Joy Division New Order Miss Pressing

Buying a fresh copy of an old single in the 1980s wasn’t much of a problem. Record companies and shops kept back catalogue pressings of popular oldies on the go for as long as people were prepared to buy them.

The only time ex chart recordings were “deleted” would be when it wasn’t worth printing more and sitting on dead stock that no-one wanted or if they wanted you to buy the album instead.

At the height of New Order-Blue Monday Mania I decided to grab a new scratch free copy of Joy division Love will tear us apart. I worked as a DJ in a nightclub at the time and as most DJs know even if you are the most careful person in the world vinyl records are like every other tool of the trade. They get well used and need replacing from time to time.

But when I got my new copy home and played it there was a slight problem. It looked like Joy Division-Love will tear us apart; The Label said Joy Division-Love would tear us apart. But it played New Order-Blue Monday.

On closer inspection the B-side had two tracks so on a flip of the vinyl I then discovered a wonderful miss pressing that made me put this record away and not touch it for a good few years.

A mix up at the pressing plant had stuck two plates for two separate singles together. Fac 73 A (New Order Blue Monday) and FAC23 B (Joy division Love will tear us apart/these days) the connection between both tracks makes it unique and I thankfully decided against playing it that night in the club. Although i did think it would save room in my record box to have two popular recordings on one vinyl.

I rushed back to the shop the next day and like and idiot explained what had happened. The assistant immediately pulled all the copies they had out of the filing (5 of them) and discovered there were two more like this.

You would have thought he had just discovered a nugget of gold. He wouldn’t sell me any more and stuck them on one side for himself.
B*****D ! Anyway i still have this record sitting on a shelf doing nothing, unplayed and gathering dust. Why ?

Only a true record collector will be able to answer that question and know the answer why.