Movement is generally considered to be New Order’s awkward era, of a time when the band didn’t know where to head after Joy Division and instead repeated the sound of their previous band. I find this to be a sizable exaggeration bordering on misnomer. Movement can be divided into three elements:

1. The ghost of Ian Curtis lingering over the band and possessing Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook, encouraging them to deliver a similar deep and dry vocal performance instead of the frolicking fabulousness New Order would later be characterized by. The vocal personality is undoubtedly the most similar aspect to Joy Division, but it’s also the most shallow comparison.

2. A dip into other burgeoning independent music styles of the early ’80s underground scene. Most surprising is the induction of jangle pop. New Order would go on to keep these strum-happy jingles for several of their later songs, proving that the band was already well on their way to becoming the New Order everyone knows with their very first album. The joyous opening of “Dreams Never End,” Movement‘s most popular song, should make this perfectly evident. The accurately surnamed Peter Hook’s bouncing bass is extremely active and lays the groundwork for the bubbly role that would later be replaced by synthesizers.

3. A natural continuation of Joy Division’s sound. Though the aforementioned upbeat jangle would be out of place under the Joy Division moniker, the occasional gleaming metallic chords and clanging clashes portray a sort of pop-industrial flavored rock that adventurous post-punk bands would explore further in the ’80s. It’s likely that Joy Division would have found some inspiration there as well if they were to go on.

Movement thus doesn’t get the reputation it truly deserves. The album isn’t a simple inferior clone of its “predecessors,” but rather something new that merely takes inspiration from its parent band while primarily facing a new direction that’s undeniably still New Order to an attentive listener even if the mood doesn’t fit. Regardless of where Movement came from, outside of the context of Joy Division, it’s still one of the better pop post-punk albums ever made and should be appreciated for that. I’m glad New Order took their synth pop route after, but for what it is, the band were already setting high genre standards with Movement.