CONFUSION

As with Temptation,its one of those songs that is excellent in its original form,yet is still excellent in remixed/re-recorded versions.

Best--that synth loop bridge when everything else is silent

Worst--all the chantin' and rantin' toward the end

rating--85%

Why love/hate--Interesting tune, really pushing the envelope technically and structurally for the time. A bit rushed as the vocalsindicate. Barney had the flu and they had something like 3 hhours in the studio with baker before the flight out of NYC. Hence, he sounds like Sting when he sings "you caused me some problems you taken my place." Song is nearly a disaster almost everytime they paly it live. Even so, it may start out as if the train is going to wreck but often they pull it out brillantly as if it was their best tune ever.

Earliest Memory--Standing at the window with my dad the day they brought my sister home from the hospital. I was almost 3.

I love the song. My favourite version is the original 12" one. The 1987 version lacks alot in comparison and it's way too messy.

It's also a good memory: it was one of first New Order songs I ever heard: on the European MTV "Greatest Hits" show back in 1994 together with "True Faith". And I remember how I was disappointed to find the 1987 version on "Substance", my first New Order CD. So years went by and by, and only in 2001 I managed to buy the original vinyl single from a Amazon.com seller. I couldn't stop listening to it for days and nights on my turntable.

Now I made it into CD just for the convenience's sake.:D

BUT IT's NOT A NEW ORDER SONG. They may have written it and so forth, but the RHYTHM is not theirs, the whole production is not NewOrder-ish... It's Arthur Baker's job. And I've heard somewhere that Baker actually took that breakbeat rhythm from a demo he made with some New York black band. I know that New Order had performed the song live before going to NYC, and that's what I would like to listen to - to see how it was originally written and performed. From this point of view the 1987 version is a genuine New Order production, that's how they perfomed the song live. And the Apollo 98 live version is a better one than that of 1987.:p

Best Bit : Bass-tastic ending (I know I just used the word bass-tastic, I'm perfectly happy with that)

Worst element : It's not played live every show ever.

rating : 99.9% just because it's brilliant fun.

Best bit: 4 long songs on 1 12" - value for money(!) Worst bit: the percussion always seemed weedy after Blue Monday.

Listning to it these days it seems like a far better tune than it used to.

78%

Earliest memory: moving house - sitting on the fireplace of our new gaf - I was 11 months - after that nothing for about 3 years. Come to that years 18 to 21 are missing also . .

1. Best Bit -- the whole instrumentation (good beat and bassline, nice melody, too)
2. Worst Bit -- I always get a little thrown off by the way the breakdown is a little out of sync with the beat immediately prior 3a. Why you love it -- For obscure reasons related to '80s childhood nostalgia 3b. Why you hate it -- On a few occasions I've set my computer to play this song (as an MP3) to wake me, but it's just such a consistent groove that it doesn't wake me
3. A percentage rating -- 85% (I think I might actually like "Confusion Instrumental" a bit more--and "Confusion" '87 is not that bad)
4. Your earliest memory -- At a day care center around the block from my childhood home--I remember fingerpainting and having bitten another child--I was brutal

Michael Patrick wrote:

5. Your earliest memory -- At a day care center around the block from my childhood home--I remember fingerpainting and having bitten another child--I was brutal

Brutal?

Did NO do a song about you?

1. Best bit - Gosh...there's so many. The synth bass sound, the electro drum machine, the crazy percolating synth line, the edits - my GOD! THE EDITS! Fantastic! The keyboard line that glistens overtop the chorus, Hook's bass strumming, the chanting, the ending...love it all.

2. Worst bit - That godawful abortion they substituted for the original mix on Substance. Why?

3. Love/hate - When I first got the single, I wasn't sure what the Hell was going on. Is this really New Order? On Streetwise records? Doing a hip-hop track? No guitars? Man, they had balls.

Great video, too.

4. Rating - 100%

5. My earliest memory - Two or three years-old, my parents had friends over. While they were chatting in the living room, I went out to the backyard, toddled over to the neighbors' rose bushes. I wanted to get a flower for them, but I pricked my finger on a thorn and drew blood. Instead of crying, I went to the upstairs bathroom, pulled the toilet seat down, climbed up on the toilet, climbed up on the sink, opened the medicine cabinet and put Bactine and a Band-Aid on my finger. I remember wanting to tell them that I'd done that all by myself, but didn't want to be a show-off, so I didn't. Weird.

I always thought they ripped of Le Freak by CHIC

sigh confusion,i remember this being played at the haceinda for the 1st time and the dance floor was packed out,in fact many of the dancers was waving their hands in the air like they just dont care et al. top tune,was glad to see this after the debacle that was bm. there again thats just my opinion,and for me proved once and for all that they didnt have a fucking clue about having a career in pop,odly enough they still dont but that aint stopped em has it

1. The catchiness of it.
2. Kinda cheesy nowadays.
3. Can't get it out of yer head (right, Kylie?).
4. Original: 80% Substance '87 version: 75%
5. Hmm.. age 4 possibly. Or age 5 in hospital. The rest is all a blur these days.

1. the music
2. none of it i hate so cant comment
3. just brings back all the memories of school thats the reasons i love it
4. 80%
5. this is the reason why i like New Order above any other band.

i used to hate the pump panel reconstruction mix but i love it now

1. Best Bit; The bass is ace.

2. Worst Bit; Ra ta ta ta ta (etc..) Hey! (although I still like it - it's the least best bit...)

3. Why you love / hate it; "FOOking hell Martin..."

4. A percentage rating; 90%

5. Your earliest memory; Eating liquorice allsorts in the back of an ambulance on my way to hospital with a bleeding head aged 6 (oh what happy memories of youth!).

Suprising for me, as a fan of the manual stuff they`ve done over the years, I love Confusion! It just screams 1983! When this was played in clubs, it rocked the house. Prefer this to Blue Monday. The WW..W...RL thing is probably a secret code. The ratatatatat Hey! over the bass is class New Order. The sleeve is a Saville masterpiece,I used to polish mine as much as the Unknown Pleasures sleeve.

The WWRL thing is supposed to be a NY dance station call-sign so the story goes in NOOL's FAQ section. Plus if I remember very vaguely, the initials on the Streetwise release of Confusion are actually SWRL so those probably explain why W-WRL appeared on the Substance remake-as backhanded compliments to both Baker's help on Confusion & Thieves & WWRL(Among other dance-oriented stations) for helping Confusion's performance in the US Dance/R&B charts which brought them more to Quincey Jones's attention and led to their subsequent distribution deal Stateside with Qwest.

BTW I tend to like both the original mixes plus the subsequent ones that came out on the Minimal Records 12" in 1990 in preference to the 87 version.

1. There are two bass bits in the song
2. Substance version
3. Danceable.
4. 93%
5. Lying in a crib and being tokd to go to sleep

(1. Best Bit, 2. Worst Bit, 3. Why you love / hate it, 4. A percentage rating 5. Your earliest memory)

1. A unique beat for New Order.
2. It has the most number of remixes, but its not their best/better songs. It should be proportional.
3. It's repetitiveness matches the title. I don't hate the song
4. B-
5. Can't remember. Just an ordinary song back in the late 80s.

Indeed!

1 The whole song 2. Tad to long, but it was in the era of hip hop emerging, and New Order only doing 12" records

3 Rating, erm, say 85% Would of loved inbetween an 7" and a 12"

I love the instrumental, and Pump panel reconstruction mix, that to this current day is still my favourite remix of any song

8/10

9/10 Pump panel reconstruction mix