Originally Posted by: tapebias Originally Posted by: Mr Discography Originally Posted by: tapebias Quick opinion on Substance. They couldn't get it right first time round so not much hope for next time. Imagine being a casual fan and getting Temptation 87 instead of the original.
Temptation 87 is the best version. Same with Confusion 87.
Maybe, but Substance isn't all the original versions. It could have included the 87 versions as extras somewhere along with the originals.
I was one such casual fan in 1987, and loved Substance (still my favourite all time album). I knew from the sleeve notes that Temptation and Confusion were re-recordings, so then hunted down the original 12" releases, but I always thought the Substance versions were superior - as New Order explained it at the time, they wanted to record versions that were more representative of how the live arrangements sounded. Plus there were obvious limitations with the amount of music you could fit on two CDs, so it helped that the re-recordings were shorter than the original 12 inch versions. If Substance had included the original 12" versions, and the 87 re-recordings it would've needed to be three CDs/tapes instead of two. Substance was my route from a casual fan into tracking down those other great twelve inch singles.
As I explored their back catalogue more, I slowly realised that a few other Substance tracks weren't the original 12" versions (Perfect Kiss, Subculture, Shellshock and Hurt were all edited down slightly). Of those four, I actually think all but Perfect Kiss benefit from being a bit shorter. All of that contributes to what makes Substance my favourite album: New Order's first twelve singles, but in their best versions. And yeah, it may
technically be a a mere compilation, but the time, place, and versions of the tracks selected, for me, make it transcend that status to an iconic Album. Hence why a CD reissue would be ideal if it was the same disc 1, but with the full Perfect Kiss 12" (effectively, the same versions as the Substance vinyl LP). Substance was always more than a collection of their first twelve 12" singles - which we can all compile playlists of for ourselves now easily anyway.
They definitely got it right first time round.
Edited by user 02 February 2023 16:25:49(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified