal with the highs and lows of a pop star I did enjoy the early bits.
The family dynamics where of interest and helped really found of any misconceptions I may have had about the narrator...Bernard deals with his early life openly the good and the bad and family and extended family where an important part in his development.
Some of the tales herein are of course covered elsewhere especially in regard Factory and the Hacienda and there wasn't really a lot there I hadn't read in other books but the parts in regard Electronic, Bad Lieutenant and the continuation of New Order post Hook where interesting.
Is Bernard a reliable narrator?....well any of these books will be slanted the way of the one telling the tale at the time a truly objective book would maybe reside in the perimeters of the camp..however there seems some honesty here and it's not a book that dwells to heavily on the rifts.
I would now like to read Hookys take on the New Order ...it's certainly got me digging the old albums out which is no bad thing.
Unlike a lot of biographies in which you are willing the pre fame parts away to get to the sections which deal with the highs and lows of a pop star I did enjoy the early bits.
The family dynamics where of interest and helped really found of any misconceptions I may have had about the narrator...Bernard deals with his early life openly the good and the bad and family and extended family where an important part in his development.
Some of the tales herein are of course covered elsewhere especially in regard Factory and the Hacienda and there wasn't really a lot there I hadn't read in other books but the parts in regard Electronic, Bad Lieutenant and the continuation of New Order post Hook where interesting.
Is Bernard a reliable narrator?....well any of these books will be slanted the way of the one telling the tale at the time a truly objective book would maybe reside in the perimeters of the camp..however there seems some honesty here and it's not a book that dwells to heavily on the rifts.
I would now like to read Hookys take on the New Order ...it's certainly got me digging the old albums out which is no bad thing.
December 13, 2020
4,5/5. No me voy a detener mucho en este libro pero no me parece justa la forma en la que muchos lo juzgan pero puede ser que esté biased. Para mí estuvo bastante bien e incluso me conmovió bastante. Cuando leo autobiografías no busco que sean la cosa mejor escrita en el mundo pero no sentí que tuviera tantos errores como muchos lo comentan, tal vez son cosas que los angloparlantes notan y yo paso por alto sin darme cuenta pero siento que el libro es bastante personal y no a todos les gusta por eso; buscan mucha información sobre los grupos y se decepcionan porque ven que Bernard habla mucho de él como si fuese no sé, su autobiografía... Ah, esperen.
December 6, 2015
Virtually nothing of interest to Joy Division/New Order/Factory Records/etc. fans, and a total waste of time for anyone else to read. Bland, repetitive, & provides no noteworthy insights into anything at all, beyond the mindnumbingly generic ("The Hacienda was a poorly run business venture", "Joy Division and New Order are both still popular and famous", "musicians and music fans abuse a lot of drugs", &c.) Unless you're desperate to read of Ian Curtis' alleged past lives, there's no reason to bother with the book.
July 27, 2018
Por un millón de cuestiones, prolongué el viaje más tiempo de lo que esperaba; sin embargo, valió la pena.
Conocer más profundamente a Bernard fue una experiencia gratificante, sublime. Como persona ,y más aún, como músico, identificarme con él fue increíblemente natural, debo decir que fue también una lectura bastante terapéutica. Dios bendiga a Bernard.
Conocer más profundamente a Bernard fue una experiencia gratificante, sublime. Como persona ,y más aún, como músico, identificarme con él fue increíblemente natural, debo decir que fue también una lectura bastante terapéutica. Dios bendiga a Bernard.
May 1, 2024
Would have liked more Joy Division era stories however was entertaining read. Interesting to hear other side of Hooky's vitriol. As these band things go, it seemed culmination of muzik, money and motivations exploding. Seemed enough salacious bits sprinkled throughout book like tales of gangsters and Hacienda, boozing and raving with Johnny Marr, etc to keep text from being too dry.
July 31, 2021
As 1977 turned into 1978, we were aware we needed a new and final name for the band. It was a struggle, though: it's harder than you might think to come up with a good name for a band. I'd go into bookshops with Ian, looking at the names of books to try and find some inspiration. Around this time I was reading House of Dolls by Karol Cetinsky, a harrowing book about the Nazi concentration camps which someone at work had given me, and I came across a reference to a section where women were housed for the pleasure of the Nazi officers on leave. It was known as freudenabteilung, the Joy Divsion, and that phrase just leapt out at me immediately as the perfect name for the band. Of course I knew straightaway that this was dodgy ground, but this was the height of punk, a period where it was acceptable to be unacceptable.
After weeks of trying, we hadn't come up with anything nearly as good as Joy Division. It wasn't about shock value, not at all - I truly believed it was a great name for a band. Not just any band, either, for our band. For me it seemed to meet all the criteria we were looking for: our sound, our image, even the way the words looked physically on paper. Ian and I looked at it, thought about it, talked about it and decided we really liked it. We took it to Steve and Hooky, and they both liked it as well, so we were all agreed: we'd call ourselves Joy Division.
After weeks of trying, we hadn't come up with anything nearly as good as Joy Division. It wasn't about shock value, not at all - I truly believed it was a great name for a band. Not just any band, either, for our band. For me it seemed to meet all the criteria we were looking for: our sound, our image, even the way the words looked physically on paper. Ian and I looked at it, thought about it, talked about it and decided we really liked it. We took it to Steve and Hooky, and they both liked it as well, so we were all agreed: we'd call ourselves Joy Division.
August 7, 2019
I won a copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily. So that others may also enjoy this book, I am paying it forward by donating it to my local library.
December 29, 2017
Another POV on a well known story
It was a pleasant read though not much news here. Many of the stories were told before , still as Joy Division and Manchester of the 80s were so influentials it's always interesting for the fans to have another pov of one of the main acyors
It was a pleasant read though not much news here. Many of the stories were told before , still as Joy Division and Manchester of the 80s were so influentials it's always interesting for the fans to have another pov of one of the main acyors
December 17, 2018
Sumner writes like grandpas talk. Interesting insights on his childhood and Ian Curtis, though.
April 6, 2017
Being the huge Joy Division/New Order/Electronic fan that I am, I have to say that I enjoyed Sumner's sort of laid back memoir. But I ended the book wanting more. After the chapters on him growing up, and the Joy Division era, he skips around quite a bit, and it almost feels like he's rushing in the final chapters.
Naturally, I wanted an album-by-album, song-by-song reminiscence, but that's probably asking too much. Sumner's written A LOT of music, and I wouldn't expect him to have an earth-shattering revelation or interesting origin story for all of it.
Of course, loathe though I am to admit it, I love all the Hooky vs. Barney stuff—personally, I don't care who's really at fault, because it's never affected my enjoyment of the music (and I love Hooky's side projects, too), so it's none of my business. Fun to read, though.
All in all, it's a brisk, sometimes rambling (and oft-times repetitive), but ultimately enjoyable memoir for fans of the bands, the music, the era, etc.
Naturally, I wanted an album-by-album, song-by-song reminiscence, but that's probably asking too much. Sumner's written A LOT of music, and I wouldn't expect him to have an earth-shattering revelation or interesting origin story for all of it.
Of course, loathe though I am to admit it, I love all the Hooky vs. Barney stuff—personally, I don't care who's really at fault, because it's never affected my enjoyment of the music (and I love Hooky's side projects, too), so it's none of my business. Fun to read, though.
All in all, it's a brisk, sometimes rambling (and oft-times repetitive), but ultimately enjoyable memoir for fans of the bands, the music, the era, etc.
November 14, 2016
During junior high, my best friend’s older brother was an aspiring DJ. His turntables showed up at a handful of birthday parties and school dances, pumping a live mix of Chicago house music alongside synth-based bands like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, and New Order. These groups became my first musical obsession, but New Order was the inscrutable one of the bunch. Depeche Mode made massive music, polished and costumed for arenas. Erasure limited themselves to beautiful, pure, disciplined pop. Pet Shop Boys seemed literary, but winking and intentionally self-conscious. Meanwhile, New Order album covers looked like illustrations out of visual arts textbooks. Song titles were seemingly random, never matching their lyrics. Those lyrics were opaque - they made little sense if you considered more than a line or two at a time. The words took a backseat to intricate musical arrangements. The music videos looked more like artifacts than promotional material.
Bernard Sumner was the lead singer, lyricist, guitarist, and creator of their synth sound, and his memoir, _Chapter and Verse_, offers uneven insight. He spends a good amount of time on his tough upbringing in a poor, working class town near Manchester, living with his wheelchair-bound mother. His escape into music, early success and tragedy in the band Joy Division, and the early years of New Order occupy the majority of the book. Sumner describes himself as an “introverted extrovert”; his narratives bounce between tales of extreme partying and the pleasures of spending long nights soldering together synthesizers. His style is mild and self-deprecating, and some of the writing is almost banal; he describes early concerts as being thrown into the deep end of a pool.
Sumner talks in detail about the making of early hits “Blue Monday” and “Confusion”, but after that albums fly by, some almost completely unmentioned. The level of detail drops dramatically as the band’s popularity grows. The book’s timeline jumps around, revisiting eras as anecdotes cross. Even descriptions of his bandmates are thin: he spends 1 short paragraph describing drummer Stephen Morris, concluding that he’ll let him tell his own story. He devotes barely a sentence to keyboardist Gillian Gilbert. Unsurprisingly he talks a bit more about bassist and childhood friend Peter Hook, who left the band after a long rocky period. He gripes a little, but remains mostly aloof.
Despite these shortcomings, the book is worth a read for fans, and I sense that he wrote it out of obligation to them. He clearly cherishes his experiences and loves his work. The work doesn’t compare to the 3(!) books Hook has written covering the same time frame. Hook is more prolific and entertaining, but Sumner comes across as genuine.
Bernard Sumner was the lead singer, lyricist, guitarist, and creator of their synth sound, and his memoir, _Chapter and Verse_, offers uneven insight. He spends a good amount of time on his tough upbringing in a poor, working class town near Manchester, living with his wheelchair-bound mother. His escape into music, early success and tragedy in the band Joy Division, and the early years of New Order occupy the majority of the book. Sumner describes himself as an “introverted extrovert”; his narratives bounce between tales of extreme partying and the pleasures of spending long nights soldering together synthesizers. His style is mild and self-deprecating, and some of the writing is almost banal; he describes early concerts as being thrown into the deep end of a pool.
Sumner talks in detail about the making of early hits “Blue Monday” and “Confusion”, but after that albums fly by, some almost completely unmentioned. The level of detail drops dramatically as the band’s popularity grows. The book’s timeline jumps around, revisiting eras as anecdotes cross. Even descriptions of his bandmates are thin: he spends 1 short paragraph describing drummer Stephen Morris, concluding that he’ll let him tell his own story. He devotes barely a sentence to keyboardist Gillian Gilbert. Unsurprisingly he talks a bit more about bassist and childhood friend Peter Hook, who left the band after a long rocky period. He gripes a little, but remains mostly aloof.
Despite these shortcomings, the book is worth a read for fans, and I sense that he wrote it out of obligation to them. He clearly cherishes his experiences and loves his work. The work doesn’t compare to the 3(!) books Hook has written covering the same time frame. Hook is more prolific and entertaining, but Sumner comes across as genuine.
January 29, 2016
The good: The early parts of the book describing his childhood and what Salford was like in the 1970s. It does a good job contextualizing the sound of Joy Division. Some decisions about the look of the covers, the origins of the band names and his work with Johnny Marr was interesting to read about. And he has a genuine sense of humour when looking back at his hedonistic days and the fish out of water mistakes and happy accidents that was the beginning of Joy Division.
The not-so Good: After 1983, after Blue Monday is when the autobiography starts to be a bit iffy. He skips through a lot of the major albums. He talks about the recording of Movement, Technique and Republic. Not much is said about their most popular songs except Blue Monday. Sumner seems only comfortable talking about his partying days (not that it detracts from the book, there were a lot of amusing stories). Little was spoken about his relationship with his band memebers but he speaks very fondly about Ian Curtis. I guess I disliked the way he skipped around the timeline once New Order became a success.
Where it gets murky is that it's obvious that Sumner isn't quite distanced himself from whatever strife and problems he has with band members and this colours the writing of the book. I generally think the best autobiographies are done when time has let old grudges settle and the author can be a bit removed from it. He talks of nothing about Peter Hook through most of the book until the end and makes him out to be spoilt child. I'm surprised he glossed over the 5 year break they had in the mid 90s as simply as a break when most fans remember reports of how acrimonious the break was that it was almost a surprise when we all heard that they reformed and were recording a new record.
Which is his right I suppose. Fans aren't entitled to know everything about their favourite bands and they can be as private as they like. But as a book, there's glaring biases and omissions that somewhat detract from the book as a whole. It's not a complete book if you want to know everything about New Order and Joy Division, but it's got a lot of interesting insights about its early days that's well worth reading.
The not-so Good: After 1983, after Blue Monday is when the autobiography starts to be a bit iffy. He skips through a lot of the major albums. He talks about the recording of Movement, Technique and Republic. Not much is said about their most popular songs except Blue Monday. Sumner seems only comfortable talking about his partying days (not that it detracts from the book, there were a lot of amusing stories). Little was spoken about his relationship with his band memebers but he speaks very fondly about Ian Curtis. I guess I disliked the way he skipped around the timeline once New Order became a success.
Where it gets murky is that it's obvious that Sumner isn't quite distanced himself from whatever strife and problems he has with band members and this colours the writing of the book. I generally think the best autobiographies are done when time has let old grudges settle and the author can be a bit removed from it. He talks of nothing about Peter Hook through most of the book until the end and makes him out to be spoilt child. I'm surprised he glossed over the 5 year break they had in the mid 90s as simply as a break when most fans remember reports of how acrimonious the break was that it was almost a surprise when we all heard that they reformed and were recording a new record.
Which is his right I suppose. Fans aren't entitled to know everything about their favourite bands and they can be as private as they like. But as a book, there's glaring biases and omissions that somewhat detract from the book as a whole. It's not a complete book if you want to know everything about New Order and Joy Division, but it's got a lot of interesting insights about its early days that's well worth reading.
January 2, 2016
Intercepted on its way to the charity shop while visiting my Dad at Xmas. I quite enjoyed his account of growing up poor in post-war Salford but the latter two thirds of the book feel rather uneven: Joy Division seems to be over in the space of thirty or so pages, and there's an awful lot of space given over to emerging synth technologies used on the first New Order record. It's not especially well-written, though to be fair, that might be an indication that it really is Sumner's work and not that of a copy-editor or ghost writer. And the sometimes clumsy turn of phrase doesn't get in the way of the telling of the story too much. Aside from the introduction, I quite enjoyed the section on the travails of the Hacienda nightclub, going some way to explaining how a club so famous that even I had heard of it, even if I was far too young to go clubbing, and in any event, never really interested in acid house music, nonetheless never made any money. On the other hand, I couldn't get particularly excited by what felt like a series of anecdotes about getting wasted on tour, and the chapter towards the end about his (and the band's) falling out with bassist Peter Hook left me wondering what it was that was not being said - although, to be fair to Sumner, it may simply be that he himself does not know quite what led Hook to behave as he did.
On the plus side, it did make me go back and revisit New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies (strangely never mentioned in the book) which I had an illicit C90 copy of at the age of 14 and played to death for a time - it holds up rather better than a lot of what I was listening to at the time. It also sparked me to go look up and see what had happened to the band formed by the kid at school who I think lent me his copy of the first Joy Division album - and thanks to youtube, I found somewhat to my surprise, twenty years later, they're still going
On the plus side, it did make me go back and revisit New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies (strangely never mentioned in the book) which I had an illicit C90 copy of at the age of 14 and played to death for a time - it holds up rather better than a lot of what I was listening to at the time. It also sparked me to go look up and see what had happened to the band formed by the kid at school who I think lent me his copy of the first Joy Division album - and thanks to youtube, I found somewhat to my surprise, twenty years later, they're still going
April 4, 2016
New Order is one of my favorite bands, so I'm totally biased when it comes to anything about them. That being said, I learned a lot about both Joy Division and New Order and the members of the bands. If you're not a fan, this likely isn't for you. Also, this seems to hack a complete lack of editorial input as things move about at random, things repeat and it could have been much more concise. I still really liked it, but it could have been better with a little editing.
October 4, 2020
Bernard Sumner is a legend, a key part of two of my favorite bands ever, and a key piece in the Manchester musical scene. But he's better at writing songs than books. It's not that this autobiographical book is badly written, but if you're going to write a book about those years in those hugely influential bands, you definitely need to leave your ego behind and not write a book that reads more like the life and work of Bernard Sumner, kickass musician and synthethizer uber geek.
September 18, 2022
Sumner does a pretty good job of chronicling the rise of Joy Division and New Order, and there are a few humorous anecdotes, including his admission that he can't sing. He barely mentions his family life, but I suspect that is in respect of their privacy.
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