New Order's ultra-rare, 18-minute requiem for Ian Curtis finally sees vinyl release

New Order’s successes were always tinged with tragedy, but their most overt musical monument to the dearly departed Ian Curtis never saw a vinyl release. The legendary Elegia, taken from the Latin for elegy, was a 18-minute long instrumental waltz recorded in 1985. Yearning, hardnosed, swirling, it’s one of their loveliest – and most epic – moments, but was chopped down to five minutes for ‘Low-Life’ and only released on the exhaustive CD boxset ‘Retro’.)

Now, the excellent New York reissues imprint Slow To Speak have stepped up. The Bible-referencing label ran by Paul Nickerson and Francis Englehardt will finally release this wonderful song, backed up by a Peel Sessions version of ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ highlight 5-8-6 and the ‘Movement’-era track The Him. Listen to the full track below, and, though we violently disagree with their assertion New Order were only ‘momentarily’ dope, you buy it exclusively through Boston record shop Dope Jams.