Substance collects all the singles
New Order released between their inception in 1981 and the 1987 release of the album. It traces their early journey from a nervy, post-punk group struggling to break free of the expectations set by their incarnation as
Joy Division to the dance-y synth sounds that helped define the new wave era. They merged the uneasiness of post-punk with the jagged programming of dance music, balanced the interplay of real instruments and electronics, and released both satisfying albums and successful singles. The set includes all the A- and B-sides they released during that time span: in the cases of "Temptation" and "Confusion," however, the songs were freshly re-recorded, while "Ceremony" isn't the original, either -- it was recorded after
Gillian Gilbert joined. The early tracks show how quickly the band became something quite different than
Joy Division, relatively sunnier and more open-ended musically with an eye toward making listeners dance rather than break down in tears. By the time of "Blue Monday," they had reinvented themselves fully, and in the process created an all-time classic song that relied on programming as much as it did strumming. The band continued to pursue that path more on future singles, with tracks like "Thieves Like Us" and "Shellshock" drifting toward a poppier sound influenced by freestyle, hip-hop, and R&B. Thanks to their uncanny way with a melody -- as displayed on the timeless "Bizarre Love Triangle" -- their razor-sharp programming skills, and
Bernard Sumner's resolute, deadpan vocals made everything they did sound exactly like
New Order and no one else. The B-sides are just as exciting in their own way, as the band experiment, hone new ideas, and deliver some gems. The instrumental mix of "Blue Monday" titled "The Beach" is a thrilling blast of inventive dancefloor fun, the album-worthy "Lonesome Tonight" strips away most of the synths in favor of a live group setup and
Peter Hook's iconic bass playing, and various remixes make this disc well worth checking out. There's even a track -- the darkly lilting "1963" -- that could have easily been a single in its own right. The set serves as an essential summing up of the band's non-LP work in their early days and makes clear that they had a strong argument as the best singles band of the '80s regardless of genre. [The collection was reissued in remastered form in 2023 with the addition of some nice extras. A full set recorded in September of 1987 where they played
Substance in order tops the list, while a full disc of remixes and other tracks is an important addition. It gathers up the original versions of "Ceremony," Temptation," and "Confusion" as well as many dub versions of their singles. The glimmering "Bizarre Dub Triangle" and "Dub Vulture" are particularly interesting efforts that show just how inventive the band could be even as they were topping the charts.] ~ Tim Sendra
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