Agreed. A Collector's Edition with bonus disc seems more viable than going the full on Definitive Edtion box route. They can take my money either way, though.

Possibly not their best work, but still pretty decent, IMHO.

I've long suspected that 'Sputnik' is actually part of the same piece of music as the 'Salvation Theme'; just different bits of a longer, atmospheric piece of music, that were separated out for release. Think 'Peter Saville Soundtrack' type thing.
Not sure when or why I started to think this way. I may have came to the conclusion possibly after watching the film, which might segue between the two tracks. I'm struggling to remember and I don't really want to watch the film again to check . Possibly it's just due to the fact that the demos that are out there sometimes suse both names for the same track ('Salvation', with no 'Sputnik' demo available, afaik).

I admit though that this is pure speculation on my part. I'm probably wrong.
Still, it would be nice to think of a longer piece out there, which might get a release at some point.

As regards 'Skullcrusher', I quite like the piece (more so than 'Sputnik', which is nice but feels a bit pointless, IMHO).
Considering it made it's first live appearance in 1984 (three years before 'Salvation'), it's possible that a studio version of this track might've been attempted around Low Life.
So, I guess, there's a slight possibility that something Skullcrushery could turn up on this next set.

Hey, who knows? Maybe there's a studio version of 'Love Juice' out there?


I know Johnny James probably wants to (understandably) stay tight-lipped regarding the contents of the Low Life set until officially announced. However, if he could shed light on when studio versions of the Salvation tracks were attempted, that'd be interesting. Also, if he has any info about whether 'Sputnik'/'Salvation' were from a longer bit of music etc?

FYI we do have an issue with the Salvation masters. There's one reel in the library and stuff is missing from it. You can tell from what appeared on the Collector's Editions that what is there isn't quite the right mixes. Let's Go had to be patched from a CD.

I do have a lead on where we might find them, though I can't say at this stage what might appear on Brotherhood.

Here's some more speculation: I've always understood that New Order submitted music for Pretty in Pink that was soundtracky and atmospheric. They were then told by the producers something to the effect of "No, we want a song for the soundtrack album" and so rushed to assemble Shellshock. Could Salvation Theme and Sputnik be related to those rejected PiP atmospherics?

As it so happened, the film ended up using somewhat more atmospheric New Order tracks (Elegia and Thieves Like Us Instrumental) in the film far more than the snippet of Shellshock that only featured when a radio dial was being turned.

The soundtrack version of Bizarre Love Triangle is a favorite, though. New vocal from Bernard, and he sings a little melody between the verses that Stephen usually played on synth at gigs.

It's been ages since I've seen it, but remember that bit as using TLU, with Elegia used for the rain scenes.

I seem to recall rain - or at least wet pavement at night (a Hollywood trope) at the end, but isn't that to OMD's If You Leave?

I have an online friend who's father worked at A&M assembling the soundtracks for John Hughes' films. Hughes routinely asked artists he liked to provide tunes, and my friend has a cassette of instrumental demos Robert Smith sent for consideration for Ferris Bueller's Day Off. None of them were used, and the first demo on the cassette turned into The Kiss, the first song on Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me the following year.

There's a 4 CD box set of music from the Hughes films coming out in November, called Life Moves Pretty Fast - The John Hughes Mixtapes. Weirdly, it contains Elegia, but not Shellshock (or the instrumental of TLU)...these things always come down to licensing issues.

Edited by user 08 September 2022 10:00:47(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Interesting. I'd never heard this before.
I had a friend who was convinced that Andie picked the wrong guy and the film was set up for Andie and Duckie to get together. So, it looks like this was the original intention.

According to Wikipedia, the original ending can't be located. Shame.

Thanks for the info.

In Breakfast Club, who was the fool with the gloves on indoors? Looked like an extra from the TBTHOG video or maybe played in an early version of Revenge. It was ok for teen years but not exactly Mike Leigh or Ken Loach.

It's been a iong two years since the 'Power, Corruption & Lies' set. Hope we won't have to wait until 2024 for 'Brotherhood'!

I'm in eager anticipation for an announcement about the 'Low-Life' set now, given the mourning period for The Queen ended earlier this week. Wondered if it won't be announced whilst the Unity tour is in progress, but given the set is being manufactured, and the tour doesn't finish until 16 Oct, I'm hopeful we'll hear an announcement before then.

Any update Johnny?

Indeed. The ending of the mourning period for The Queen will surely and undoubtedly really give the Low Life def box project the boot up the arse it needs to get it finished and ready for release. The two things are inextricably linked!