Some songs just immediately suggest a time and a place. This is one such song.
The time is 1983 - my first year of teaching at New Plymouth Boys' High School and I'd met a woman in New Plymouth, fallen in love, and moved into her flat at 31C Lorna Street - a nifty little two bed detached house at the bottom of a leafy shared driveway.
Both sides of this 12 inch single were part of the soundtrack of those times - the first days of a relationship that has now passed thirty years together.
The song? Oh yeah - it's still the catchy beast it always was. So radical for the time, and so different to Joy Division (who I love in a different way). It seemed to be of the time, at the time, but it still sounds remarkably cool after 30 years.
Hidden gem: If anything, The Beach is even better and fresher sounding than the A side. It's basically the same song but a more instrumental version so it's those synths, robotic drum and amazing bass sounds to the fore along with some processed vocals. This sounds so great LOUD too.
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