Singles [Bonus Track]

Performer: New Order (UK)
Producer: Steve Osborne; New Order; John Leckie; John Robie; Martin Hannett; Stephen Hague; Stephen Street; The Chemical Brothers; Jim Spencer; Stuart Price; Steve Osborne; New Order
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: New Order (UK): Peter Hook. Audio Mixers: Mark "Spike" Stent; Rich Costey; Jeremy Wheatley. Audio Remixers: Arthur Baker; Johnny Potoker. Liner Note Author: David Quantick. Photographer: Donald Christie. After almost 20 years, New Order finally released a compilation that arguably exceeds 1987's SUBSTANCE with 2005's two-disc SINGLES. In terms of the material's breadth, SINGLES easily trounces SUBSTANCE, as it ranges from '81 to '05 and serves as an excellent overview of the famed post-punk/dance act's entire career. While the band's transition from Joy Division gets a slightly shorter shrift ("In a Lonely Place" is one of the few tracks from SUBSTANCE that's notably absent), the second disc is a wonderfully selected sampling of New Order's occasionally maligned later period. Arranged chronologically, SINGLES moves from the group's first true steps out of Joy Division's shadow (the surging classics "Everything's Gone Green," "Temptation," and "Blue Monday") to jubilant pop glory (the catchy smash "Bizarre Love Triangle," the dance floor anthem "True Faith") and, eventually, to their status as veteran dance-rock heroes (the eminently assured "Regret" and "Crystal"). Although some fans may be perplexed by versions of songs that differ from SUBSTANCE (particularly "Temptation" and "Confusion"), SINGLES is so comprehensive that it should even win over New Order diehards still clinging tightly to their vinyl copies of the lauded former collection. Now that Waiting for the Sirens' Call has been officially declared part of New Order's history, only eight months after release, it's time once again to reassess the group in the form of a mostly redundant compilation. Rhino calls Singles the group's "first ever career-spanning two-disc retrospective," but it's more like the group's first compilation to contain tracks from Sirens' Call. Besides, 1987's Substance spanned the group's career upon release and remains the basis for most New Order compilations (this one included), so it's no big deal. Just as importantly, over a third of the contents date from 1993 onward; that's too high a percentage to make the set an ideal introduction. Considering its title, Singles has a clear-cut purpose, unlike 2002's International. Then again, each of the 14 tracks contained on International are also here -- what amounts to an inferior version of Substance with some crucial tracks squeezed out in favor of lesser, later singles. A proper sequel to Substance, covering Technique through Sirens' Call, would've made more sense, but the lure in dressing up a combination of oft-recycled classics with slightly varying surroundings has yet to lose its appeal. Substance remains, and will likely always remain, the release to get you started. [London/Rhino's 2005 edition included one bonus track.] ~ Andy Kellman

Entertainment Weekly (p.89) - "[T]hey can still wring more soul from a drum machine than most anybody." -- Grade: B+

Born in the early 1980s out of the ashes of U.K. post-punk pioneers Joy Division, New Order became one of the first electro-pop bands to find mainstream success in the US. Their single "Blue Monday" was a landmark in dance music, and subsequent recordings achieved a perfect balance between technology and pop songcraft. They were a standard choice of club DJs through the '80s & '90s and even snuck onto the pop charts occasionally with catchy hits like "True Faith" and "Regret." Leader Bernard Sumner sporadically records with Johnny Marr as Electronic, and occasionally reconvenes the famed quartet.

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