let's discuss New Order's 'Republic'

I remember spending an absolute age a while back trying to find a Google Street View location that would produce the cover image from one of the single releases of "Spooky" breathe in:
https://www.discogs.com/release/95201-NewOrder-Spooky

https://i.discogs.com/xfzwh-zFumPySYQ6jVKuNzr9TX2L47fTCmsNxGS3GGg/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:441/w:504/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTk1MjAx/LTEyODQxOTg2NDUu/anBlZw.jpeg

It's Los Angeles, and by studying the buildings I worked out it was roughly this perspective:
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/JA0T1K/aerial-view-of-downtown-los-angeles-in-1984-southern-california-usa-JA0T1K.jpg

But after driving around in the Google Street View car I couldn't find an uninterrupted view. I did however get to see a bit of Los Angeles. It has hills. It looks weirdly flat and empty. Perhaps it has filled out since then. I remember hearing Republic just a couple of years after it was released, and even by 1995-1996 something about the production sounded old-fashioned. And yet I remember liking "Regret", "World", "Avalanche", and "Special". I always wondered if "Special" was aimed at Tony Wilson. And "Regret", particularly the bit about waiting for tomorrow. That song was an instant classic.

I also wondered if Peter Saville had just got a copy of Photoshop, because the montage in the CD booklet looked like the kind of thing people were doing with Photoshop in the "peak Protools" period when Photoshop existed but digital cameras were still obscure, so it was all about manipulating scanned slides and 100mb .TIFFs.

I can't remember a single thing about the other tracks on the album. I know that Technique gets all the respect, and I suppose it came first so Republic was a retread, and Republic doesn't have anything as brilliant as the beginning to "Fine Time", but I think they have a similar strike rate of good songs. I mean the tick-a-cha hi-hat, then the bass, then drrrrrrrr as the drums come in. It's like Star Wars, where we go from the droids to Luke Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi to Han Solo to the Princess etc. "Fine Time" is genius in that respect. It's a little musical story with sheep noises.

I assumed it was just a graphic design choice. Are you suggesting there's a legal reason? What happened to Duranduran?

Nah I figured it was a graphic decision, but I'm baffled why they stuck with it for so long (7 years New Order, 7 years Neworder/NewOrder) without seemingly(?) ever commenting on it. Was Duranduran a legal thing? In the interviews I've read Simon Le Bon just says they went with it just for a while just because they liked the look of it on artwork (and, to quote him directly, because they were getting 'a little bit edgy').

LOL

Los Angeles is neither flat nor empty. However, there are vast swathes without much in the way of pedestrian traffic.

Liar was the song on Republic most directly about Tony Wilson, but I assume just about all of the songs addressing the collapse of Factory are about Tony in some way.

^^^Oh wait think I get what you mean. AFAIK Duranduran did not become Duran Duran again due to anything legal, just that the shorter name supposedly confused people.

It's a little musical story with sheep noises.

"Fine Time" is a masterclass in coming up with lots of melodic hooks - very great and memorable and gorgeous ones at that - and opting not to develop them into separate songs but have them all battle each other in one collage.

I've been listening to Technique all day.

This Fine Time talk reminded me of the Second-Hand Satellites record from (OMG 20 years ago) that samples Fine Time. Great song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPIoEr_ubEg

Top 5 on the album:
Regret, Special, Everyone Everywhere, Times Change, Young Offender.
Artwork is top 3
Like said above, it is not particularly cheerful album, reflecting the internal mood in the band at the time. And yet it’s such a summer album for me. Feeling maudlin at the beach. The cover precisely zooms in on that

Ashley, presumably an aerial shot of LA

Happy 30th anniversary.