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NO New Order & Joy Division master tapes discovered – the rumours are wrong

NO New Order & Joy Division master tapes discovered – the rumours are wrong Superlatives are dangerous, they can break things. Last night’s ‘news’ of forgotten and rediscovered Joy Division and New Order master tapes was excactly something like this, as Electronic Beats learned today.

The (management-sided verified) yellow-press “fact” is this: Pop-chef Jamie Oliver works on opening up a new restaurant inside the rooms of an 2009 abandoned Manchester bank building. Yesterday On Monday he tweeted (see below) in conversation with Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess what was found in the forgotten treasury rooms in the basement around three years back.

Apparently, various media reports picked this up, making old stuff look like spectacular news. Alongside “guns, gold and jewellery” the tapes were reported to having been discovered, estimated to being worth around 1.1 million quid. Bernard Sumner’s management today confirmed an EB request, stating that “the bank closed in early 2009 and (they) moved the contents of (their own) storage vault to new storage elsewhere at that time. There were no long lost master tapes or unexpected finds.” To break it down: no ‘Unknown Treasures’!

In related news: although there’s still a gulf between original member and bass player Peter Hook and the recently reformed New Order members about the band’s legacy, New Order continue with a big number of live concerts and festival shows all across Europe, Japan, Australia, and the USA – catch up with Bernard Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris, Phil Cunningham, and Tom Chapman at one of these events.

Last but not least: read DJ Greg Wilson’s highly interesting and insightful blog post on the Fac 51 Haçienda, the world famous ‘Madchester’ nightclub originally owned and run by New Order and Factory Records.

The author on Twitter:

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Photo: © New Order

Published February 15, 2012.