This is, bar NONE, a must-buy...a must must MUST buy...one of the greatest hits/singles collections ever, by anybody, period!!!!
This set expands on 1987's "Substance", blows away "International" and "(The Best Of) New Order" by a mile...the only other collection you need besides this is the "Retro" boxset, preferably the 5-disc version...the thing is, you kinda need to burn/copy various tracks from each, in order to not need them...the 1994 import remix collection "(The Rest Of) New Order", I find for completists only, although I don't have a copy.
The difference between "Singles" and "Substance", besides it being up-to-date with all 31 singles, is that "Substance" has mainly 12" versions and 2 rerecordings (1987) of the first 12 singles, plus B-sides on disc 2, while here, "Singles" has mainly shorter 7" radio versions...but 2 tracks are kept intact from "Substance": "True Faith" and the original "Blue Monday" in it's full 7 minute glory...I like these versions just as much, except on 1 song, 1984's "Thieves Like Us"...the whole second verse is cut on this version, the one regarding pills, kinda ruins the song for me...plus, the 1st disc is only 69 minutes, there was ample room for the full-lengther, or at least left that verse in on this version...oh well, I'll live.
Back to the positive...this new US version sounds even better than the earlier UK one...the remastering is BEYOND BELIEF, woah!!!! Makes someone like me hope for the whole frikking catalogue to be done!!!! The packaging and liner notes are identical, but slightly refined on the US version...it looks a drop better for some reason...I know, I used to have the import but sold it...oh also, this US version has a cool new bonus track, a fresh remix of "Temptation" by Dallas-cum-Brooklyn experimental rockers The Secret Machines...I dig it, plus there was room for it, as the UK CD2 has only 63 minutes, now it's about 70...
Every song here is great (barring my issue with "Thieves Like Us"), from their new version of "Ceremony" from when they were Joy Division, through the 4 singles off "Waiting For The Sirens' Call", their new masterful 2005 album, including "Jetstream", their cool duet with Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters...
Their unique brand of unpretentious, soulful dance/punk/rock/pop/electronic hybrid is as groundbreaking as ever, as timeless as ever, and is an immediate choice for desert-island discs...
New Order's music will never get old...and will always be cool...
Now, the songs you still need are 11 tracks on "Substance", which are..."Temptation" (1987 version), "Confusion" (1987 version)...yeah, this "Singles" set has the ORIGINAL versions of those 2 songs..."Thieves Like Us" (12" version), "The Perfect Kiss" (12" version), "State Of The Nation" (12" version), and the B-sides: "Hurt", "Confusion" (instrumental), "Murder", "Thieves Like Us" (instrumental), "Kiss Of Death" and "Shame Of The Nation"...if you still want them, that is...the other 12 inches and B-sides are on the box set "Retro". From "International", you need (if you want) the 12" version of "Touched By The Hand Of God"...the only place to find that on CD. And from "(The Best Of) New Order", you need "Age Of Consent", "Love Vigilantes", "Vanishing Point", "True Faith (1994)" and "Round & Round (1994)", if you want them...
Otherwise, if not, and you don't want the catalogue or the box, this 2CD jackpot will be all you need by the masters Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris...aka New Order!!!!
Buy this pronto...you may need it more than you realize...
2010 Update: The songs missing that are on "Substance", 12-inchers and B-sides, as well as exclusives from "International" and "(The Best Of) New Order", are now (mostly) on the recent 2CD remasters/reissues of their Factory-era catalogue, so those now render that 1987 collection utterly obsolete. For instance: there are only 3 tracks on "Substance" not carried over...the cool-but-not-essential 1987 versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion" and the instrumental B-side version of "The Perfect Kiss" called "The Kiss Of Death", that's it, same with the 1994 versions of "True Faith" and "Round & Round" from "(The Best Of) New Order"...
Here's where the rest of it is:
The "Thieves Like Us" 12" is on the deluxe "Power, Corruption & Lies"...
"The Perfect Kiss" 12" is on the deluxe "Low Life"...
The "State Of The Nation" 12" is on the deluxe "Brotherhood", slapped on the end of the album Disc 1, after "Every Little Counts"...
The B-side "Shame Of The Nation" is now on the deluxe "Low Life"...
The "Touched By The Hand Of God" 12" is now on the deluxe "Brotherhood"...
The B-side "Hurt" is on the deluxe "Movement"...
The B-side "Murder" is on the deluxe "Power, Corruption & Lies"...
The "Confusion" instrumental B-side is on the deluxe "Power, Corruption & Lies"...
The "Thieves Like Us" instrumental B-side is also on the deluxe "Power, Corruption & Lies"...
And lastly, album tracks/fan faves, now remastered:
"Age Of Consent" is on the deluxe "Power, Corruption & Lies"...
"Love Vigilantes" is on the deluxe "Low-Life"...
and "Vanishing Point" is on the deluxe "Technique"...
There ya go...and with those tracks not carried over, burn em and include the disc with the "Retro" boxset as Disc 6...those being:
"Temptation 1987"
"Confusion 1987"
"Kiss Of Death"
"True Faith '94"
"Round & Round '94"
The single versions of these tracks means that some of them are truncated quite a bit from the 12" versions that appeared on Substance. For example, I wanted a remastered Thieves Like Us, except that the intro is cut off...very disappointing. Same with Bizarre Love Triangle and several other tracks. If you know these songs primarily from the videos, you will be right at home; however, if you owned the records back in the day, you will not be happy...
Also, the mix on Ceremony is off-putting...the version on Retro is much better. And the version of 1963 used for this comp is not an improvement, in my estimation, on the Substance version.
The music is obviously brilliant and perhaps most people won't care about this, but diehards who own everything and are buying this anyway should know what they're getting.
I bought Substance on cassette and then CD when I was younger. Then I bought the Best of New Order and the Rest of New Order when they came out. I never bothered with International. Today I bought this. My first thought was, "Ceremony seems much slower than usual." Turns out that the 7" single versions of these are much different from the 12" versions and album versions I was used to. Not bad different. Acutally pretty cool. It's like hearing the songs for the first time. Intros and tempos are very different. Sometimes it takes me a minute to realize what song I'm hearing. In some cases, the versions here are inferior to those on Substance (the album version of Bizarre Love Triangle is the best), but they're still pretty great.
Overall, this is an excellent collection and a very useful place to get all of New Order's 7" singles from the last 24 years. Every fan of indie rock, alternative, or dance music should have some New Order in his/her music collection, and this beats the hell out of buying any of the albums that came after Technique (no offense, diehard fans). I'd still recommend buying Brotherhood and Lowlife though for some of the great albums tracks that are not on this collection.
I cannot say how influential New Order were, I was neither a musician, nor a sensible music journalist, but one thing I can tell about New Order: there was a mysterious aureole about them, especially for people who didn't see the band live. It was an intriguing, very fresh feeling to hear or read about New Order, so was their sound.
"Singles" is a great opportunity to show New Order's sonic development from post punk to disco dance to the mature guitar pop of the 2000s; it easily outshines the band's all previous compilations. "Substance" (1987) still performs its mission as a handy collection of 12" A- & B-sides, but it's very dated. "(the best of) New Order" (1994) always felt like a quick cash-in after London Records had acquired the Factory catalogue, and apart from the superior sound, there's nothing that isn't on "Singles". "International" (2002) was and now even more is an odd lifeless mix of "hits". In the late 90s New Order toyed with the idea of issuing a box of all singles they had released, but the "Recycle" project never materialized. Finally, as if having the presentiment of falling apart again, New Order released this brilliant collection. The concept is simple: to get together 30 or so singles in their shortest possible format (that is 7" and radio edits, save for "Blue Monday" for obvious reasons) and place it onto 2 CDs. With a little trickery this task is done greatly. The booklet includes a brief eulogy and eye-pleasing sleeve art of each single.
Few technical oddities for those who are interested:
1) "Singles" has several tracks and song versions that hadn't appeared officially on CD before. These are: "Ceremony" (7", 1981; original version recorded in late 1980, without Gilbert), "Everything's Gone Green" (7", 1981), "Temptation" (7", 1982), "Confusion" (7", 1983), "Thieves Like Us" (7", 1984), "Sub-Culture" (7", 1985), "State of the Nation" (7", 1986).
2) The edit of "Everything's Gone Green" presented here is the B-side of "Procession" (1981). The cover art for "Everything's Gone Green" singles shown in the booklet is wrong, it's merely the "1981-82" EP sleeve.
3) "1963" is listed as remixed by Arthur Baker; it's not, it's the original 1987 edited version from the "True Faith" B-side. Baker's remix of "1963" was made for the "Nineteen63" single in 1995 (sleeve art of which is shown).
4) "Blue Monday `88" is simply a remix of the original song. Only due to its historical significance for New Order's career (second US hit), it is included here. "Blue Monday '95" in a great remix by Hardfloor didn't get the same treat.
5) The miserable fate of "Run 2" is again perfectly shown here. It's not "Run 2" at all, but the album version of "Run". Because of the lawsuit with John Denver over the similarities with his "Leaving in Jet Plane", "Run 2" cannot be officially released. HOWEVER, you can find it in "A Collection", New Order video compilation DVD (2005).
6) "Turn" is just a wishful thinking. It was believed to be released as a single in the spring 2006 but this never happened.
![Disco de New Order: “Singles [Japan Bonus Tracks]”](http://www.musicpopstars.com/covers_yaN/new-order/2005_170_170_Singles%2520%255BJapan%2520Bonus%2520Tracks%255D.jpg "Disco de New Order: “Singles [Japan Bonus Tracks]”")