''Republic'' (stylised as ''Republic©'') is the sixth studio album by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band New Order. It was first released on 3 May 1993 in the United Kingdom by CentreDate Co Ltd in association with London Records and on 11 May 1993 in the United States by

Qwest Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western and midwestern U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dako ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. It was the band's first album following the demise of their former label

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Duru ...

, and would be their last studio album for eight years until 2001's '' Get Ready''. ''Republic'' became New Order's second consecutive album to top the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, and was nominated for the 1993

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

. In the United States, it reached number 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200, the band's highest-peaking album on the chart to date. Its lead single "

Regret Regret is the emotion of wishing one had made a different decision in the past, because the consequences of the decision were unfavorable. Regret is related to perceived opportunity. Its intensity varies over time after the decision, in regard ...

" became New Order's last top-five entry on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The band went on hiatus following a gig at the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

in promotion of the album in August 1993. Lead singer

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, and Electronic. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the po ...

was known to dislike travelling to North America, and media reports suggested that the pressure of the long leg there contributed to the band's temporary demise, although they reunited in 1998.

Background

According to bassist Peter Hook, the band were forced to make the album in order to save

The Haçienda The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, North West England, which became famous during the Manchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records. The club opened in 1982, eventually ...

, a Manchester club partially owned by the band that was losing a great deal of money. The band were also told that if they did not produce another album,

would go bankrupt and the band members, who had guaranteed loans for Factory and the club, would be ruined financially. At the same time, Hook and

were "at that point in the relationship where you hate each others' stinking guts," and the band members were "all off our heads on various things," which made for a stressful working environment. Disputes over the music and publishing rights created further acrimony that caused the band to break up, though they reunited in 1998 and recorded two more studio albums before Hook departed permanently.

Artwork

As with previous New Order releases, ''Republic'''s artwork was designed by Peter Saville and no text other than credits appears within the sleeve. Saville, who had relocated to California, depicted different aspects of the state—people relaxing on the beach while houses burn (a reference to frequent wildfires or the 1992 Los Angeles riots) and vast natural landscapes contrasting with the skyline of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Most of the images were taken from

stock photo Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...

libraries to achieve a commercial look, and were heavily retouched. Several of these images have been used elsewhere, such as

direct-mail Advertising mail, also known as direct mail (by its senders), junk mail (by its recipients), mailshot or admail (North America), letterbox drop or letterboxing (Australia) is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The d ...

campaigns, catalogues and adverts for businesses. Another interpretation of the album's artwork alludes to the

Fall of Rome The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...

''Republic: The Limited Run..''

A limited-edition version of ''Republic'', titled ''Republic: The Limited Run..'', was released in the United States. Although the tracks are the same as on the standard release, the packaging is entirely different. Instead of including a

jewel case Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case ...

, the CD is packaged in a folding wallet made of bright orange vinyl underpadded with soft foam, giving it the feel of an

inner tube An inner tube is an inflatable ring that forms the interior of some pneumatic tires. The tube is inflated with a valve stem, and fits inside of the casing of the tire. The inflated inner tube provides structural support and suspension, while the ...

. The CD's label is also redesigned, with no words but with a picture of several orange rubber inner tubes against a background of flames, a reference to the cover artwork. The booklet, tucked into a pocket of the vinyl wallet, is the same as with the standard version, but is made of a plastic waterproof material instead of paper.

Track listing

Personnel

New Order

Musician credits for New Order are not listed in the liner notes of the album's personnel. Below are the instruments that the group typically plays. *

– vocals, guitars, synthesizers and programming * Peter Hook – bass, programming * Stephen Morris – drums, synthesizers and programming *

Gillian Gilbert Gillian Lesley Gilbert (born 27 January 1961) is an English musician and singer, best known as the keyboardist and guitarist of the band New Order. Early life Gilbert's family moved from her birthplace, Manchester, to the nearby market town of ...

– synthesizers, guitars and programming; vocal on "Avalanche"

Production

The original liner notes list the album's personnel as follows: *

, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris,

and

Stephen Hague Stephen Hague (born 1960) is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s. Early life Hague was born in Portland, Maine in 1960. Early career Hague started his musical career in the mid-1970s as a session ...

– writer * New Order and

– producer *

Pascal Gabriel Pascal Gabriel (born 15 December 1956) is a Belgian-born musician based in London, England and Paris, France. Background Pascal Gabriel's musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors (bass guitar). He left Belgium for Londo ...

– pre-production ("Regret" and "Young Offender") *

Simon Gogerly Simon Gogerly is a British audio engineer with credits including artists such as U2, Paloma Faith, No Doubt and Massive Attack. Gogerly started his career playing keyboards on tour in the 1980s for the new wave band Dead or Alive. He then w ...

, Mike 'Spike' Drake,

Owen Morris Owen Morris (born in Caernarfon, Wales) is a Welsh record producer who has worked with rock bands including Oasis, the Fratellis, Ash, the View, Loso and the Verve. Biography Morris started working in the music industry as a sound engineer a ...

and Richard Chappell – engineer * Ben Findlay – assistant engineer * Sam Hardaker – assistant engineer * Audrey Riley – cello, string arrangements * David Rhodes – additional guitar * Andy Duncan – additional programming * Dee Lewis – backing vocals * Recorded and mixed at Real World and RAK * Peter Saville – art direction (designed at Pentagram)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Republic (Album) 1993 albums New Order (band) albums London Records albums Albums produced by Pascal Gabriel Albums produced by Stephen Hague Albums recorded at RAK Studios