New Order's beloved smash single "True Faith" was released on this day in 1987 and remains one of the all-time New Order greats.
The classic yet timeless single, which takes its name from a line in a book Peter Hook was reading at the time (Texas by James A. Michener referred to Catholicism as being "the only true faith") was backed by another massive fan favorite, "1963" and released on 7" and 12" formats.
Both "True Faith" and "1963" were recorded over a 10 day period with Stephen Hague. New Order had a 10 day deadline to write, record, and mix both songs -- though they weren't usually given deadlines, Factory forced a 10 day deadline on them in order to have the tracks included on New Order's compilation Substance, which was released less than a month later (August 17, 1987).
Hook revealed in his latest book Substance: Inside New Order that the sessions were uncomfortable as Hague was brought in to help New Order deliver a breakthrough pop hit (he'd previously helped Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, OMD, and others), but unbeknownst to the band, Hague was used to co-writing with the artists he worked with, which was not something New Order were used to or down for.
Hooky was also personally disenchanted with the recording sessions and how his bass parts were buried in the final mix of "True Faith" and almost totally absent in "1963" though Hooky got his comeuppance on the bassier Arthur Baker remix. (Hook also claims that Hague now admits it was a mistake to have the bass mixed so low on "True Faith").
"True Faith" turned out to be a major success for New Order -- it enjoyed tons of radio and MTV airplay and was the band's highest charting single in the U.S. at the time. ["Regret," released in 1993 would eventually hold the crown as the band's highest charting single on the U.S. Hot 100 chart though the dance charts were another matter altogether -- "Touched By The Hand Of God," "Round & Round," "Regret," "World (The Price Of Love)," and "Crystal" all hit #1.]
Viva "True Faith"!
*The original version of "True Faith" is not available digitally, which is truly a tragedy. The original version of "1963" received a better fate and was included as bonus material on the 2008 Collectors Edition of Brotherhood.
**My advice: pony up for a CD or LP version of Substance if you can find one, you won't regret it.
Full disclosure: Substance is one of my favorite records of all time. I've owned multiple copies on multiple formats over the years and probably the record I've listened to the most in my life, so perhaps I'm biased.
Published July 20th, 2017