New Order’s fourth studio album arrived at a pivotal point in the band’s evolution, dividing its music between guitar-driven post-punk and electronic experimentation. Forty years later, Brotherhood is being revisited with a new anniversary vinyl edition.
by Paul Cashmere
New Order released Brotherhood on 29 September 1986, an album that captured the English band at the point where its post-punk origins and electronic ambitions were being deliberately pulled in different directions. Forty years later, the record remains closely identified with “Bizarre Love Triangle”, while its two-sided musical concept reveals a more complicated picture of where New Order were heading.
Released by Factory Records between Low-Life and the 1987 compilation Substance, Brotherhood was New Order’s fourth studio album and was written, recorded and produced by the band. It reached No. 9 in the UK and No. 15 in Australia, giving the group another significant chart result while continuing its transition away from the shadow of Joy Division.
The album was deliberately constructed around contrasting musical identities. Stephen Morris later explained that the band approached Brotherhood with the idea of putting synthesiser-based material on one side and guitar-oriented songs on the other. He subsequently acknowledged that the concept “didn’t quite work”, but the tension between those two approaches is central to the album’s character.
The first side moves through “Paradise”, “Weirdo”, “As It Is When It Was”, “Broken Promise” and “Way Of Life”, while the second begins with “Bizarre Love Triangle” before moving through “All Day Long”, “Angel Dust” and “Every Little Counts”.
That placement of “Bizarre Love Triangle” is significant. The song became New Order’s breakthrough single in the United States and Australia and remains the album’s defining track. It was the only Brotherhood song issued as both a single and a video, although “State Of The Nation” later appeared on most CD editions as a bonus track.
In Australia, “Bizarre Love Triangle” reached No. 5 on the singles chart, making it one of New Order’s most recognisable songs in the country. Noise11 previously reported the song’s enduring place in the band’s Australian catalogue, where it sits among their biggest local chart successes.
The album also contains some of New Order’s more unusual studio decisions. “Every Little Counts” ends with the sound of a record needle apparently stuck in a groove, an effect Morris compared to the conclusion of The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life”. He joked that the cassette version should instead have sounded like the tape being chewed up, while the CD could retain the sticking sound.
Elsewhere, “All Day Long” draws on Richard Wagner’s “Prelude” from Das Rheingold. New Order would subsequently use the piece as a concert opener, adding another layer to a song that sits on the more atmospheric side of the band’s musical divide.
Peter Saville’s sleeve design is almost as recognisable as the music. The cover uses a photograph of titanium-zinc alloy, with some early editions presented in a metallic sleeve. Saville’s work had already become closely associated with Factory Records and New Order, making the packaging part of the album’s identity rather than simply an illustration of it.
The original nine-track album was followed by an expanded history. The 2024 Brotherhood: Definitive Edition brought together a remastered album, demos, remixes, rare material and live recordings, including performances from Manchester, Brixton, Glastonbury and New York. The official New Order release described it as part of the band’s series of definitive Factory Records album editions.
That edition also placed previously unavailable material alongside the original album, including the “State Of The Nation” Japan demo, an alternate “Bizarre Love Triangle” mix, “Evil Dust”, “Skullcrusher” and live recordings from the Brotherhood era.
For the 40th anniversary in 2026, Brotherhood is receiving another physical release, with a limited crystal-clear vinyl edition using the 2024 remastered audio scheduled for October as part of National Album Day.
The anniversary gives the album a chance to be heard beyond its biggest song. “Bizarre Love Triangle” may have become the entry point, but Brotherhood documents a New Order still testing the boundaries between guitars, synthesizers, rhythm and atmosphere, at a moment when those divisions were becoming increasingly difficult to keep apart.
Tracklisting
Side One
“Paradise”
“Weirdo”
“As It Is When It Was”
“Broken Promise”
“Way Of Life”
Side Two
“Bizarre Love Triangle”
“All Day Long”
“Angel Dust”
“Every Little Counts”
CD Bonus Track
“State Of The Nation”
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