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The Other Two: A Retrospective
Some bands messily fall apart, some disappear after one single and others happily chug along never reaching the top of the pop charts but certainly have an audience that is often excited to buy their songs and often get good reviews. Bands like They Might Be Giants, Chumbabwumba, Pet Shop Boys and The Other Two all fit this in some way. With The Other Two (consisting of Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert) first EP Lost Highways celebrating its 30th anniversary recently alongside the band doing live performances once again after a 5 year hiatus I thought I should look back at their history to explain why they are as enduring as they have been.
The Other Two was born due to similar circumstances they lead to the formation of New Order 7 years earlier a death of a band member. In 1980 it was the suicide of Ian Curtis and in 1987 it was Peter Hook dying from a cocaine overdose. Peter Hooks death came at a rather inopportune moment for the band just as they about to release Substance their greatest hits album which would sell very successfully on both sides of the Atlantic (which would reach #2 in the UK charts and #30 in the US Charts). But after it release New Order was done. Bernard Sumner would go on to create Electronic with Johnny Marr (1988-1993) and The Decembrists with Jarvis Coker and Candida Doyle (1996-2008, 2014-) as well as being a famous producer in his own right. Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert the “other two” of the group decided create their own band consisting of the two of them.
New Order- Early 1987 The Other Two would start in November 1987 as the two members tried to distance themselves from Factory Records as things became more chaotic there. London Records would be the label that would release the Other Two’s music (around the same time the company was trying to see if they could buy the Joy Division/New Order discography from Factory Records but would kept in the dark until 1990 when Factory Records admitted to not owing the rights). The Other Two’s first bouts in music creation would be instrumental music for TV and Radio which would include the theme to Whose Line is it Anyway, London’s Burning and the music for sitcom Colin’s Sandwich. During this time they would also release their first EP called Lost Highways (February 23rd 1988) which contained the singles Vanishing Point and Lost Highways whose combination of dance pop, jangle pop and some elements of rock in it which would be the direction that Retrospect would go in.
Retrospect (14th of April 1988) would continue in the direction that Lost Highways had started. Tracks like Salvation, High Time and Movin’ Up are the best examples of the albums infectious combination of dance pop and alternative rock whilst tracks like Daydreaming and Retrospect would take inspiration from bands like this Mortal Coil and be very dream pop influenced which is where Gillian Gilbert’s vocals would shine. The album would do decently (#20 on the UK pop charts) but would get mixed reviews (with nearly everyone agreeing that the track Sonic Waves was essentially filler and rather bland). After a brief tour around the UK and a trip to Ibiza the duo would start writing new tracks going into an even more dance heavy direction taking influence from Balearic beat as well as the Grebo music.
The Inadequate was released on the 16th of March 1989 and would become a slow burn. Whilst it did okay at first, prolonged play of the lead single Inadequate in various nightclubs and raves would slowly cause the album to rise up to #5. The album’s cover of couple kissing drawn by Jaime Hernandez would be a popular symbol for the rave movement (originally Peter Saville the album designer appropriated an image from Love and Rockets but various reasons would lead to Jaime Hernandez to make a drawing specifically for the album). The album would be famous for its Balearic Pop style alongside its interesting rock influences help along by bassist Steve Mackey and finally for its odd use of samples (including samples from the show Rapido and the film Blue Velvet) which made songs like Selfish and The Judge rather memorable. The album would be followed by a tour in both Britain and an American tour in late 1989/early 1990 where they would become popular with the College Rock and Alternative Rock scene there. Jamie Hernandez and his brother Gilbert illustrations from Love and Rockets would become popular with the club scene in Britain with it iconography everywhere.
There third album would take the longest to make due touring as well the duo taking some time off after the success of their second album and subsequent tour (whilst vacationing in New York they decide to become engaged). During that time they would concentrate on soundtrack music helping produce music for The Miracle (by Neil Jordan) and Hidden Agenda (Ken Loach). It was only on the 23rd of October 1991 was an album released going by the name The World Spins. The album was a smorgasbord of different influences ranging from Nine Inch Nails to Julee Cruise to Shriekback with the result being an album that combined alternative rock, dream pop and EBM. The album would do okay (#30 on the British pop charts) but would have continued success with American and British alternative scene particularly with singles like Heart and Force which upped their industrial influences. This would be there last album for 5 years.
Other Two- 1991 The Hacienda shutting down and a general willingness to settle down caused the Other Two to stop performing from mid 1992. In 1993 Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris would marry and one year later they would have a daughter Grace. They told NME that they would no longer tour due to their commitments. In 1996 they released Celebration that continued in the same vein as The World Spins with singles like Strange Days and Hope doing well at various clubs throughout Britain and America. During this time they would get renewed interest due to their songs being used in the soundtracks of films like Four Weddings and Funeral, Lost Highway, Strange Days and Trainspotting.
Several Other Two Songs (Retrospect, Movin' Up and Love and Rockets) would appear on the Four Weddings and Funeral soundtrack
From 1996 onwards The Other Two would only release two more albums (Technique 2000 and Syncopate 2006) which would get a mixed reception but be well appreciated by the fans. They mostly stuck to soundtrack/production work due to having to take care of two children (Ashley, 1997). They would help produce music for bands like Fury, Hot Chip and Faithless as well as make the soundtracks for Control (Anton Corbijn), Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, who is also a big fan of theirs) and Walk-Man (Michael Winterbottom). In 2012 they would release Siren’s Call as well as do their first tour in 17 years which would go quite well (Siren’s Call would reach #12 in the Alternative chart) and would get good reviews. But once again after the tour they would go back to producing/soundtrack until in 2016 they announced a new album they were making with Bernard Sumner. In 2017 Music Complete would drop to great reviews and good sales (#2 on the UK Pop charts at one point) with them also announcing a tour alongside the reformed Decembrists this year.
Band Back Together? Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert and Bernard Sumner 2017
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Some of real life music of The Other Two: