New Order's epic and iconic Substance turns 30 years old today. The classic album, released August 17th, 1987, is a superb collection of the band's definitive 12" singles and is an essential piece in New Order's remarkable and distinguished catalog. Substance is an extraordinary album from front to back. It is perfect. There is no filler, there is no "skip" track; everything is in its right place.
The idea for Substance was conceived by Factory kingpin Tony Wilson, who wanted all of New Order's singles on one CD so he could rock out while driving his snazzy new sports car. At that point, none of New Order's singles were available on CD format, and only a couple of songs ("The Perfect Kiss," "Sub-Culture") appeared on their studio albums; (let's be honest here, the versions of "The Perfect Kiss" and "Sub-Culture" that appeared on Low-Life paled in comparison to the 12" versions, and let's not get started on the brutally chopped up versions that appear on various greatest hits collections).
Though most of the versions included on Substance were previously issued, not every track was the original 12" mix: New Order went into the studio in May of 1987 to re-record "Confusion" and "Temptation"; an edited version of "Sub-Culture" appears on all formats; and 40 seconds of "The Perfect Kiss" was edited out for space on CD (the full glorious and epic 12" appears on the LP edition).
One new song appeared on Substance -- "True Faith," which was released as a 12" in July of 1987 backed with the b-side "1963." The iconic video for "True Faith" enjoyed a ton of radio and MTV airplay, and was a massive hit in the U.S. This propelled sales of Substance and earned New Order legions of new and passionate fans.
The CD and some cassette versions of Substance included a bonus disc of material -- Substance Disc 2 -- which collected the b-sides to the 12" singles along with the instrumental "Murder." The disc also includes a legendary "Mesh" tracklisting error which continues to haunt New Order to this day.
"Mesh" and "Cries And Whispers" both appeared as b-sides on 1981's "Everything's Gone Green," but the tracks were listed in the wrong order on some of the 12" editions. Years later the tracklisting error followed New Order onto Substance: "Mesh" was listed as track 3 on Disc 2, however in reality "Cries And Whispers" is the song that really appears as track 3, leading to a whole lot of confusion still to this day.
Substance is peak New Order. New Order have released many seminal, iconic, and influential albums, but no release ever captured the intensity, magic, brilliance, and beauty of New Order quite like Substance. This distinguished record stands alone and is the crown jewel in New Order's illustrious catalog.
Viva Substance!
Published August 17th, 2017