Be Music was the name used by members of New Order when they undertook production work outside the band. Peter Hook used it first when producing what became a Stockholm Monsters B-side in 1982. After that all four members used it at one time or another. Bernard's interest in synths, production and the studio meant that in the period 1983- 85 he used it often, co- producing and/ or programming on some groundbreaking singles and tracks by a raft of Manchester and Factory acts, often with ACR's Dojo (Donald Johnson) alongside him- their work on 52nd Street's Cool As Ice, Section 25's From A Hilltop and Marcel King's Reach For should be lauded from the hilltops, sung from the rooves of the tower blocks, but these are songs largely unknown. Tony Wilson said Marcel King's Reach For Love should have been Factory's biggest hit single. Unfortunately in 1984 for ideological reasons Factory eschewed things such as promotion and pluggers and so hardly anyone got to hear it.
In 2003 LTM compiled an album of Be Music tracks, all from the period 1983 to 1985, called Cool As Ice: The Be Music Productions. Reach For Love is on it, as the other two I mentioned above. The compilation has twelve tracks on it, a selection of the Be Music catalogue. Every single one is streets ahead of the competition. Here's a handful of them.
Quando Quango were Mike Pickering's band, formed in The Netherlands and then relocating to Manchester. Mike and Hillegonda Rietveld were electronic/ electro pioneers making two ahead of their time singles and an album (Pigs And Battleships). One of those singles was Love Tempo. The other was Atom Rock which featured not just Mike and Hillegonda but also ex- ACR singer/ percussionist Simon Topping and a moonlighting Johnny Marr with Bernard and Dojo producing (recorded in Cheadle Hulme south Manchester suburb/ geography fans!) and released on Factory as Fac 102. Futuristic Manc- funk.
Far more obscure are/were Nyam Nyam, a band from Hull discovered by Hooky. He produced a single, released on Factory Benelux in 1984, recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Factory- esque, flat northern vocals with rippling Moroder synths and that grey sheen of Be Music production.
Section 25 were from Blackpool. They released several records on Factory, albums and singles. All are worthy of investigation. Looking From A Hilltop uses an 808 and as as innovative as anything else anyone was doing in 1983. Bernard also produced Beating Heart, a 1983 single on Factory (Fac 68), dance gloom, synths and very Sumner sounding guitars and more lovely northern singing, 'My beating heart/ Beats for you/ Only you'.
Be Music Theme was recorded by Hooky in 1983, designed as intro music for Stockholm Monsters gigs (Peter often mixed their sound live). It is I suppose the first solo New Order track, years ahead of Electronic, Revenge and The Other Two. It came out on a 1986 compilation, The Quick Neat Job (out on Crepescule, a French label Factory had links with). Otherwise, Cool As Ice is the only place its ever been released.
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