Originally Posted by: Mr Discography It'd be great if 'Substance' gets a re-release as part of these deluxe editions as it's such an iconic compilation.
Only change I'd want to a re-released 'Substance' is to restore the full length 'Perfect Kiss' on the CD version (the unedited 12" appeared on the vinyl version after all). I'd be happy to keep the other tracks the same as the original 1987 release ('Subculture' and 'Shellshock' in their full length 12" versions would drag on a bit, so stick to the cropped versions of those please).
It's my favourite album and was my introduction to New Order. To tweak it it any more would move it further away from what it represented to me back then, so keep the second 'Ceremony' and re-recorded 'Temptation' and 'Confusion'.
Perhaps a re-released version could stretch the B-sides and dubs out over 2 CDs though - to include everything on the original cassette 2, 'Murder' and maybe a few other rarities or bonus tracks. Any DVD could include one of the live sets from the time when they played 'Substance' in order, if any recordings exist (think one of these was at Wembley Arena).
I can certainly see your point about keeping the edits of Sub-Culture and Shellshock. The latter goes on alarmingly and repeats the 'it's never enough' refrain (seemingly) ad infinitum. That being said, I don't mind either 'full length' track and I'd rather they were on there for consistency.
Presumably, even though they do 'go on a bit', the reason for the edits was to fit on two discs. The intention was, as stated by Wilson, to have all of the band's 12"s in one place. I guess they just chose those two (plus, to a lesser extent, Hurt and The Perfect Kiss) as being ones that would easily accommodate cuts without harming them (probably even enhancing them too!).
The one thing that I don't like about the 'Shellshock' Substance edit was that it excised one of the verses.
In fact, for the first few years of my fandom, I had no idea about this 'other' verse. I didn't own the 12" and the verse wasn't on the 7", the video version or Substance (all of which I knew pretty well). Back in the day, I had no idea that certain tracks were edited on Substance; I always assumed that all 12"s were intact on that LP. I therefore never hunted down the 12"s at the time (apart from Temptation and Confusion, which I knew had been re-recorded).
It wasn't until I bought the Pretty In Pink soundtrack a few years later that I heard the extra verse, which came as a rather nice shock. To this day, that version is the definitive mix for me; being a nice balance between song and mix, with all lyrics intact and subdued use of the aforementioned 'refrain'.
I don't think I heard the full 12" until the Recycle project, although I could be wrong.