You have to ask the question, just why did Warners decide to re-release the first five albums from the New order back catalog?
Yes we’ve had them before , but this time they’re different, or are they?
Not only are the original albums re-mastered but they also include an extra bonus disc of non album singles ,12” mixes and b-sides.
First of all I’m not going to bore you with wave forms, technical glitches,re-mastering problems or anything like that, this is my simple review
I listened to the Factory originals, centredate re-issues, promotional discs and the newly released remastered and expanded editions just for comparison.
The first thing you notice is the crispness of the remastered discs, and in my honest opinion perhaps the sound is too clean and crisp.
The track listings come directly from the remastered discs.
All the double discs come in a quad fold over cardboard sleeves and the spine is white, a bugger to keep clean, but they all look nice and uniform together. They do look rather good in my honest opinion, much better than just a double cd case.
All the double disc sets come complete with a clear vinyl slip over case as did the recent Joy Division re-masters. The vinyl slip over case is somewhat tight and may cause some corner damage to the cardboard sleeves.
The sleeve notes/booklets are very extensive and jam packed with new information.
The sleeves are a bit of a let down as they don’t have track listings for the bonus discs on them so if you play them in your car you don’t know what track is coming next. All the bonus discs are plain white without any pictures on them, just the track listings.
On the sticker on the vinyl slip over case is the website address www.neworder.com perhaps this is the site that Hooky mentioned in one of his latest blogs.
The website does not load and must be work in progress.
MOVEMENT
Dark and moody?
The first album as the newly formed New Order,out of the ashes and into the fire.
Early guitar heavy sound that inspired many of the bands today.
Stand out track for me Dreams never end.
The artwork is the same as the original
I cant yet comment on the bonus disc and official track listings as I haven’t received it yet.
It seems that everyone who pre-ordered the re-masters, haven’t received the movement discs for some reason?
I went into town earlier and checked in HMV and was told by the sales assistant that they have no stock as yet.
POWER, CORRUPTION AND LIES
Tecnologically inspired?
Keyboards a go-go,definately the cross over album.
Hooky's heavenly bass in the excellent Age of consent to 586 the inspiration behind the nest selling 12" single of all time,the song we all love to hate Blue Monday.
1, Age of consent 2, We all stand 3, The village 4, 586 5, Your silent face 6, Ultra violence 7, Ecstacy 8, Leave me alone
BONUS DISC
1, Blue Monday 2, The Beach 3, Confusion 4, Thieves like us 5, Lonesome Tonight 6, Murder 7, Thieves like us (instrumental) 8, Confusion (instrumental)
Top tune - Confusion
LOW-LIFE
hard,yet symapthetic?
From the excellent love vigilantes,an expertly written song, the lyrics tell a story of a soldier on his way home to his wife.
To the full on guitar jangling bang on the button Sunrise with hooky's bass banging the limits .
My all time personal favoutite!
Worthy of mention is Face up,way ahead of its time surely?
1, Love Vigilantes 2, The Perfect Kiss 3, This time of night 4, Sunrise 5, Elegia 6, Sooner than you think 7, sub-culture 8, Face up
BONUS DISC
1, The perfect kiss 2, Sub-culture (John Robie Remix) 3, Shellshock 4, Shame of the nation 5, Elegia 6, Let’s go 7, Salvation Theme 8, Dub vulture
Top tune - Elegia ,full version of theis haunting yet mesmerising tune.
BROTHERHOOD
Hard bass of broken promise to the sometimes laughable every little counts,another guitar heavy album.
Bizarre love triangle another early favourite,that got the max mix in 1987
1, Paradise 2, weirdo 3, As it is when it was 4, Broken promise 5, Way of life 6, Bizarre love triangle 7, All day long 8, Angel dust 9, Every little counts 10, State of the nation
BONUS DISC
1, Bizarre love triangle (shep pettibone remix) 2, 1963 3, True Faith (shep pettibone remix) 4, Touched by the ahnd of gos 5, Blue Monday ‘88 6, Evil dust 7, true faith 8, beach buggy
Top tune - 1963 the B side of true faith 1987 that became an A side in 1995,class.
The sleeve for Brotherhood is the image of full length metal plate featuring the word titaanzink which was on display at the Peter Saville show at the Design museum in London, England a few years ago.
TECHNIQUE
Eclectic tendencies?
Theres not many bands out there that can do this,both guitar and dance melodies in one album.
Run, with all the John Denver problems that caused the 12" to be withdrawn.
Stand out tracks are round & round,with its unique sound which many bands copied,but never bettered,to the excellent Vanashing Point,oh why oh ehy wasn't this a single?
1, Fine Time 2, All the way 3, love less 4, Round and round 5, Guilty partner 6, Run 7, Mr disco 8, vanishing point 9, Dream attack
BONUS DISC
1, Don’t do it 2, Fine line 3, Round and round 4, Best and marsh 5, Run 2 6, MTO 7, Fine time (silk mix) 8, Vanishing point (instrumental) 9, world in motion (cabinieri mix)
Top tune(s) - best and marsh & MTO CLASS!
To conclude, the discs, packaging and inserts are nicely put together, and all in all are nice items to have.
Yes there are quite a few repetitions of some tracks, different versions of Blue Monday being the one that springs to mind.
I sincerely hope that Republic Get ready and Waiting for the sirens call get the same re-mastering treatment, and hopefully we may finally get to hear the extra tracks from the Sirens sessions on the bonus disc.
As I do not know how I stand with regard to posting pictures of the sleeves (copyright protection) and booklets, I can only post links to websites which actually have the remastered editions for sale.
The words are all mine,the music is theirs and ours.
Many thanks to Jayne Houghton and Jack Thunder at excess press.
