I was in Amoeba Music today and the only one of the reissues they had in stock was Brotherhood. Despite my misgivings, I bought it, because on a nostalgic level it was the first New Order album I bought at the time of it's initial release, I like the redone cover, I wanted to hear for myself how bad some of the audio glitches are, and if they do manage to correct the mistakes then the Tall Paul remix of True Faith will probably disappear and I wanted to have a copy.
For me, the minimal design of the reissue works...well, at least for this particular album. The notes are well-written, but yes, it would be nice to include photos, etc. The absence of any sort of production credits is telling. I'm also convinced the addition of a second disc was an afterthought, which is why the track listing appears only on the CD face and not in the packaging. Annoying.
The album itself (disc one) sounds great. I don't mind State Of The Nation being tacked on to the end because the original Factory CD was pressed that way, too.
The bonus disc sounds good most of the time (although in this day and age, most of the time is below acceptable). The glitches in TBTHOG are indeed horrible - even my husband exclaimed that out loud, and he's not really a fan. That Tall Paul mix sticks out like a sore thumb. I don't agree that Evil Dust was mastered from vinyl - apart from being a noisy mix, it sounds OK. Those tracks done for the Funky Alternatives series were always billed as exclusive mixes, so I bet the band gave them a rough mix to begin with - I certainly can't see them spending much time remixing it. To my ears it sounds just as good as the one on the True Faith CDV (sorry, no graphs for comparison).
Brotherhood is probably my favorite of the studio albums, so I'm enjoying listening to it again. The concept (if not the actual execution) of the packaging is nice, but the track selection and audio quality of disc two are drawbacks. As a fan, it's obvious that wasn't a labor of love for anyone involved, which is disappointing.
That's OK. We're working on correcting that.
On another note, I also bought the 10xCD Mute Documentary Evidence 1978-1984 box set, which is just stellar. Every Mute 7" A and B side from those six years, all the singles artwork, extensive liner notes including tons of rare clippings and photos, a poster, and two discs of previously unreleased gems, like Yazoo's BBC sessions. It just goes to show you that the indie labels do care. Mute has never put out shit product (keep your Depeche Mode jokes to yourselves, please).
Funny, when I flew to London to see New Order at Wembley in 2006, I bumped into Daniel Miller after the show. I shook his hand and thanked him for all the years of amazing music. I would have shown him my Nitzer Ebb tattoo, but that would require dropping trou.
