Power, Corruption & Lies
| Power, Corruption & Lies | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by New Order | ||||
| Released | 2 May 1983 | |||
| Recorded | 22 October–14 November 1982, Britannia Row, Islington | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:35 | |||
| Label |
Factory UK – FACT 75 US – FACTUS 12 |
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| Producer | New Order | |||
| New Order chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The A.V. Club | A |
| Blender |  |
| Entertainment Weekly | A |
| Pitchfork Media | 9.6/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Select | 4/5 |
| The Village Voice | B+ |
Power, Corruption & Lies is the second studio album by the English rock band New Order, released in May 1983 on Factory Records. The album features more electronic-based tracks than their previous album Movement, with heavier use of synthesizers. It was included in the top 100 albums of the 1980s lists in both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork Media.
The title of the album was chosen by Bernard Sumner from a 1981 conceptual art exhibition in Cologne, Germany. On the opening night of the exhibition the artist Gerhard Richter vandalised the exterior of the Kunsthalle by spray painting the text, "Power, Corruption, and Lies".
Peter Saville's design for the album had a colour-based code to represent the band's name and the title of the album, but they were not actually written on the original UK sleeve itself (they were present on some non-UK versions), although the catalogue number "FACT 75" does appear on the top-right corner. The decoder for the code was featured prominently on the back cover of the album and can also be used for the "Blue Monday" and "Confusion" singles and for Section 25's album From the Hip.
The cover is a reproduction of the painting "A Basket of Roses" by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, which is part of the National Gallery's permanent collection in London. Saville had originally planned to use a Renaissance portrait of a dark prince to tie in with the Machiavellian theme of the title, but couldn't find a suitable portrait. At the gallery Saville picked up a postcard with Fantin-Latour's painting, and his girlfriend mockingly asked him if he was going to use it for the cover. Saville then realised it was a great idea. Saville suggested that the flowers "suggested the means by which power, corruption and lies infiltrate our lives. They're seductive." The cover was also intended to create a collision between the overly romantic and classic image which made a stark contrast to the typography based on the modular, colour-coded alphabet. Saville and Tony Wilson, the head of the label, also said that the owner of the painting (The National Heritage Trust) first refused Factory Records access to it. Wilson then called up the gallery director to ask who actually owned the painting and was given the answer that the Trust belonged to the people of Britain, at some point. Wilson then replied, "I believe the people want it." The director then replied, "If you put it like that, Mr Wilson, I'm sure we can make an exception in this case."
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