Customer Reviews

International: Best of New Order

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's difficult to believe that the members of New Order have been together for over 25 years including their years as Joy Division. During those 25 years, the band has entertained millions with their unique brand of alternative rock and dance music. Without a doubt, New Order are pioneering musicians. Bernard Sumner shows that it's cool not to have a great singing voice and still sound good. Peter Hook is a master bass player who uses the instrument as a lead guitar. Drummer Stephen Morris is a rhythm machine all to himself while keyboardist Gillian Gilbert ties everything together with her etherial chord strokes.
After releasing two retrospectives, 1987's "Substance" and 1995's "Best of New Order", the band has released the career-spanning "International". This album includes 14 of New Order's best known songs and serves as a good introduction to the band's music.
The disc does have its pros and cons however. Several of the band's key tracks such as "Subculture", "Temptation" and "Fine Time" are not included on this compilation. Also, the 1987 remake of "Confusion" which appeared on "Substance" also appears here instead of its original 1983 version which is far superior.
The version of "The Perfect Kiss" included here is the edited version which also appears on the band's "Lowlife" album as opposed to the full-length 9-minute version which is on "Substance" and the original 12" single.
On the good side, this is the only place where you can find the rare hit "Touched By The Hand Of God". Also, there are classics such as "Blue Monday", "True Faith", "Thieves Like Us" and "Shellshock". The latter two tracks were featured in the 1986 Brat-pack flick "Pretty In Pink". If that isn't enough, the album also comes with a bonus DVD. While it only includes three video tracks, it's a delight to see this band in action. The live performance of "Blue Monday" is astonishing to watch especially Peter Hook's performance on electronic drums.
Altogether, the good outweighs the bad with this compilation. I recommend this compilation for those who are just beginning to discover New Order. If you like it, pick up "Substance" which goes ever deeper into the band's career. If you like that, run out and buy every album the band has ever made and you'll be set.

The new compilation by new order could've/should've been much better than this. I think the last compilation(best of) was a much more comprehensive set than this. This is more of an edited Substance with a few songs from their later set. They didn't include the original version of Confusion, used an edit of "Perfect Kiss" and pretty much ignored Technique/Republic. I only bought this for the free dvd. I already have the Live at Finsbury, so all I really wanted were the two music videos. Although True Faith is fine, the bastards used an edited version of "Perfect Kiss," not the full length version found on the video and laserdisc!! That was probably the main reason for me to buy this compilation. So as you can imagine, i'm feeling pretty ripped off. So do yourself and buy the "best of" or substance and ignore this (or just buy it used, like I should have!)

The earlier tracks here have never sounded this good. Remember 1986, when you ran out and bought Low-life and Brotherhood on CD? And you raved about how this new medium was INVENTED for THIS band? Then you shoved your old vinyl copies in a closet?

Well, here we are in 2004 (actual release 10/2002) and it appears they are finally getting around to remastering some of the tracks, probably due to Rhino's involvement. The sound on "Substance" just doesn't cut it anymore. I can't say this is worth full price, even with the bonus DVD. And the inclusion of three tracks from the recent "Get Ready" is unjustified. But the sound quality is SPECTACULAR. The clarity of Hook's bass lines has never been captured so well. The new transfers demonstrate very clean low- and sub-bass which can't be found elsewhere.

Hunt for this one in the bargain bins until the full catalog gets the remastering it deserves.

Ok...this cd was ok, but nothing new. The main reason I bought it was for the dvd which is worth it 100%. I love the music videos for"true faith" and "perfect kiss". Blue monday is live from 5/11. I am not sure what year that is supposed to be, but I assume it was pretty recent since they look much older. "Blue monday-live from 5/11" is not my favorite on the 3 song dvd, but it is still really good. I would have prefered the music video for blue monday, but oh well...perhaps they will release some kind of video colection and I will buy it. If you are a new fan, I highly recommend "substance 1987" instead of this. That has most of these songs on it except for the last 4 or so. I would recommend this however for someone who is buying a new order release for the first time because it is all there hits, and you get a pretty good visual with the dvd. Substance is somewhat pricy especially for someone who is not even sure about this band. However stay away from the cd entitled "best of" until you have heard either this or substance. It is really good, but the track list is almost entirely different, and it isn't a great starter album. It is great for a secondary purchase though after you have bought "substance" or this one "international". But overall it is good as far as track selection goes, and as far as the dvd goes, it is a great companion to go with it. I can't complain.

New Order release's yet another compilation, this time around it's the 4th one in the series ("Substance", "Best Of..." and the "Retro-Boxed Set"). But each time one does come out there are some differences between them and then sometimes you wonder if the record companys will ever make a complete NEW ORDER compilation.

What makes "Substance-1987" different is that offers more songs from 1981-1987, but the downfall is that it's very dated (meaning New Order has released more LP's since then). The only thing I did not like about "Substance" was that original version of "Confusion" is not on there, but they did put a re-modeled '87 version and the '83 instrumental, but where's the vocal '83 version?, Plus they need to Digitally Remaster that album the sound quality makes this sound more dated.

Now for "Best Of..." offers tracks from 1981-1995 and a few re-modeled tracks for '95 (by this time only Two New Order LP's were release from 1989-1993). The downfall is that alot of tracks are missing (still no "Confusion"), plus you feel like there somekind of a gap on "Best of..". Not very complete.

I'm not going to get into the "Retro" boxed set, so on to "International". This one has tracks from 1981-2001 ("Get Ready" was the only LP released since "Republic" and "Best Of.."), there are alot of pro's to this compilation, the songs are in chronicalogical order, you feel like your listening to a little bit of "Substance" plus a little of "Best Of..." with some "Get Ready" to it. The sound quality is amazing, feels like New Order has entered the 2003 big time (No more pops and hisses on the begining of "Blue Monday"). The con's, still no 1983 version of the original 12 Inch Vocal Version of "Confusion", at least the put the 1987 version. In some way this compilation is as good as it's going to get, unless NEW ORDER decide's to either break-up or keep moving ahead, I guess we will never know.

*The DVD that comes with it, only has 3 music videos. "Blue Monday-Live", "The Perfect Kiss-Video" and "True Faith-Video". I'm not really a DVD buff so i couldn't tell you if the sound is 5.1 or not, i'll leave that for them to rave about.

Umm, it's a disgrace to try to narrow down the best of New Order into 14 tracks on one CD. You just can't do it. That is why I feel very essential tracks are unfortunately missing. I won't get into them all, but two that immediately come to mind are "Vanishing Point" and "World", two of my favorite New Order songs. These songs did happen to be on the '95 best of. Why not now? They haven't decreased in value. I could go into a bunch of way older songs that should be on too, but I won't. The bottom line is, just buy all their albums. And get this album only for the improved sound (digitally remastered). It is amazing how much more powerful tracks like True Faith and Shellshock and Bizarre Love Triangle sound on my car system as compared to the tracks off of Substance. I hope all of New Order's albums are re-released digitally remastered. They already did it with the earlier albums for Tears For Fears, Duran Duran, and Pet Shop Boys. Depeche Mode should follow too hopefully. NEW ORDER GETS 5 STARS, THE TRACK STINGINESS GETS 3.

New Order released a flood of Greatest Hits collections in the 90's and 00's, all of which have basically been rendered obsolete by 'Singles'. 'International' is no exception, and there's little point in buying this now that better collections are available. But even at the time, 'International' wasn't really worth buying; it is a very haphazard collection that misses out too many important songs.

The collection is heavily focussed on New Order's mid 80's pop period. It jumps straight from 'Ceremony' into 'Blue Monday', leaving out the essential 'Everything's Gone Green' and 'Temptation'. It basically ignores 'Technique' and 'Republic'; two key albums that spawned several hit singles. And do 'Touched By The Hand of God' and 'Here To Stay' really deserve to be counted among the 14 "Best" New Order songs, especially considering what's missing??

And what is missing? Well, there's the previously mentioned 'Everything's Gone Green' and 'Temptation', plus 'Subculture', 'Fine Time', 'Run', 'World', and 'Spooky'. To be fair, most of the big 80's favourites are here: 'Confusion', 'Thieves Like Us', 'Perfect Kiss', 'Shellshock', 'Bizzare Love Triangle', 'True Faith'. But these can all be found on other, better, compilations.

The most definitive New Order collections are 'Substance' and 'Singles', and given their different approaches it is important for any serious fan to own both of these. If you're a very casual fan who wants the pop hits, you might consider 'The Best of New Order'. But this album contains nothing that can't be found on these superior collections, so it can be safely ignored without missing out on anything.

I just got my copy from Amazon.com after having it in my wishlist for the longest while. Guess I should have checked more carefully because between the time I added the New Order: International CD to the wishlist vs when I ordered it, they no longer include the DVD - just the CD. And the DVD was the main reason I wanted this. So I'm feeling ripped off especailly when most of the comments on why people bought this was for the bonus DVD.

I have been a fan for a very long time and I own ALMOST every album New Order has released. This was an excelent compilation and while I agree with many of the other reviews as far as the pros and cons(especialy about The Perfect Kiss) I should explain to everyone THE REASON the shorter Low-Life version of Perfect Kiss was used. CDs have a maximum time limit of 1:20:00. A track list using the Full Length version of Perfect Kiss sets the total time to roughly 1:20:48. It is impossible to fit this list onto CD so they instead used the Low-Life version which set the total time to roughly 1:17:35. Now that that is cleared up, I DEFINATELY recomend this album to fans and newcomers alike. I also recomend that you buy all of thier albums so you can get the full experience because this compilation while very good, just doesnt cover enough of New Order's great work.

While there are already enough New Order compilations (SUBSTANCE, THE BEST OF NEW ORDER and RETRO) this one is the best and the most concise. Though there are only 14 tracks covering 22 years, at least there are the complete versions of "Blue Monday", "Thieves Like Us", "Shellshock", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "True Faith", "Touched By The Hand Of GOD" and "Crystal" in all their 6 and 7 minute glory (unlike THE BEST OF NEW ORDER, which were mostly single versions). This compilation does overlap greatly with SUBSTANCE and RETRO, but SUBSTANCE a two-disc set, and RETRO is an expensive four-disc set, so this compilation is the best for your money (and if you are not a fan, I still recommend this disc for "Blue Monday", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "True Faith" and "Touched By The Hand Of GOD"!!!). Also, for a limited time, this disc comes with a bonus DVD with 3 videos - "Blue Monday/LIVE", "True Faith" and "The Perfect Kiss". All of the videos are good, but why didn't they put all of their videos on the DVD? Message to record companies and artists: If your gonna put out a video compilation, please include everything!!! Anyway, great compilation.College