Retro [BOX SET]

New Order

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 7, 2003)
• Original Release Date: December 17, 2002
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00007FZIN
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,913 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
If there was a certain irony to the surviving members of Joy Division recasting the angst-ridden muse of band founder/suicide victim Ian Curtis as New Order's often catchy melodic synth-pop, there's ample evidence on this compelling four-disc retrospective to suggest that Curtis's troubled spirit and dark sense of humor continued to haunt his influential musical progeny long after his passing. Crucially, the band has foresworn strict historical autobiography here for a more Rashomon-like approach, allowing four outsiders to compile the anthology's component discs. The resulting four chapters focus on distinct, well-defined facets of the band's music: journalists Miranda Sawyer and John McReady serve up the hits-oriented "Pop" and moody, album-cut and B-side centered "Fan" discs, respectively, while Manchester DJ and Factory Records A&R man Mike Pickering presents a baker's dozen of the band's pioneering club mixes (six previously unavailable in the U.S.) on the "Club" disc and Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie culls together the ultimate, career-spanning N.O. concert set from a trove of unreleased soundboard recordings on "Live." Band members weigh in throughout the set's artful, straightforward liner notes with often sardonic track-by-track commentary, but it's the outside-in viewpoint that makes this such a worthy companion to Joy Division's similarly scaled Heart and Soul anthology. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description
A different kind of boxed set from a different kind of band. The career-spanning Retro fills four CDs with tracks selected by influential New Order fans who've followed the band for years. Disc One gathers the singles, selected by journalist Miranda Sawyer. Disc Two collects album tracks, selected by journalist John McCready. Disc Three is the remixes, selected by Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering. Disc Four is unreleased live tracks, selected by New Order & Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie. Includes an extensive booklet & digipak box featuring new artwork by renowned designer Peter Saville. Rhino. 200.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Frankly, This Could Have Been Better., January 19, 2003

By	The Groove (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

New Order's four-disc box set apparently ignited controversy before it was even released. When fans complained that the tracklisting didn't have enough rare tracks, the record label hastily assembled a fifth CD which is only available on limited-edition pressings. But even with the fifth disc, "Retro" still comes up short, and that's a shame because a band like New Order deserves a box set that does them justice. What's to like? The first disc, "Pop," compiles the band's hits, and it does the job admirably, featuring classics like "Blue Monday," the original version of "Temptation," "Bizarre Love Triangle," and "The Perfect Kiss." I was also pleasantly surprised to have also found "Brutal," which was previously available on the soundtrack to "The Beach." The CD titled "Club" is a fairly competent collection of remixes, the best of which is Jam and Spoon's hyperactive makeover of "Blue Monday," as well as the remixes of "Confusion" and "Shellshock." But "Retro" encounters problems on the disc "Fan," which is a randomly assembled set of album tracks. Most New Order fans already have these from the original albums, and to have them here again on this box set seems a bit pointless. The "Live" disc is also uneven. Some of the performances are really good ("Ceremony," "Everything's Gone Green," "Temptation,") while others are sloppily executed ("Fine Time," "World," "Regret"). The fifth disc (limited edition only) fares better, which has personal favorites such as the "Round and Round" b-side "Best and Marsh" and "Such a Good Thing." This CD also has a meandering, 17-minute version of "Elegia" for those who couldn't get enough of the edited album version. So is "Retro" worth a purchase? Well, that depends on who you are. Diehard fans may want to give it a whirl, but they should really try to get the version that has the fifth disc. But casual listeners are encouraged to get the band's individual albums instead. As a survey of New Order's history, "Retro" definitely has its moments, but it's also incomplete, inconsistent, and flawed. Proceed with caution.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Abundance of Riches, February 11, 2003

By	WrtnWrd "Hankman" (Northridge, CA USA) - See all my reviews

With Substance, a two-disc collection of ace tracks and b-sides, and The Best of New Order still available for purchase, there's a sense that Retro is redundant. The band must have felt the same. So, to shake things up, they split the four discs thematically (Pop, Fan, Club, and Live), and gave each to a contemporary to sort out. Miranda Sawyer's Pop is the weakest set - not due to material (excellent, including the original version of "Temptation"), but because it's redolent of past collections. Still, her sequencing's inspired, emphasizing New Order's galvanic hooks. John McCready's Fan leans heavily on darker tunes, charting their progress from harrowing industrialism to an uncompromisingly grim but never hopeless dance rock. Mike Pickering's Club is a remixer's paradise. I'm not a fan of extended mixes, but these never lose the song amidst the sound effects. Laid back-to-back, they make a case for the art. The biggest surprise is Bobby Gillespie's Live disc because (a) I hate live records and (b) New Order have given the worst shows I've ever seen. On the evidence here, I must have caught them on very bad nights. Each track breathes life into their studio perfectionism, and the rough edges do them proud. As they should be: Retro is an abundance of riches.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A nifty concept, but lousy timing and spotty execution, January 11, 2003

By	S. Gozdecki "spongebobsmartypants" (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Retro sports a nifty concept, but suffers from a combination of lousy timing and mediocre execution. New Order has a history of more than 20 years as a group (closer to 15 if one subtracts service time for the lengthy hiatus they took between 1993's Republic and 2001's Get Ready, during which time each member released albums as part of a side project), but it's one that is still growing, with the band currently in the studio recording new material. (A cynic might suggest that this material, too, shall one day appear on another box set.) One could make the claim that the box is meant as an introduction to the band for new fans, but wouldn't a one- or two-disc set serve equally well for this purpose? For that matter, wouldn't one of the other New Order compilations, such as 1987's Substance or 1994's Best of, cover most of the needed territory? (Perhaps in recognition of this, the band has also recently issued International, a career-spanning single-disc best-of that has been released in some countries.)

More disappointing to this lifelong fan is the song selection. A glance at the back cover of Retro suggests that the band has been pretty generous, with 57 tracks totaling nearly five hours of music. But then I began to scrutinize the titles, and saw that "Crystal," "Regret," and "Fine Time" appear in studio, remix, and live forms (especially bizarre in the case of the heavily-synthesized last track, which features live vocals, bass, a moment or two of guitar, and machines a-plenty - even knowing that I was at the 1989 show that it was recorded at fails to make me want to hear this "live" track again). A number of other songs, including "Ceremony," "Procession," "Blue Monday," "Confusion," "Temptation," "Everything's Gone Green," and "Bizarre Love Triangle" appear in two versions, leaving the actual song count somewhere around 40 - less than half the songs the band has released throughout their career.

The repetition is one thing, but the truly vexing aspect of this box is the dubiousness of the actual track selection. (If you're a big fan this is obvious at a glance; newbies, just be warned.)

There are some things this package gets right, especially the packaging - the booklet, though fairly short on text (oddly, the band comments on only 20 or so of Retro's songs), does showcase great photos of the band members and a few associates throughout the years, something you won't find on any of their albums save for Low-Life. And lest we forget this still is the music of New Order, nicely remastered, and in copious quantities.

New Order have a tremendous legacy, for their pioneering mixture of traditional rock instruments with electronics, for their alternating thematic continuation of and complete disavowal of their previous work as Joy Division, and the sheer volume of fabulous rock and dance songs that they've crafted. Unfortunately, Retro fails to adequately convey the band's greatness even as it lifts fifty bucks or more from the wallet.