Brotherhood | ||||
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One of vinyl editions
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Studio album by New Order | ||||
Released | 29 September 1986 | |||
Recorded | 1986 | |||
Studio | Jam, London; Windmill Lane, Dublin; Amazon, Liverpool | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 43:30 | |||
Label |
Factory FACT-150 |
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Producer | New Order | |||
New Order chronology | ||||
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Singles from Brotherhood | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The A.V. Club | A− |
Blender | |
Entertainment Weekly | A− |
Pitchfork Media | 9.5/10 |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Select | 3/5 |
Uncut | |
The Village Voice | A |
Brotherhood is the fourth studio album by English rock band New Order, released in 1986 by Factory Records. The album contains a mixture of post-punk and electronic styles, roughly divided between the two sides.
Brotherhood includes the band's break-out single in the USA and Australia, "Bizarre Love Triangle". It is the only track from the album released as a single and as a video (although "State of the Nation" was on the CD). It found its way onto many 1980s soundtracks, including Married to the Mob.
The album sleeve was created by Peter Saville and is a photograph of a sheet of titanium-zinc alloy. Some early releases come in a metallic effect sleeve.
In 2008 the album was re-released in a Collector's Edition with a bonus disc.
Brotherhood saw the band further exploring their mix of post-punk and electronic styles, with the track listing being conceptually divided into "disco and rock sides".Stephen Morris stated that the album "was kind of done in a schizophrenic mood that we were trying to do one side synthesizers and one side guitars", which he retrospectively stated "didn't quite work."
In a 1987 interview with Option, Morris commented that the "mad ending" to "Every Little Counts" – which sounds like a vinyl record needle skipping the groove – is similar to the ending of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life". Morris said: "What we should have done is make the tape version sound like the tape getting chewed up. The CD could have the sticking sound."
Reviewing Brotherhood for the Los Angeles Times, Steve Hochman wrote that New Order "makes atmospheric grooves with more finesse than any contemporary computer-rocker".Robert Christgau of The Village Voice rated it a 'Pick Hit' and remarked: "The tempos are a touch less stately, the hooks a touch less subliminal. Bernard Albrecht's vocals have taken on so much affect they're humane. And the joke closer softens up a skeptic like me to the pure, physically exalting sensation of the music."