Album of the Week - Vol.6

Substance 1987 NEW ORDER (1987)
Week: Sat 26th August to Fri 1st September
Format: CD
Producer: New Order
Track listing:
CD 1:
1. Ceremony *
2. Everything's Gone Green
3. Temptation *
4. Blue Monday *
5. Confusion
6. Thieves Like Us
7. The Perfect Kiss *
8. Sub-culture
9. Shellshock
10. State of the Nation
11. Bizarre Love Triangle *
12. True Faith *
CD 2:
1. In A Lonely Place
2. Procession
3. Cries and Whispers
4. Hurt
5. The Beach *
6. Confused Instrumental
7. Lonesome Tonight
8. Murder
9. Thieves Like Us (instrumental) *
10. Kiss of Death
11. Shame of the Nation
12. 1963 *
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 146:48

I've always liked New Order, but I've never fully gone down the rabbit hole. The first CD of theirs I ever got was 1994's The Best of New Order, which was a good sampler of their stuff. Some of the songs on that album were new remixes, but that was still cool. It was a pretty great casual listen, and I'm thankful to have Regret and Ruined In A Day on hand.

I got into their Get Ready album shortly after it was released and I also bought 2005's Waiting For The Siren's Call purely on the strength of the first single Krafty. But I never REALLY dug deep. There are moments in some of their songs and I just think "Yes! This is awesome!". I love Peter Hook's basslines, and while their lyrics leave me wanting sometimes, their melodies tend to be quite hooky, if you'll pardon the pun. Bizarrely, I really struggle with Joy Division. I find their music very hard to listen to, and Curtis' vocal delivery is despair in a bottle. Aside from Love Will Tear Us Apart, I'm no fan. Once they became New Order (sadly enough, after Curtis' suicide), they brought out the poppy melodies and happy vibes. Well, more so than Joy Division.

Not sure when I bought the Substance 1987 double CD set, but it was during one of those shopping trips to JB Hi-Fi where I just grabbed a heap of albums. It must have been pre-kids then, he he he... Having possessed the album though, I never really listened to it. I grabbed it thinking, "oh yeah, this is probably worth having" and it lay dormant for years. Sure, it got ripped onto an iDevice possibly, but never really listened to.

I just thought it was a best-of compilation, but there's more to it than that. It IS a collection of New Order's singles, but it's of all the 12" versions. Except on the CD edition, where four tracks are edited down. The CD edition also includes a bonus disc of all the singles' B-sides. I tend to listen to the first disc more than the second. I should track down the vinyl one day, so I can get the full 12" experience.

Anyway, this has so many songs that I love. Looking at the first disc, from the opening Ceremony (which I LOVE) to the closing True Faith, it's classic after classic. I really dig Temptation, (the 1987 re-recorded version, but it's the version I'm most familiar with) that was used to such wonderful effect in Trainspotting, and Bizarre Love Triangle, which I was first introduced to by Frente! in 1994. The full-length 12" versions of The Perfect Kiss and Thieves Like Us are pretty great too. 

After many years of only being familiar with Blue Monday 88, it's cool to have both the original 12" mix and The Beach, which is the instrumental B-side. I'm not as enamoured by the second disc as the first, but it's all very listenable. I recently dug into the Low-Life album, after a few tunes from that appeared in the Pretty In Pink movie. I think after giving that album a listen or two (the bonus 2-disc edition) I turned back to the Substance 1987 compilation. It's a great introduction, albeit a lengthy one, for anyone wanting to know what New Order were all about in the eighties. Happy spinning!