New Order – Turn The Heater On

22nd November 2021 · 1980s, 1982, Music, Reggae

Another weather-appropriate tune today, to mark the onset of brass monkeys and taters. This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only cover version by New Order.

Apart from Joy Division covers, obvs. And in a way it is, because Ian Curtis was a big fan of Keith Hudson, the reggae musician who made the original version of this, and New Order did it as a tribute to him.

It’s taken, as the caption indicates, from their John Peel session broadcast on 1 June 1982, when they played another song, Too Late, that they never recorded themselves or played live.

It’s a surprisingly faithful version and the dub effects – Hudson was a master of the production method and his Pick A Dub is a classic – are particularly splendid, along with the Augustus Pablo-style melodica.

Here is the Keith Hudson original: