Search - New Order :: International

Should have been called "Recycled"

freddy | San Francisco | 12/11/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is a second rehashing of greatest hit material from New Order which I'm sorry to say, is a combination of 1987's "Substance" and 1995's "Best of" with a sprinkle of "Get Ready" era singles. There is nothing here to be excited about if you have these singles already since you can pretty much compile a decent facsimile of "International" through a CD burner. At least they should have included the almost rare original Arthur Baker version of "Confusion" instead of the one included in "Substance". I got the cheaper Australian import, so I didn't get the French bonus disk with rarities, but that doesn't look too impressive. I heard that every country would get an "International" with different track listings, but I don't see any diffences between the French and Australian versions. In any case, you're going to buy the bulk of the singles when the "Retro" box set comes out, so skip this one and save up for that."

Remastering anyone ?

Focused Frenzy | Salt Lake City, Utah USA | 01/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is better than Substance 1987 for one good reason: it is remastered. The quality difference with Substance is enough for me to not ever play that CD anymore. Sure the box set will be nice, but when I want to play New Order I want one CD (forget the bonus CD) with the best/well known songs. This CD fits the bill for anyone who doesn't exclusively play New Order and doesn't want to sit through a whole box set.
But the remastering is the main deal here. Probably news to the previous reviewer. Hello ?"

Brings back happy memories

johnhunter@oxford.ms | Oxford, MS USA | 01/15/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I picked this up last night as an (expensive) import at Tower Records in Memphis, TN. I bought each of these singles as they were released on import 12" during my youth (wow, were the eighties that long ago?), and a smile crossed my face as each song faded into the next. I remember camping out overnight in the lobby of the Fox Theatre in Atlanta in order to buy tickets to see New Order on the Low-Life tour, something I've never done before or since for any other act (I got 2nd row seats!).This compilation serves as proof positive that New Order were one of the three greatest singles bands in British history, along with the Beatles and the Smiths. From 1983's Blue Monday to 1993's Regret, the band were on an unstoppable winning streak, and even teetered on the brink of U.S. stardom (for a brief moment, 1987's "True Faith" received "Smells Like Teen Spirit" levels of airplay on MTV).In hindsight, New Order may be the most influential white rock band of the past 25 years, as they pioneered the fusion of dance and rock that dominates modern music. 20 years ago, liking Depeche Mode could get you beaten up in an American high school, and even indie fans who didn't care what their redneck peers thought of their musical tastes worshipped at the altar of bands with guitars: The Jam, The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnnymen, U2, R.E.M., etc. etc. New Order almost single-handedly introduced an entire generation of indie rock fans to the possibility that great music could be made with instruments other than two guitars, a bass, and drums. As the liner notes to this release point out, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner played a crucial role in producing early releases by the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, which led to the "Madchester" dance/rock explosion of the early 90s, which led to U2 raiding dance/techno with Achtung Baby, and so on to the present day. If you think Radiohead are on the cutting edge for mixing dance beats with rock music on their most recent releases, buy this album and check out the source.Having mastered the dance/rock fusion, New Order returned to more straight ahead guitar rock with 1993's "Regret" and "Crystal" and "60 Miles and Hour" from last year's Get Ready album. "Regret" may be the catchiest guitar-pop song ever written by someone not named Johnny Marr - on the way home it caused me to hit the repeat button on my car c.d. player at least 5 times before moving on to the next track. It's almost impossible to believe that the tentative band that recorded the first track on this disc, "Ceremony," is the same group that could produce a confident, self-assured masterpiece such as "Regret". Along with the Flaming Lips, Joy Division and New Order may be the single greatest example of the "anyone can do it" ethos of punk rock producing work of real musical genius from a group of musicians who, at the beginning of their career, could barely play their instruments in the conventionally accepted sense (watch early perfomance footage of Joy Division and New Order if you don't believe me).If this record has a flaw, it's that several key tracks are missing. There is a jarring jump from the aforementioned "Ceremony" to "Blue Monday" because of the lack of the transitional tracks "Everything's Gone Green" and "Tempation." Technique, aruguably the band's finest album, is woefully underrepresented here, with only one song. The reason for this, of course, is that over the course of 20 year career, New Order have released too many great singles to fit on one C.D. - this album is 77 minutes long, and, as I said, is still missing key moments. That's what C.D. burners are for, of course, and I think I'll be digging out some old albums and burning my own two-disc singles compilation from Joy Division's "Transmission" up to last year's "Crystal". If you don't already own all of New Order's albums and singles, I would suggest that you add this one to your shopping cart. You won't "Regret" it."