Bloody pride bloody coming before a bloody fall and all that

So pleased I was, on the weekend, to be availing myself of the presented opportunity to purchase a near-mint copy of New Order's very great -- and arguably best -- 1985 album Low-life at a stall at Aro Street Market for a single dollar. So pleased. Verging on self-congratulatory, actually.

So displeased was I when playing the LP yesterday to be discovering that despite ALL appearances (the jacket, the inner sleeve, the record labels, the run-off groove etchings) being that said LP was the very great (arguably best) 1985 New Order album Low-life, it was in fact a shitty live Roy Harper record. (Probably this one.) (Not hating on Roy Harper, y'dig, I am oh-so-much the Roy Harper fan; well maybe not that much of a fan, ok.. I like a couple of his early albums, 1971's Stormcock, and umm Lifemask. But he's a great guitarist and a good lyricist and a uniquely-styled singer and an interesting guy -- and it's not everyone who can claim to have a song written about them by Led Zeppelin, or appear as a guest vocalist on a Pink Floyd album.) (And thank god I recognised the vocals and the guitar playing and so on, or not knowing what the hell this bloody record was I'd have even less to rant about.)

But it really is quite a shitty live album. You can even hear the crowd giving some less-than-good natured heckle. The sound is shitty. He sounds a bit bored. You wonder why anyone bothered, really. And you especially wonder why they bothered disguising it as a near-mint copy of Low-life on sale in a bin of drek from the 80s at a stall at the Aro Street Market.

Bastards.

Especially since I flicked to Allmusic.com today and what is staring me in the face, dead centre of the screen?

Yup, today Low-life is Allmusic's Album of the Day.

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There's a lot of love for New Order, and Low-life in particular, on the blogosphere, but none say it quite like this guy:

The third album of New Order shone with a new confidence recien adquirida. Tras the unequal Movement and the incomplete Power, Corruption and lies, Low life unified techno pop, dark gotico rock and the first recording of country and techno.Low life established with firmness to New Order like one of the great British bands, entering top 10 and also representing its debut in the classic lists estadounidenses.Aunque was a quite loose year with respect to albumes, was not bad for the musica of Manchester.

Ok fine, I admit it, that was obviously via Babelfish, but you get the idea.

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I wanted to play you a track from Low-life, but it was REALLY hard to choose just one. However, I think the closing track Face Up mostly closely fits my mood today, so................

New Order - Face Up (3.61 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download; play using the handy little embedded player below)