New Order's classic album Power, Corruption and Lies was released on this day in 1983. The album is widely regarded as one of New Order's best and most influential albums. The masterpiece is breathtaking, enduring and magnificent, exuding brilliance throughout. PCL isn't just held in high esteem by fans; music critics frequently consider PCL as one of the greatest and most important albums in history. The gold standard.
Power, Corruption and Lies was the album where New Order defined their sound. Certainly at that point they had already released a fair amount of music including notable singles "Ceremony," "Procession," "Everything's Gone Green," "Temptation," and their debut album Movement. Their recordings served to transition them away from Joy Division but hadn't quite yet fully embraced synthesizers which would play a key role in establishing the New Order sound. With PCL, New Order emerged as major players and innovators as they threw themselves full-on into synthesizers, samplers, and electronics. The world has never been the same.
While recording Power, Corruption and Lies in 1982, the band tinkered around with samplers they had just bought weeks before. Gillian Gilbert revealed the band learned how to use samplers by recording farts to develop the burgeoning 'New Order' sound. The result is perfection.
New Order wrote the lyrics to Power, Corruption and Lies as a collaborative effort as Bernard Sumner revealed to the Record Mirror in 1984:
"On Power, Corruption and Lies we got to the stage where we went into the studio and everyone said "Right, where's the lyrics?" and I'd go "...I've not actually written any!" So we'd sit down in the studio and we'd all get the feeling of the song from the music; and someone would come up with a line, and we'd add to that and everyone would contribute. That was a really good way of doing it. I really enjoyed it that way, because everyone knows what the song's about."
The iconic artwork for Power, Corruption and Lies was taken from a Henri Fantin-Latour painting titled A Basket Of Roses. Peter Saville explained that he felt the painting paired perfectly with the concept he had for the album's artwork:
"The title seemed Machiavellian. So I went to the National Gallery looking for a Renaissance portrait of a dark prince. In the end, it was too obvious and I gave up for the day and bought some postcards from the shop. I was with my girlfriend at the time, who saw me holding a postcard of the Fantin-Latour painting of flowers and said, ‘You are not thinking of that for the cover?’
It was a wonderful idea. Flowers suggested the means by which power, corruption and lies infiltrate our lives. They’re seductive. Tony Wilson had to phone the gallery director for permission to use the image. In the course of the conversation, he said, ‘Sir, whose painting is it?’ To which the answer was, ‘It belongs to the people of Britain.’ Tony’s response was, ‘I believe the people want it.’ And the director said, ‘If you put it like that, Mr Wilson, I’m sure we can make an exception in this case’”
Power, Corruption and Lies is a sublime and iconic album with timeless classics - "Age Of Consent," "We All Stand," "The Village," "586," "Your Silent Face," "Ultraviolence," "Ecstasy," and "Leave Me Alone." All of these songs are incredible individually; together they complete a stunning body of work exuding genius, inspiration, glittering opulence, and utter brilliance. Power, Corruption and Lies is beyond compare.
Happy Birthday, Power, Corruption and Lies! Stream the timeless album in full here or on Spotify:
*The original UK version of Power, Corruption and Lies features eight songs; the American version added the band's mega-anthem "Blue Monday" and along with its b-side "The Beach."
Published May 2nd, 2018
