Record Rebound: New Order reissue their classic singles compilation ‘Substance 1987’
Although budding vinyl fanatics like to collect studio albums to create a neat shelf of 12” products in the form initially intended by the artist, we can certainly make some exceptions. One exception I implore readers to consider is Substance 1987, the blockbusting singles compilation album released by New Order in the titular year.
Substance 1987 consolidated the band’s progress from the tragic, punk-infused aftermath of Ian Curtis’ suicide through their most prolific spell of synth-anthems towards an increasingly club-friendly sound. Although New Order had lost a fraction of their potency by the 1990s, they would become an early proponent of the rave scene as co-founders of Manchester’s iconic Haçienda club.
As the most consummate and representative release of New Order’s wildly varied oeuvre, Substance 1987 brandishes hit singles in chronological order across four sides. Picking up where Joy Division left off, the album begins with ‘Ceremony’, one of Ian Curtis’ final songwriting credits. A rough recording of the song had been made with Curtis before his death with ‘In a Lonely Place’ as its B-side, but New Order revised both for their debut single in 1981.
‘Everything’s Gone Green’ marks the compilation’s first single conceived under the New Order banner. Originally released alongside ‘Procession’ as a double A-side, this shimmering classic perfectly bridges Joy Division’s post-punk aesthetic to New Order’s growing affection for the synthesiser – something that would be mastered two years later in ‘Blue Monday’.
New Order mostly clung to their punky roots throughout their first two albums, Movement and Power Corruption & Lies, but in their concurrent singles catalogue, they began laying the foundations for the Haçienda. On its second side, Substance 1987 holds the original seven-and-a-half minute version of ‘Blue Monday’, arguably the 1980s’ greatest club anthem.
Despite the classic 12” single’s gloomy reference to suicide, its juxtaposing synth lines got hips moving and record sales booming. Remarkably, ‘Blue Monday’ remains the best-selling 12” single of all time. In the UK alone, it has sold 1.16 million copies in all formats, including the 1988 and 1995 re-releases. The original 1983 12” constitutes most of that sum at just over 700,000 copies sold.
As New Order’s synth player, Gillian Gilbert once wrote of her involvement in ‘Blue Monday’: “It was my job to programme the entire song from beginning to end, which had to be done manually, by inputting every note. I had the sequence all written down on loads of A4 paper Sellotaped together the length of the recording studio, like a huge knitting pattern.”
“But I accidentally left a note out, which skewed the melody,” she continued. “We’d bought ourselves an Emulator 1, an early sampler, and used it to add snatches of choir-like voices from Kraftwerk’s album Radioactivity, as well as recordings of thunder. Bernard [Sumner] and Stephen [Morris] had worked out how to use it by spending hours recording farts”.
Following ‘Blue Monday’ on Substance are ‘Confusion’ and ‘Thieves Like Us’. Released in 1983 and ‘84, respectively, these two highlights from New Order’s stint collaborating with esteemed New York producer Arthur Baker.
On the second disc of the double LP set, we catch up with singles from the band’s third album, 1985’s Low-Life, including an extended club-friendly version of ‘The Perfect Kiss’. These tracks are joined on the fourth side by the two hit singles from 1986’s Brotherhood and the classic stand-alone single of 1987, ‘True Faith’.
On Friday, November 10th, New Order will reissue Substance 1987 in CD, cassette, and vinyl editions. Some format options include B-sides, rarities, remixes and an unreleased live album recorded at Irvine Meadows, California, in 1987, where New Order played the whole album front to back. See the full tracklist below.
The remastered vinyl reissue is currently available to pre-order for £44.99. Browse the various purchase options here.
Substance 1987 (2023 Expanded Reissue) tracklist:
Original compilation:
- ‘Ceremony’ (Version 2) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Everything’s Gone Green (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Temptation ’87’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Blue Monday’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Confusion ’87’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Thieves Like Us’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘The Perfect Kiss’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Sub-culture’ (John Robie Remix) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Shellshock’ (Substance Edit) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘State of the Nation’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ (Shep Pettibone Remix) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘True Faith’ (2023 Digital Master)
B-sides:
- ‘In a Lonely Place’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Procession’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Cries and Whispers’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Hurt’ (Substance Edit) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘The Beach’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Confusion’ (Instrumental) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Lonesome Tonight’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Murder’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Thieves Like Us’ (Instrumental) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘The Kiss of Death’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Shame of the Nation’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘1963’ (2023 Digital Master)
Rarities:
- ‘Ceremony’ (Version 1) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Mesh’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Temptation’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Confusion’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Perfect Pit’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Dub-Vulture’ (John Robie Remix) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Shellcock’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Bizarre Dub Triangle’ (Shep Pettibone Remix) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘True Dub’ (Shep Pettibone Remix) (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘Confusion Dub ’87’ (2023 Digital Master)
- ‘True Faith’ (Shep Pettibone Remix) (2023 Digital Master)
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