It’s all about the versions on VersionCrazy and sometimes you come across releases that you make an assumption on, that they will be pretty much standard fare but – somehow, it turns out that they manage to throw up some weird and wonderful regional variations of interest. One such example is this ‘(The Best Of) New Order’ compilation CD from the band, the first fruits for London Records of their deal to acquire the band after the sad demise of the original Factory Records. I guess it was to be expected that after the band was scooped up by a major label (well, in some territories, since they were already on Qwest/Warner Bros. in the US) they would work that back catalogue hard. ‘(The Best Of) New Order’ was the first such example from this deal with London Records, a compilation first released in November 1994 on CD, cassette, LP and video cassette even. But of interest to this article are the differences between that 1994 edition and the American release that followed in 1995.

The November 1994 edition tracklist on CD goes like this and is notable for including a number of new ’94’ remixes of some of the tracks; (which I have highlighted in bold text)

‘(The Best Of) New Order’ (European CD, London Records, 8285802)

1. True Faith-94 (5:34)
2. Bizarre Love Triangle-94 (3:54)
3. 1963-94 (3:46)
4. Regret (4:08)
5. Fine Time (3:08)
6. The Perfect Kiss (4:49)
7. Shell Shock (4:23)
8. Thieves Like Us (6:36)
9. Vanishing Point (5:14)
10. Run (4:29)
11. Round & Round-94 (4:00)
12. World (The Price Of Love) (3:38)
13. Ruined In A Day (3:57)
14. Touched By The Hand Of God (3:42)
15. Blue Monday-88 (4:07)
16. World In Motion (4:30)

A clue is in the title when it comes to the track selection and specifically the mixes. ‘The Best Of’ – not ‘The Singles’. The previous New Order compilation, 1987’s fondly regarded ‘Substance’, had a much simpler brief in some ways of simply compiling the 12″ mixes of New Order’s singles. This time out, it is not limited only to singles – nor even to the single mixes where songs were singles. So, that’s why we have the likes of the excellent non-single ‘Vanishing Point’ included and why the versions of ‘The Perfect Kiss’ and ‘Run’ are the album mixes as opposed to one of the single mixes (though it is listed as ‘Run 2’, the single remix, on the packaging, so maybe there was a mix up with this one). However, elsewhere there are single edits to be found, these being the 7″ versions/radio edits;

• Regret
• Fine Time
• Shell Shock
• World (The Price Of Love)
• Ruined In A Day
• Touched By The Hand Of God
• Blue Monday 1988
• World In Motion

So, it’s a real mixed bag of versions you’ll find and those ’94 versions are obviously the main draw when it comes the version craziness.

And what of those new ’94’ remixes? To my ears, the ’94’ mix of ‘True Faith’ on this 1994 compilation is very similar to the original 12″ mix with some minimal sonic differences and a very slightly shorter duration. (Of note, the song was released as a single prior to the album and contained various new edits and remixes.)

‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ is similar but not the same as the version of the song that appeared on the 1988 movie soundtrack, ‘Married To The Mob’, which was a unique (and very good!) mix – in both cases, these shorter mixes can easily be spotted as both start off with snare drum fills as compared to most other versions.

‘1963’ is quite a bit different compared to 1987’s original though, you can tell by the duration for starters – the ’94 mix is a mere 3’46” compared to the original 1987 run time of 5’36” or so. Now, ‘1963’ was also released as a single as part of the campaign for this ‘(The Best Of) New Order’, in January 1995 and once again sees quite a number of remix versions available. (It was also re-styled to ‘Nineteen63’ for its title.)

‘Round & Round’ in its 1994 incarnation seems to be near identical to the 7″ single remix from 1989 – the differences to my ears if any are pretty slight and again likely just the sonic/EQ details – certainly nothing different going on with the overall arrangement.

So, that’s it for the familiar European version for me… but, as it turns out, the American release of the album is not identical. In fact, despite coming in a similar (but not the same – check out those blue shades!) cover design, this is quite a different selection of tracks and mixes on this slightly later release from 1995. (Those what are on this release and not the European edition are highlighted in bold.)

‘(The Best Of) New Order’ (US CD, Qwest Records / Warner Bros. Records, 9 45794-2)

1. Let’s Go (Nothing For Me) (4:02)
2. Dreams Never End (3:11)
3. Age Of Consent (5:13)
4. Love Vigilantes (4:18)
5. True Faith-94 (4:27)
6. Bizarre Love Triangle-94 (3:54)
7. 1963-95 (3:46)
8. Fine Time (3:08)
9. Vanishing Point (5:14)
10. Run (4:29)
11. Round & Round-94 (4:00)
12. Regret (4:08)
13. World (Price Of Love) (3:38)
14. Ruined In A Day (4:23)
15. Touched By The Hand Of God (3:42)
16. Blue Monday-88 (4:07)
17. World In Motion (4:30)

The US tracks selection drops the following tracks altogether;

• The Perfect Kiss
• Shell Shock
• Thieves Like Us

It adds the following tracks;

• Let’s Go (Nothing for Me) (4:02) – this is similar though not the same as ‘Let’s Go’ from the January 1995 single remix re-release of ‘Nineteen63’.
• Dreams Never End.
• Age Of Consent.
• Love Vigilantes.

…and these are different mixes on the US version;

• True Faith ’94 (Radio Edit) – the shorter single mix from the October 1994 single remix re-release.
• 1963 (’95 Arthur Baker Radio Remix) – from the January 1995 single remix re-release – very different, with a  much mellower intro to all.
• Ruined In A Day (4:23) – the album version, as opposed to the single edit which is used on the EU release.

Quite a different beast altogether! Note: The sleeve design doesn’t note ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ as being the ’94 version, but it does indeed appear to be.

For further version craziness, the VHS and Laserdisc video versions include even more variation – they add the tracks ‘Confusion’, ‘State Of The Nation’ and ‘Spooky’, not found on the audio compilations.