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New OrderSingles London/Warner Naysayers lament that the rise of digital music is threatening to kill the album as a format, but the upside is that we might see a return of that rare and wonderful creature: the singles artist. They were all the rage in the 60s, when having a killer A-side was an end in itself rather than being nothing more than a commercial for the proper full-length release. The Beatles used to do it, as did the Stones, and ABBA refined it to an art form; however, I've long been of the opinion that New Order are the hands-down masters of the art. My record library bears this out: I don't own a single full-length New Order album, but they take up a disproportionate slab of my vinyl collection, not to mention a solid amount of slimline CD space. The first disc follows on from the band's roots with their Joy Division-esque early trio of Ceremony, Procession and Everything's Gone Green before developing their sound to the sweet, sweet pop majesty of Bizarre Love Triangle, True Faith and, of course, Blue Monday. If you're familiar with the 'Substance 1987' singles collection you'll be blindsided by the far less polished original versions of Temptation and Confusion, but there's not a dud track on the first disc. The second disc is great, but there are a few less than perfect moments (I guess they couldn't really have left out their World Cup anthem World In Motion, but I wish they had - and it's hard to imagine why they felt compelled to include the far inferior 1988 remix of Blue Monday). It doesn't quite match the heights of the first disc, but Regret, Crystal and Krafty are still storming pop songs. Also, when listening to all these songs in one sitting, it's remarkable how different the sounds and arrangements are over their 25 years, and yet how strongly the band maintain a distinctive, immediately recognisable identity. The sleevenotes are clumsy fanboy ravings rather than the sort of critical piece such a significant band deserves, but if you have any love for great pop music - hell, any love for music at all - there's no excuse for not owning this.  |
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