True Faith-94

                        Bizarre Love Triangle-94

                        1963-94

                        Regret

                        Fine Time

                        The Perfect Kiss

                        Shellshock

                        Thieves Like Us

                        Vanishing Point

                        Run 2

                        Round & Round-94

                        World (The Price of Love)

                        Ruined In A Day

                        Touched By The Hand of God

                        Blue Monday 1988

                        World In Motion

THE BEST OF UK CD

THE BEST OF GE CD

THE BEST OF JP CD

THE BEST OF UK TAPE PROMO

                        Let's Go (Nothing For Me)

                        Dreams Never End

                        Age of Consent

                        Love Vigilantes

                        True Faith-94

                        Bizarre Love Triangle

                        1963-95

                        Fine Time

                        Vanishing Point

                        Run

                        Round & Round-94

                        Regret

                        World (The Price of Love)

                        Ruined In A Day

                        Touched By The Hand of God

                        Blue Monday 1988

                        World In Motion

QWEST 03/95

BEST OF NEW ORDER FEATURES RARE TRACKS, REMIXES, B-SIDES AND MORE FROM PIONEERING BAND

(the best of) New Order, a collection of 17 rare and historic tracks spanning the groundbreaking group's fifteen year career, is set for release by Qwest / Warner Bros Records on March 15. The compilation comprises a treasure trove of New Order music, including new versions and remixes of classic cuts, singles never before released in album format, recent hits and fan favorites. Among the highlights: Arthur Baker remixes of two rare New Order, "1963" and "Let's Go."

New Order -- comprised of Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris -- is among a handful of groups that defined the alternative era in modern music. Formed in 1980 from remnants of the pioneering Manchester, UK group Joy Division, New Order has gone on to create a vital and vastly influential body of work and in the process garnered a fervent following on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

(the best of) New Order is an essential chronicle of their career to date and is a perfect companion to their 1987 multi-platinum singles collection, Substance. Barring the remixed material, (the best of) New Order has no tracks in common with Substance and includes many others not found on a recently-released UK best-of collection. "We really consider this a stand-alone album," remarked Kevin Laffey, Warner Bros. Records Director of A&R, who worked with the band in the selection process for this collection. "We were really interested in making an artistic statement as much as a commercial one and we drew from a number of sources, including the band itself and their fans, in deciding what to interlude. I think the results speak for themselves."

 

For a sampling of tracks considered key by the group's worldwide fan base, an Internet Reader's Poll in the New Order fanzine noise was consulted. Six of the poll's Top Ten selections made the album, including "Bizarre Love Triangle" (recently a hit for the Australian band Frente! and represented here by a rare Shep Pettibone remix); a 1994 Stephen Hague remix of "Round & Round," originally found on the album Technique; "Blue Monday '88' (never before released on an album); as well as the songs "Regret," "Vanishing Point" and a Stephen Hague remix of "True Faith."

 

Among the many standout tracks on (the best of) New Order is the abovementioned "Let's Go," remixed by Arthur Baker. The famed producer's association with New Order stretches back to the early Eighties. "I'd been doing some work in the electro hip-hop field," Baker explains, "and they sent me a copy of their album Power, Corruption & Lies. I really loved what I heard, especially the track '5 8 6,' which later became the basis for their hit 'Blue Monday.' Eventually I did a couple of cuts with them."

Four years later, Baker and the band's paths crossed again when they both found themselves contributing material for the soundtrack to the film Salvation. "They had an instrumental called 'Let's Go' that really knocked me out," Baker recounts, "and I suggested we go in and add a vocal track. Bernard and I wrote the lyrics and at the time we were both going through relationship break-ups, which I guess accounts for the bitter edge to the words. Bernard sang the song, but nothing really came of it."

 

Nothing, that is, until the summer of 1994, when work on (the best of) New Order got underway. Arthur Baker: "I heard they were doing a compilation and I suggested they reconsider 'Let's Go,' always one of my favorite New Order cuts. The original vocal track needed some work, so Bernard and I rewrote a verse as well as putting in a new guitar part and adding some sampling and reprogramming. It was great to finally see that song come full circle and take its rightful place in the New Order canon."

 

Another notable addition to (the best of) New Order tune stack is "Dreams Never End," the first official New Order recording following the demise of Joy Division featuring a rare Peter Hook vocal. The compilation also includes two tracks never before heard on any album: "Touched By The Hand Of God," also taken from the soundtrack to Salvation (and originally mixed by Arthur Baker) and "World In Motion," recorded for the televised broadcast of the 1990 World Cup Soccer finals. Band favorites include "Run," which was the subject of an acclaimed Robert Frank video.

 

Rounding out (the best of) New Order are the selections: "Age of Consent," from the album Power, Corruption & Lies; "Love Vigilantes" from Low-Life; a single edit of the Technique track "Fine Time"; plus an EP version of "Run," as well as the singles "World" and "Ruined In A Day" from the album Republic.

 

"New Order occupies an important place in the music history of our time," Kevin Laffey concludes. "They are a band that has inspired countless others while at the same time making music that really stretched creative and expressive boundaries. The group's extraordinary and prolific output is given a whole new focus on this collection."

© 1995 Qwest