40 years ago on today (13 May 1985), New Order released their third studio album, 'Low-life'. It is considered to be among the band's strongest work, displaying the moment they completed their transformation from post-punk hold-overs to dance-rockers.
John Bush of AllMusic wrote that Low-Life was "in every way, the artistic equal" of New Order's previous album Power, Corruption & Lies, as well as "the point where the band's fusion of rock and electronics became seamless". The A.V. Club's Josh Modell similarly noted that the album "completely locked the disco influences into sync with New Order's pop leanings". David Quantick, writing in Uncut, felt that Low-Life was "the first New Order album that sounds like an album", with Bernard Sumner's "most human lyrics" complementing Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris' "pop axis" and Peter Hook's "breath-taking" bass performances. In 2000, Q magazine placed Low-Life at number 97 on its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever". Low-Life was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.