My Top 2000 Songs #1057: Dreams Never End

I have tremendous love for New Order's moody, haunting 1981 debut, Movement. It's always struck me as more of a Joy Division coda, a commemoration of the passing of JD frontman Ian Curtis, than as a proper New Order introduction. There are few hints of the more synth-pop direction the band would take afterwards, but the closest thing to a transitional song on the LP is "Dreams Never End." It takes a step further into New Order's dance-pop territory than the bulk of the record, a counterpart of sorts to the contemporaneous single "Ceremony" (written by Curtis and initially performed by Joy Division before being rerecorded as NO's first single).

But "Dreams" also sounds like an out-of-time anomaly in the Joy Division/New Order discography, largely owing to the vocals of bassist Peter Hook. And while I think the band ultimately made the right choice in letting guitarist Bernard Sumner take the mic, his cheerier approach better suited to New Order's style, Hook captures Curtis' spirit, giving the track the uncanny vibe of dead-center midway point between two very different but equally groundbreaking bands.

Live 1987:

Peter Hook & The Light, last year:

Noisy shoegaze cover by Lilys:

Cover by The Minus One: