As austere and attractive as the box sets in New Order's Definitive Edition reissues series are, once the consumer peruses their track listings, disappointment abounds. The first and second of these, covering the band's debut album, Movement, and second, Power, Corruption and Lies, respectively, exclude contemporaneous tracks only released as singles. The bonus material, instead, mostly features previously-unreleased material. And yet, among this material, that perennially-abused consumer finds live versions, in some cases alternate studio versions, of single-only tracks. So why not include the singles themselves? Would they not make these reissues "definitive"?
The box for Power, Corruption and Lies is, in my opinion, especially important. That album solidified the band's signature Eighties sound and is arguably their one album that surpasses their singles. What does its Definitive Edition include as bonus material? Besides a fair amount of video documentation of live performances, of which all the box sets have plenty of options, we get "Writing Session Recordings" of a few single-only tracks, including the band's most famous single, ‘Blue Monday’, released the same year, and of which an additional instrumental version is also included. No ‘Blue Monday’ itself.
But the most peculiar example of a discography awkwardly split between albums and singles is that the Movement bonus disc includes an alternate 7-inch edit of the 1982 single ‘Temptation’. The inclusion of this track is the messiest scramble imaginable; why would it not be included on a collection of singles? Better yet, given that it is included here, again we ask: why not include the singles in "definitive" editions of the band's albums?
With the 2023 release of the third entry in the Definitive Edition series, for the band's third album Low-Life, we get further confirmation that tracks originally released as singles are not to be included in these boxes, complicated slightly by the fact that two tracks also released as singles were included on the album in question. Only "slightly"... because the album versions of these two tracks, ‘The Perfect Kiss’ and ‘Sub-Culture’, are different from their multiple single versions, and indeed these latter versions are excluded. The Low-Life super-deluxe includes the extended version of ‘Elegia’, an album track, but otherwise again the bonus second C. D. includes previously-unreleased material from the album sessions (the extended ‘Elegia’ had originally been included on a bonus fifth disc that came with a limited edition of the Retro box set and was subsequently included on the 2008 Low-Life deluxe edition).
This third "Definitive" box also complicates the situation more than "slightly".... A bifurcated discography may have made sense for New Order's early years, when one could argue that the singles are not on "definitive" editions of the albums because they are distinct from the albums, that is: early in the band's career, the singles were not included on the original versions of the albums. From 1985 onward, though, when the singles were at times included on albums, such an approach clearly does not fit. Besides, as already noted, material related to the single-only tracks have been included in the boxes; that is, no such clear bifurcation was intended. Whatever intentions were possessed by those putting these collections together might have been jumbled or abandoned in the process.
This situation: New Order's discography being sloppily handled, is not new, and it is especially frustrating because no other band coming from a Rock/ Indie backdrop thoroughly immersed themselves in the byways of dance music as much as they did. In terms of their discography, that means one over-riding thing: lots of versions of the same song, with 7-inch edits, 12-inch extended versions, and other edits and remixes all competing for space on compilations and reissues; a few songs were even re-recorded.
The apparent solution to this unfortunate situation is that a reissue of the 1987 compilation Substance was on its way, released later in 2023. After all, that release, in its various versions, arguably remains the best place to hear New Order's single-only songs, thus making it for many listeners the most important of the band's albums. An expanded seemed like a promising prospective and a sensible decision.
However, the new four-C. D. Substance reissue is not a "definitive edition," instead a simpler reissue of the original set with some bonus tracks and a live disc tacked on. Moreover, in many respects Substance has been complemented by later compilations, notably the Singles compilation, released in 2005 and re-released in 2016 with a revised track listing, and the aforementioned Retro box set, released in 2002. These two, combined with other scattered compilations, or the original singles themselves, have given consumers plenty of (overlapping, poorly organized) options to choose from.
Substance's selling point all these years is that it features the longer, superior 12-inch edits of 12 of the band's singles (plus, on the C. D. and cassette versions, their B-sides) including ‘True Faith’, newly released at the time and perhaps the other candidate besides ‘Blue Monday’ for the most popular and "classic" (meaning long-lasting, "standing the test of time") of the band's songs. Except... of course... sometimes it doesn't. It sported spiffy re-recorded versions of ‘Temptation’ and ‘Confusion’, the follow-up to ‘Blue Monday’; and the 12-inch versions of ‘Sub-Culture’, ‘Shellshock’, and (on the C. D. version) ‘The Perfect Kiss’ are abridged; that is, more discographical... "confusion"... of course.
A simple listing of the band's singles and other major non-album tracks, released from 1981 through 1987, helps clarify matters:
‘Ceremony’
in two versions, released March and September, respectively, 1981; the first version features only Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris taking a tentative step away from Joy Division; the second features Gillian Gilbert as well
‘Procession’/ ‘Everything's Gone Green’
a double A-side, released September 1981; the first song demoted to "B side" status by only being included on the second disc/ cassette of Substance, then elevated back to its previous status by being included on Singles
‘Temptation’, May 1982
‘Blue Monday’, March 1983
‘Confusion’, August 1983
‘Thieves like Us’, April 1984
‘The Perfect Kiss’, May 1985
also released on Low-Life
‘Sub-Culture’, October 1985
also released on Low-Life
‘Shellshock’, March 1986
also released on the various-artists Pretty in Pink: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
‘State of the Nation’, September 1986
also released on C. D. versions of Brotherhood
‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, November 1986
also released on Brotherhood
‘True Faith’, July 1987
‘Touched by the Hand of God’, December 1987
also released on the various-artists Salvation! Original Soundtrack
Retro, the box set that ideally would have complemented the Joy Division box set Heart and Soul (which included nearly all of that band's studio work), instead has long since been thrown into the particular dustbin reserved for annoying compilations that contain a smattering of rare and unique tracks of interest to obsessive fans but which otherwise seem absurdly pointless. It does include the 12-inch versions of ‘Temptation’ and ‘Confusion’, thus filling one major gap created by Substance, but otherwise anyone looking for a thorough collection of the band's major singles is bound to be disappointed: several of them are excluded entirely, for others the album version or an alternate mix is included.
New Order, Singles
Released 2005, revised 2016
Only a few years later, the double C. D. Singles, with its plain-jane title, held out the promise of restitution for the disappointment of Retro. It definitely was an improvement, but, considering that it exists in two different track listings, you can make safe bet that it also causes headaches for collectors and fans. Singles is supposed to feature the 7-inch versions of many of the above singles, to complement Substance with its 12-inch versions. This clear dividing line, though, quickly gets crossed on the 2005 version. On the first disc, the 7-inch versions of ‘Blue Monday’, ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, and ‘True Faith’ are not included; rather, the 12-inch versions of ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘True Faith’ and the album versions of the other two. The second disc includes the 7-inch version of ‘Blue Monday 1988’, the first instance of many when the band not only re-recorded songs as they had done for Substance but also dated the new versions like so, as if they could come out with a new model every year. This choice is unfortunate but not surprising, as it was released commercially, unlike the 7-inch edit of the original ‘Blue Monday’, largely heard as a video clip. Also, ‘Confusion’ is represented by an edit of its "Rough Mix" version.
The 2016 reissue thankfully rectified most of these bizarre choices, including the 7-inch edit of ‘True Faith’, a 7-inch edit of ‘The Perfect Kiss’ originally released in foreign markets, a 7-inch edit of ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ originally released in Australia, and the promo-only 7-inch version of ‘Confusion’. The 12-inch ‘Blue Monday’ remains. Why were these 7-inch versions not on the 2005 release? Anyway, the 2016 version is better, but still not "best" (in the world of New Order compilations and reissues, there is no "best"). If only the 7-inch ‘Blue Monday’ had been included, the first disc easily could have been an excellent single source for the 7-inch versions of the 14 singles listed above.
In the end, we are left constructing a hypothetical New Order singles compilation. All this nit-picking fussiness may seem absurd, but the goal here is to make a cohesive listening experience, a selection of some of the band's best songs that would be as captivating—and addicting—as a great studio album, while also collecting all the myriad versions of certain songs that New Order made or commissioned. For now, to clarify discographical matters, first we would have albums of the original 7-inch versions and of the original 12-inch versions, then a disc of slightly-revised mixes of these basic versions and the more prominent of the many remixes. Other discs could then collect more remixes, rare edits, and other oddities. From this, listeners could then make their own playlists. Would this not be the ideal situation for listening online? Pay an annual fee, as one does at the Neil Young Archives for example, for access to an artist's complete discography (or at least studio recordings), and arrange the tracks yourself. Have record labels, or in rarer cases the artist themselves ever done a good job of organizing compilations? No. It is in fact an impossible task, best left to the individual listener.
The 7-inch-versions album would feature the original version of ‘Ceremony’, as it came out on both 7-inch and 12-inch, whereas the second version only came out on 12-inch. The 12-inch-versions album would exclude ‘Procession’ as it was not released as a 12-inch single (though it was made part of the U. S. release 1981-1982, called an E. P. but actually played at 33-and-1/3 R. P. M.) and there is not an appropriate alternate version to include as a stand-in for a 12-inch edit. The track listing is as such, with the particular version's appearances on recent C. D. reissues, either the compilations discussed here (Substance, Retro, or either version of Singles), other major collections, or the 2008 two-disc "Collector's Edition" reissues of the band's studio albums, noted. Also noted are instances wherein a track is only available via some recent digital reissues of original 12-inch singles.
‘Ceremony’
2005 and 2016 versions of Singles; Movement 2008 Collector's Edition; third disc of Substance 2023 reissue
‘Procession’
cassette and C. D. versions of Substance; Retro; 2005 and 2016 versions of Singles; Movement 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Everything's Gone Green’
2005 and 2016 versions of Singles
‘Temptation’
2005 and 2016 versions of Singles; Movement 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Blue Monday’
not readily available on disc; check You Tube
‘Confusion’
2016 version of Singles
‘Thieves like Us’
2005 and 2016 versions of Singles
‘The Perfect Kiss’
2016 version of Singles
‘Sub-Culture’
2005 and 2016 versions of Singles
‘Shellshock’
2005 and 2016 versions of Singles
‘State of the Nation’
2005 and 2016 versions of Singles
‘Bizarre Love Triangle’
2016 version of Singles
‘True Faith’
2016 version of Singles
‘Touched by the Hand of God’
Retro; 2005 and 2016 versions of Singles
The 12-inch-versions album:
‘Ceremony’
Substance; Retro; Movement 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Everything's Gone Green’
Substance; Retro; Movement 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Temptation’
third disc of Substance 2023 reissue; Retro; Movement 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Blue Monday’
Substance; Retro; 2005 and 2016 versions of Singles; Power, Corruption and Lies 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Confusion’
third disc of Substance 2023 reissue; Retro; Power, Corruption and Lies 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Thieves like Us’
Substance; Power, Corruption and Lies 2008 Collector's Edition
‘The Perfect Kiss’
L. P. editions of Substance; Substance 2023 reissue; Low-Life 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Sub-Culture’
Low-Life 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Shellshock’
available as a digital reissue of the original 12-inch and on an obscure compilation—see Wikipedia page
‘State of the Nation’
Substance
‘Bizarre Love Triangle’
Substance; Brotherhood 2008 Collector's Edition
‘True Faith’
Substance
‘Touched by the Hand of God’
Brotherhood 2008 Collector's Edition
As we see with these listings, the 7-inch versions are more accessible at the moment, solely because of the second, 2016 version of the Singles compilation. The decision to use abridged versions of some of the 12-inch versions on Substance can at least be said to have enhanced the appeal of the original vinyl releases or any reissues of them.
New Order, Movement
Originally released 1981; reissued 2008 (Discogs) and 2019 (Discogs)—these stickers from the 2008 deluxes
New Order, Power, Corruption and Lies
Originally released 1983; reissued 2008 (Discogs) and 2020 (Discogs)
New Order, Low-Life
Originally released 1985; reissued 2008 (Discogs) and 2023 (Discogs)
New Order, Brotherhood
Originally released 1986; reissued 2008 (Discogs)
The choice of versions to include in a third selection of versions of the same 14 songs gets more difficult. First of all, the 1987 versions of ‘Temptation’ and ‘Confusion’, as they became the only versions for many casual listeners wearing out their copies of Substance. We could then review what other versions are included on any edition of Substance, as well as Singles and Retro; then take a look at versions included on the second discs of the 2008 deluxe editions not yet considered; then, finally, review the singles as they were originally released to note rarer versions.
There is no other version of ‘Ceremony’ to include, unless one were to resort to the Joy Division version originally released on Heart and Soul. The same goes for ‘Procession’ and ‘Everything's Gone Green’; at this point, the band had not embraced the remixing techniques of Disco and House musics that would ultimately lead to a bewildering number of versions of their later hits. ‘The Beach’, an alternate version of ‘Blue Monday’ is mostly non-vocal. There is also apparently an abridged version of the original 12-inch mix included on one of the series of various-artists compilations The Best...Album in the World...Ever!. Another potential ‘Confusion’ is the Rough Mix, so titled because it represented what the band had completed before bringing Arthur Baker into the production process.
From ‘Confusion’ onward, the number of versions of the single-only tracks increases significantly, often quite annoyingly. Substance's aforementioned slightly-abridged 12-inch versions of ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘Sub-Culture’, and ‘Shellshock’ need to be noted, though ideally they would have never existed, having been made apparently only to fit the tracks within the 74 minutes that C. D.s were limited-to at the time. ‘Sub-Culture’'s ‘Dub-Vulture’, has two 7-inch edits plus a 12-inch. ‘The Perfect Kiss’ has its own alternately-titled "dub" version, ‘The Kiss of Death’, in both 7-inch and 12-inch edits, as do ‘State of the Nation’ (titled ‘Shame of the Nation‘) and ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ (‘Bizarre Dub Triangle’). ‘The Perfect Kiss’ also has a second 7-inch edit which is more directly an edit of the full-length 12-inch version. And there's the longer 12-inch version of ‘True Faith’, one of several remixes done for the band by Shep Pettibone, as well as ‘True Faith (True Dub)’. (Again, we are only discussing material released through 1987, thus ignoring the ‘True Faith-94’ release and a 1998 version of ‘Temptation’) There are also instrumental versions of several songs to consider.
‘Temptation’ [1987 version]
Substance
‘The Beach’
cassette and C. D. versions of Substance; Power, Corruption and Lies 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Confusion’ [1987 version]
Substance
‘Thieves like Us’ [instrumental]
cassette and C. D. versions of Substance; Power, Corruption and Lies 2008 Collector's Edition
‘The Perfect Kiss’ [12-inch version, abridged]
cassette and C. D. versions of Substance
‘Sub-Culture’ [12-inch version, abridged]
Substance
‘Shellshock’ [12-inch version, abridged]
Substance; Low-Life 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Shame of the Nation’ [12-inch version]
Low-Life 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Bizarre Dub Triangle’ [12-inch version]
third disc of Substance 2023 reissue
‘True Faith’ [longer, Shep Pettibone 12-inch remix]
Brotherhood 2008 Collector's Edition; third disc of Substance 2023 reissue
‘Touched by the Hand of God’ [Salvation soundtrack version]
available on the C. D. version of the soundtrack
Songs only released as B sides, such as ‘Mesh’ and ‘1963’, are not noted here, though these too tended to have 7-inch and 12-inch edits as well as alternate mixes. Some rare versions of the 14 songs in question are also being ignored for now—e. g. alternate 7-inch edits that differ by only a few seconds or extremely-obscure versions about which little information is available even at deep-dive resources like New Order Online and World in Motion.
‘Blue Monday’ [12-inch version, abridged]
The Best... Album In The World...Ever!
‘Confusion (Rough Mix)’
available as a digital reissue of the original 12-inch
‘Confusion (Rough Mix)’ [abridged]
2005 Singles
‘Confusion’ [instrumental]
Power, Corruption and Lies 2008 Collector's Edition
‘Confused Beats’
available as a digital reissue of the original 12-inch
‘Confusion Dub 1987’
third disc of Substance 2023 reissue
‘The Perfect Kiss’ [second 7-inch version]
‘The Perfect Kiss’ [instrumental]
‘The Kiss of Death’ [7-inch version]
‘The Kiss of Death’ [12-inch version]
available as a digital reissue of the original 12-inch
‘Perfect Pit’
third disc of Substance 2023 reissue; also digital reissue of the original 12-inch
‘Sub-Culture’ [second 7-inch version]
part of a various-artists 45 that came with an issue of Record Mirror
‘Dub-Vulture’ [first 7-inch version]
‘Dub-Vulture’ [second 7-inch version]
‘Dub-Vulture’ [12-inch version]
Low-Life 2008 Collector's Edition; third disc of Substance 2023 reissue
‘Shellcock’
third disc of Substance 2023 reissue
‘Shame of the Nation’ [7-inch version]
‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ [second 7-inch version]
‘Bizarre Dub Triangle’ [7-inch version]
‘True Faith’ [second 7-inch version]
‘True Faith (True Dub)’
third disc of Substance 2023 reissue
‘Touched by the Hand of Dub’ [12-inch version]
‘Touched by the Hand of Dub’ [7-inch version]
available on a Japanese C. D. version of the original 12-inch
If our initial task was to craft a single or double album's worth of New Order's singles that accomplishes the dual goal of being a cohesive listen and documenting the original releases in an organized fashion, we are now obviously only meeting the second goal. These many alternate versions, some of which are barely distinguishable from each other, would need to be mixed in with B-side tracks in addition to alternate versions of album tracks. This task is especially difficult if one keeps my chronological end point of 1987, as many of these variants are of seven songs: ‘Confusion’, ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘Sub-Culture’, ‘Shellshock’, ‘State of the Nation’, ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, and ‘True Faith’, whereas we began with 14 A-side songs to work with.
With numerous new versions of these 14 songs having been released in the years since 1987, New Order's unique place in the history of Rock is readily apparent. Before them, differences among multiple versions of the same song tended to be minor, or at least considered unimportant. At times, such as in the case of the many remasters of recent decades, the differences seem to many listeners to be indecipherable, or alternately subject to intense debate on the question of their relevance. Granted, when songs got longer in the album era, we saw more 7-inch edits of album tracks. We then saw, with some artists, longer 12-inch edits, created for D. J.s, from the Disco years onward. Overall, though, the tendency has been to have a final, official version of a song, to be replayed time and again on listeners' stereo systems, the radio, and wherever else recorded music is heard. New Order brought forth the possibility of a Rock band making electronic music that could be subject to endless remixing, a hypothetical wherein every time one hears the song at a club or other public setting, one does not know which version is to be played—or, rather, if yet-another new version is being played.
The second facet of the band's story that makes it seem almost mythical is of course their origin as the remnant of Joy Division, three of the four members of that band carrying on after the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. Perhaps Bernard Sumner would have never become a singer and song composer if not for Curtis's death. In this sense, his transformation in the Eighties fulfills the promise of the Punk ideal: the amateur who does not fit social and business standards, but nonetheless charts his own particular course toward something like stardom. After all, when it comes to purposeful tunelessness, Sumner's vocal on Low-Life's ‘Love Vigilantes’ rivals any early-Smiths Morrissey. And maybe we shouldn't mention awful rhymes like: “Pretending not to see his gun/ I said let's go out and have some fun”—so very Punk? That said, ‘True Faith’ is, for me, the culmination of Sumner's, and the band's, transformation, final proof of its value. However fleeting the impressions made by its vague words, the song puts me in a mental space where I confront debilitating nostalgia and regret. Putting such thoughts into musical form, the song arrests them, crystallizes them—for a moment. That such an untrained singer, with his hearty, emotive vocal leaps foward from the mealy-mouthed performance heard on ‘Ceremony’, could compose such a crucial song, a song that, since I first heard it via its silly video clip airing on M. T. V., I would not want to live without... that is the pop dream made part of the waking world.
–Justin J. Kaw, December 2023