is it just me, or does the "jellybean mix" of cool as ice on "twice as nice" sound just the same as the mix that's on the "cool as ice" album? i really can't figure out the difference. i don't have "cool as ice" with me today, but i've heard this song 100 times and i can't hear anything new here. beyond that, cool as ice is one of the best songs to come out on factory. one of the best disco/electro/techno/r&b, whatever you want to call it, songs i've ever heard. it's a shame 52nd st didnt do more on factory. from what i understand, they kinda sucked afterwards. meh.
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52nd st-Cool as Ice... jellybean mix
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You're looking nice so niiiiice, alright.
Barney played keyboards on it right? He also did the same on one of my favorite (and Shaun Ryder's) Factory releases, Reach For Love by Marcel King. Factory definitely had an unappreciated electro/R&B section, a few years ahead of its time maybe. You're right about 52nd's full-length debut sans Facotry though, it was yawnable adult contemporary pap.
Funny how the Factory alumni with the best vocals were the ones that faded into obscurity... 
all i'll say about this with aplogies to bmusic. there's not much i really like on that disc.
I agree with Ronald, I never got into this CD despite giving it a go a couple of years ago. To me it mostly sounded like dated electronica with soul vocals. I think I bought it for New Order's "Theme" but even that's pretty dodgy and hardly an essential track (I think it was written by Hooky alone?)
I know the volume 2 (Twice As Nice? Red cover) has an edit of the 22 minute Video 586 by New Order but I just couldn't be arsed buying it! 
Having said that I do admire LTM for making the effort and releasing all this obscure stuff, obviously some NO/Factory fans were very pleased to get it.
(Serious) Completists only I would say.
you's got to be kidding... there is some great shit on these discs:
looking from a hilltop and sakura- section 25 reach for love- marcel king cool as ice and express- 52nd st the only truth- paul haig (check out the guitars at the end) babcock+wilcox and jess+bart- thick pigeon genius- quando quango motherland- royal family and the poor video 586 and theme- new order
sure, not all of it is great, but some of it is really worth hearing. i was especially surprised by the 52nd st stuff, and paul haig... i've not listened to "twice as nice" as much as the first one and there could be more good stuff on there. it's definitely worth it to fans of new order (which i assume is 99% of us...)
and dated disco with questionable soul vocals is a great thing! so much fun. i think that sometimes new order fans' taste is too limited... right in front of me at work i have (left to right) a trax records (80's-90's chicago house) comp, a son house record (delta blues), the new animal collective (some call it freak-folk, some call it pop), a no-neck blues band (improv experimental), a nick cave album, a !!! album... ok, that's it that's on my desk.
i dunno... i also think that "dub vulture" is one of the most interesting things they have done... "turn" sucks (ok, ok, it's getting better... it is rather conservative...) and the vocal version of "let's go" rocks (i am contradiction!).
but still, no one has answered my question. is that because nobody has the bloody second disc?
jesse steichen wrote: i also think that "dub vulture" is one of the most interesting things they have done... "turn" sucks
While I agree the electro-funk on the Be Music compilations may be an acquired taste which I perhaps haven't 'got' yet... I just can't get my head around Dub-vulture being proclaimed better than Turn
I mean I like "interesting" and different sounding music as much as the next person but Dub-vulture is just bloody awful. I remember doing a tape to CDR transfer of it years ago and the sheer crapness of the ending stopped me thinking "what the fuck is this?!" and not in a good or thought-provoking way. It sounded like a turn table having a heart attack after six minutes of stuttering samples. In my mind Dub-vulture has to be one of NO's worst efforts and some may say not even one of their own as that twat John Robie was in charge of the mixing desk.
Turn may be conservative but at least it's got that New Order signature sound, is very melodic and Barney's lyrics are back in Technique mode. Being listenable and not an aimless, distorted noise should not disqualify it from sounding "interesting" y'know!
Sorry! :D
Both comps are fcuking brilliant, and 52nd Street's "Cool as Ice (Twice as Nice)" is one of the very best tracks to appear on both of them. Absolutely incredible stuff.
i'm coming around to "turn." it's still not my favorite on the album, and i don't know why people are so ga-ga over it, but there are parts of it that i like.
it's the end of "dub vulture" that i find so wonderful. ever heard of autechre? they are kind of a messed-up aphex twin. very, very experimental. i've been looking for some precedent for their sound for years, and "dub vulture" is as close as i've found. glitch techno in 1985! incredible stuff. again, new order is years ahead of their time.
i don't mean to bash people's taste when i say that new order fan's taste seems limited. i got into new order more than 10 years ago, but it was only a few years ago (maybe 5) that they became one of my favorites. i hated synth music until i got into brian eno, so my taste in this type of music comes from the experimental end. i love pop music, but i crave experimentation, which is why i love new order. they combine them both. i just think that it's unfortunate that new order fans bash their most experimental songs (confusion, the beach, dub vulture) so often. that's what puts them over the top.
