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Temptation (New Order song)

1982 single by New Order From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Temptation (New Order song)
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"Temptation" is the fourth single released by English band New Order, released on 10 May 1982 through Factory Records. Released as the last of a string of stand-alone singles early in the band's career, "Temptation" reached number 29 on the UK Singles Chart.

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Original release

The 7" version is a more structured version with a commercial synthpop feel; the 12" is more chaotic with the emphasis on electronic rhythms rather than melody. The 7" version plays at 33⅓ rpm to accommodate its length of around five and a half minutes. Both versions bear the same catalogue number "FAC 63" despite these differences.[5]

The 12" versions of both "Temptation" and its B-side, "Hurt", appear on New Order's compilation EP 1981–1982, released a few months after the single itself.[6] Neither version mentioned the band's name on the sleeve; instead the song title and catalogue number FAC 63 were embossed into the cover.[5]

The vocal track on the original 12" version features an audible "startled yelp" during the song's intro. Vocalist Bernard Sumner has since explained that the scream was from him due to bandmates thrusting a snowball down his shirt during recording.[7]

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Critical reception

The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau described the original version of "Temptation" as being "where Manchester's finest stop hearing ghosts and stake their claim to a danceable pop of unprecedented grimness and power," noting that it was "the first real song this sharp-cornered sound-and-groove band has ever come up with."[8]

Retrospective reviews

In a list for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis named "Temptation" as New Order's second best song, writing that "the song itself – ramshackle but danceable, gleefully poppy, falsetto vocals – [was] evidence that New Order had hit on a new, distinct identity. You can understand why the band chose to re-record it more slickly in 1987, but the original’s cack-handed exuberance is part of its charm."[9] In a retrospective review of all the singles featured on the compilation album Substance 1987, Steve Speller of Dig! praised it as the band's "first truly great pop song."[10]

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Temptation '87

A re-recorded version of the song (titled "Temptation '87 on the 2023 reissue)[11] was created for the compilation album Substance 1987.[12] The original recording of the song is available on third CD of the 2023 expanded reissue.[13]

Music video

In 2006 the song was interpreted in a video titled The Temptation of Victoria by filmmaker Michael Shamberg, who had directed a number of music videos for New Order.[14] The video features Victoria Bergsman of Swedish band The Concretes, who portrays a young woman in Paris who steals a vinyl copy of the song's original 12-inch release from a vintage record shop (the now defunct Bimbo Tower), along with a bouquet from a flower shop. She returns to her apartment and begins dancing to the record, causing the video to switch from black and white into color.

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Track listing

All tracks are written by Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner.

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Charts

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References

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