Substance

Substance
Greatest hits by New Order
Released	17 August 1987
Recorded	1981-1987
Genre	Techno, Alternative, House, Post-Punk
Length	146:48
Label	Factory - FACT 200
Producer	New Order
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (A) link
New Order chronology
Brotherhood (1986) Substance (1987) Technique (1989)

Substance (also known as Substance 1987 to distinguish it from the Joy Division compilation of the same name) is a 1987 compilation album by New Order, consisting of all of the band's singles at that point in their 12-inch versions, together with their respective B-side tracks. The then newly-released non-album single "True Faith" is also featured, along with its B-side "1963". The collection was released on vinyl, double CD, double cassette and Digital Audio Tape.

Album details

While Substance presents a sizeable collection of singles, there are many omissions and differences to be found from the original single releases:

• "Temptation" and "Confusion" were re-recorded in 1987 especially for Substance and none of the original versions appear.
• "Ceremony" is the version recorded after Gillian Gilbert joined the band. The original trio version — the first New Order recording following the dissolution of Joy Division — would not be re-released until the Singles collection in 2005.
• "The Perfect Kiss" (CD version only), "Sub-culture", "Shellshock" and "Hurt" are all edited down from their original 12" recordings.
• "Cries and Whispers" is incorrectly labelled as "Mesh" on all versions, and only on the cassette version does the original "Mesh" actually appear, itself mistitled as "Cries and Whispers" (to add to the confusion, the iTunes Store release, based from the CD version, labels the "Cries and Whispers" as "Mesh (Cries and Whispers)").
• "Sub-culture" is mistitled "Subculture", "The Perfect Kiss" is mistitled "Perfect Kiss" and "Confusion Instrumental" is mistitled "Confused Instrumental".

The standard tape version, due to the extra space befitting the format, also contains extra tracks in the form of "Dub-vulture", "Shellcock", and "Bizarre Dub Triangle", as well as the actual "Mesh". Only on the limited edition cassette version does "True Dub" appear, as the last track on the second tape. On all cassette versions, "Murder" is after "Thieves Like Us" on the first cassette, whereas on the CD/DAT versions it appears on the second half of the album.

	New Order - Blue Monday excerpt An excerpt from the Substance version of Blue Monday
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In 2003, the album was ranked number 361 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listings

LP version

CD/DAT version

Cassette version

Some releases only contain the first tape, which compiles the single A-sides. These versions (including the USA Qwest Records release) do not include the song "Murder."

• "True Dub" is only available on a limited edition version of the Substance cassette.

Video release

A video version of Substance appeared in 1989 on VHS; it was released on LaserDisc in Japan in 1991. The cover is similar to the LP, except "1987" is replaced by "1989" and different background colours are used; the Factory/Qwest release has a grey background, the Japanese VHS release, blue and the LaserDisc, turquoise. The video includes linking sequences which are animated to the accompaniment of instrumental sections from "The Happy One", an otherwise unreleased track from the Technique sessions.

Video song listing

1. "Confusion"
2. "The Perfect Kiss"
3. "Shellshock"
4. "Bizarre Love Triangle"
5. "True Faith"
6. "Touched by the Hand of God"
7. "Blue Monday 1988"