I used to have a copy of Substance, their 1987 compilation of all their singles and many of the B sides up to that point. It was the counterpart to a compilation of Joy Division’s singles released at the same time, also called Substance. It was a double cassette (a double!) which were always rather exciting entities to own and it encapsulates perfectly the sound of New Order. Then I split up with my girlfriend of 10 years and discovered that this glorious musical gateway was in fact hers. So I had to buy a replacement. This 1994 comp on CD did the job at the time, and includes their more recent songs, but listening to it again now after a while it just doesn’t hit the spot for me.
For a band who, like Joy Division before them, tended to release singles that were not on their albums, a compilation becomes essential listening, especially when so many of those singles are absolute classics of British pop. True Faith and Blue Monday are up there as two of the best dance pop songs from this tiny isle. In fact, New Order have released more compilations (12!) than studio albums which suggests that things are not quite right in NO HQ. Or at least their record label was pissed off with the group’s frequent break ups and breakdowns and the long gaps in long players.
Though they’ve since seen a late career resurgence, without Peter Hook after their protracted legal battles together, (Get Ready is my favourite of these) this album, like many compilations, tends to capitalise on the most recent release at the time, in this case Technique and Republic. Though Technique was hugely popular in the Ibiza clubs and Republic contains Regret, one of the stand outs of their latter years, these are not their best albums and the over-emphasis of later songs means a lot of their earlier (better) stuff gets discarded.
Moaning about the tracklisting aside (I should really just buy another copy of Substance), it doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the songs. The opening of a remixed True Faith is just so damn exciting, it fair makes my heart burst. Already a brilliant song (I remember being quite obsessed by the video when it came out) this version makes it sharper and crisper, cut like crystal.
Best Bits: Blue Monday-88 was my entry point into New Order at the age of 15 and it remains a high point that cannot be bettered: utter perfection.
Genre: Down at the Indie Disco
Like This, Try This: True Faith – brilliant surrealist video, featuring sign language at one point, but not British Sign Language as far as my memory of BSL Stage One can make out.
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