History Music / SubstanceNewOrderAlbum

Upon and long after its release, ''Substance'' received immense critical and commercial acclaim, selling over one million copies. To this day, it is New Order's best-selling and most widely acclaimed album, even surpassing their proper studio albums; among other things, it placed at number 363 on ''UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime'', making it the only New Order album to appear on the list. [=AllMusic=] lists the compilation as an "album pick", meaning that the site's editors feel the album is the most representative of New Order's output as a whole. Because of the album's success, another singles compilation for Joy Division was released in 1988, also titled ''[[Music/SubstanceJoyDivisionAlbum Substance]]''. As a result, the New Order album is frequently referred to as ''Substance 1987'' (after the cover art) to differentiate it from the Joy Division one. In hindsight, the success of New Order's ''Substance'' in the US heralded the rise of AlternativeRock as a mainstream force in American music, alongside other releases that year such as Music/{{REM}}'s ''Music/{{Document}}'', Music/TenThousandManiacs' ''Music/InMyTribe'', Music/MidnightOil's ''Diesel and Dust'', Music/{{U2}}'s ''Music/TheJoshuaTree'', and fellow alternative dance group Music/DepecheMode's ''Music/MusicForTheMasses''.

** The original 12" releases of "Thieves Like Us" and "Murder" both feature similar covers that parody the 1807 board game ''The New And Fashionable Game of the Jew'', replacing the titular antisemetic caricature with metaphysical paintings by Giorgio de Chirico.

* IdiosyncraticCoverArt: While it's not visible on the outer sleeve, the inner sleeve on 12" copies of "True Faith" and the back cover on 7" ones feature a modified version of the ''Substance'' cover art with the text "SUBSTANCE 1987" changed to "TRUE FAITH 1963".

''Substance'' is a compilation album by English AlternativeDance group Music/NewOrder, released in 1987. Released as a stopgap during the interim between 1986's ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'' and 1989's ''Music/{{Technique}}'', specifically while the band were touring North America, the album compiles every 12" single released by New Order from their formation up until around the first half of 1987 ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus "Procession"]], which is included on CD and cassette copies despite having only ever seen release as a 7" single). The album is also the band's first to not be focused primarily on the LP format, though this was happening across the music industry as a whole as LP sales plummeted in favor of cassettes and [=CDs=] over the course of the 1980s. Not only do the CD and cassette releases manage to squeeze all of the band's 12" singles onto one disc/tape, something that required two records for the LP release, but they also add in a second disc/tape devoted to the B-sides of the included singles and then some, with a few more B-sides present on cassette than on CD, though cassette releases in some countries only contained the first cassette. Due to the limited capacity of physical media back in the day, a good amount of tracks were edited down to fit a shorter length, with "Temptation" and "Confusion" being outright re-recorded from the ground-up. As non-album singles were still pretty common in the U.K. at the time, this was the first stateside appearance for many of these tracks, though some were previously released on the band's studio albums in substantially different forms, no pun intended.

* SurrealMusicVideo: The video for "True Faith", courtesy of French choreographer Philippe Decouflé; alongside the video for the Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" from two years later, this was one of the only two music videos he directed over the course of his career, and both make prominent use of people in bizarre costumes performing avant-garde... what ''technically'' could be called "dances."

* WhoShotJFK: In ''New Order Music 1981-89'', Bernard Sumner facetiously described "1963" as being based around this trope; his tongue-in-cheek summary of the song states that John F. Kennedy arranged for Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate his wife in Dallas so he could elope with Creator/MarilynMonroe, only for Oswald to take out Kennedy by mistake; Monroe commits suicide in despair, while Oswald is murdered by Jack Ruby for causing his boss's hitman business to go bust.[[note]]In reality, Monroe committed suicide more than a year before the Kennedy assassination, and it was more than clear that Ruby's killing of Oswald was a heat-in-the-moment act done to avenge Kennedy. In case it wasn't obvious, Sumner's summary of "1963" isn't meant to be taken as a serious conspiracy theory.[[/note]]

* TitleConfusion: "Cries and Whispers" and "Mesh" have their names swapped on the album's packaging on most releases, stemming from an error present on the "Everything's Gone Green" sleeve back in 1982; this wasn't corrected until ''Substance'' was officially added to streaming services in 2020.

This album is also notable for being one of only a small amount officially released on Digital Audio Tape (DAT) during the format's limited commercial lifespan before the record industry's freakout over potential piracy applications relegated it to professional use; the DAT release is a double-tape package and features the exact same tracklist per tape as the CD version does per disc. The CD tracklist would also be recycled when the album belatedly hit streaming services in September of 2020, likely because, unlike the longer cassette release, it already had a usable digital master and didn't need to have any tracks re-transferred from archival tapes.

** A fair number of songs had to receive significant overhauls to compensate for storage limitations of physical media back in 1987. Theoretically one could've split the A-side and B-side portion across two discs each on the CD release (via a four-disc "fatbox" jewel case) and have room for the added content in the cassette release, but the fact that the CD format was still fairly nascent and more expensive to manufacture than records kept such a thing from becoming a reality.
*** "Temptation" and "Confusion" are both re-recorded, running significantly shorter than the original 12" releases. The re-recording of "Temptation" incidentally seems to combine elements of the 7" and 12" versions from 1982, featuring the slick, thumping sound of the 7" version and the freeform EpicRocking experimentation of the 12" version (perhaps not coincidentally, both versions of the 1982 release were recorded back-to-back in a single take). The end result is a "best of both worlds" approach that came to overshadow both versions of the original 1982 single as time went on. The re-recorded "Confusion" also blends the conciseness of the 7" mix with the more experimental elements of the 12" one, but overhauls the sound to a much harder, percussive one that reflects the radical change in club music between 1983 and 1987.
*** "Sub-Culture", "Shellshock", and "Hurt" are all significantly edited down from their original running lengths, with "The Perfect Kiss" being an additional victim on CD and DAT copies, specifically cutting 44 seconds from the outro (though still maintaining most of the climactic finale and especially the LastNoteNightmare ending); the latter additionally carries over to streaming services, which reuse the CD release's master. The full-length version of "The Perfect Kiss" wouldn't be included on a New Order CD release in its entirety until the 2008 collector's edition reissue of ''Music/LowLife''. Notably, the edit of "Shellshock" ended up being so similar to the original ''Film/PrettyInPink'' version of the song that it's frequently misidentified as it.
** "Sub-Culture" is a different example of this trope, in comparison with the version included on ''[[Music/LowLife Low-Life]]''. The song received a remix by American record producer John Robie (who also provided the remix of "Shellshock" included on this compilation) for its 12" release, incorporating soul singer backing vocals and more club-oriented rhythms; ironically, the album version ended up being considered more club-friendly. A few of the lyrics are also rewritten compared to the ''Low-Life'' version.
** The version of "Ceremony" included on the compilation is the re-recorded version with Gillian Gilbert in the lineup, released in September of 1981, rather than the original January 1981 release that solely featured the surviving members of Music/JoyDivision; compared to the first version, this one features lacks the processed vocals and distorted guitar, and lends a drier sound closer to the original Joy Division demos of the track. The reason for picking the re-recording over the original is unknown, as both received a 12" release, though the fact that the September recording featured the full New Order lineup may have been the most likely deciding factor.

* GratuitousPanning: Done with the isolated backing vocals on the last reprise of the chorus of "Bizarre Love Triangle" (as well as on a large number of other parts on the latter).

* CanonImmigrant: "Everything's Gone Green" was only ever given a Belgian and Japanese release officially, but was popular enough in the UK via import copies to peak at No. 3 on the UK Independent Singles Chart. Because of this, it's included on the A-sides portion of the compilation, which otherwise focuses on the band's ''British'' 12" releases.

** "Sub-Culture" is a different example of this trope, in comparison with the version included on ''[[Music/LowLife Low-Life]]''. The song received a remix by American record producer John Robie (who also provided the remix of "Shellshock" included on this compilation) for its 12" release, incorporating soul singer backing vocals and more club-oriented rhythms; ironically, the album version ended up being considered more club-friendly.

** The backing vocals of "Sub-Culture" reference the theme of ''Film/{{Shaft}}''.

''Substance'' is a compilation album by English AlternativeDance group Music/NewOrder, released in 1987. Released as a stopgap during the interim between 1986's ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'' and 1989's ''Music/{{Technique}}'', specifically while the band were touring North America, the album compiles every 12" single released by New Order from their formation up until around the first half of 1987 ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus "Procession"]], which is included on CD and cassette copies despite having only ever seen release as a 7" single). The album is also the band's first to not be focused primarily on the LP format, though this was happening across the music industry as a whole as LP sales plummeted in favor of cassettes and [=CDs=] over the course of the 1980s. Not only do the CD and cassette releases manage to squeeze all of the band's 12" singles onto one disc/tape, something that required two records for the LP release, but they also add in a second disc/tape devoted to the B-sides of the included singles and then some, with a few more B-sides present on cassette than on CD. Due to the limited capacity of physical media back in the day, a good amount of tracks were edited down to fit a shorter length, with "Temptation" and "Confusion" being outright re-recorded from the ground-up. As non-album singles were still pretty common in the U.K. at the time, this was the first stateside appearance for many of these tracks, though some were previously released on the band's studio albums in substantially different forms, no pun intended.

''Substance'' is a compilation album by English AlternativeDance group Music/NewOrder, released in 1987. Released as a stopgap during the interim between 1986's ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'' and 1989's ''Music/{{Technique}}'', specifically while the band were touring North America, the album compiles every 12" single released by New Order from their formation up until around the first half of 1987 ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus "Procession"]], which is included on CD and cassette copies despite having only ever seen release as a 7" single). The album is also the band's first to not be focused primarily on the LP format. Not only do the CD and cassette releases manage to squeeze all of the band's 12" singles onto one disc/tape, something that required two records for the LP release, but they also add in a second disc/tape devoted to the B-sides of the included singles and then some, with a few more B-sides present on cassette than on CD. Due to the limited capacity of physical media back in the day, a good amount of tracks were edited down to fit a shorter length, with "Temptation" and "Confusion" being outright re-recorded from the ground-up. As non-album singles were still pretty common in the U.K. at the time, this was the first stateside appearance for many of these tracks, though some were previously released on the band's studio albums in substantially different forms, no pun intended.

Upon and long after its release, ''Substance'' received immense critical and commercial acclaim, selling over one million copies. To this day, it is New Order's best-selling and most widely acclaimed album, even surpassing their proper studio albums; among other things, it placed at number 363 on ''UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime'', making it the only New Order album to appear on the list. Because of the album's success, another singles compilation for Joy Division was released in 1988, also titled ''[[Music/SubstanceJoyDivisionAlbum Substance]]''. As a result, the New Order album is frequently referred to as ''Substance 1987'' (after the cover art) to differentiate it from the Joy Division one. In hindsight, the success of New Order's ''Substance'' in the US heralded the rise of AlternativeRock as a mainstream force in American music, alongside other releases that year such as Music/{{REM}}'s ''Music/{{Document}}'', Music/TenThousandManiacs' ''Music/InMyTribe'', Music/MidnightOil's ''Diesel and Dust'', Music/{{U2}}'s ''Music/TheJoshuaTree'', and fellow alternative dance group Music/DepecheMode's ''Music/MusicForTheMasses''.

* MythologyGag: "Shellshock" reprises the melody and structure of "Confusion", the original incarnation of which predates it by roughly three years; the re-recording of "Confusion" on this compilation returns the favor by adopting elements of "Shellshock" in its own mix.

*** "Sub-Culture", "Shellshock", and "Hurt" are all significantly edited down from their original running lengths, with "The Perfect Kiss" being an additional victim on CD and DAT copies, specifically cutting 44 seconds from the outro (though still maintaining the LastNoteNightmare ending); the latter additionally carries over to streaming services, which reuse the CD release's master. The full-length version of "The Perfect Kiss" wouldn't be included on a New Order CD release in its entirety until the 2008 collector's edition reissue of ''Music/LowLife''. Notably, the edit of "Shellshock" ended up being so similar to the original ''Film/PrettyInPink'' version of the song that it's frequently misidentified as it.

* SpeedyTechnoRemake: The re-recording of "Confusion", which is considerably faster in tempo and features a much harder, more traditionally "techno" sound than the 1983 original.

** The bassline for "Blue Monday" was inspired by Music/EnnioMorricone's soundtrack for ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore''. The song also sounds quite a bit like Sylvester's "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", which isn't that surprising given that the band acknowledged the disco star as an influence.

* IdiosyncraticCoverArt: While it's not visible on the outer sleeve, the inner sleeve on 12" copies of "True Faith" feature a modified version of the ''Substance'' cover art with the text "SUBSTANCE 1987" changed to "TRUE FAITH 1963".

In addition to collecting the band's 12" A-sides and B-sides, ''Substance'' also includes two new songs: "True Faith" and "1963", recorded specifically for this album and produced by Music/PetShopBoys and Music/{{Erasure}} collaborator Stephen Hague. The songs were released together as a 7" and 12" single earlier in 1987 to promote the album, with "True Faith" as the A-side and "1963" as the B-side. Because of this, the songs exist in a weird state of being both non-album singles (as they were never included on an actual studio album) and an album single (as they were written for and released to promote ''Substance''). The single reached no. 4 on the British pop charts and proved to be their BreakthroughHit in the U.S., reaching the Top 40 for the first time as the song's SurrealMusicVideo became an Creator/{{MTV}} hit. The hit single propelled the album to platinum status, the band's first certification in that country.

* GratuitousPanning: The synth hits at the end of the intro for "The Perfect Kiss" and the isolated backing vocals on the last reprise of the chorus of "Bizarre Love Triangle" (as well as on a large number of other parts on the latter).

** Aside from being based on the 7" edit, the music video for "Bizarre Love Triangle" features a cut-out not present in the actual song where the music briefly stops in favor of an argument about reincarnation before immediately resuming afterwards.

* InTheStyleof: The music video for "The Perfect Kiss", directed by Creator/JonathanDemme, is a straight PerformanceVideo done in the same manner as ''Film/StopMakingSense'', the Demme-directed Music/TalkingHeads concert film from the previous year.

* ChangedForTheVideo: Aside from being based on the 7" edit, the music video for "Bizarre Love Triangle" features a cut-out not present in the actual song where the music briefly stops in favor of an argument about reincarnation before immediately resuming afterwards.

''Substance'' is a compilation album by English AlternativeDance group Music/NewOrder, released in 1987. Released as a stopgap during the interim between 1986's ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'' and 1989's ''Music/{{Technique}}'', specifically while the band were touring North America, the album compiles every 12" single released by New Order from their formation up until around the first half of 1987 ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus "Procession"]], which is included on CD and cassette copies despite having only ever seen release as a 7" single). The album is also the band's first to not be focused primarily on the LP format. Not only do the CD and cassette releases manage to squeeze all of the band's 12" singles onto one disc/tape, something that required two records for the LP release, but they also add in a second disc/tape devoted to the B-sides of the included singles and then some, with a few more B-sides present on cassette than on CD. Due to the limited capacity of physical media back in the day, a good amount of tracks were edited down to fit a shorter length, with "Temptation" and "Confusion" being outright re-recorded from the ground-up. As non-album singles were still pretty common in the U.K. at the time, this was the first stateside appearance for many of these tracks, though some tracks were previously released on the albums in substantially different forms, no pun intended.

This album is also notable for being one of only a small amount officially released on Digital Audio Tape (DAT) during the format's limited commercial lifespan before the record industry's freakout over potential piracy applications relegated it to professional use; the DAT release is a double-tape package and features the exact same tracklist per tape as the CD version does per disc. The CD tracklist would also be recycled when the album belatedly hit streaming services in September of 2020 as digital music services became the format for extended albums with the decline of the CD format.

* SiameseTwinSongs: "Blue Monday" and "The Beach". They are the same track, but "The Beach" alternates sounds and voices throughout the song. Not surprisingly, they were originally released as an A-side and B-side back in 1983.

''Substance'' is a compilation album by Music/NewOrder, released in 1987. Released as a stopgap during the interim between 1986's ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'' and 1989's ''Music/{{Technique}}'', specifically while the band were touring North America, the album compiles every 12" single released by New Order from their formation up until around the first half of 1987 ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus "Procession"]], which is included on CD and cassette copies despite having only ever seen release as a 7" single). The album is also the band's first to not be focused primarily on the LP format. Not only do the CD and cassette releases manage to squeeze all of the band's 12" singles onto one disc/tape, something that required two records for the LP release, but they also add in a second disc/tape devoted to the B-sides of the included singles and then some, with a few more B-sides present on cassette than on CD. Due to the limited capacity of physical media back in the day, a good amount of tracks were edited down to fit a shorter length, with "Temptation" and "Confusion" being outright re-recorded from the ground-up. As non-album singles were still pretty common in the U.K. at the time, this was the first stateside appearance for many of these tracks, though some tracks were previously released on the albums in substantially different forms, no pun intended.

* AntiLoveSong: Many of the songs qualify, particularly "Blue Monday" and "Bizarre Love Triangle".

* BreatherEpisode: "Temptation" and "Thieves Like Us", two upbeat, straight love songs with no major catches, sandwiched within a tracklist whose songs tend to be sardonic at ''best''.

* LyricalDissonance: A hallmark of New Order; "The Perfect Kiss", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "True Faith", "Procession", and "1963" are all unusually upbeat musically for their morbid subject matter, with producer Stephen Hague referring to "1963" in particular as "the only song about domestic violence that you can dance to."

** "Sub-Culture" is a different example of this trope, in comparison with the version included on ''[[Music/LowLife Low-Life]]''. The song received a remix by American record producer John Robie for its 12" release, incorporating soul singer backing vocals and more club-oriented rhythms; ironically, the album version ended up being considered more club-friendly.

** The backing vocals of "Subculture" reference the theme of ''Film/{{Shaft}}''.
** The configuration of the A-sides on the main album and the B-sides on the extra disc/cassette is a lot like fellow Manchester band Music/{{Buzzcocks}}' ''Singles Going Steady'' compilation, which employed a similar scheme on a single record, with the A-Sides on side "A" and the B-sides on side "B".

* StudioChatter: "Confusion" ends with a mix of this and {{corpsing}}.

* VanillaEdition: LP and U.S. cassette copies only include the A-side portion of the album, likely due to cost issues, as the total collection of 12" A-sides already covers two [=LPs=]. Releases on all other formats add in the B-sides as well, plus "Procession" (which was only ever released as a 7" single) and "Murder"; cassette versions go an extra mile and include several more B-sides not featured on CD and DAT copies.

*** "Sub-Culture", "Shellshock", and "Hurt" are all significantly edited down from their original running lengths, with "The Perfect Kiss" being an additional victim on CD and DAT copies, specifically cutting 44 seconds from the outro (though still maintaining the LastNoteNightmare ending); the latter additionally carries over to streaming services, which reuse the CD release's master. The full-length version of "The Perfect Kiss" wouldn't be included on a New Order CD release in its entirety until the 2008 collector's edition reissue of ''Music/LowLife''.