Why is it that The Smiths--a long defunct band--could pull this off, and yet New Order could not: Smiths Singles Boxset
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Smiths - Singles Box... Why is it...?
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Because according to Peter Hook New Order lost the master tapes to their singles which is why the remaster bonus discs are sourced from vinyl.
Weren't Gretton's plans for "Recycle" scuppered because London felt that the box set wasn't economically viable? Like it or not, a Smiths box set is always going to sell a lot more units than one by New Order.
PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: Weren't Gretton's plans for "Recycle" scuppered because London felt that the box set wasn't economically viable? Like it or not, a Smiths box set is always going to sell a lot more units than one by New Order.
Not neccesarily...at least not in the US. Substance sold more copies here than any Smiths albums.
Box sets are becoming quite the fetish item for collectors. Look at the Minotaur set Pixies are getting ready to release - those discs aren't even remastered! It'll still sell out, though.
Sourcing tracks from vinyl is not ideal, but if they're being worked on by an audio engineer who knows what he's doing, they can be cleaned to the point that you'd never know they weren't taken from the master tapes.
Trust me.
New Order has a messier catalog if you count the post factory era. The Factory era would be worthy of doing something, but I doubt there is much outcry for the full 12" b-side for Shellshock. Smiths don't have all that 12" +7" + B side dub + remix stuff going on. New Order stuff is worth doing for the artwork as well as the music.
Re-issues for New Order have been unfocused, to say the least. The record company doesn't see much potential, Bernard doesn't seem interested other than riding the Joy Division attention, and who knows what the management actually tries to get done.
0_o wrote: New Order has a messier catalog if you count the post factory era. The Factory era would be worthy of doing something, but I doubt there is much outcry for the full 12" b-side for Shellshock. Smiths don't have all that 12" +7" + B side dub + remix stuff going on. New Order stuff is worth doing for the artwork as well as the music.
The first part of your post is spot on and makes a lot of sense buuuuuuut.....
0_o wrote: Bernard doesn't seem interested other than riding the Joy Division attention
.....ahhhh, I knew it couldn't be complete without a "biased Bernard jibe" 
First off, Bernard riding the JD attention? How has he done this any more than either Hooky or Steve? Not seeing this personally. Secondly and if we're going to be completely fair here Hooky quite contentedly and repeatedly mined the Hacienda name to death (DJing, CD compilations etc); some of that time arguably could have been spent overseeing the NO reissue campaign. I don't see you highlighting this.
Fair's fair though, both Bernard and Hooky are entitled to make money on past work or business ventures but I think it's also fair to say all three founding members of NO managed an epic fail on the reissue front; none of them were arsed in ensuring the finished product en route to fans last year was up to scratch so here we all are faced with a tedious and protracted "exchange" process.
I don't blame the tea boy at London Records who was probably dumped with the project and fucked parts of it up... nobody else seemed to give a shit while he was sitting there clumsily connecting an archaic turntable up to a PC and Cool Edit 2000.
Eric Wang wrote: Why is it that The Smiths--a long defunct band--could pull this off, and yet New Order could not: Smiths Singles Boxset
Because The Smiths are a simple band with simple songs, simple history and a simple discography, on an organized, book keeping, record label.
Ally wrote: I don't blame the tea boy at London Records who was probably dumped with the project and fucked parts of it up... nobody else seemed to give a shit while he was sitting there clumsily connecting an archaic turntable up to a PC and Cool Edit 2000.
eskamiya wrote:
Eric Wang wrote: Why is it that The Smiths--a long defunct band--could pull this off, and yet New Order could not: Smiths Singles Boxset
Because The Smiths are a simple band with simple songs, simple history and a simple discography, on an organized, book keeping, record label.
Whatever...
johnny james wrote: you've not really noticed that they're on the same label?
...and - surprise, surprise - they've cocked some of it up.
On the plus side, it's a sturdy box, and the singles inside look great. The artwork on the individual singles looks nice, although it's not as sharp as the original sleeves, which presumably were scanned somewhere down the line. The original Rough Trade RTT prefix for each 12 inch catalogue number has been replaced with RHN for Rhino.
All right, now to the cock-ups.
- The wrong version of Stretch Out and Wait appears on the Shakespeare's Sister single. This should be the original, with the opening lines:
On the high rise estate, what's at the back of your mind?On a three-day debate on a high-rise estate, what's at the back of your mind?
Instead we get the second version, which first appeared on The World Won't Listen. This one opens:
All the lies that you make up,what's at the back of your mind?Oh, your face I can see, and it's desperately kind,but what's at the back of your mind?
That's the only difference, apart from some additional noises at the end of the track. But it's still the wrong version. This take also appears on the Barbarism Begins at Home CD single, but I can't say with the certainty of experience that this wasn't the case for the European original, because I never owned a copy.
- Rubber Ring does not sugue into Asleep, as on the original 12 inch b-side of The Boy with the Thorn in his Side. This is disappointing, but I was half-expecting it, for some reason. You'll still have to shell out £100 or so for an original Rough Trade CD single if you want to hear this digitally.
Everything else that I've listened to so far sounds fine in terms of the musical content. The remastered sound produces more clarity, but with the loss of dynamic range that we've come to expect from modern remasterings.
There are some audible tape issues on the live Handsome Devil from the b-side of Hand in Glove, but these were apparent on the original vinyl. It's still the definitive version of the song.
One annoying thing is the inclusion of the 7 inch edit of How Soon is Now on the William, It Was Really Nothing CD. The long version graced the original 12 inch, making it one of the finest three-track releases ever, despite all the songs appearing only weeks later on Hatful of Hollow. The correct place for the edited How Soon is Now was the subsequent single release.
IN SUMMARY: if you only want the live Handsome Devil, then the 2CD Sound of the Smiths collection is a cheaper option.
If you want the b-sides and New York mixes from the This Charming Man singles, you should be able to get the two 1992 CD singles for less than this box.
If you want the live tracks from the That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore single, and you haven't got a copy of the Same Day Again bootleg which features the whole concert, and you don't want to spend £100 or so on the Headmaster Ritual CD single then this box set will satisfy your needs.
If you only want that Rubber Ring/Asleep segue, keep your card in your wallet.
I can't think why, but if you only want the instrumental Money Changes Everything from the Bigmouth single, then it's on one of the 1992 CD singles of There is a Light that Never Goes Out.
All the rest of the non-album material is on Hatful of Hollow, The World Won't Listen, or Louder than Bombs.
What, no clicks'n'pops? 
Anyway, thanks for confirming, Gladwin.
Put Simon Goddard in charge of a real box set, the liner notes are already written (it's called "Songs That Saved Your Life"), how difficult can it be?
The Haçienda must be (re)Built wrote: Any graphs?
Trust your ears instead. Looks can be deceptive.
The Smiths are my favorite band of all time. But my response to this single box-set is Eh, whatever. When the fuck are we going to get a proper re-mastering of their entire studio album catalog?
eskamiya wrote:
Isamu wrote: The Smiths are my favorite band of all time.
what the hell are you doing here!
this isamu person is probally here because they like new order as well as smiths.its possible :)
banshee wrote:
eskamiya wrote:
Isamu wrote: The Smiths are my favorite band of all time.
what the hell are you doing here!
this isamu person is probally here because they like new order as well as smiths.its possible :)
considering I've been here on and off since 2002 I'd say that's a fairly accurate statement :)
Isamu wrote:
banshee wrote:
eskamiya wrote:
Isamu wrote: The Smiths are my favorite band of all time.
what the hell are you doing here!
this isamu person is probally here because they like new order as well as smiths.its possible :)
considering I've been here on and off since 2002 I'd say that's a fairly accurate statement :)
good stuff 
0_o wrote: New Order has a messier catalog if you count the post factory era. The Factory era would be worthy of doing something, but I doubt there is much outcry for the full 12" b-side for Shellshock. Smiths don't have all that 12" +7" + B side dub + remix stuff going on. New Order stuff is worth doing for the artwork as well as the music.
Re-issues for New Order have been unfocused, to say the least. The record company doesn't see much potential, Bernard doesn't seem interested other than riding the Joy Division attention, and who knows what the management actually tries to get done.
Could be worse - they could have someone try to put together a box set of singles by The Fall
eskämiyä wrote:
Ally wrote: I don't blame the tea boy at London Records who was probably dumped with the project and fucked parts of it up... nobody else seemed to give a shit while he was sitting there clumsily connecting an archaic turntable up to a PC and Cool Edit 2000.
And didn't he get sacked half way through for stealing all the biscuits and watching too much porn?
