Books — October 27, 2011 at 7:46 am

New Order’s early performances chronicled in new photo book ‘From Heaven to Heaven’

A new book called “From Heaven to Heaven: New Order Live — The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters” will chronicle 3½ years on the road with the pioneering electronic-rock act via 400 previously unpublished photos, 200 images of rare memorabilia and the memories of author Dec Hickey, who attended each of those shows.

Set to be published in January, the 198-page book features an introduction by Moby and forwards by Peter Hook and Stephen Morris. Of the project, Hook writes, “It truly is surreal! So weird to hear the diary details, the details of the tapes, the details of the gigs, hear the things we said and did all those years ago!… So much I’d completely forgotten. I’m completely engrossed. It brings back a lot of feelings I didn’t expect — of kinship, a shared experience, us against the world!”

Hickey, who followed New Order in those early years, often with camera and tape recorder in hand, describes the book as, “a fly-on-the-wall, near-stream of consciousness account of what we, an at times big group of Bedford fans (we’ll refer to them as the ‘Bedford crew’), can remember of the years we hurtled around the country to catch New Order, for me, the best band on the planet.”

He writes:

“Hopefully the book brings a warm, ‘knowing’ smile or even the odd laugh and might fill in some little bits of the youthful lives of those who, in keeping with the time, we’ll hereon refer to individually as Barney, Gillian, Hooky and Steve. As New Order, on a great night they were so far ahead of the rest it was breathtaking.”

The book currently is available for pre-order, priced at £30, or about $48. The first 750 copies come hand-numbered and signed by the author and include a “genuine unused ticket” from New Order’s May 24, 1984, concert at Leicester Palais, plus the buyer will be entered into a drawing to win one of three limited-edition prints of photos from the book.

 

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